The other day I got paid for a project I had put several months and many hours into.
When the cheque was in my hand, I did something many parents might consider unusual. I showed it to our kids.
It was a big project, so for me, at least, it was a sizeable cheque, although compared to many people in the oilfield, it would be peanuts. Nonetheless, these were my hard-earned peanuts.
I explained to the kids, as I often do, that all those late nights of Dad working at his computer, the times he said, “No, I can’t watch a movie right now,” are what earned this.
You work hard, you get rewarded. This is what pays the bills. This is what pays for baseball and softball, and trips. This is the real, tangible benefit resulting from long hours of hard work. This is the payoff.
“So now, Katrina, we can get those shoes you needed. Let’s go get them.”
“And, Spencer, what do you do with a cheque?”
“Take it straight to the bank,” he replied.
My message is apparently getting through.
Financial literacy is absolutely crucial to each and every one of our lives, and yet I think too many people, and the education system as a whole, fail in passing this critical knowledge onto our kids. I don’t know about now, but my own high school and university education had essentially zero training in this regard.
On March 28, Deputy Premier and Education Minister Gordon Wyant announced that writing is set to begin in April for new financial literacy courses.
These courses will soon be available to help ensure Saskatchewan students are prepared for a successful future, the press release said.
“In response to requests from the education sector and industry stakeholders, including the Saskatchewan School Boards Association and the Saskatchewan Chamber of Commerce, new financial literacy curricula are being developed for grades 11 and 12 students. Grades 7 - 9 teachers will also be able to introduce their students to financial literacy topics by using modules from these curricula in middle level practical and applied arts courses,” the release went on.
Katrina, soon to be 14, has been asking about exactly this sort of financial literacy. She wants to know about taxes, the things that will affect her daily. It looks like she’ll miss the Grade 7-9 modules, but she’ll catch the later ones.
“The ability to manage personal finances is an essential skill in our daily lives,” Wyant said. “We want our students to be prepared for their futures, and that’s why it’s so important to engage students in financial literacy.”
Curricula are written by ministry consultants along with teachers who apply and are selected by the Ministry of Education in consultation with the Saskatchewan Teachers’ Federation. Curriculum development and implementation is approximately a two-year process, during which the writing team consults with industry experts to incorporate industry standard learnings.
The financial literacy courses should be ready for piloting in the 2018-19 school year with full implementation as early as September 2019, according to the release. That’s good, because Katrina will be in high school then, and should be taking those courses.
But I’m not waiting. With another project soon wrapping up, I showed Katrina how much my cost of goods was (expenses), what I was charging (revenue), and the remaining money (profit). Again, she heard, this is what pays for gas, food, etc. I’m drumming this into my kids now, before they hit those teenage years when they just turn off their ears to anything their parents say.
For me, this has been hard-won and largely self-taught knowledge. Hopefully it will make things easier for my kids.
So this tax season, Katrina gets to sit beside me and go through it all, and I mean everything. Sorting receipts, highlighting bank statements, entering them into spreadsheets, taking that data and putting it into the tax software.
It will mean going through a T4 and showing how much gets taken off in deductions. For instance, my wife’s deductions are greater than my net income. That will be eye-opening, I’m sure.
In three years’ time, Spencer will get the same lessons.
So thank you Minister Wyant and the Ministry of Education. I’m sure there are some other things in the curriculum that could see a bit less emphasis, so that we can make room for financial literacy.
Kids need to know money. Can I have an Amen?
