As Canadians experience financial pressure from interest rate hikes, soaring housing prices and increases in the cost-of-living, nearly three out of five Canadian parents say they frequently worry about their child’s financial future.
A recent Maru Public Opinion poll commissioned by TD Bank found that many parents feel that their children are ill-prepared and lack the financial literacy to build a healthy financial future amid economic uncertainty.
Fifty-eight percent of parents said that they frequently worry about their child’s financial future with only 35% of Canadians feeling confident that their child or children are prepared to avoid the same financial challenges that they had encountered when they were younger.
Generally, parents are not confident in their child’s financial literacy or their ability to provide their child the necessary financial literacy to succeed in Canada.
The survey found that 66% of Canadian parents are not confident in their child’s financial knowledge for their current age and nearly 90% of them agreed that they would feel more confident if their child had received an improved financial education before their teenage years.
By far, parents believe that budgeting and saving are the two most important financial fundamentals for their children to learn today, but only 29% of parents discuss finances with their child weekly and 70% of parents don’t feel very prepared to support their child’s financial literacy at home.
For years, Canada has been experiencing a significant rise in the price of homes as big cities like Toronto’s average home price rests above $1 million, making it hard for young Canadians to buy their first home.
The Ontario government has taken steps towards adding mandatory financial literacy for the province’s students starting in Grade 1.
The Ontario education ministry has moved forward with revamping the province’s Grade 9 math class that eliminates competence-based streaming and introduces some financial literacy education, among other reforms.
