There is a need in Nova Scotia for family-friendly resources for financial skills education, according to a recent survey conducted by the CSA. To address this, we have launched Make it Count – a new educational resource for parents and teachers.
The CSA survey indicates 86% of Nova Scotians believe that teaching financial skills is among the most important things a parent can do for their child. However only 21% feel that the primary responsibility for teaching young people about money should fall to the parents, which seems an obvious disconnect. Only half of parents with children 18 or younger have actually taught their children about personal finances and investing.
Perhaps the reasoning behind this is that many Nova Scotian parents admit to being only somewhat confident (59%) or not confident (26%) in their ability to teach their children about personal finances. It is difficult to teach something you don’t understand, and only 11% of Nova Scotians say they are “very confident” in their own investment decisions. 44% are “somewhat confident,” 25% “not very confident” and 15% “not at all confident.”
If you are a parent or mentor who believes in the importance of financial education but need help teaching your children the basics, the CSA has launched a new interactive program, Make it Count, to help you pass on good financial skills.
Make it Count resources center around a series of activities, tips and lesson plans that are simple to follow and more importantly, simple to teach. It includes an online, interactive money management system that allows parents or teachers and children to set up a daily budget, start and track savings goals and chat with other money mentors in an online forum. Children can see where their money is going and how close they are to meeting their goals and mentors can obtain help and support from the online forums.
The Make it Count resources, including the interactive online budgeting program can be accessed at MakeitCountOnline.ca. All resources are free, and available in both English and French.
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