I went to Chapters just after Christmas to take advantage of the Boxing Week sales.

I picked up a few items and went to the front to pay, where the cashier told me that I owed $16.13. I gave her $20.25. She thought for a moment and then gave me back the correct change, $4.12, without looking at the register screen. “I’m trying to do the math in my head,” she said. “It’s my New Year’s resolution.” Good for her. Only afterwards did I think, Isn’t it a little alarming that making change is a skill that a cashier has to practise?

This one small incident speaks to a broader concern. Financial literacy has been a hot topic of late, but it’s only recently that people are starting to realize that what’s lacking isn’t just investment knowledge but knowledge of money matters in general. How many kids today can’t calculate a tip without a calculator? Yet we expect them to understand how to save and invest for their future retirement?

The problem, in my view, is that teaching young people skills such as budgeting is no one’s responsibility. Many parents feel it should be part of the education system, but educators may want parents to take the lead.

A year ago, the federal Task Force on Financial Literacy came out with recommendations to improve the state of financial education in Canada, including five key priorities: shared responsibility, leadership and collaboration, lifelong learning, delivery and promotion, and accountability. The Task Force believes that many stakeholders need to work together—under the direction
of a financial literacy leader appointed by the government—to make financial education an achievable goal for Canadians. It also stated that the “formal education system should provide a foundation for financial literacy upon which Canadians can build throughout their lives.”

Clearly, this is a call to action. But what’s happened since?

Some might say that in a precarious economy, financial literacy just isn’t a priority. I would argue that the volatile investment climate we’ve experienced, in which people struggle to save and make sound decisions, shows exactly why it’s so important.

Perhaps our collective New Year’s resolution should be to lobby the government to take action on financial literacy. Because the issue isn’t going away—and ignoring it is a mistake that we simply can’t afford.

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