Visa Empowers Youth To Learn Practical Money Skills
Planning For The Future Teaching financial literacy at an early age through modern and accessible tools aims to educate youth about the fundamentals of personal finance.
isa Canada has been offering free, innovative financial literacy programming in English and French for 20 years, serving a variety of age groups. Tailored for parents, students and newcomers, the program is designed to teach budgeting, saving, responsible spending, and setting financial goals. The website, practicalmoneyskills.ca, contains a variety of tools to help parents and teachers initiate conversations about money and integrate basic lessons in a fun and educational way.
“Practical Money Skills offers free apps, interactive games, calculators, and articles to help introduce the fundamentals of financial education,” says Carla Hindman, Head of Financial Education at Visa Canada. “One of our newest resources is a Marvel comic book, Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket’s Powerful Plan, which shares the concepts of needs versus wants, saving, and spending through its exciting storyline.”
The comic book has been translated into 16 languages globally and is available for free online and in all 100 branches of the Toronto Public Library.
As a supporter of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s National Strategy for Financial Literacy, Visa is committed to the delivery of new finlit initiatives. This Financial Literacy Month, Visa launched a new currency identifier app for iPhones and iPads called Peter Pig’s Money Counter. The free app helps kids learn to identify, sort and count Canadian coins.
Another app, Plan’it Prom, free for iOS and Android, is a prom budgeting tool to help teens and parents combat ballooning prom costs. The app empowers teens to plan ahead with a budget tracker and cost-cutting tips for prom-goers.
“We’re committed to finding those teachable moments that can really create an opportunity for learning,” says Hindman. “Whether it’s through a comic book, an app or a game, offering up information in a fun and entertaining way can help open young peoples’ eyes to this important topic.”