'Feeling very hopeful': How a financial literacy course is empowering youth

Victoria Bernard was intent on making it through university without worrying about accumulating too much debt. 

She worked throughout her time in nursing school, trying her best to keep track of all her expenses.

"Despite my efforts working through university and volunteering to try and keep on top of things, I ended up paying a total student loan of $45,000," she said in an interview on Daybreak Alberta.

"It was a huge weight for me. It was a stressor [and] I often worried about If I'd have enough money for the next month for food."

She added that she needed to arrange a "huge amount of money" for her tuition fees twice every year while accommodating additional expenses, such as books, payment for scrubs and medical equipment such as a stethoscope.

Bernard decided to take control of her finances and enrolled in a financial literacy course called Matched Savings for Youth. It's offered by Calgary-based Momentum, a group that works with individuals and businesses to build a more inclusive local economy.

"I went into the program thinking that I would be more efficient at saving money," Bernard said. "I actually learned so much more than just that."

She said the course taught her about different investment options, like opening a tax-free savings account (TFSA) and contributing to a registered retirement savings plan (RRSP).

LISTEN |Young Albertans talk about the importance financial literacy:

Bernard also got a chance to understand which bank would suit her needs and how different lines of credit work.

"I had no idea these existed before. No one mentioned this kind of stuff in high school, and university didn't talk about this at all," she said.

She finished the course armed with resources and knowledge that she used to plan her finances.

It's been two years since she graduated from university. Bernard, who is now a registered nurse, has managed to pay off her debt and is motivated to help her younger siblings hone their financial literacy skills as well.

Picking up a lifelong skill

The Matched Savings for Youth program, also known as Youth Fair Gains, is a nine-month financial literacy program that is available for free to individuals from low-income families in Calgary.

Participants between the ages of 16 and 24 can learn financial literacy skills through two-hour evening workshops that are held twice a month.

Youth Fair Gains encourages participants to save $450 with a promise — Momentum will match their savings 4:1, which can be used to pay tuition fees, start a business, buy textbooks, and more.

"While people are drawn to the incentivization that's offered in the program, we hear consistently that the real benefit of the program is the learning — it's learning how to manage your money, how to take control of your money [and] how to save," said Donna McBride, director of operations at Momentum.

"It's a perfect time in life to be learning those skills," she said. "Because then young people don't have to make some of the same mistakes that many of us have made just because we didn't have that solid grounding in financial literacy." 

'I was not financially literate at all'

Alyona Latsinnik moved to Canada from Ukraine a few years ago as an ambitious 16-year-old, hoping to create a better life with more opportunities.

Latsinnik wasn't sure how to manage her expenses, though, and found herself feeling clueless.

"I was not financially literate at all. I wasn't sure how to manage my money," she said. "I didn't have any skills at that time because I wasn't able to ask anyone per se."

Latsinnik finished college and joined the culinary industry in a bid to secure her permanent residency status in Canada.

"It was a really rough, abusive industry," she said. "And so I turned to cannabis to cope with life and deal with my trauma because I wasn't able to talk to anyone about how hard things were."

In 2018, she moved to Alberta but lost her job by the time COVID hit, struggling to take care of herself and getting by with the help of a food bank.

Some of her friends told her about the Youth Fair Gains program and she was intrigued enough to sign up.

"At first, I thought it sounds too good to be true," Latsinnik said. 

"It [Momentum] helped me to seek counselling to deal with the past traumas and the ongoing traumas instead of smoking to avoid it. Now I have a monthly budget. I'm also debt-free."

Latsinnik is now planning to study further and attend university this year.

"Life is becoming better and I'm able to cope with stress," she said. "I feel very educated about student loans and savings and I'm feeling very hopeful for my future."

A life-changing moment

She is grateful the staff members at Momentum were empathetic and supportive.

"Because the staff were so helpful and they didn't judge, I was able to look at my budget and see … how much money I was spending on cannabis," she said. 

"It was definitely a life-changing moment because … I'm in recovery, I don't smoke anymore and it really was life-saving."

For Balteen Kaur, a former refugee from India, it was important to assist her parents in the best way possible after moving to Canada at the age of 14.

"My parents did not speak English at all. So, therefore, being the eldest child, I sort of like became their voice," Kaur said in a conversation with Daybreak Alberta. 

 "I had to learn and understand different culture, customs in Canada and I also had to focus on learning about the different immigration policies and procedures."

According to Kaur, these responsibilities left her with very little time to understand Canada's banking policies and tax system.

"I had zero clue about investing and high-interest saving accounts, and Momentum was that one place where I got to learn a lot," Kaur said.

She managed to save $450 by the end of the program and was rewarded with nearly $2,000 that she used to fund her education.

Learning how to fund your education

Kaur is now in her third year of university and feels equipped to deal with the challenges of post-secondary education, such as tackling student loans and applying for funding.

She has managed to offset some tuition costs with scholarships and bursaries — something that she's grateful for.

"Once I'm done with my education, I'm not going to have a lot of debt to pay," Kaur said.

She believes financial literacy is an incredibly powerful tool that helps empower individuals and their families by teaching them how to get past debt and save money for the future.

Kaur especially values learning about different savings accounts.

"Usually, banks don't really do a great job of like giving … knowledge to their customers. They [would] rather go to someone who has a lot of money in their accounts," she said.

"They don't focus on low-income families and this program specifically was the bridge that I needed to cross."