To mark Financial Literacy Month’s 10th anniversary, the Financial and Consumer Services Commission (FCNB) is inviting New Brunswickers to have “the money talk” with their children, their spouse, their parents, their peers, and with financial professionals.
“For a lot of New Brunswickers, talking about money can be uncomfortable or awkward,” said Lisa Legere, Education Co-ordinator at FCNB. “Making healthy conversations about money more mainstream will help improve people’s financial literacy and financial wellness. That is why we are encouraging people to have the money talk with their children, their spouse, their parents, their peers, and with financial professionals.”
Throughout the month, FCNB will highlight useful resources, tools and information to help New Brunswickers spark these important conversations and get more comfortable about asking questions and understanding their choices before making financial and consumer decisions.
To assist educators during this challenging school year, FCNB will also launch a series of online videos adapted from their publication, Make it Count – An instructor’s guide to youth money management. Teachers will be able to use these bite-sized modules in the classroom, or as part of virtual learning, to supplement their financial literacy lessons.
“We typically visit more than 80 classrooms across New Brunswick and speak to nearly 2,000 students every year,” said Legere. “With the pandemic, these activities have obviously been impacted. Teachers and educators have told us how much they appreciate these presentations and how well they integrate into their curriculum, so we decided to make them available in a new format.”
The first Make it Count videos will be available at the end of the month for elementary school students. Topics will include: where money comes from, a money-saving technique for youth, and what are money values. More videos, intended for middle and high school students, will be released early in 2021.
Other resources will be published throughout the month, including a new episode of Spend Smart NB, which is a web series to help consumers make informed financial decisions and learn about the sectors that the commission regulates. This month’s episode will focus on building an emergency fund.
The Financial and Consumer Services Commission has the mandate to protect consumers and enhance public confidence in the financial and consumer marketplace through the provision of regulatory and educational services. It is responsible for the administration and enforcement of provincial legislation regulating mortgage brokers, payday lenders, real estate, securities, insurance, pensions, credit unions, trust and loan companies, co-operatives, and a wide range of other consumer legislation. It is an independent Crown corporation funded by the regulatory fees and assessments paid by the regulated sectors. Educational tools and resources are available online.