Financial Literacy Resources

Cheryl Lovstrom, Community Learning Network

3 8 November 2017

November is Financial Literacy Month!

Learning opportunities in financial literacy can help foundational learners who are interested in improving their money management skills. They might address issues like navigating the banking system, saving, spending habits, and credit card debt. Financial literacy programs are a great way to identify and connect with learners who require further learning in numeracy and other transferable skills.

CALPs can use their CALP funding to offer Financial Literacy which fits in the Community Capacity Building category of the CALP guidelines. Financial Literacy focuses on developing strategies for managing money such as:

Making day-to-day choices about how to spend their money
Making informed choices about purchasing the products and services that make the most sense for their own needs
Planning ahead about how to use their hard-earned dollars for life goals, such as buying a home or preparing for retirement
Evaluating the financial information and advice they get, whether from friends, the media or professionals**

These financial strategies include numeracy tasks such as budgeting, estimating savings, or calculating interest.Trained and adept facilitators of financial literacy programs will gauge learners’ abilities to see if they have the foundational numeracy skills needed to complete these tasks. If we were to break down budgeting for example, it requires adding monthly expenses and income, subtracting expenses from income. If learners struggle with any of these basic math skills they will have difficulty completing a budget and also learning the strategies that are based on budgeting.

This is where CALPs have something of tremendous value to offer learners in financial literacy programs. When a need for further numeracy instruction is required CALPs have a couple of options.

CALP staff can refer learners to foundational numeracy programs – either a one-on-one tutor or possibly a class.
CALPs could modify the financial literacy program by intentionally adding instruction on basic math skills (as they relate to financial literacy) and create time within the program to teach, practice and review the new skills over a number of weeks. Programs that build on basic math skills fall under the required programming area of Numeracy.

If you are looking to offer financial literacy in your community, here are three programs that may suit your needs:

Momentum Financial Literacy Training (Train-the-Trainer) http://www.momentum.org/fltraining

Developed by Momentum
Cost is $175 for training and includes license to use/distribute Momentum material
Receive training in 5 core areas – assets, budgeting, banking, credit, consumerism
Participants learn:

Foundational financial literacy education
How financial literacy is used as a poverty reduction intervention
Adult learning principles and facilitation techniques using specific interactive exercises
The sustainable livelihoods framework and how to use it to build individual assets and overcome challenges
Facilitate to groups or adapt the materials for one-on-one participant work using Momentum’s financial literacy curriculum

Usage rights stay with the CALP BUT they must have a trained facilitator to use the materials. If your Momentum person facilitator leaves, you must train someone else

ABC Money Matters https://abcmoneymatters.ca/practitioners/

Developed by ABC Life Literacy, TD Bank, and Government of Canada
Organizations apply to request a free workshop
CALP staff/volunteers deliver the workshops
CALPs get paid an honorarium for each group workshop delivered
Requires a learning centre agreement to run workshops
Money Matters curriculum:

4 workshops totalling 8 hours of content (ELL content is 2 workshops, 4 hours total):

Spending plans, banking basics, borrowing money, RESPs and other ways to save
ELL workshops: how to bank and save in Canada, how to build credit in Canada

approachable, discussion-based activities
topics based on extensive research and feedback from learners
literacy level 2 (grade 6-8 reading level)
all new terminology is defined—in the text, and in a glossary
Delivered by individual organization’s staff, with optional support from TD Bank Group Volunteer-Tutors
Adaptable according to the needs of each specific group
Free. We ship the materials needed to run the program to organizations across the country

Additional materials and tip sheets are free to download for one-on-one work
Materials available for Adult Learners, Indigenous Communities, and Newcomers & New Canadians
Also available as an online course: https://online.abcmoneymatters.ca/
Online access requires free account, but allows learners to stop and go back to their lesson at any time

Financial Basics https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/services/financial-basics.html

Developed by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada
CALP staff/volunteers deliver the workshops
Materials are free to download – step by step presenter’s manual and participants’ handouts, presentation slides, and e-learning videos
10 sections dealing with 7 financial issues – budgeting, 2 x managing your cost of living (be a smart consumer, needs and wants), credit and debt management, saving and investing, financial planning, protecting yourself
Participant manual is written in plain, clear language
Also have a page of tools and calculators to help learners with their financial decisions: https://www.canada.ca/en/services/finance/tools.html
Printed materials can be requested – case by case basis, take 4-6 weeks to process and ship

Be sure to comment below on your experience with any of these resources, or share others you have used and liked.

* Taken from Financial Planning Standards Council website on November 7, 2017:https://www.financialplanningforcanadians.ca/financial-planning/canadians-worry-about-money

** Taken from: Financial Consumer Agency of Canada website on November 7, 2017: https://www.canada.ca/en/financial-consumer-agency/programs/financial-literacy/financial-literacy-history.html

Cheryl Lovstrom
CLN Regional Support Staff
Central Alberta