Financial Literacy Month – No Better Time to Focus on Financial Wins

While November is coming to a close, we’re moving into the spending season (aka the holidays), and there are small actions we can all take to feel more financially aware.

Every November, FLM focuses on promoting financial literacy for Canadians of all ages to improve their financial well-being by helping them understand just how their money works and how they can better utilize it. This Financial Literacy Month, Capital One Canada and Credit Canada Debt Solutions partnered to explore the topic of Financial Wins.

Financial Literacy Month is Getting a New Twist

If you’ve ever talked about money, and most of us have, you know that we really only talk about the negative side of it. You know what I’m talking about. You paid too much for this. You didn’t add enough to this account. All the negative stuff gets plenty of talk time. But the positive things don’t. In fact, there’s this concept that if you talk about what you did right with your money, then you’re bragging. That’s where Capital One Canada and Credit Canada Debt Solutions think we need to focus.

I agree. Financial Literacy Month is all about learning how to handle our money in the most effective way possible, and I think one of the key factors to that is to share our Financial Wins with the people around us. If we stumbled across a particularly well-performing mutual fund, why wouldn’t we share that so our friends can get in on it? If we figured out a way to snip a bit here and add a bit there to improve our quality of life, wouldn’t we want our friends to be able to do the same? I think so!

Financial Literacy Month Leads to Financial Wins

When we take control of our finances we take control of our lives. That’s why I think Financial Literacy Month is so important. Did you know that 80% of polled Canadians said they’ve had a financial win after taking control of their financial situation? And almost 40% of those wins were buying a house or getting out of debt!

In all of that winning, planning was key. 85% of those polled said they achieved Financial Wins due to planning. 41% said online banking helped them reach their goals, while 34% cited information from financial institutions as a big help. Of those financial wins, 64% were reached within 5 years, and although 67% of polled Canadians shared their Win with close family and friends, only 14% shared it to social media.

You can see where the disconnect is here. People love to win, but they feel awkward sharing it. Somehow, we as a culture have made it okay to talk about all the money we lose but not about the money we gain, which is totally upside down, in my opinion, because it helps no one. In fact, it hinders the success of others.

Of course, the poll also asked questions about what stopped people from achieving their Financial Wins. According to those polled, the biggest obstacles were a lack of earning power, unemployment, lack of budgeting, and no financial planning. They also cited external sources like their spouse’s spending behaviour, family, and friends as obstacles to reaching their Financial Wins.

 

Make a Change This Financial Literacy Month

Family and friends can play a huge role in achieving Financial Wins. That’s why Capital One Canada and Credit Canada Debt Solutions are focused squarely on making Financial Literacy Month about sharing the success that help us take control of our financial lives.

If you want to use this Financial Literacy Month as a jumping off point for taking control of your finances, I encourage you to take the Money Smarts Quiz to see where your financial mind is and how you can improve what you’re doing with your money!

This post was sponsored by Capital One Canada, but all opinions are my own.