The Task Force is in Ottawa Wednesday and Thursday this week holding in-person consultation sessions. While time does not permit us to accommodate all of those who wished to appear, we will end up hearing from about 170 groups and individuals through the public sessions.
Pat Kerwin, of the Congress of Union Retirees of Canada (http://unionretiree.ca/ ), kicked off the day with two thought-provoking recommendations: that financial literacy education has to start early and be mandatory, as children are focused on “instant communications and instant gratification”; and that mandatory changes be made to CPP so that it pays retirees 50% of the average wage.
Building on the unique needs of illiterate people – on which several previous presenters have focused – the Movement for Canadian Literacy’s Lindsay Kennedy recommended that “financial institutions be required to provide all information in…plain language and clear writing.” (http://www.literacy.ca/ )
The Task Force was reminded of the wide variety of ways that financial literacy can be delivered by Angelo Pace of FUNancial Education, which runs Camp Ka-Ching, a summer day program for children ages eight to twelve (http://www.funancialeducation.com/ ).
Ottawa financial adviser Marc Lamontagne described the valuable information that advisers can help people traverse savings, wealth management and retirement; and urged that the fees paid to advisers be made tax-deductible. Under questioning, he allowed that there is little or no difference in the quality provided by fee-based and commission-based advisers.
The Task Force has been inundated with fascinating statistics from many presenters. One example came Wednesday from the Certified General Accountants Association, whose Carole Presseault said, “if household debt was to be evenly spread across all Canadians, each individual would have held $41,740 in debt last year.”
Don Stewart
Chair of the Task Force on Financial Literacy
