Training/Toolkits – Prosper Canada Learning Hub

Financial literacy courses for Canadian students

Teachers may incorporate two gamified financial literacy courses that are currently freely available into their lessons.

Students can now access two age-appropriate courses designed to help boost students' financial knowledge and confidence at any stage of their financial journey.

Course titles:

Money Management Foundations* (Grades 6 - 12)
- Money Management and Budgeting
Money Management After High School* (Grades 9 - 12)
- Managing My Money After High School

Students will explore resources and tools on the FCAC website that they will be able to use well beyond high school.

*Students can earn a completion certificate issued by the FCAC and ChatterHigh!

Cyber security & fraud prevention learning guide

Banks take fraud very seriously and have highly sophisticated security systems and teams of experts to protect you from financial fraud. As a banking customer, there are also simple steps you can take to recognize cyber crime and protect your personal information and your money. Educating yourself, your family and your employees about cyber safety can seem overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be that complicated and the CBA has developed a learning path to help.

Cyber security toolkit

There are also simple steps you can take to recognize cyber threats and protect yourself. With a cyber hygiene checklist and tips on how to spot common scams, the CBA’s Cyber Security Toolkit can help you protect against online financial fraud.

Let’s talk money- seniors edition

Open, honest conversations about money are one of the keys to building a healthy relationship with your family, across the generations.

With a little preparation, talking about financial matters can help build trust, deepen connections, relieve stress and lead to greater peace of mind.

Yet for many people, these conversations can be difficult. In some families, money is just not something you talk about. The same applies to wills, inheritances, senior living, end-of-life care and many more topics that matter most to seniors.

Let's Talk About Money: Seniors' Edition -- wants to help you change that. There are tips to help parents talk with adult children and tips for adult children to have meaningful money conversations their parents.

The most important thing is to have these conversations early, before there’s a crisis. So let's start talking.

Fraud Prevention Toolkits

In 2021, losses reported to the Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre reached an all time high of 379 million with Canadian losses accounting for 275 million of this. Fraud Prevention Month is a campaign held each March to inform and educate the public on protecting yourself from being a victim of fraud.

This year's theme is impersonation, and focuses on scams where fraudsters will claim to be government official, critical infrastructure companies, and even law enforcement officials.

This collection of fraud prevention toolkits is available in English and French.

In English:

En Français:

Personnes d’âge moyen

Jeunes Adultes

Entreprises

RESPs and education incentives for children in care – toolkit for public primary caregivers

The Canada Education Savings Program (CESP) recently developed a Toolkit for Public Primary Caregivers to help child welfare organizations open Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) and access the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) for children in care.

Most children in care automatically qualify for the CLB, but too many of them are missing out on the CLB. As public primary caregivers in receipt of the Children’s Special Allowance, most child welfare organizations can open RESPs and request the CLB for children in their care.

The Toolkit explains the process for accessing federal education savings incentives from the perspective of a public primary caregiver. It explains how to get Social Insurance Numbers for children in care, how to open and manage an RESP, what to do with the account when a child is adopted or ages out of care, and how to access the money when the youth enrols in post-secondary education. It also includes an infographic for quick reference.

Le Programme canadien pour l'épargne-études (PCEE) a récemment élaboré une Trousse d’outils pour les responsables publics pour aider les organismes de protection de l'enfance à ouvrir des régimes enregistrés d'épargne-études (REEE) et à accéder au Bon d'études canadien (BEC) pour les enfants pris en charge.

La plupart des enfants pris en charge sont automatiquement admissibles au BEC, mais trop d'entre eux ne bénéficient pas du BEC. En tant que responsables publics recevant l'allocation spéciale pour enfants, la plupart des organismes de protection de l'enfance peuvent ouvrir des REEE et demander le BEC pour les enfants dont ils ont la charge.

EDSC_EnfantsPrisEnCharge_REEETroussedoutils.pdf explique le processus d'accès aux incitatifs fédéraux à l'épargne-études du point de vue d'un responsable public. Elle explique comment obtenir un numéro d'assurance sociale pour les enfants pris en charge, comment ouvrir et gérer un REEE, ce qu'il faut faire avec le compte lorsque l'enfant est adopté ou cesse d'être pris en charge, et comment accéder à l'argent lorsque le jeune s'inscrit à des études postsecondaires. Il comprend également une infographie pour une consultation rapide.

Learn the 101 of financial literacy

Global Learning Partners: Connecting Virtually: A Toolkit for Success

Global Learning Partners (GLP) helps individuals and organizations to learn by providing practical expertise in learning assessment, design, facilitation and evaluation.

Their connecting virtually toolkit covers a variety of topics to learn, teach and connect in a virtual world. The resources include ways to engage the whole person, hosting online meetings that work, teaching online and managing work, staff and kids at home.

Momentum’s Money Management Courses

Momentum is a change-making organization that acts as a bridge by taking an economic approach to poverty reduction and adding a social perspective to economic development initiatives.

Our programs are holistic, covering everything from financial literacy, entrepreneurship and employment training, to developing communication skills, building self-confidence and establishing positive social networks.

Our work is focused in the following 3 areas:

Programs and services for people that are living on low incomes to increase their ability to manage and save money, train for and maintain good jobs, or start a business. Built on the sustainable livelihoods model, Momentum’s programs work to build livelihood assets—connections, sense of self, basics needs and services, skills and knowledge, and finances—that lead to increased income and assets, and ultimately an exit from poverty.
Support to communities and businesses to build and sustain the local economy from the ground up through Community Economic Development education and resources.
Community leadership working with community partners, academics, civil servants and elected officials to support innovative systems-change approaches to poverty reduction, promote best-practices through evaluation and research, and influence public policies to remove barriers and allow people to be more financially stable.

Check out our on demand money management workshops

Helping low-income clients retire successfully- Free Course

Financial planners and advisors want to better the lives of the people they work with, but may not know that conventional retirement advice often doesn’t work for low-income retirees.

Getting it right when every dollar counts

The advice that works well for higher- and middle-income clients can work against lower-income retirees – meaning they lose out on government benefits and must live on less, even though every dollar counts when you’re living on a low income. That’s why there’s a new CE-accredited course available at no charge for anyone who wants to learn how to help low-income retirees plan for and make the most of their retirement income. Although the course was developed for financial advisors and planners, it is open and available to all.

Learn from seasoned experts

Based on the work of John Stapleton of Open Policy Ontario and developed by Certified Financial Planner professional Alexandra Macqueen, the course is hosted and was accredited by Business Career College, a We Know Training brand and a leader in training for the financial services and insurance industries.

The course includes:

● Accreditation for 5.5 CE credits with FP Canada, Advocis, and IIROC
● Working knowledge of the government benefits programs available to low-income retirees
● A look at the savings and investing options available to low-income retirees and how to optimize client situations
● Guidance about the impact of earned income and taxes on low-income retirees
● A series of case studies, plus recorded conversations with financial planners about how planning for low-income retirees works in practice

To take the course:

1. Go to www.businesscareercollege.com
2. Either sign in (if you have an account) or Sign Up (near the top right) to create a free account. You'll then have to "Create Learner Account."
3. Once logged in, there is a yellow button near the top right of the screen called "Enrolment Key." Click here and provide the Enrolment Key retiring-on-low-income-indigo-2771 (an exact copy and paste is probably ideal)

Learn about your taxes (free CRA online course)

A free online course to learn about personal income taxes in Canada, developed by the Canada Revenue Agency.

Contents include:

Starting to work: Why you need a social insurance number (SIN), when to fill out a TD1 form, and what’s on your pay stub and T4 slip.
Preparing to do your taxes: Find out what you’ll need to know before doing your taxes and the different ways to do them.
Completing a basic tax return: An introduction to a basic income tax and benefit return. What you need to report, how to claim deductions and tax credits, and finding out whether you will get a refund or owe tax.

Additional resources for teachers and facilitators are available.

P4P Planning Network Resource Hub

The P4P Planning Network was launched by Partners for Planning to support relatives, friends, or caregivers of a person with a disability with planning resources and tools. Resources on relationship building, school transitions, community involvement, financial objectives and more are shared and continuously updated on the website.

Their Early Planning Toolkit includes an action guide, a checklist to help identify ways to build an everyday childhood while planning for the future and webcasts.

Early Planning Toolkit

A toolkit for parents/caregivers with a child with a disability ages 2 to 10, containing:

An everyday childhood action guide
Early planning priorities for parents with a child with a disability (upcoming webcast)
Accessing financial resources for a young child with a disability (upcoming webcast)
Early planning checklist

Practitioner tools for navigating financial exchanges with family and friends

Financial educators are particularly aware of the prevalence of these types of financial arrangements – otherwise known as family financial exchanges (FFEs). To support practitioners helping clients through these often sensitive conversations about these arrangements, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau released the Friends and Family Exchanges Toolkit , a four-part guide for coaching clients in asking for financial help or changing an existing agreement due to their own financial hardship.

National Indigenous History Month 2021

In June, we commemorate National Indigenous History Month 2021 to recognize the history, heritage and diversity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in Canada.

The Crow-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada website contains resources on Indigenous history, promotional and educational materials, and information on how the Government of Canada is responding to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission's Calls to Action.

Guaranteed Income Community of Practice resources

The Guaranteed Income Community of Practice (GICP) convenes guaranteed income stakeholders, including policy experts, researchers, community and program leaders, funders, and elected officials to learn and collaborate on guaranteed income pilots, programs and policy.

The GICP website includes resources on:

GICP fact sheets and briefs
video curriculum
program design resources
task force reports and agendas
program evaluations and income research
literature reviews
policy, books, articles, films

Living your retirement

These resources from the Ontario Securities Commission are oriented towards planning for retirement. Resources include tips on insurance planning, government benefits, RRSP calculator, and more.

Introduction to Indigenous Peoples’ cultures online course

This free, on-demand, introductory course provides learners with insight into the history of First Nations, Métis and Inuit Peoples; an understanding of the devastation of colonialism on Indigenous communities and economies from an Indigenous perspective and how it is critical to reconciliation; and how culturally sensitive health care models help inform how accounting and finance education can be inclusive and supportive.

This course was developed to provide the writers and facilitators of CPA education programs, cases and examinations with insight, knowledge and skills to better understand the perspectives of Indigenous students, to help support their success. It will provide all learners with a valuable introduction into the deep cultural and historical foundations upon which the future prosperity of Indigenous communities must be built.

CFPB Consumer Education Resources

Resources to provide consumers up-to-date information to protect and manage their finances during the coronavirus pandemic. Resources include:

mortgage and housing assistance
managing your finances
student loans
avoiding scams

And resources for specific audiences, including:

older adults & their families
parents & kids
people experiencing homelessness

San’yas Indigenous Cultural Safety Training

Cultural safety is about fostering a climate where the unique history of Indigenous peoples is recognized and respected in order to provide appropriate care and services in an equitable and safe way, without discrimination.

This website includes information about the San’yas: Indigenous Cultural Safety Training Program delivered by the Provincial Health Services Authority of British Columbia.

Self-care for frontline practitioners: Challenges and Strategies

As practitioners continue to deliver important client-centred services during the COVID-19 pandemic, this can be accompanied by feelings of burnout or compassion fatigue. It can be helpful to establish or renew your practice of self-care, fostering your own physical and mental health during trying times.

In this one-hour webinar, mental health educator, Rebecca Higgins will guide audience participants to identify challenges and strategies to developing a self-care practice or build further on existing practices. Participants will be guided through an activity to take inventory of their self-care practices to access supports and personal sense of purpose in their work.

Hosted by Prosper Canada on behalf of the ABLE Steering Committee. Visit ablefinancialempowerment.org for a full list of upcoming events in the series.

Handouts, slides, and time-stamps

Read the presentation slides for this webinar.

Click ‘Get it’ above for video link for this webinar.

Handout: Implementing a practice of self-care

Tax Credit Outreach Resources

The Get It Back Campaign helps eligible workers in the United States claim tax credits and use free tax filing assistance to maximize tax time. A project of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the Campaign partners with community organizations, businesses, government agencies, and financial institutions to conduct outreach nationally. For 30 years, these partnerships have connected lower and moderate-income workers to tax benefits like the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Tax Credit (CTC), and Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA).

Their website contain a variety of outreach materials that can be adapted for your organization, including:

Get Smarter About Money: Financial Literacy 101 videos

GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca is an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) website that provides unbiased and independent financial tools to help you make better financial decisions. This series of videos covers different financial literacy topics., including:

What is an RRSP?
What is a TFSA?
What is a mutual fund?
Why open an RRSP?
What is an RESP?

Tax Prep Dispatch: Alternative Service Delivery Tips!

Tips and considerations for providing alternative tax filing service delivery.

Tax Prep Dispatch: The Drop-Off Process

Considerations and best practices for drop-off and virtual tax filing services.

Virtual VITA Toolkit: Program Strategies

Program strategies grounded in an understanding of your community can increase the likelihood of engagement and follow-through. The following resources are intended to support VITA programs with implementation strategies at key program stages, like outreach and intake, and offer examples of how other virtual VITA programs have addressed critical challenges.

2019 Financial Coaching Network Bi-Monthly Peer Call Series

These calls, featuring guest practitioners, cover a variety of topics most pressing to the financial coaching field, provide useful tips and resources and serve as a peer-learning platform.

Topics include:

Financial Coaching Program Design Guide
(2/28) - The Role of Financial Technology in Addressing Racial Economic Inequality (Recording)
(2/28) - The Role of Financial Technology in Addressing Racial Economic Inequality (Slides)
(4/18) - Core Competencies for Financial Coaches: Navigating Identity Differences (Recording)
(4/18) - Core Competencies for Financial Coaches: Navigating Identity Differences (Slides)
(6/27) - Supporting Coaches (Recording)
(6/27) - Supporting Coaches (Slides)
(10/17) - New Brief On the Frontlines lifts up Coaches’ Perspectives (Recording)
(10/17) - New Brief On the Frontlines lifts up Coaches’ Perspectives (Slides)
(12/16) - Building Organizational Capacity to Serve People with Disabilities (Recording)
(12/16) - Building Organizational Capacity to Serve People with Disabilities (Slides)

Colour of Poverty – Colour of Change

There is a growing "colour-coded" inequity and disparity in Ontario that has resulted in an inequality of learning outcomes, of health status, of employment opportunity and income prospects, of life opportunities, and ultimately of life outcomes. Colour of Poverty-Colour of Change believes that it is only by working together that we can make the needed change for all of our shared benefit

These fact sheets provide data to help understand the racialization of poverty in Ontario.

Momentum’s Money Management Courses

The money management courses are offered online, on demand, for free. Learn at your own pace and on your own schedule on a variety of topics, including:

budgeting
credit
assets
banking
consumerism
education savings

10: A Guide for a Community-Based COVID-19 Recovery

Our cities and communities are where people live. It is here we see the effects of public policy and it is here where we will address the issues that matter most to Canadians. The choices made today will impact Canada’s recovery from COVID-19. If we want a future where our cities are thriving, we need to work together to achieve a collective community-based response. We are all in this together and it will take all of us in a community to find our way through.

If you are a community leader, such as a mayor, an elected official, a business leader, a community activist, or a concerned citizen, this guide was written for you. We created it to be accessible and easy to use, with five sections and links to resources throughout.

COVID-19 Fraud Alerts

GetSmarterAboutMoney.ca is an Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) website that provides unbiased and independent financial tools to help you make better financial decisions. This series of videos increases awareness of fraudulent activity during COVID-19. Topic include:

Pump-and-dump scams
Fake government messages
Warnings about your finances
Work from home scams
Signs of investment fraud
Quick high-return schemes

Questions and answers about filing your taxes

Questions and answers released by the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) about filing your taxes, including information on:

Prior to filing your tax return
- changing your address
- getting someone else permission to access your tax information
- getting free tax help
Filing your tax return
- deadline to file your taxes
- common mistakes people make on their taxes
- what is a non-refundable tax credit
Digital services available to file your tax return
After filing your tax return
- when you can expect a refund
- how long you should keep receipts or records
- what to do if you cannot pay your balance owing

Stop Overpaying, Start Switching

In the past year, 1 in 4 Canadians surveyed renegotiated their contracts or switched providers to take advantage of better deals and services.

This webpage provides information on switching or renegotiating your contract to reduce your monthly bills and get better products and services.

Bien choisir son crédit : un guide pratique [A Practical Guide to Making Smart Credit Choices]

A guide comprised of 12 fact sheets for consumers to learn more about credit, grouped into the following topics: general information, warnings, credit products, and comparison tables. (Please note this is a French-language resource.)

Connecting to Reimagine: Money & COVID-19 webinar series

This webinar series released by the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) features speakers from the public, private, and academic sectors.

Past and upcoming webinar topics include:

Navigating Retirement Security Through a Pandemic
Financial Literacy and Wellness Among Women
Financial Fragility During the Pandemic: The Path Forward
Optimizing National Strategies for Financial Education
Crafting Policies that Address Inequality in Saving, Wealth, and Economic Opportunities
Investor Knowledge and Behaviors in Times of Crisis
Increasing Financial Knowledge for Better Rebuilding
Designing an Inclusive Recovery
Millennials: Buttressing a Generation at Risk

COVID-19: Exclusive resources for service provider heroes

Families Canada is the national association of Family Support Centres. With a network of 500+ member agencies and thousands of frontline family service workers across Canada, they committed to providing leadership and support in the campaign for Canada’s children.

Families Canada has compiled resources for service providers to support families during COVID-19.

Financial Literacy Month – 10th anniversary Resources

For the 10th anniversary of Financial Literacy Month in Canada, Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) has released resources to help Canadians learn how to manage their finances in challenging times.

Resources include the following topics:

Keep track of your money
Minimize debt
Reassess financial goals
Protect yourself against financial fraud
Set up an emergency fund
Understand financial products and services

COVID-19 Resources for people with disabilities

National Disability Institute (NDI)'s Financial Resilience Center offers resources and assistance to help those with disabilities and chronic health conditions navigate financially through the COVID-19 crisis.

Resource topics include:

Information on the COVID-19 stimulus
Employment and unemployment
Public benefits
Managing money
Housing, food and healthcare
Scams

Real Money, Real Experts Podcasts

Real Money, Real Experts is a personal finance podcast written and produced by AFCPE (Association for Financial Counseling & Planning Education). Their membership community offers a place for financial counsellors and financial fitness coaches to share best practices, solve similar struggles, and access tools and resources.

Recent episodes include the following topics:

Economic Self-Sufficiency: How Financial Professionals Support Individuals with Disabilities
Empowering Communities after COVID-19
Where Race & Gender Intersect: Why the Wealth Gap is Widening and How to Help

COVID-19 Financial Resilience Hub

The Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) focuses on financial literacy research, policy, and solutions.

This toolkit contains suggestions and resources for managing personal finances and protection against the financial emergencies caused by COVID-19.

National Strategies for Financial Education: OECD/INFE Policy Handbook

Financial education has become an important complement to market conduct and prudential regulation and improving individual financial behaviours a long-term policy priority in many countries. The OECD and its International Network on Financial Education (INFE) conducts research and develops tools to support policy makers and public authorities to design and implement national strategies for financial education.

This handbook provides an overview of the status of national strategies worldwide, an analysis of relevant practices and case studies and identifies key lessons learnt. The policy handbook also includes a checklist for action, intended as a self-assessment tool for governments and public authorities.

OECD/INFE Toolkit for measuring financial literacy and financial inclusion

The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is an international organisation establishes evidence-based international standards and finding solutions to a range of social, economic and environmental challenges.

The OECD/INFE Toolkit includes a financial literacy questionnaire that captures the financial literacy of diverse populations, first piloted in 2010. In 2015/16 around 40 countries and economies participated in an international survey of adult financial literacy competencies; using data collected using this toolkit.

The OECD/INFE financial literacy and financial inclusion measurement toolkit incorporates:

Methodological guidance.
A questionnaire designed to capture information about financial behaviour, attitudes and knowledge, in order to assess levels of financial literacy and financial inclusion.
A list of the questions included in the questionnaire, and information about whether they will be used to create core financial literacy scores used in previous OECD reports (Annex A).
Guidance on how to create the financial literacy scores (Annex A).
Guidance on briefing interviewers (Annex B) and discussion around online surveys (Annex C).
A checklist for countries wishing to submit data to the OECD (Annex D).

Managing Financial Health in Challenging Times

Managing financial health is difficult during ordinary times—and especially so in challenging times like the ones we're currently facing. Guest speaker RuthAnne Corley, the Senior Stakeholder Engagement Officer with the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC), discusses how to manage your financial health despite external challenges.

RuthAnne joined FCAC in 2015 where she’s been instrumental in the development of Canada’s "National Strategy for Financial Literacy - Count me in, Canada" and its implementation. Prior to joining FCAC in 2015, RuthAnne managed stakeholder engagement and outreach activities at numerous federal departments and agencies.

Budgeting resources webinar

This webinar hosted by Credit Canada features guest expert Prosper Canada's Manager of Learning and Training, Glenna Harris. She shares some of their tried-and-true resources to help get people started on budgeting and debt management.

She also provides a new tool - Financial Relief Navigator - that can help connect people with income supports they might be eligible for.

Pressure Creates Diamonds: Money Management During Coronavirus

The town hall with CFPB Director Kraninger and Pro Linebacker Brandon Copeland includes steps, and tools to help people plan and persevere during financial challenges.

The page also includes access to free resources on a number of topics including mortgage help, dealing with student loans, paying bills, building savings and more.

COVID-19 financial literacy resources

CPA Canada has put together resources to help manage your finances and provide you with the tools you need during this crisis – and beyond.

Four Actions That Can Hurt Credit Scores

During the Four Actions that Can Hurt Credit Scores webinar, you'll learn about:

Key events which can bring down credit scores
How collections are reported to credit bureaus and how long they affect scores
What can happen to credit scores when you apply for too much credit in a short amount of time

Their guest speaker is Julie Kuzmic, the Director of Consumer Advocacy at Equifax Canada, and a recognized authority on consumer credit. In her role leading consumer advocacy within the organization, Julie helps Canadians build credit confidence.

The Institute for Gender and the Economy

The Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) at the Rotman School of Management promotes an understanding of gender inequalities and how they can be remedied – by people of all genders – in the world of business and, more broadly, in the economy.

Resources including research brief, videos and articles are presented on COVID-19 and inequality, the gender wage gap, parental leave and more.

Human Insights Tools & Resources

Human insights are used when designing programs and improving services through understanding clients’ hidden preferences, environment factors and behaviors. The Human Insights Tools from Prosperity Now are intended to take you through the process of discovering opportunities for innovation from clients’ point of view, designing solutions to meet those needs, and testing your ideas to ensure they bring about the needed change.

Tools and resources are presented for each of the discover, design, and test phases.

Disability Alliance BC

Disability Alliance BC supports people in British Columbia with disabilities through direct services, community partnerships, advocacy, research and publications.

Their website provides information on disability benefits including the Disability Tax Credit (DTC), CPP Disability, Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP) and more.

Plan Institute Learning Centre

The Plan Institute Learning Centre presents workshops, webinars, publications and other resources for individuals and/or families of a person with a disability, support-care workers, and organizations.

Data literacy training

Statistics Canada presents a learning catalogue to share knowledge on data literacy. Data literacy is the ability to derive meaningful information from data. It focuses on the competencies involved in working with data including the knowledge and skills to read, analyze, interpret, visualize and communicate data as well as understand the use of data in decision-making.

Their aim is to provide learners with information on the basic concepts and skills with regard to a range of data literacy topics. The training is aimed at those who are new to data or those who have some experience with data but may need a refresher or want to expand their knowledge.

Helping Consumers Claim their Economic Impact Payment: A guide for intermediary organizations

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) released a guide to assist intermediaries in serving individuals to access their Economic Impact Payments (EIPs). The guide, Helping Consumers Claim the Economic Impact Payment: A guide for intermediary organizations , provides step-by-step instructions for frontline staff on how to:

Discuss the EIP with their clients
Determine if clients need to take action
Support clients with what to expect and how to troubleshoot common issues

Set a Goal: What to Save For

America Saves, a campaign managed by the nonprofit Consumer Federation of America, motivates, encourages, and supports low- to moderate-income households to save money, reduce debt, and build wealth.

Information and tips for setting a savings goal, making a savings plan, how to save automatically, and other tools and resources are included.

Serving Individuals With Disabilities – A Day in the Life of an American Job Center

The Disability and Employment eLearning Task Force in collaboration with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released three eLearning Training Modules to help support the professional development needs of the workforce development staff across the United States.

The first module provide tools and resources to support front-line American Job Center staff effectively serve customers with disabilities, covering strategies for effective communication and interaction with individuals with disabilities.

Global Learning Partners: Shareable Resources

Global Learning Partners (GLP) helps individuals and organizations to learn by providing practical expertise in learning assessment, design, facilitation and evaluation.

Their shareable resources cover a variety of topics in learning, taking a learning-centered approach, including: Learning Design, Needs Assessment, Facilitation, Evaluation, and others.

Webinar series on remote program delivery

A series of webinars hosted by ABC Life Literacy Canada to support literacy practitioners across the country to implement remote program delivery.

Topics include:

How to Use Zoom & Google Meet (formerly Google Hangouts)
How to Use WhatsApp & FaceTime
How to Use Skype & GoToWebinar
Tips for remote delivery of ABC workshops
Community Webinar: Adapting Programs to a Changing Landscape
Activate Learning

Imagine Canada pre-budget consultation toolkit

The House of Commons Finance Committee recently released its call for pre-budget consultation briefs as the government considers its policy priorities for the 2021 federal budget.

This toolkit created by Imagine Canada provides information on the reasons to submit a pre-budget consultation brief as well as tips on how to do so.

A Pandemic Response and Recovery Toolkit for Homeless System Leaders in Canada

The Pandemic Response and Recovery Toolkit is intended to assist System Leaders plan and navigate the next steps in their community’s response and recovery as it pertains to people experiencing homelessness and people supported in housing programs. The Toolkit outlines phases and action steps – many that have yet to be mobilized - to help with planning, implementation and evaluation of pandemic response and recovery activities in communities. Furthermore, it contains a compendium of resources to help System Leaders along the way.

This could be a time of doom and gloom. But there is a silver lining. With innovation and the courage to capitalize on emerging opportunities, the homelessness response and housing support system may emerge from this situation stronger and better than before the pandemic hit. It is possible that we can achieve Recovery for All.

Building financial capability through financial coaching: A guide for community colleges

This guide was created to be a resource for community college educators, staff, and administrators interested in implementing financial coaching as a way to empower students to build money management skills and make healthy financial decisions. Strategies for integrating financial coaching into a variety of services that can be offered to students in a community college setting are offered. A step-by-step toolkit for implementing financial coaching services, along with recommendations, best practices, and resources is also provided.

COVID-19: Managing financial health in challenging times

This guide from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada shares guidelines and financial tips to help Canadians during COVID-19. The topics include: getting through a financial emergency, where to ask questions or voice concerns, what to do if your branch closes, and more.

How to use your tax refund to build your emergency savings

If you file your taxes in the United States, you can learn how your tax return can kickstart your savings. This guide from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau walks you through some fast and easy ways to use your tax refund to increase your savings.

This guide covers multiple topics including: why save your tax return, how to save money fast, affordable ways to file your taxes, and how to protect yourself from tax fraud.

Smarter Financial Education: Key lessons from behavioural insights for financial literacy initiatives

This publication presents key findings for financial education, drawn from the IOSCO/OECD joint report “The Application of Behavioural Insights to Financial Literacy and Investor Education Programmes and Initiatives”. It gives a short overview of the ways in which behavioural insights are relevant for financial education and then summarises five key lessons that policy makers can follow, illustrated with the experiences of OECD/INFE members.

Canada Education Savings Program: Choosing the right RESP

This printable brochure from the Government of Canada explains the key details you need to know when choosing a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) for your child's education savings.

Canada Education Savings Program: Frequently Asked Questions

This fact sheet from the Government of Canada answers Frequently Asked Questions about the Canada Education Savings Plan. This includes details about the Canada Learning Bond, the Canada Education Savings Grant, and Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs).

Video: Debt collection scams

Dealing with debt collection issues can be challenging—especially when you’re not sure if the person you’re being contacted by is a legitimate debt collector or someone trying to scam you. This video from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the United States shares useful tips on spotting debt collection scams and protecting yourself from scammers.

Introducing Savings

Giving Savings Advice

This is one video in a series of videos catered to Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program volunteers on how to introduce the savings conversation to tax filers during the tax filing process. This video shows what the savings conversation could look like at a specific point in the tax preparation process: when entering dependent information. The video also includes examples of commonly heard reasons tax filers give for not wanting to save, and possible responses.

Talking About Savings

Introduction to Program Evaluation for Public Health Programs: A Self-Study Guide

This document is a “how to” guide for planning and implementing evaluation activities. The manual, based on Centers for Disease Control and Preventions's Framework for Program Evaluation in Public Health, is intended to assist managers and staff of public, private, and community public health programs to plan, design, implement and use comprehensive evaluations in a practical way.

Coaching and Philanthropy: An Action Guide for Nonprofits

The Coaching and Philanthropy Project was created by CompassPoint in collaboration with Grantmakers for Effective Organizations, BTW informing change and Leadership. This guide uses the data collected during the project to answer a few questions including: What is coaching? How can coaching contribute to my development as a nonprofit leader? What kind of coaching is right for me and my organization? How much is coaching? to assess and advance coaching as a strategy for building effective nonprofit organizations.

compasspoint - coaching and philanthrophy guide

Money Circle toolkit

Financial decisions are influenced by our own personal feelings and attitudes around money, and by the feelings, attitudes, and actions by our family and friends. This CFPB toolkit offers financial education practitioners three tools (Money Choices, Money Styles, and Money Network), each with a brief, interactive exercise, to initiate conversations about the feelings and personal relationships that shape financial choices.

It pays to plan for a child’s education

This fact sheet from ESDC explains how to open an RESP and access the Canada Learning Bond.

Protecting vulnerable clients: A practical guide for the financial services industry

Firms and representatives in the financial services industry occasionally encounter situations where a client’s vulnerability causes the client to make decisions that are contrary to his or her financial interests, needs or objectives or that leave him or her exposed to potential financial mistreatment.

Because of the relationships they develop with their clients and the knowledge they acquire about clients’ financial needs or objectives over time, firms and representatives in the financial sector can play a key role in helping people who are in a vulnerable situation protect their financial well-being. They are instrumental in preventing and detecting financial mistreatment among consumers of financial services. Firms and representatives can also help clients experiencing financial mistreatment get the assistance they need.

This guide proposes possible courses of action to protect vulnerable clients. Its purpose is to provide financial sector participants with guidance on the steps they can take to help protect clients’ financial well-being, prevent and detect financial mistreatment, and assist clients who are experiencing this type of mistreatment.

Video: Additional CPP

This short video from the Canadian Pension Plan Investment Board explains the new additional Canada Pension Plan (CPP).

Managing spending: Ideas for financial educators

As financial educators know, making day-to-day decisions on spending money is one of the biggest challenges consumers face in keeping their financial lives in order. Many people find it difficult to manage their household finances on a daily basis, let alone over the long term.

This brief from the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection identifies a few ideas to explore causes of over-spending and ideas to help prevent it.

Financial Resources for End of Life

Tout Bien Calcule

Pour souligner leurs 50 ans d’histoire, les Associations de consommateurs du Québec s’unissent pour offrir à la population québécoise un portail qui rassemble toute une gamme d’informations et d’outils développés au fil des années grâce à leur expertise en finances personnelles.

Cette porte d’entrée donne accès à des services spécialisés en finances personnelles offerts par les associations, propose des outils adaptés, et à travers les différentes sections, offre une information claire, objective et critique afin de vous guider vers de meilleurs choix de consommation et une meilleure santé financière.

VITA Volunteer Training Platform

This is Prosperity Now’s Taxpayer Opportunity Network VITA Volunteer Training platform, designed to help VITA volunteers (in the United States) train and become certified to provide free tax preparation services. These resources can provide a complete training or supplement the training offered by your VITA site.

This training platform contains twelve (12) modules to prepare you to pass the IRS Volunteer Standards of Conduct, Intake, Interview and Quality Review, and Basic Volunteer Certification Tests. This resource is free and open to all VITA volunteers, program managers, site coordinators and others. Feel free to access and/or download as many of the materials as you’d like!

Indigenous Financial Literacy – AFOA 2014 Conference panel

This is the video recording of the AFOA 2014 Conference panel on Indigenous Financial Literacy. In this session, Liz Mulholland, Dr. Paulette Tremblay, Simon Brascoupe, and Darren Googoo discuss Indigneous financial wellness, financial literacy, and community education.

Debt and Consumer Rights: Credit repair

This educational brief from CLEO explains what a credit report is, and what to do if you want to fix your credit report or work with a credit repair agency.

The Little Black Book of Scams (2nd edition)

Scammers are sneaky and sly. They can target anyone, from youngsters to retirees. They can also target businesses. No one is immune to fraud.
Our group of superheroes has found a way to see through the scams. Their secret is simple: knowledge is power!

Read this booklet to find out how you can also become a fraud-fighting superhero. Share this booklet with family and friends and start powering up!

Your Money, Your Goals: Focus on People with Disabilities

This is a companion guide to the 'Your Money, Your Goals' curriculum by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) in the United States. This guide- Your Money, Your Goals: Focus on People with Disabilities—contains information, tips, and tools based on the insights from people with disabilities and from organizations that serve the disability community. It is based on the core philosophy that everyone has the right to control their money and make their own financial decisions.

Its specialized information and tools equip staff and volunteers to adapt training on and use of the toolkit and other resources to meet the needs of people with disabilities. It also includes information and tools to enable staff and volunteers to choose accessible locations, develop appropriate and considerate training activities, and plan to provide accommodations for diverse learning styles and other needs.

The Canada Learning Bond: What you need to know

This one-page fact sheet tells you everything you need to know to make your child's future possibilities grow!

The Canada Learning Bond (CLB) is a grant of $500 up to $2000 from the Government of Canada to eligible families to help with the cost of a child’s education after high school. It is deposited directly into a child’s Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP). Children born January 1, 2004 or later, whose family’s annual income is less than $46,000 can receive the CLB.

Activity sheet 4-10: Goals (Banking and financial services)

This activity sheet is from Module 4 of the Prosper Canada Financial Literacy Facilitator resources. Take a few minutes to how this workshop relates to your life, and set one or two goals for your use of banks and other financial services.

To view the full Financial Literacy Facilitator resources, click here.

Group RESP Educational Materials

This document explains the basics of group RESPs, including what they are, what they may cost, what you need to know about your group RESP if you are already enrolled in a plan, and how to figure out your options.

Debt and High Interest Resource Portal

This is ACORN Canada's debt and high-interest lending resource portal. It contains links and resources on debt, credit, banking, and other topics.

Your Money Seniors

Your Money Seniors is a financial literacy program for seniors. Modelled on the CBA’s highly successful Your Money Students program, this seminar program is offered in French and English, free of charge, to seniors’ groups across the country.

Your Money Seniors is presented by bankers in the community volunteering their time and expertise and covers how seniors can:

protect against financial abuse
spot the signs of financial fraud
make the most of their money in retirement

Update January 10, 2023: Year in review

Your Money Students

CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale Questionnaire

A financial well-being questionnaire developed by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

Using Design to Deepen Relationships in the Financial Sector

This publication reveals the outcomes of Bridgable's work with a federal credit union, cutting through their overwhelming number of offerings to better engage with their low-income members. It also discusses why agility is a better bet than digitization when it comes to our changing financial ecosystem. Finally, it will break down their approach to one of the most popular design methods today, the design sprint, and how it can produce results while also lowering risk. Note: This link will allow you to download the document from the Bridgeable website.