Investor Education Fund Financial Education in Schools- Opportunities and Challenges November 3, 2011 www.getsmarteraboutmoney.ca

Investor Education Fund is a leader in classroom financial literacy An non-profit financial literacy organization funded by the Ontario Securities Commission A leading financial literacy innovator for over 10 years A leader in classroom financial literacy Trainer of over 5,000 teachers on financial literacy and ‘Taking Stock” Chair of the Ontario Working Group on Financial Literacy to increase financial literacy in schools A leading researcher into financial and investor education An authority on Canadian financial education for adults Leading Canadian financial education website with 1.6+ million users annually First to market financial literacy as a public service concern Our Belief: Financial literacy must be interesting and easy to understand © Investor Education Fund, 2010

Financial reality for families has changed dramatically Savings On average, Canadians save 4 cents for each dollar earned (down from 13 cents in 1990) Debt Average household debt: $100,000 (nearly double from $56,800 in 1990) Canadians now owe 150% of our disposable income (up from 93% in 1990) One-third of Canadian retirees have mortgage or consumer debt (median $19,000) Sources Retirement debt: Statistics Canada, 2011 http://www.statcan.gc.ca/daily- quotidien/110427/dq110427b-eng.htm Seniors housing: CMHC, 2011 Divorce: Statistics Canada, 2008 Retirement Savings In 2009, only 24% of Canadians contributed to their RRSP Average contribution: $2,600 Kids Average tuition now: $5,366 In 1991: $1716 Average university debt load: $25,000 Parents One-third of Canadians aged 45+ provide unpaid care to aging parents © Investor Education Fund, 2010

Challenges in Financial Education IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards Challenges in Financial Education Financial Literacy Challenges: The Solutions: The greatest need for financial education is among people who are the least interested Develop a better understanding of how to reach and engage different demographic groups Financial issues are perceived as intimidating and complicated Change methods of delivery and presentation (language, tone, medium, etc.) to appeal to different targeted groups The topic is a lifelong learning issue that changes over time Integrate basics financial topics into public school curriculum Create content that addresses a lifetime of financial issues Most financial education is offered by the financial industry – with its natural bias to selling product Reach out to people through the media and advertising like industry does, and offer an unbiased alternative Financial literacy is a complicated field with some major challenges First it is important because it affects every person in society. It has grown in important because more financial decisions have been pushed down to households- ranging from education debts, to self-directed pension plans to new credit and investing products.. These responsibliities without increased education has resulted in higher debt levels, decreased savings levels, and related financial issues. The solution is ‘financial education’, and it has four primary challenges . Our research tells us that: Those that need it tend to be uninterested in it- and it is very difficult to reach them The issue is perceived as being complicated and intimidating, and the self-benefit is not immediatlely obvious The help needed changes over time Reaching people with information means developing awareness of the value of unbiased financial information, in the face of the biggest marketing machine in Canada- the financial services industry Think about when last got a mortgage- did you see the options as being complicated and did you rely on an expert to help, even if they had a vested interest? Did you know anything about it before you needed it? Did you have an independent voice of reason? For some of you, this is a small example of what the average person goes through- and they don’t have the sophisticted understanding of finances that you may have, or the advice that you can repy on. To resolve this, there are four big things that we had to do to overcome these obstacles © Investor Education Fund, 2010

Working Group on Financial Literacy in Ontario Mandate was to bring together best practices around the world and work with teachers, parents, students and other stakeholders to make recommendations about how to implement financial education in Ontario schools Wrote “A Sound Investment” that summarized our recommendations Led to the release of the ‘Scope and Sequence’ document which highlighted how the topic should be implemented in courses between Grades 4-12 Financial literacy in the curriculum began to be rolled out in 2011 © Investor Education Fund, 2010

Changing Education: The Route to Permanent Change IPAC/Deloitte Public Sector Leadership Awards Changing Education: The Route to Permanent Change We are Integrating financial education into the schools in a creative and entertaining way Funny Money- Partner to expand the FM program, which uses comedians to present financial information to students Animated videos- Address major money issues that students told us that they are concerned about, and in an engaging way New content and training for Grades 4-12- Provide curriculum-based financial literacy material and training for teachers Expanding Partnerships- Expand reach of Toronto Star and Globe & Mail partnerships that create current events to teach financial topics Train new teachers- Partner with teachers’ colleges in Ontario to prepare student teachers to teach financial literacy Long-term change requires a long-term effort Be part of the change- go to Getsmarteraboutmoney.ca and sign up for the summer institute and to get our free curriculum based content Our work in schools is critical to our mission to change how we learn about finances but it is difficult to create change- and that is why we use innovative approaches to get the attention that it deserves in a crowded curriculum. Our Funny Money program, which utilizes financially trained professional comedians to present financial topics , has been a runaway success. We have partnered with a national regulator to take it across the country to reach students right in their schools. We have suported this with content that students want. including humourous animated videos about the top 5 financial concerns that they have. Support from teachers and students have drive our Youtube traffic because they have been so popular. Our support for teachers has expanded. It has always been based on our Taking Stock material, which is developed to help teachers address financial topics in the places in the curriculum where it is taught. We now train 700 teacher per year in our Taking Stock curriculum material. We have also developed current-events based financail content by partnering with the Toronto Star and Globe and Mail classsroom editions. In the long-run, our goal has always been to change the curriculum to give financial education the time it needs, and the recognition that it is a critical life skill. We began lobbying the Ministry of Education and using our network of partners to collaborate to support us. This is lasting change, and it is achieved by collaboration, and innovation. © Investor Education Fund, 2010

Next Steps: How to Inspire Financial Literacy Sign up for to receive our financial literacy content for most topics from Grades 4-12 Get professional instruction at your board or school on how to integrate financial literacy into the classroom Be a leader and sign up for our free summer institute in Toronto in August, 2012 To find out about all of this, go to: © Investor Education Fund, 2010