A branch manager at my credit union pointed out that the Government of Canada provides a fairly comprehensive youth financial literacy site called “The Money Belt“. The site includes finance and banking information for youth aged 15 to 29 (is a 29 year old a “youth”?!), and includes a few resources for teachers. There’s also a related comprehensive learning program developed with the BC Securities Commission called “The City“.
The Money Belt was created because (according to the Government of Canada)… Many people — particularly young Canadians — lack good money skills. The Money Belt was specially created to give them the opportunity to:
- increase their financial knowledge, make informed decisions and avoid high levels of debt
- be aware of the choices that exist when choosing financial services or products, such as credit cards, loans or bank accounts
- discover the many benefits of being money savvy, such as developing good savings habits and taking steps to avoid being a victim of fraud
- learn how to avoid financial problems in the future by taking action now, and find out where to go for help
While I was trying to find the Money Belt online via Google (which wasn’t easy, which is not a good sign) I ran across another Government of Canada resource at youth.gc.ca, which is supposed to be a one-stop shop for all things “youth”, again defined awfully broadly at 15 to 30 years old. It includes a “Money” section in which there was no reference to the Money Belt initiative but contains some other useful information. But, hey, the Government of Canada is a pretty big enterprise, and the respective sites are run by different ministries, and I don’t really expect everybody there to know everybody else.
The Youth.gc.ca site includes a “locate a bank or credit union” section, which does no such thing, instead linking to some extremely boring profile sheets regarding the banking sector.
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