A Guide to Financial Literacy

Most people make decisions about how to use money every day. And virtually every day there are others trying to influence your money decisions. Staying in control is key.

When you think about the things that are most important in your life – and the goals you have for what you want to achieve – do they reflect your “values”? What YOU value is what should drive your goals, plans, actions, and decisions.

In addition to your values and what you believe is important in life, there are other factors that can influence your financial decisions and actions. It is important to set goals to help guide your financial decisions and actions.

How do you go about making decisions? Are you aware of any steps or process you use to try and make good decisions? Making good decisions is a skill – a skill anyone can develop.

We will all make a great many “money decisions” over the course of our lives. We will make decisions about earning money, spending, saving, borrowing, investing, and donating. But, before making decisions about what to do with your money, there is a key first step – getting money!

Before we get into looking at planning and picking a career, let’s start with something very important – you! How are you doing? How are you feeling? What do you see as you look into your future – your options and possibilities? The decisions you make about education and training will often have a great impact on your life. To make good career decisions, it is important to understand changes occurring in the workplace and the economy – and factors that can affect your career success.

You may or may not be familiar with the term “entrepreneur.” Even if you are, you may have some misperceptions of entrepreneurs because there are many myths about them. For example, many believe that entrepreneurs only start up small business enterprises. Although many entrepreneurs set up and run small businesses, you can also apply enterprising skills to other kinds of activities – within companies, within governments, running a not-for-profit organization, and so on. Enterprising skills can be valuable to anyone – no matter what one does in life.

Using money wisely is a skill – and a skill that will usually pay off. To help you take better control of money in your life, it's important to understand the basics. These can help build your understanding as you get more and more involved with money and money decisions.

Let’s assume you have found one or more ways to get money. You have an income coming in. You have money decisions to make. What are you going to do with your money? How are you going to manage it? What will influence your decisions? How can you make sure you stay in control – and don't have to deal with the stress and anxiety of feeling out of control.

At some time in their lives, many people will face a number of major expenses or purchases including education and/or training, buying or leasing a car, housing, and for youth buying a cell phone or hand-held device of some kind. Big purchases can often make a big difference in your life. But they can also entail some big mistakes if we aren't careful in the money decisions we make.

Most Canadians will have to borrow money at some point in their lives. Borrowing money can help you in times of need or trouble. For example, it can help with large purchases (car, house, education, etc.) and manage your monthly cash flow (e.g. combining past debts into a consolidation loan). Managing your debt(s) effectively, setting your own debt limits for what you know you can afford, and maintaining a good credit rating are all skills that are important to helping you stay in control and not getting over-indebted or over-whelmed by debt.

If you want or need to borrow money, you will have to make sure the possible lender is confident that you are able to pay back the loan. This is where your credit rating is very important. Understanding what a credit rating is, how to maintain a good rating, and how to avoid problems are all important to enabling you to be able to borrow money when you need or want to.

When it comes to saving and investing, there is no “chicken and egg” dilemma. You don’t have to wonder which comes first. You can’t invest if you don’t have savings. Once you have savings, you can make decisions about how to invest them. Saving can be a challenge for some – but there are many ways to save, even small amounts that can add up. Deciding to save, if you can, is step one.

Nothing is more frustrating than working very hard to achieve something and then losing it. The same is true in the world of money. Part of good financial planning is to plan for things that may go wrong – and to protect the things you care about most. This includes the relationships in your life and your family members. And it can include the material things – a home, cottage, car, boat, etc.

We hope we have helped you to be in a better position to “take action and take control” of your money and your financial affairs. It is certainly more challenging today than it was in the past to manage money and make good “money decisions” – and it may get more challenging in the future.