Financial education has the power to improve the lives of thousands of Canadian high school students by giving them the skills they need to make informed decisions. However, new data from Intuit Canada shows a lot more work needs to be done to prepare them for life after high school.
The results of Intuit Canada’s latest survey on financial education are in, and they reveal some concerning data points about how Canada’s high schoolers feel about money:
- 73% of Canadian high schoolers wish they understood more about personal finance, but don’t know where to start.
- Furthermore, the same percentage find personal finance confusing, while 70% feel it’s intimidating.
- Compounding this, few feel they have a solid understanding of financial terms, with only 20% claiming they understand the concept of debt, and 17% having a grasp of budgeting.
With this data in mind, it’s not surprising that 61% of Canadian high schoolers believe their generation will be worse off financially than their parents’ generation.
Introducing financial education into school curriculums will help to bridge the current divide of financial literacy and empower future generations. In fact, the province of Ontario recently announced that starting in 2025, students must complete a new financial literacy graduation requirement as part of their Grade 10 math course to demonstrate practical skills and proficient application of knowledge in financial literacy. This news reinforces Intuit’s survey data, which notes 90% of Canadian high schoolers believe having personal finance courses at school helps set young people up for financial success.
Canadian high schoolers looking for education on practical skills
Starting with the basics is the first step to closing the financial knowledge gap and building much-needed confidence for Canada’s youth. In fact, a substantial 55% wish they knew more about saving money, closely followed by 46% expressing a desire to learn how to avoid debt, and 45% seeking guidance on how to budget. These findings underscore a clear gap between the financial literacy levels of Canadian highschoolers and their aspirations for financial competency.
FinTok falls flat
While most Canadian teens use social media on a daily basis, these apps appear to be playing a smaller role in financial education. Only 17% of high school students are turning to social media for personal finance information. Among those who do, 89% say they’re likely to listen to it.
“Without personal finance knowledge, students struggle to make informed financial decisions, jeopardizing their long-term financial success after graduating,” said Dave Zasada, vice president of Education and Corporate Responsibility at Intuit. “We know that financial education works. As an organization that has been powering prosperity globally for 40 years, Intuit recognizes our unique opportunity and set a goal to help 50 million students become more financially literate, capable, and confident by 2030.”
Financial education should be required at every school.
Intuit has been powering prosperity globally for the past 40 years and is committed to increasing household savings rates and small businesses’ success rates. On an ongoing basis, Intuit is introducing innovative new programs to provide students and schools with free personal finance and entrepreneurial education resources. We have a unique opportunity to help today’s students become the most financially empowered generation in history. Ontario’s recent changes to the curriculum is a major step forward, but more needs to be done nationally to ensure we’re preparing our young people to enter adulthood with the financial knowledge and confidence needed to own their financial futures.
Intuit Financial Education survey methodology
Intuit conducted a 10-minute quantitative survey among 1007 nationally representative Canadian high school students aged 13-19. Participants for the research were sourced from the Leger Opinion online panel, with demographic quotas in place to ensure the sample’s composition reflected that of the target population according to the latest census parameters.