Blog U.

Allow me to generalize.

Teachers are decent people doing valued work. But they suck at money. They spend everything they earn. Savings are microscopic. Any disposable income is shoved at a mortgage. They like nice shoes and cars with stick shifts. Plus, children. And travel. Lots of travel.

Some of this hedonism might be the result of enjoying far more time off than most working grunts in this northern paradise. In Ontario for example, the school year is comprised of just 194 days. In other words, there are 171 days of no school. Also free are two weeks at Christmas, a week in March, six other school stat holidays and (naturally) every other Friday for ‘professional development.’ (In fairness, teachers – the good ones, anyway – put in a lot of hours preparing for and recovering from classes.)

But, mostly it’s the pension. Having a DB plan (defined benefit, in which retirement income is pre-determined and assured) really messes with your head. Teachers all seem to believe RRSPs are bad, since they might increase retirement taxes, and that they need not save nor invest due to hefty paycheque deductions. A teacher’s pension has turned into a pass for financial responsibility. In other words, is it any wonder few people in the educational system teach money skills or that it’s less important than, say, gender self-identification?

Enough generalizing. Here’s Chris from Chilliwack, a blog dog and educator who seems intent on changing things. He needs your help.

I’m a business teacher and would like to teach my students more about personal finance and am looking for accessible resources.  I am offering a new course for grade 9/10 students and so far my topics will include (in no particular order)

1.  Basic math review (percent, fractions, time, and money)
2. Payroll and calculating gross pay, deductions and net pay
3. Calculating and filing Income tax
4. Basic economics – supply & demand, needs vs wants
5. Entrepreneurship – Marketing mix, B/E analysis, presenting basic business ideas in a Dragons Den style format using community business owners as guest speakers, judges and mentors
6. Accounting
7. Personal budgeting – budgeting, interest rates (simple and compound) getting a loan and mortgage, and choosing a bank /bank account.
8. Online stock market simulator (Investopedia)

Chris is better suited than most of his scholastic profligates to attempt this. His background is banking, and he’s already tried this once before, throwing books like ‘Poor Dad’ and ‘Wealthy Barber’ at the kids. Mixed results, he reports. So…

“Do you have any suggestions?   I can get funding for a class set of the right paper resource, or on line access is a possibility as well. I am thinking of renaming the course – “Things I wish I learned when I was that age”!  Any questions, comments or concerns are appreciated!”

About the same time he was communicating with me, the latest borrowing numbers came out. Brutal. We’re so pooched.

Household debt has hit a new record at 178.5% of what people earn. The truly scary part is that while real estate values tumble, monthly debt payments are up 4.5% but wages have grown just 2.5%. Yes, that’s right – disposable income is going down at the same time net worth declines. And did I even mention the carbon tax? The fact we overbought and overleveraged houses is coming back to bite us in the rump.

Canada vs US household debt. Oh, my.

So maybe we should teach kids how, and where, to buy properties. Or that renting is perfectly okay. Or what amortization means and how TNL@TB is actually a wily seductress. And what about ‘investing’ in education, racking up giant gobs of debt to achieve degrees with no commercial use. Is that smart? After all, it’s the apprentice plumber tooling around in a C-class coupe while the Ph.D. barrista lobbies for $15 an hour. Or GICs? When 80% of the money in TFSAs sits in vehicles generating less interest than inflation, don’t we need some serious schooling? Taxes? Nah, don’t get me started.

Anyway, this guy wants your help. Chilliwack is calling. Children are going ignorant.

What do you wish you’d learned when you were a snippy little hormone?