Reports/Articles – Prosper Canada Learning Hub

Empowering Futures: Boosting Girls’ Financial Confidence Through Gamified Learning – A Gender Equality Research Brief

From Clicks to Confidence: Using Quick Online Interventions to Increase Young Women’s Financial Confidence and Behaviours – A Gender Equality Research Brief

Unclaimed Benefits: Too many missing out on Old Age Security in Toronto

Credit Unions and Deposit Insurance

2024 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada

Benefits on the street: Increasing access to benefits for street-involved individuals and families

The CRA’s Indigenous Strategy 2024-2027

5 conversation starters to build better money habits

Technology-Facilitated Economic Abuse: Fact Sheet

A time for urgent action: The 2024 Repot of the National Advisory Council on Poverty

Credit Unions and Deposit Insurance

Understanding do-it-yourself (DIY) account holders

New data on household food insecurity in 2023

The New Wealth Agenda: A Blueprint for Building a Future of Inclusive Wealth

Artificial intelligence and investor behaviour

Developing an automatic enrolment model for the Canada Learning Bond

Fraud Long-haul scammers: Fraudsters who invest time to take your money

Six key takeaways from Welfare in Canada, 2023

Long-haul scammers: Fraudsters who invest time to take your money

How to manage financial stress and avoid burnout

Refund to Savings Canada Pilot Study Evaluation

Fair4All Finance’s Customer Engagement Support Guide

Increasing program uptake: practical ways that behavioural science can reduce barriers

National standards for emergency shelters across Canada

Understanding Financial Capability Interventions within Employment-Related Contexts for Adults with Low Incomes

Insights summary: Building financial wellness in First Nations

Closing the gap in tax filing and improving benefit access for under-served populations

Understanding disruptions in tax filing

The Benefits of Working with a CIRO Member

Where We Fit in the Canadian Securities Regulatory Framework

Seeking Financial Compensation?

Complaints Outside of CIRO’s Jurisdiction

The financialization of purpose-built rental housing

From Surviving to Thriving: Embedding a well-being framework into financial counselling practice

The many faces of financial elder abuse

Learning resources about First Nations, Inuit and Métis across Canada

The Value of Behaviorally-Informed Financial Advice Study

Trends in online banking and shopping

Momentum Savings Challenge Evaluation Summary

Intergenerational housing outcomes in Canada

The Reducing the Impact of Financial Strain (RIFS) project

How Best Buy Enabled a $1.5 Million Increase in Employee Emergency Savings

Do You Have to File Taxes Every Year in Canada?

Prosper Canada Learning Hub Digest

Learn about the Risk of Crypto Assets

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Investment Fraud

What to Do If You’re a Victim of Fraud

How to Protect Yourself Against Fraud and Scams

Why You Should Consider Appointing a Trusted Contact Person

3 Things You Should Never Do With Your Investment Advisor

Avoiding Fraud and Protecting Your Investments

Understanding Investment Performance / Returns

Interest Rates and How They Impact Your Finances

Navigating Finances: Paying Down Debt vs. Investing

Know Your Rights as An Investor

How to Read Your Account Statement and the Things to Focus on

Types of Investments and Types of Accounts

Indigenous peoples economic account, 2012 to 2021

Finding Right Relationship: Philanthropy and Native American Small Business

The Indigenous economy is worth $30 billion and climbing. Why aren’t investors getting more involved?

Rainy Days Don’t Retire: Older Adults, Financial Shocks and the Promise of Emergency Savings Tools

Wealth Inequality, Health and Health Equity: A think piece

Housing Need & Homelessness Amongst Gender-Diverse People in Canada

Motivations and barriers to seeking debt advice

How to Increase Credit Score: Proven Steps to Success

Housing in First Nations Communities

Trends in online banking and shopping

The B.C. pilot project that prevents affordable housing loss

Experiences of Financial Stress and Supports in Caregivers During Pediatric Hospital Admission

Financial Health Is Health: Addressing Acute and Chronic Financial Stress Across the Care Spectrum

OECD/INFE toolkit for measuring Financial Literacy and Financial Inclusion 2022

About Reaching Home: Canada’s Homelessness Strategy

Focus groups –Understanding Canadian investors

Final Report: Upholding dignity and human rights: the Federal Housing Advocate’s review of homeless encampments

How should the new Canada Disability Benefit interact with existing disability supports?

Canada’s Rental Landscape in 2023 Show Record-Low Vacancies and Affordability Concerns

Community Belonging: A way to end poverty in Canada

An unrecognized barrier to retirement income security: poor longevity literacy

Resourcing rights claimants: closing the gap to exercising the national housing strategy act

Journey to impact: unlocking purpose through social finance

The Gig Economy: What You Need to Know When Filing Taxes For Your Side Hustle

Dollars and sense: Achieving better financial literacy in 2024

Women’s Economic Empowerment: A Double-Edged Sword for Gender-Based Violence

Living for today at the expense of tomorrow

How weak rent regulations are failing to provide secure homes for renters in Canada

Increasing Access to Benefits for Peoples with Disabilities Project: Insights and recommendations

Seneca College: Report – Online assistance system for tax filing

Supporting Benefits Access: A blueprint for what is possible

Canadian crypto survey results for 2023

A Digital Canadian Dollar: What we heard 2020–23 and what comes next

The profound drop in Working Poverty in the Toronto Region

Why Communities Leave Money on the Table: The Struggles & Strategies of Tax Credit Outreach

Risks to Canada’s economy remain high as household debt levels continue to grow

Your guide to housing and mortgage support in Canada

Blueprint for Transformation: the 2023 Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty

How volatility affects your investments

The state of economic abuse in Canada

Inflation and your household budget

A case study: Community Volunteer Income Tax Program in 5 Municipalities of Grey Bruce

The new wealth agenda: A blueprint for building a future of inclusive wealth

SeedChange: Impact report 2022

Unfunded: Black communities overlooked by Canadian Philanthropy

Social policy implications for a less-cash society

The barriers we face: Newcomers and the financial markets

An intelligent Martian asks a question that we can’t answer

Canadians’ Financial Well-being: Summary of FCAC survey findings

Food Security Status of Indigenous Peoples in Canada According to the 4 Pillars of Food Security: A Scoping Review

Poverty persists among some racialized Canadians from the first generation to the third generation or more

Banking inclusion at work: How workplace banking can boost financial wellness

Study explores Canadian attitudes about Crypto

Advocating for change: The housing crisis in Canada

Highlights from a new study on the lifetime earnings growth of individuals with childhood-onset disabilities

Market basket measure research paper: Child care expenses

How to spot sketchy debt advice

Food insecurity: a problem of inadequate income, not solved by food

Effect of Canada Child Benefit on Food Insecurity: A Propensity Score-Matched Analysis

Household Food Insecurity in Canada

About Affordable Housing in Canada

Financial literacy, longevity, and retirement readiness

Financial Planning: A Pathway to Improved Financial Resilience

Distributions of household economic accounts for income, consumption, saving and wealth of Canadian households, first quarter 2023

Debt Advisory Marketplace / Consumer awareness

Building the case: poverty and food insecurity among working-age, single adults in Canada

Backgrounder: poverty and food insecurity in Canada

2023 Canadian Retirement Survey

Access to good, relevant, financial help is missing for those who need it most

Overspending and Mental Health: Your Guide to Improving Your Financial Health

What is risk tolerance in investing?

Inflation and your household budget

You worry about your family's physical, mental and spiritual health. You take care of yourself and make sure you and your family are healthy, safe and happy. Many people do not realize that you also need to be financially healthy.

Financial wellness is understanding and managing your own money. Money is a big way that others control and influence our lives. Sometimes we need to depend on others to give us money and tell us what to do with money. Opening a bank account, understanding where your money is coming from, and saving money will help you to become financially independent and financially healthy.

This report from The Native Women's Association of Canada covers the importance of financial health and has sections on financial information covering bank accounts, insurance, budgeting, saving, credit cards, car loans, income taxes and housing.

5 benefits of paying down debt with your tax refund

The average Canadian tax return amount in 2023 is $2,072 and that money can go a long way when it comes to meeting your financial goals.

But remember, this isn’t a cash windfall; it’s YOUR money that the government borrowed from you, so Credit Canada recommends using it for needs versus wants. More specifically, consider using it to help pay down your debt.

Credit scores and credit reporting in Canada

While your credit score is a number to quickly show how creditworthy you are, your credit report is more detailed. It covers your entire credit profile and includes information such as personal information, credit account (including credit cards, lines of credit, mortgages...), bankruptcies...

Watch this video by Scotiabank to learn what a credit score is and why it matters.

Then learn how to check your credit score for free in Canada.

You may also learn how borrowing can impact your credit score.

If you check your credit report and your credit score is low, follow these tips for how to help increase credit scores.

The multiplying movement: the state of the children’s savings field 2022

The Multiplying Movement: The State of the Children’s Savings Field 2022 shares findings from Prosperity Now’s 2022 Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program survey. The report highlights the incredible growth of the field with over 4.9 million children and youth with CSAs across the US. In addition, this report analyzes trends among CSA programs and spotlights new programs across the country. As you will see in the report, the CSA field shows no signs of slowing down.

Women living in subsidized housing in Canada

Using data primarily from the 2021 Canadian Housing Survey, this study applies a gender lens to examine the characteristics of Canadians living in subsidized housing. It examines the experiences of renters in subsidized housing and their satisfaction with their dwelling and neighbourhood, drawing comparisons with their counterparts living in non-subsidized rental housing.

Missing for those who need it most: Canada’s financial help gap

A new study by national charity Prosper Canada, undertaken with funding support from Co-operators, finds that Canadians with low incomes are increasingly financially vulnerable but lack access to the financial help they need to rebuild their financial health.

The report, shows that affordable, appropriate and trustworthy financial help for people with low incomes is a critical but missing piece in Canada's financial services landscape. People with low incomes are unlikely to find help when they need it to plan financially, develop and adhere to a budget, set and pursue saving goals, file their taxes outside of tax season, and access income benefits.

Executive summary: Canada's financial help gap

L’aide qui manque pour ceux qui en ont le plus besoin

Sommaire Exécutif: L’écart en matière d’aide financière au Canada

Threats and intimidation to pay your tax bill? How to spot tax season scams

During the income tax filing season, scammers pose as representatives of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) in an attempt to trick you into sending payment for fictitious "debts" or into providing sensitive personal information that they can use to commit fraud.

Learn more on how to spot tax season scams and what to do if you are the victim of fraud.

More Canadians are finding it difficult to meet food, shelter and other necessary expenses

In 2022, the Consumer Price Index rose 6.8%, the highest increase since 1982 (+10.9%). Prices for day-to-day goods and services such as transportation (+10.6%), food (+8.9%) and shelter (+6.9%) rose the most.

Canadians felt the impact of rising prices. Data from the Canadian Social Survey (CSS) show that the share of persons aged 15 and older living in a household experiencing difficulty meeting its necessary expenses trended upward from just under one-fifth (19%) in the summer of 2021 to just under one-quarter (24%) in the summer of 2022. By the end of 2022, more than one-third (35%) of the population lived in such a household.

Why care about care? Our economy depends on it

This brief lays out how care impacts economic recovery, family economic security and asset building, equity and justice, and the well-being of children, older adults, and people with disabilities.

COVID-19 highlighted the importance of caregivers, as parents have become remote learning facilitators and professional caregivers have become front-line workers.

Investing $77.5 billion per year in the care economy would support more than two million new jobs— 22.5 million new jobs over 10 years. And that number does not include return of family caregivers to the workforce, enabled by adequate support.

A $77.5 billion annual investment in new jobs translates into $220 billion in new economic activity.

Read the brief

Watch the webinar

View the webinar slides

Annual report 2022

The Asset Funders Network engages philanthropy to advance equitable wealth building and economic mobility. For 18 years, AFN has provided a forum for grantmakers to connect, collaborate, and collectively invest in helping more people achieve economic security.

This report reflects their work over the past year working across 7 issues areas:

Business ownership
Education
Employment & income
Financial health
Health
Housing
The wealth gap

Financial Literacy for Black and African American Students

In honor of Black History Month, BestColleges in the United States interviewed financial expert Terrance Dedrick to help curate a financial literacy resource for Black and African Americans.

This article includes links to these organizations in the United States that cater to Black and African Americans:

"Brown Ambition": A popular podcast for Black and African American students covers important financial literacy topics and provides advice from others who have learned financial literacy and used it successfully.

Urban Wallet: A selection of free guides and resources to help students learn about spending and budgeting, investing in cryptocurrencies, and using credit cards responsibly.

Association of African American Financial Advisors (AAAFA): for Black and African American students looking to work with a financial advisor to learn more about money.

Operation HOPE: This nonprofit works with students and other adults alike to provide financial dignity through financial literacy training, coaching, and other services to build confidence and resilience.

Building Bread: Designed for Black students and young professionals, Building Bread provides a free financial planning course along with other low-cost advanced classes.

Consumer Vulnerability: Evidence from the Monthly COVID-19 Financial Well-being Survey

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC) COVID-19 Financial Well-being Survey, which began in August 2020, is a nationally representative hybrid online-phone survey fielded monthly, with approximately 1,000 respondents per month. The survey collects information on Canadians’ day-to-day financial management and financial well-being.

As of September 2022, the survey results show that over the past several months, financial hardships have increased for many Canadians due to the rapidly evolving economic environment. While financial vulnerability can affect anyone regardless of income, background or education, hardships have increased more for those living on a low income, Indigenous peoples, recent immigrants, and women, due to the disproportionate financial impact of the pandemic on these groups (households with low income, Indigenous people, new immigrants, and women.)

This brief report provides an overview of survey results collected between August 2020 and September 2022. In publishing this report, FCAC’s goal is to provide insight into the financial well-being of Canadians, to identify which groups are experiencing greater vulnerabilities and hardships, and to inform and target our collective response as financial ecosystem stakeholders.

Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP)

A Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP) can help you save for retirement while also saving at tax time — or even getting a rebate. The articles from the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) can help you understand more about opening, contributing to, and withdrawing from an RRSP.

Rising prices and the impact on the most financially vulnerable: A profile of those in the bottom family income quintile

This study uses the 2022 Portrait of Canadian Society Survey to examine the impact of rising inflation on the lowest income Canadians. Using multiple pre-pandemic data sources, the study takes a closer look at people living in the bottom family income quintile, examining their family income, debt and assets levels, as well as some indicators of economic hardship.

Consumer Price Index: Annual review, 2022

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose 6.8% on an annual average basis in 2022, following gains of 3.4% in 2021 and of 0.7% in 2020. The increase in 2022 was a 40-year high, the largest increase since 1982 (+10.9%). Excluding energy, the annual average CPI rose 5.7% in 2022 compared with 2.4% in 2021.

Price increases were broad-based in 2022, with prices up on an annual average basis in all eight major components. Canadians felt the impact of inflation, as prices for day-to-day basics such as transportation (+10.6%), food (+8.9%) and shelter (+6.9%) rose the most.

Both goods and services prices rose at a faster pace compared with a year earlier. Prices for goods were up 8.7% on an annual average basis in 2022, led by higher prices for non-durable goods such as food purchased from stores (+9.8%) and gasoline (+28.5%). Prices for services increased 5.0% in 2022, led by homeowners' replacement cost (+9.5%) and other owned accommodation expenses (+10.0%).

Year-over-year price growth accelerated each month in the first half of the year, reaching a high of 8.1% in June, and slowed in the second half of the year.

Service Matters: Numbers Speak Volumes

The Annual Report by the Office of the taxpayer's ombudsman provides key achievements, identifies Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) service issues and outlines trends in complaints. In addition, the report includes three recommendations to the Minister of National Revenue and the Chair of the Board of Management to improve the CRA’s service to Canadians.

Weathering the storms: modernizing the U.S. benefits system to support household financial resilience

For most households in America, financial shocks are inevitable. The car will break down. The house will need a repair. A key earner for a household will be laid off. These shocks can be devastating to household finances. And while the COVID-19 pandemic, which we are still recovering from, was a once-in-a-generation economic and health shock for households and our economy, we also know that it is just one example of the uncertainty and volatility of the world we now live in. When public and private benefits—such as unemployment insurance and paid sick leave—are not accessible and not designed or delivered in a timely manner to effectively support families in weathering financial shocks, families suffer.

To effectively modernize our benefits system to help people weather financial shocks—both small and large— requires an evidence-based framework focused on what households need to be financially resilient and on opportunities for benefit leaders to address those needs. This paper lays out the framework by:

Providing the evidence for how households experience financial shocks and how financial resilience can mitigate the hardship caused by those shocks;
Sharing a framework of the four functions benefits play to support resilience and the role of specific public and private benefits, to demonstrate to benefit leaders how their work contributes to household financial resilience; and
Highlighting opportunities for action to improve the accessibility, sufficiency, interoperability, and delivery of benefits, including examples of how benefit leaders are already modernizing benefits to support resilience.

Research to help FSRA improve the lives of vulnerable consumers

Financial Services Regulatory Authority of Ontario commissioned a research study that focused on consumer attitudes, how consumers are engaging with financial services, and consumer characteristics such as vulnerability.

Insights from the research are allowing FSRA to better understand the realities of consumers’ changing financial lives and helping to identify key opportunities to respond to the needs of vulnerable consumers.

2022 Consumer Research Study highlights.

2022 Consumer Research Study full report

Ten frugal habits to save money

The Angus Reid institute reported from a recent study that 50% of Canadians couldn’t manage an unexpected expense of $1000 or more. In the same study, when Albertans were asked what they would do with a surprise bonus or gift of $5000, 46% said they would use it to pay down debt. Only 41% said they would put it in savings or invest it. With inflation as high as it has been in over 40 years, saving money is becoming increasingly difficult for some. This article lists ten frugal habits to help you save.

Insights into the risks and benefits of digital financial services for consumers

One of the consequences of social distancing and other restrictions, during the pandemic, such as those on business operating hours, is that consumers spent more of their time searching for information, shopping, and streaming entertainment on-line. With more free time on their hands and money in the bank, a larger percentage of the population took up an interest in investing, often through on-line brokerage platforms or in the cryptoasset markets.

Because consumers have been spending more time on-line since the start of the pandemic, they have been more exposed to on-line fraud. In addition to phishing and malware, consumers are dealing with known scams but in digital form, often on social media.

For some consumers, the evergrowing number of reliable and accessible information sources could lead to information overload, also known as “infobesity, where there is so much information that the consumer cannot process it all. Infobesity can lead to decision paralysis.

In this paper the AMF make the most of their 360-degree view on the financial industry’s digital transformation to review the main changes that occurred in each of their areas of focus, describe the risk of digitalization for the consumers of financial products and services and present the potential opportunities that have been identified to mitigate these risks.

Ottawa should soften bite of benefit clawbacks for low-income families

Canada’s tax system has a punitive impact on lower income families with children hoping to earn more money, according to a new report from the C.D. Howe Institute. In “Softening the Bite: The Impact of Benefit Clawbacks on Low-Income Families and How to Reduce It,” authors Alex Laurin and Nicholas Dahir reveal how benefit reductions serve as hidden tax rates and reduce the effective gain from working to generate additional income.

Read full report here.

The impact of COVID-19 on financial capability and asset building services.

The forced transition from in-person to online activities as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on how families and communities buy groceries, acquire medical care, and utilize social services. This rapid shift has raised important questions about how to address access and equity. AFN and the University of Wisconsin-Madison Center for Financial Security (CFS) conducted this study to better understand the transition to remote services among financial capability and asset building (FCAB) programs, which includes financial education, counseling, coaching, emergency assistance, benefits navigation, housing supports, workforce development, and other related services. The insights from this study can inform strategies for FCAB services going forward.

This brief reviews recommendations for funders and organizations seeking to learn from the financial capability service delivery models employed in the COVID-19 pandemic, especially related to replication of findings that lead to more equitable delivery practices, improved accessibility of services, and greater financial improvements for clients. Six region-specific briefs complement the national findings - Indiana, Louisiana, North and South Carolina, Oregon, Texas, and Washington.

This brief is generously supported by JPMorgan Chase & Co., MetLife Foundation, and Wells Fargo.

If you missed the live webinar, watch the recording here.

OSC study finds many investors overestimate their knowledge

Make it easier to save

Financial Vulnerability of Low-Income Canadians: A Rising Tide

Accessible financial services incubator

Drive through a low-income neighborhood in virtually any American city and it quickly becomes apparent that the area’s financial health is at risk.

The giveaway? The abundance of payday lenders. According to the St. Louis Federal Reserve, there are now more than 20,000 of these organizations across the country—which tops even the ubiquitous McDonald’s storefront by roughly 40%.1

These alternative financial services providers offer short-term loans at interest rates that can top 400%. They appeal to desperate consumers with no access to traditional, more affordable credit and offer an immediate fix that can lead to months, if not years, of financial pain. In its Payday Lending in America series, the Pew Charitable Trusts reports that Americans spend roughly $7.4 billion (B) on payday loans each year.

Could traditional financial institutions find a way to deliver credit to this consumer niche without compromising their own health? The Filene Research Institute, a consumer finance think-and-do tank, hypothesized that the answer was yes.

Read the full report.

Connecting families initiative

Daily aspects of Canadians' lives are increasingly touched by digital technology, and access to high-speed Internet has become an essential service and a key driver for improving our economic and social well-being.

The Government of Canada originally announced Connecting Families in Budget 2017 to help bridge the digital divide for Canadian families who struggled to afford access to home Internet.

Learn more about the next phase of this initiative.

Social influencers and your finances

Just because someone has a lot of followers doesn’t mean their advice is right for you. Social media influencers are increasingly sharing information about investing. This can be done by ordinary people or by celebrities who have taken an interest in a specific product or investment. They are often called “finfluencers” — financial influencers whose media accounts are focused on money and investing. This article will outline some questions to ask yourself before you choose to invest.

Investing and saving during a recession

If a recession seems likely, consider how your investing and savings plans may be affected. Increases in the cost of living and borrowing, combined with the overall financial uncertainty over the impact of a potential recession, can be enough to cause personal and financial stress. There is no single best way to respond to such times.

Research study: Crypto assets 2022

This study by the Ontario Securities Commission examines Canadians’ crypto ownership and knowledge. It found 13% of Canadians currently own crypto assets or crypto funds. The study also found most Canadians did not have a working knowledge of the practical, legal and regulatory dimensions of crypto assets. Crypto assets were believed to play a key role in the financial system by 38% of those surveyed. The study provides a profile of crypto owners, their reasons for purchasing crypto assets or crypto funds, the role of financial advice, impact of advertising, and the experience of crypto owners with crypto trading platforms.

Canada’s new working class: A modern understanding of the 6.5 million Canadians in the working class

The pandemic has accelerated a polarization of jobs that has become a structural trend in the Canadian economy. Previous Cardus research has shown that this polarization of the labour market between low- and high-skilled occupations, with a declining share of jobs available for mid-skilled workers, has led to an “hourglass economy.”

Yet, even while the share of the labour force employed in professional occupations rises, the working class retains the largest share of workers in the Canadian economy, making them an important political economy constituency. But who is the working class in Canada? This paper seeks to answer this question by proposing a modern taxonomy of the workforce and a picture of the working class that draws on a rich body of demographic, economic, and labour-market data.

Canada’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan

Canada’s Disability Inclusion Action Plan is a comprehensive, whole-of-government approach to disability inclusion. It embeds disability considerations across our programs while identifying targeted investments in key areas to drive change. It builds on existing programs and measures that have sought to improve the inclusion of persons with disabilities, and establishes new and meaningful actions.

Beware: Crypto scams on the rise

Fraudsters often use emotions to lure people in, making a person feel afraid of missing out on an opportunity that others are profiting from. With all the cryptocurrency hype in the media and online, it’s no surprise that scammers are taking note and trying to cash in on investors’ interest in digital currencies. Read this article for more information on the top crypto-related scams you should know.

National Indigenous Economic Strategy 2022

This National Indigenous Economic Strategy for Canada is the blueprint to achieve the meaningful engagement and inclusion of Indigenous Peoples in the Canadian economy. It has been initiated and developed by a coalition of national Indigenous organizations and experts in the field of economic development. The Strategy is supported by four Strategic Pathways: People, Lands, Infrastructure, and Finance. Each pathway is further defined by a Vision that describes the desired outcomes for the actions and results of individual Strategic Statements. The Calls to Economic Prosperity recommend specific actions to achieve the outcomes described in the Strategic Statements. This document is not intended as a strategic plan specifically, but rather a strategy that others can incorporate into their own strategic plans.

National Indigenous Economic Strategy for Canada 2022

Pilot study: Buy now, pay later services in Canada

A key component of the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC’s) mandate is to monitor and evaluate trends and emerging issues that may have an impact on consumers of financial products and services. Technological innovations in financial services and shifting consumer behaviours have resulted in a steady increase in retail e-commerce sales over the past several years, and the COVID-19 pandemic has had a significant impact on how consumers make retail purchases. Retail e-commerce sales reached record levels during the pandemic. This has further contributed to the proliferation of buy now, pay later (BNPL) services in Canada.

Income support, inflation, and homelessness

A good deal of attention has been paid to the question of what these high rates of inflation in housing and food costs mean for Canadians. Much of the concern has focused on the implications for middle-income Canadians hoping to purchase a home, while squeezing their household budgets. But what do these rates of inflation mean for Canadians with very low income? For them, high rates of inflation in the price of food and shelter mean more than having to delay thoughts of homeownership. For them, the threats are considerably more serious.

Social prescribing: A holistic approach to improving the health and well-being of Canadians

Social prescribing is a means of connecting people to a range of community services and activities to improve their health and well-being. These services vary based on each person’s needs and interests, and can include food subsidies, transportation, fitness classes, arts and culture engagement, educational classes, peer-run social groups, employment or debt counseling, and more. Social prescribing is a holistic approach to healthcare that looks to address the social determinants of health, which are the non-medical factors that play a role in an individual’s overall health. These factors may include socioeconomic status, social inclusion, housing, and education.

Financial literacy around the world: insights from the S&P’s rating services global financial literacy survey

The Standard & Poor's Ratings Services Global Financial Literacy Survey is the world’s largest, most comprehensive global measurement of financial literacy. It probes knowledge of four basic financial concepts: risk diversification, inflation, numeracy, and interest compounding.

The survey is based on interviews with more than 150,000 adults in over 140 countries. In 2014 McGraw Hill Financial worked with Gallup, Inc., the World Bank Development Research Group, and GFLEC on the S&P Global FinLit Survey.

Engaging youth as leaders in poverty reduction

Advancing equity: the power and promise of credit building

Credit is an essential ingredient for economic security and mobility. Without a high credit score and affordable, available capital, it is nearly impossible to get by financially, let alone get ahead. Our economic system, and the American Dream it is supposed to feed, is based on the belief that anyone has access to credit and can build economic security, wealth, and intergenerational transfer.

This brief will analyze what is not working within our credit system and identify what philanthropy can do to reimagine a system that builds economic security and mobility for everyone, especially people of color and immigrants. An equitable credit system would create pathways to narrow the racial wealth gap instead of continuing to widen it. Solutions include nonprofit organizations and community
development financial institutions (CDFIs) delivering financial products that are designed for the people who have been most excluded from the credit system, seeding their journey toward economic security, as well as systemic changes to make economic security and mobility more fairly attainable.

A webinar is also available and you can view the webinar slides here.

Evaluating the impact of income volatility benefits on gig workers

Gig workers account for approximately 25 to 35% of the national workforce. When considering workers earning low to moderate incomes (LMI), these percentages are likely higher. Gig work provides reported advantages including flexibility, supplemental income, and independence. However, it also brings unique financial challenges such as complicated taxes, low and unpredictable wages, and difficulty accessing benefits. Due to these barriers to financial security, gig workers are often unable to build an emergency savings reserve.

Commonwealth launched the Financial Benefits Project pre-pilot to further explore the financial needs of gig workers and to outline recommendations for employer benefits that reduce the impact of income volatility. In combination with schedule stability and predictable wages, income volatility benefits have the potential to help workers earning LMI manage from day to day, particularly given the reduction of COVID-19 supports.

Across two cohorts, Commonwealth evaluated the impact of three interventions on financial hardships for 138 gig workers enrolled in the project. Participants were eligible for up to $1,000 in funds over a four-month period through weekly stipends, emergency grants, and emergency loans.

Rising adoption of contactless payments and digital wallets: 3 key takeaways

Over the last two years, digital payment solutions, including peer-to-peer apps, digital wallets, and contactless payment solutions, have grown in popularity and adoption. With 125 million American mobile payment users predicted by 2025 Commonwealth sought to understand the potential for these payment apps as a channel to advance inclusive and equitable financial access.

Emergency savings preparedness and perceptions

According to Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI), workers with household incomes of $75,000 or more are more than twice as likely to say they feel they can handle an emergency expense than those with household incomes of less than $35,000.

This report outlines the results of the 2022 survey that polled nearly 2700 Americans 25 and older.

The impact of the enhanced child tax credit on lower-income households

The American Rescue Plan, one of the most significant policy responses to alleviate child poverty in decades, made fundamental changes in enhancing the Child Tax Credit (CTC). In response to the pandemic, the law expanded the CTC for tax year 2021 to ensure a minimum level of economic support to all families raising children.

Commonwealth, SaverLife, and Neighborhood Trust Financial Partners followed up with CTC-eligible families after most filed their 2021 tax returns. We conducted interviews and surveys to assess the impact of the enhanced credit on families’ financial health. Although we focused on the second half of the CTC payment, which was delivered as a lump sum payment as part of the tax refund, we also asked recipients about their tax filing experience and what a continuation of an expanded credit would mean for their families.

Emergency savings features that work for employees earning low to moderate incomes

Workers earning low to moderate incomes (LMI) continue to face challenges in financial security. The COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated the financial situation of many workers earning LMI. Along with the current macroeconomic environment, it has become even more challenging to build liquid savings for unexpected expenses. In this brief, we will share insights from our latest research with DCIIA Research Retirement Center on how employers and service providers can build and offer emergency savings solutions that are inclusively designed for workers earning LMI.

Thriving or surviving study 2022

Investment products

There are many investment products, here's some information about them:

Annuities: a contract with a life insurance company. Annuities are most commonly used to generate retirement income.

Bonds: when you buy a bond, you’re lending your money to a company or a government for a set period of time. In return, the issuer pays you interest. On the date the bond becomes due, the issuer is supposed to pay back the face value of the bond to you in full.

Complex investments: these investments may have the potential for higher gains, but carry greater risks.

ETFs: when you buy a share or unit of an ETF, you’re investing in a portfolio that holds a number of different stocks or other investments.

GICs: when you buy a guaranteed investment certificate (GIC), you are agreeing to lend the bank or financial institution your money for a set number of months or years. You are guaranteed to get the amount you deposited back at the end of the term.

Mutual funds & segregated funds: when you buy a mutual fund, your money is combined with the money from other investors, and allows you to buy part of a pool of investments.

Real estate: While real estate investments can offer a range of benefits, there is no guarantee that you will earn an income or profit and, like any investment, there are a number of risks and uncertainties that you need to carefully consider before investing.

Stocks: The stock market brings together people who want to sell stock with those who want to buy stock. When you buy stock (or equity) in a company, you receive a piece of the company and become a part owner.

Pensions & saving plans: if your employer offers contributions to your retirement or other savings plan, take advantage.

Cannabis: Emerging sectors like the cannabis industry have often attracted investors hoping to be among the first to capitalize on the potential growth and high returns of what they believe are untapped markets or products that may be popular in the future.

Cryptoassets: Cryptoassets primarily designed to be a store of value or medium of exchange (e.g., Bitcoin) are often referred to as “digital coins.

Reporting fraud

A comprehensive set of articles are available on the Ontario Securities Commission website on how to identify and report fraud as well as what to do if you have been defrauded.

How Canadians bank

Banks in Canada are meeting the evolving preferences of their customers as powerful new technologies change the way people bank and how they pay for goods and services. Banking is transforming at a record pace, bringing innovation and new potential to empower Canadians’ lives in a digital world. This survey and other findings form the basis of How Canadians Banks, a biannual study by the Canadian Bankers Association and Abacus Data that examines the banking trends and attitudes of Canadians.

Preparing for financial emergencies

Some emergencies in life can affect you financially. You could get sick, lose your job, or have a costly repair to your car or home. One of the best ways to cope with unexpected financial changes is to have an emergency fund. Ideally, this fund would provide enough money to cover your essential living expenses so you can avoid taking on debt.

Multicultural and newcomer charitable giving study

While much research has been conducted on how giving is correlated to factors like educational attainment or income level, the influence of ethnicity has been elusive. This research attempts to better understand how newcomers to Canada and second-generation Canadians perceive and approach giving and volunteerism.

What to do if you are defrauded

Financial fraud can be stressful and time-consuming experience. It can affect you both financially and emotionally.

If you are defrauded, or suspect that you may have been defrauded, follow the steps outlined in this article.

Social determinants and inequities in health for Black Canadians: a snapshot

The following snapshot aims to highlight how Anti-Black racism and systemic discrimination are key drivers of health inequalities faced by diverse Black Canadian communities. Evidence of institutional discrimination in key determinants of health is also presented, including education, income, and housing. Finally, national data is shared demonstrating inequalities in health outcomes and determinants of health. Readers are invited to reflect on how racism and discrimination may contribute to these inequalities.

Social assistance summaries

The Social Assistance Summaries series tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory. It was established by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy to maintain data previously published by the federal government as the Social Assistance Statistical Report. The data is provided by provincial and territorial government officials.

Types of fraud

Empower U Financial Coaching

Financial empowerment consists of five complementary strategies including financial literacy and coaching; taxes and access to benefits; safe financial products; savings and asset building; and consumer protection. Empower U serves primarily as a financial literacy and coaching and savings and asset building intervention (although partners also contribute to the other interventions).

The Sustainable Livelihood Model identifies five distinct sets of assets including personal, human, social, physical and financial. The Empower U program activities are grounded by two overarching philosophies: Financial Empowerment (as defined by Prosper Canada) and the Sustainable Livelihood Model (adapted by the Canadian Women’s Foundation, based on the work of the University of Sussex Institute for Development Studies).

Focusing on financial literacy and coaching, Empower U has developed an individual financial coaching component to the overall program.

Empower U Evaluation Report

For a family living in poverty, every day is about making tough choices – to pay rent or buy groceries? Having the means to attain the basic necessities, is one thing. Having the skills, confidence and access to resources to manage finances in ways that build pathways out of poverty is something far different.

Thanks to the generosity of partners, supporters and donors of Empower U, families can move beyond just managing the day-to-day challenges of poverty. Participants in the program learn valuable money management skills and are given the means to build savings and assets to create financial stability. A future where they and their families can thrive.

Checking registration

Checking registration helps protect you from unqualified or fraudulent individuals. Always check the registration of any person or business trying to sell you an investment or give you investment advice by using the Canadian Securities Administrators’ National Registration Search.

Titles like financial advisor, financial planner, investment consultant, and investment specialist aren’t legally defined terms or official registration categories. Some advisers or dealers may have designations that allow them to use specific titles, such as Certified Financial Planner (CFP), Chartered Professional Accountant (CPA) or Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA). Checking registration tells you what specific products and services they are (and aren’t) qualified to offer you, regardless of title.

Turning aces into assets

Ontario has just become the first province to open its legal gambling market to private internet gaming providers. As of April 4, 2022, Ontarians can play casino-style games online and place bets on sports, including single games, through sites regulated by iGaming Ontario. According to the provincial regulator, the launch of iGaming marks the triumph “of a legal internet gaming market” over “its previous grey market standing.” But as with all forms of gambling, this development has a dark side. It was only a matter of time before Ontario expanded its gambling market—not because of popular demand, but because the provincial government is addicted to gambling money and is eager to seize any opportunity to get more of it, regardless of the costs to the people it is supposed to protect.

This report provides the background of gambling in Ontario, outlines the new risks with iGaming and offers four policy options.

How to build financial health in Native communities

American Indian and Alaska Native (AI/AN) peoples have long faced barriers to asset building. More than half of AI/AN populations are un- or underbanked, financial services often don’t operate on reservations, and access to capital is difficult. Native peoples have been excluded from financial wealth accumulation through government asset stripping, industry redlining, and simple neglect, thanks to historic (and ongoing) discrimination, exclusion, and racism baked into government and private-sector policies. Solutions are within reach.

Recently, the Financial Security Program, the Oklahoma Native Assets Coalition, Inc (ONAC), and the Center for Native American Youth hosted an event featuring Native leaders representing various geographies, experiences, and tribal affiliations. The group discussed experiences in building assets and Indigenous perspectives on generational financial wealth. Finally, the speakers gave recommendations on how foundations, corporations, non-profits, and others can partner with tribal governments and Native-led nonprofits to build financial wealth in Native communities.

ONAC has produced a “List of Eighteen Suggestions to Better Support Native Practitioners Administering Asset Building Programs in their Communities”.

Grandparent scams and how to avoid them

Imagine a loved one is in trouble or hurt. You get a call asking for urgent help. You’d likely want to act right away because you care about them. Exploiting family ties is the driving force behind grandparent scams — or emergency scams.

This article from the OSC can help you to protect yourself from becoming a victim of an emergency scam.

Watch this new video to learn more about grandparent scams.

101 solutions for inclusive wealth building

Having wealth, or a family’s assets minus their debts, is important not just for the rich— everyone needs wealth to thrive. Yet building the amount of wealth needed to thrive is a major challenge. Nearly 13 million U.S. households have negative net worth. Millions more are low wealth; they do not have the assets or liquidity needed to maintain financial stability and invest in themselves in the present, nor are they on track to accumulate the amount of wealth they will need to have financial security in retirement.
Together, these groups represent at least half of all U.S. households.

This report examines what it will take to create truly shared prosperity in the United States. It is focused on solutions that would grow the wealth of households in the bottom half of the wealth distribution, and it explores reparative approaches to building the wealth of Black, Indigenous, and other people of color (BIPOC).

Guidance on digital delivery of financial education

Innovative uses of digital technologies in the delivery of financial education can serve multiple complementary objectives and effectively support the building blocks of financial education. This Guidance was developed to assist policy makers in deciding when to adopt digital delivery, and how to effectively design and implement digital financial education initiatives, by offering non-binding actionable directions. It builds on the work undertaken by the OECD and its International Network on Financial Education, including the G20/OECD-INFE Policy Guidance Note on Digitalisation and Financial Literacy and international comparative analyses on how public authorities design, deliver and evaluate digital financial education initiatives, notably in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The report on digital delivery of financial education design and practice builds on over 70 case studies from members of the OECD International Network on Financial Education, contributes to a better understanding of how public authorities worldwide are designing, delivering and evaluating digital financial education initiatives, and prepares forthcoming work on the development of high-level international guidance on the digital delivery of financial education.

Action-oriented public health resources on financial wellbeing and financial strain

2022 Budget submission

Prosper Canada has submitted a budget to highlight that a plan is needed to ensure that vulnerable people are not made to repay unmanageable CERB/CRB debts, to pay back the income people lost when their refundable tax benefits were clawed back because of CERB, and to guarantee that CRB and CWLB are not clawed back from refundable tax credit payments in the 2021 and 2022 tax years.

Protecting aging investors through behavioural insights

This report identifies behaviourally informed techniques dealers and advisers can use to encourage their older clients to provide the necessary information for enhanced investor protection measures.

Access to Identification for Low-income Manitobans

Government-issued identification (ID) is essential to gain access to a wide range of government entitlements, commercial services and financial systems. Lack of ID on the other hand, represents a critical barrier that prevents low-income Manitobans from accessing these services and benefits, and ultimately results in further marginalization and deepening poverty. Other provinces are now recognizing that ID is necessary to navigate the modern world and are doing something to support those who fall through the cracks.

A new study, Access to Identification for Low-Income Manitobans researches what can be done to address these challenges and offers recommendations to reduce barriers to ID for low-income Manitobans.

Hunger, Poverty, and Health Disparities During COVID-19 and the Federal Nutrition Programs’ Role in an Equitable Recovery

The health and economic crises brought on by the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has made the federal nutrition programs more important than ever. An unacceptably high number of people in America do not have enough to eat, and it is likely that the economic recovery for families who struggle to put food on the table will take years.

Recovery will be particularly challenging for those groups that have suffered disproportionate harm from COVID-19. Inequities, also referred to as disparities, “adversely affect groups of people who have systematically experienced greater obstacles […] based on their racial or ethnic group; religion; socioeconomic status; gender; age; mental health; cognitive, sensory, or physical disability; sexual orientation or gender identity; geographic location; or other characteristics historically linked to discrimination or exclusion.”

Household Food Insecurity in Canada, 2017-2018

Food insecurity – inadequate or uncertain access to food because of financial constraints – is a serious public health problem in Canada, and all indications are that the problem is getting worse.

Drawing on data for 103,500 households from Statistics Canada’s Canadian Community Health Survey conducted in 2017 and 2018, we found that 12.7% of households experienced some level of food insecurity in the previous 12 months. There were 4.4 million people, including more than 1.2 million children under the age of 18, living in food-insecure households in 2017-18. This is higher than any prior national estimate.

Your trusted contact person and why they matter

The Trusted Contact Person initiative has been adopted across Canada.

It is part of new regulatory measures to support advisors in their efforts to help investors, particularly older investors and vulnerable, protect themselves and their financial interests.

Canadian seniors are increasingly called upon to make complex financial decisions, with higher stakes, later in life than ever before. For many, health, mobility, or cognitive changes that can occur with age, may affect their ability to make these decisions. This can make seniors more susceptible to financial exploitation and fraud. In fact, about half of the victims of investment fraud are over age 55.

Watch this new video on understanding the importance of appointing a trusted contact person.

Survey on savings for persons with disabilities

Residents in Canada who have a severe and prolonged mental or physical disability are eligible for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). This opens the door to other programs, one of which is the RDSP.

Less than one-third of eligible residents in Canada (up to age 59) have a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)—about 31.5% in 2020.

To understand why more eligible residents in Canada do not have an RDSP, Employment and Social Development Canada asked Statistics Canada to conduct the Survey on Savings for Persons with Disabilities. Its goal was to collect data from residents in Canada who were eligible for an RDSP but did not open one.

These respondents included both persons with disabilities and family members or others who care for persons with disabilities, since the holder of the plan may not be the same person as the beneficiary in all cases.

These data show that, in general, eligible residents in Canada lack information about the RDSP, with many not being aware it exists and a substantial portion reporting not having enough information or money to open one.

15 percent of Canadians are ‘underbanked’ — here’s what that means and why it’s a barrier to equitable recovery

Research shows that 15 percent, or close to five million Canadians, are underbanked, and three percent are completely unbanked, meaning that they have very limited or no access to financial services within the traditional banking sector.

Ironically, underbanked individuals often come from low-moderate income backgrounds which put them at a higher need for accessible financial services. However, factors like low credit scores, high credit card fees, and non-sufficient fund fees are major barriers that shut Canadians out from banks.

Instances of explicit racism while banking, which include being handcuffed when trying to open a bank account, have further diminished the trust in banks for many Black, Indigenous and people of colour.

Annual report 2021

AFN's 2021 Annual Report gives a high level review of our work last year, including some snapshots into the place-based initiatives in our regions. Across our regions, AFN is working with grantmakers on collaborative efforts to advance equitable wealth building and economic mobility.

One example the Annual Report highlights is the Bay Area Small Business Vulnerability Mapping Project. Last year, Bay Area AFN worked with the Urban Displacement Project to develop an online mapping tool highlighting vulnerable businesses owned by people of color. The multistage process also explores the feasibility of a permanent infrastructure for collecting data, monitoring business health, and recommending policies.

Understanding Systems: The 2021 report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty

Canada’s National Advisory Council on Poverty’s second Annual Report, Understanding Systems, is the first report to provide a glimpse into poverty since COVID-19.

Based on community engagements with Canadians and provinces/territories over the last year, the Council has recommended five broad strategies to reduce poverty in Canada.

The pillars of the strategy are as follows:

Indigenous prosperity
Equity
Dignity
Prevention and early intervention
Income from employment and government benefits

In a recent webinar, three Council members shared what strategies can make the greatest impact. Read more to learn about the key takeaways from the discussion.

Community volunteer income tax program (CVITP)

Need help filing your taxes? You may be able to avail of the Community Volunteer Income Tax Program.

The Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) has existed since 1971 and is a longstanding partnership between the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA), and community organizations and their volunteers.

Tax clinic volunteers complete tax and benefit returns for eligible individuals to ensure they receive, or continue to receive, their entitled benefit payments. In Québec, volunteers prepare both the federal and provincial tax return.

The CVITP service is offered free of charge to everyone who meets the eligibility criteria, and includes doing taxes for the current and previous years.

For the 2022 tax season, community organizations are hosting free in-person and virtual tax clinics.

Annual report of credit and consumer reporting complaints: an analysis of complaint responses by Equifax, Experian and TransUnion

This report summarizes the information gathered by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) regarding certain consumer complaints transmitted by the CFPB to the three largest nationwide consumer reporting agencies - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion.

Children’s savings accounts: a core part of the equity agenda

Education after high school, or postsecondary education (PSE), is an important determinant of individuals’ future opportunities, as well as their health and even lifespan. Children’s Savings Accounts (CSAs) are programs that aim to increase access to PSE by building parents’ and children’s educational expectations and a “college-bound identity” starting early in children’s lives. CSAs are a vital part of the equity agenda that remain critically important even as other strategies are put in place to broaden postsecondary access.

CSAs programs provide children with savings accounts and financial deposits for the purpose of education after high school or other asset building. CSA program designs, enrollment procedures, and financial incentives vary widely across the U.S. CSAs have been flourishing at the local, city, and state levels over the past two decades.

CSAs’ unique value comes down to programs’ financial investment in children coupled with their capacity to bring children and families into frequent contact with information about planning for PSE, savings, and high expectations for the future.

Making more purchases online? Beware of fake websites and phony retailer apps

Many of us have shifted some of our shopping online during the pandemic – it’s easy and very often you can have items delivered right to your door. Criminals are taking advantage of the increased popularity of online shopping by creating fake websites and apps that look authentic but are just a ploy to steal your personal information.

The Canadian Banker's Association helps you identify fake websites and apps and shares tips on how to protect yourself while shopping online and what to do if you are a victim of an online shopping scam.

Household food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic

This study presents data on levels of household food insecurity in the 10 provinces from the September to December 2020 cycle of the Canadian Community Health Survey. In this survey, household food security status within the previous 12 months was measured using a scale that has been routinely used to monitor levels of household food insecurity in Canada. This provided the ability to draw comparisons with pre-pandemic levels.

Both before and during the pandemic, certain population groups were more vulnerable to food insecurity in their household. They included people with lower levels of education, those who rent their dwelling, those in lone-parent-led households and those in households reliant on social assistance as their primary source of income. Compared with the pre-pandemic period of 2017/2018, levels of household food insecurity were either unchanged or slightly lower in fall 2020 among groups vulnerable to food insecurity.

Dimensions of poverty hub

Statistics Canada has created an "Opportunity for All"; a dashboard of 12 indicators to track progress on deep income poverty as well as the aspects of poverty other than income, including indicators of material deprivation, lack of opportunity and resilience.

These indicators are broadly grouped into three categories: dignity, opportunity and inclusion and resilience and security.

Singles in deep poverty neglected by pandemic supports

In 2020, the federal government spent over $160 billion on COVID-19 pandemic response measures. These expenses were critical in supporting recently unemployed workers and affected businesses in a time of uncertainty. However, supports through programs like the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and the Canada Recovery Benefit (CRB) were not extended to those who had less attachment to the labour market, such as a large proportion of social assistance recipients.

This pattern of exclusion has continued with the more recent Canada Worker Lockdown Benefit, which was created to support workers affected by new pandemic-related shutdowns, and not people who were already living in deep poverty before the pandemic.

The pandemic benefits are intended to support people during a specific time of crisis — but what about those who have been living with low and insecure incomes for decades? This report analyzes the welfare incomes of 53 example households, divided into four types, focusing here on unattached singles considered employable, as they are the most likely to be living in poverty.

How financial empowerment services are helping Ontarians build financial health

Eyeing the ID: Bio-metric Banking for Saint John

NB Social Pediatrics and the Saint John Community Loan Fund recently surveyed 157 New Brunswick and Nova Scotia residents about their experiences with finances, banking, and ID to better understand if biometrics or ID banks could be effective solutions for people living without ID.

Eyeing the ID: Bio-metric Banking for Saint John identifies access to identification, as well as stringent identification requirements as the most prevalent barriers to receiving services in the community and were also inherently linked to other barriers, such as housing and finances. For example, lack of address was identified as a barrier to accessing an ID because government agencies require a mailing address to send ID documents to customers, but lack of ID is also directly linked to precarious housing because you often need ID to be placed on local subsidized housing lists, and to set up power and utilities. Cyclical barriers to services could be improved by addressing ID requirements and making ID more accessible.

The top three solutions identified to mitigate ID barriers were biometrics, ID banks, and an ID acquisition service.

Also available in French: Un regard sur l’identification : Services bancaires à identification biométrique à Saint John

Ethnography of vulnerable newcomers’ experiences with taxes and benefits

This report presents the findings of an ethnographic research project undertaken by researchers at the Accelerated Business Solutions Lab (ABSL) at the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). It is the second of a series of ethnographic reports on the experiences of vulnerable populations. The objective of this study is to develop the CRA’s understanding of newcomers’ experiences as they first encounter the Canadian tax and benefit system. These findings illuminate potential directions for improving tax and benefit information and services available for newcomers.

The Role of Credit Unions in Providing Alternatives to Payday Lending

High levels of household indebtedness in Canada has been a concern for policymakers at all levels of government over the past decade. As the economic costs of COVID-19 grow, household indebtedness becomes a faster growing and increasingly more serious concern.

While responsive government policy, such as the federal government’s Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB), has curbed some short-term impacts on indebtedness, the program was developed to fill a temporary gap. The most vulnerable households are low-income households with limited access to credit, who frequently turn to high cost payday lending for financial relief. While regulations on the payday lending industry have increased substantially, low-income Canadian households remain left with few, if any, practical alternatives.

The low-income households in greatest need of alternatives are the financially excluded, specifically the underbanked and the unbanked.

At the same time, it is important to recognize that not all payday loan clients are in low-income households. A 2016 report by the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada states that close to 40% of payday loan borrowers have household income of $55,000 or greater and 20% having income of $80,000 or greater.

Thus, payday loan borrowers are not a homogeneous group.

Some Canadian credit unions have developed payday loan alternatives for the financially excluded, however, these more reasonably priced loans are only accessed by a very small portion of would-be payday loan clients.

The objective of this research is to review the alternative payday loan products currently offered by Canadian credit unions, to identify the barriers to offering more payday loan alternatives, and to make recommendations to expand the offerings.

Welfare in Canada, 2020

Maytree released the 2020 edition of the Welfare in Canada report. For each province and territory, this report provides data and analysis on the total welfare income that households receiving social assistance would have qualified for in 2020, including COVID-19 pandemic-related supports.

Welfare in Canada is a series that presents the total incomes of four example households who qualify for social assistance benefits in each of Canada’s provinces and territories in a given year.

Welfare in Canada, 2020 looks at the maximum total amount that a household would have received over the course of the 2020 calendar year, assuming they had no other source of income and no assets. Some households may have received less if they had income from other sources, while some households may have received more if they had special health- or disability-related needs.

The report looks at:

Social assistance program eligibility tests for assets and earned income;
How welfare incomes vary across Canada;
The components of welfare incomes in each province and territory;
Long-term changes in welfare incomes in each province and territory; and
The adequacy of welfare incomes in each province compared to poverty and low-income thresholds.

In addition, this year the report includes a new section that looks at the adequacy of welfare incomes in each province over time, an analysis that hearkens back to past reports prepared by the National Council of Welfare. Also, please note that this report measures the adequacy of welfare incomes relative to both the Market Basket Measure (MBM) – Canada’s Official Poverty Line – and the Deep Income Poverty threshold (MBM-DIP), which is equivalent to 75 per cent of the MBM. This analysis will replace the low-income threshold comparisons in future reports. We hope these additions will be helpful for those using the report.

In each jurisdiction, the total welfare income for which a household is eligible depends on its specific composition. For illustrative purposes, this resource focuses on the welfare incomes of four example household types:

Unattached single considered employable;
Unattached single with a disability;
Single parent with one child, age two; and
Couple with two children, ages ten and 15.

Financial Coaching Initiative: Results and Lessons Learned

In 2015, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau launched the Financial Coaching Initiative, a pilot program that provided financial coaching services to veterans and economically vulnerable consumers. Professional coaches were embedded into 60 host sites across the country, where they provided free, one-on-one help to consumers to address their personal financial goals. A range of organizations served as host sites, such as one-stop career centers, social services organizations, and legal aid groups.

Over four years, the Financial Coaching Initiative served over 23,000 consumers, demonstrating that financial coaching can be successfully implemented at scale in many different settings for a wide range of consumers.

This report and summary brief describe the basic structure of the Initiative, present data about the program’s results, and summarize key lessons learned for practitioners and organizations interested in coaching.

The Comeback Generation: Pandemic is inspiring Gen Z to build financial resilience

The coronavirus pandemic has tested the limits of Canadians over the past 20 months. What began as a health crisis quickly morphed into an economic crisis, with the spread of COVID‑19 shocking large segments of the economy and leaving many without paycheques. While no generation has been unaffected by the pandemic, the economic impact was distributed unevenly. Many younger Canadians in Generation Z, or Gen Z, have had their education disrupted, career plans changed, and financial prospects diminished largely because they are overrepresented in the highly affected service sector, according to a new survey by the Canadian Bankers Association (CBA).

The survey was published to mark Financial Literacy Month, which takes place each November, and found that more than half (53 per cent) of Gen Z respondents (aged 18‑25) felt the pandemic upended their financial security, with that number rising to 73 per cent for those in less stable financial situations. At the same time, nine‑in‑ten (88 per cent) Gen Zers are feeling optimistic about their financial futures, and nearly all of them (98 per cent) are actively making plans to strengthen their financial resilience.

"Gen Z was dealt a disproportionately tough hand during the pandemic, but it has also shown incredible resilience in channeling its natural gifts for perseverance, adaptability and motivation," says Neil Parmenter, President and CEO, Canadian Bankers Association. "Despite the setbacks, younger Canadians are eager to forge ahead, be prepared for the unexpected and build bright futures as our economy recovers."

Who Doesn’t File a Tax Return? A Portrait of Non-Filers

The Canada Revenue Agency administers dozens of cash transfer programs that require an annual personal income tax return to establish eligibility. Approximately 10–12 percent of Canadians, however, do not file a return; as a result, they will not receive the benefits for which they are otherwise eligible.

In this article, we provide the first estimates of the number and characteristics of non-filers. We also estimate that the value of cash benefits lost to working-age non-filers was $1.7 billion in 2015. Previous literature suggests either a rational choice model of tax compliance (in which the costs of filing are weighed against its benefits) or a more complex behavioural model.

Our study has important consequences for policy-making in terms of the administrative design and fiscal costs of public cash benefits attached to tax filing, the measurement of household incomes, and poverty rates.

Pilot Study: Buy Now, Pay Later Services in Canada

Start at the Beginning; a Person-Centered Design and Evaluation Framework for Policies to Boost Household Cashflow and Beyond

The financial hardships households faced in the midst of the pandemic reveals the scale of the precarity that millions of households were experiencing well before the crisis began. This highlights the urgency of the need to reimagine our system of benefits—both public and private—to effectively and equitably support households to recover from this pandemic and build security for the future.

The Aspen Institute Financial Security Program (Aspen FSP)’s Benefits 21 initiative is dedicated to integrating and modernizing the American system of benefits to ensure all households have financial security and can live economically dignified lives.

The Financial Resilience and Financial Well-Being of Canadians with Low Incomes (republished January 2024)

Government response to the Countervailing Power: Review of the coordination and funding for financial counselling services across Australia

In 2019, a comprehensive review (The Countervailing Power: Review of the coordination and funding for financial counselling services across Australia) of financial counselling services in Australia was undertaken and recommendations to ensure the long-term viability of the financial counselling sector, including the establishment of a nationally coordinated approach, and industry funding to strengthen the predictability and stability of funding for financial counselling were made.

This document is the Australian Government's response to the review, outlining their response to each of the recommendations, and sets out their commitment to the following:

commence work with state and territory governments and relevant stakeholders on a national approach for the funding and coordination of financial counselling (also relevant to the specialist, RFCS and small business financial counselling sector);
introduce an industry funding model following consultations with industry and the financial counselling sector that will ensure predictability and stability of funding for generalist financial counselling services into the future. The Government’s preference is to reach agreement between the relevant industries in relation to an overall funding strategy. However, if this agreement is not reached, the Government will consider a compulsory mechanism. Industry contributions would ideally start in 2021-22; and
support in principle the establishment of an independent body to be responsible for the national cooperative financial counselling effort, including delivery of funding.

Countervailing Power: Review of the coordination and funding for financial counselling services across Australia

In 2019, the Australian Government committed to additional actions to improve the financial outcomes of Australians, including undertaking an immediate review of the coordination and funding of financial counselling services that disadvantaged Australians rely on.

The review noted the benefits of financial counselling to the community, including early intervention and prevention of further financial hardship, advocacy support, and referral to other services for complex issues. The review also highlighted the challenges faced by the financial counselling sector, including increasing demand, fragmented delivery, and the array of complex situations and financial products that can lead to financial hardship.

The review:

Assessed whether existing financial counselling services adequately support clients’ current, emerging or changing needs, including areas such as small business and natural disasters;
Explored the most efficient and appropriate way to deliver financial counselling services;
Considered how to improve the coordination and consistency of delivery of financial counselling services across all jurisdictions in Australia;
Recommended options for improving the predictability and sustainability of funding financial counselling services, including by drawing on successful international funding models and considering options for industry funding; and
Considered how the use of data can inform policy, service delivery and demand trends.

Strengthening Canada’s External Complaint Handling System

Canada’s external complaint handing structures and processes play a critical role in levelling the playing field for consumers and financial service providers, helping to offset the inevitable imbalance of power between large financial institutions and individual consumers. Prosper Canada welcomes the opportunity to provide recommendations for strengthening what is currently a weak and inadequate alternative dispute resolution system.

National Financial Empowerment Champions Project: Summary Report

Medical-Financial Partnerships: Cross-Sector Collaborations Between Medical and Financial Services to Improve Health

Financial stress is the root cause of many adverse health outcomes among poor and low-income children and their families, yet few clinical interventions have been developed to improve health by directly addressing patient and family finances. Medical-Financial Partnerships (MFPs) are novel cross-sector collaborations in which health care systems and financial service organizations work collaboratively to improve health by reducing patient financial stress, primarily in low-income communities. This paper describes the rationale for MFPs and examines eight established MFPs providing financial services.

Asset resilience of Canadians, 2019

Canadians were more asset resilient just prior to the pandemic than they were at the turn of the millennium. That resilience continues to be tested as we enter the second year of the pandemic.

For the purposes of this article, a household is asset resilient when it has liquid assets that are at least equal to the after-tax, low-income measure (LIM-AT) for three months.

To be deemed asset resilient in 2019, a person living alone would require liquid assets of approximately $6,000. A household of four would require $12,000 or $3,000 per person to meet the minimum LIM-AT threshold for three months.

Recent Statistics Canada data have shown that savings rose sharply during the pandemic, despite the economic upheaval, and that those in the lower income quintiles have seen their income rise as a result of government support programs, such as the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

Although the data in this release predate the pandemic, they provide an important benchmark to monitor the economic well-being of Canadian households during a time of unprecedented change.

A statistical portrait of Canada’s diverse LGBTQ2+ communities

Statistics Canada presents a demographic and social profile of Canada's diverse LGBTQ2+ communities based on published analyses. Much of the data in this release focus on LGB Canadians (lesbian, gay, bisexual), since Statistics Canada has been collecting detailed information on these communities since 2003.

Low-income persistence in Canada and the provinces

Each year, some Canadians fall into low income, while others rise out of it. For example, over one-quarter (28.1%) of Canadians who were in low income in 2017 had exited it by 2018. This study examines the low income exit rate in Canada—an indicator that can be used to track the amount of time it takes for people to rise out of low income. Although a potential surge in low income in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic was avoided by temporary government support programs, the rising long-term unemployment rate in 2021 suggests a possible increase in poverty and low-income persistence in the future.

Increasing education savings for families living on low incomes: An outcome harvest evaluation

Momentum is a changing-making organization located in Calgary, Alberta that works with people living on low incomes and partners in the community to create a thriving local economy for all. In 2008, Momentum launched the StartSmart program to support families living on low incomes to open Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) to access free government education savings incentives such as the Canada Learning Bond (CLB). Momentum subsequently partnered with community agencies and advocated for systems level change in order to reach more families and scale up CLB uptake.

This report captures the collective efforts and outcomes of Momentum and community partners regarding increasing the Canada Learning Bond (CLB) uptake in Canada, as well as lessons learned.

The report highlights include:

Momentum and community partners efforts contributed to more than doubling the CLB uptake rate in Calgary (from 20% to 52%)
Through Aspire, Momentum trained over 350 community staff and volunteers from over 80 community agencies to deliver the StartSmart program
Policy successes (such as changing social housing rules to accommodate RESP savings) were achieved and some failures (cancellation of the provincial ACES grant) were experienced
Policy changes are still required to see significant uptake of the CLB. See Momentum's recent publication Public Policy Options to Better Enable Education Savings by Families on Low Incomes.

Partnering for impact: From crisis to opportunity (Case studies of corporate-nonprofit partnerships during COVID-19)

This report delves into one of the community investment trends that emerged during the pandemic: innovative partnerships. This research follows the Wake Up Call study, released in the Fall of 2020, and continues to answer the question of: how can corporate philanthropy do better, and do more?

Answers emerge through nine case studies, representing various initiatives that are either entirely new, have undergone significant change during the pandemic, or have achieved unprecedented growth. Each case study provides invaluable insights for companies looking to achieve greater impact through their partnerships.

Imagine Canada conducted close to 40 interviews with the individuals involved in the partnerships, complemented by documentary evidence collected in 2020-21. The case studies involve partners from leading companies and social impact organizations, such as Cisco, AstraZeneca, RBC, CanadaHelps, and Second Harvest.

Evaluation of the Financial Empowerment and Problem Solving Project: Final Report

The Province of Ontario, through the former Ministry of Community and Social Services (now known as the Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS)) entered into a contract with Prosper Canada (PC) in 2015 to fund the Financial Empowerment and Problem Solving (FEPS) pilot project. The FEPS project provided individualized financial counselling to low income program participants along with educational workshops and free tax clinics. An evaluation of the FEPS pilot found that the project exhibited some promising practices and was well received by clients. Building off of the findings from pilot, in 2017 the former Ministry of Community and Social Services (MCSS) entered into a four-year agreement with PC to fund the program at four delivery sites.

Evaluation of the Financial Empowerment Champions Project: Final Report

The Ministry of Children, Community and Social Services (MCCSS) with funding from Ontario Works (OW) contracted with Prosper Canada (PC) in 2016 to launch the Financial Empowerment Champions (FECs) project. The project intends to build capacity (e.g., embed financial empowerment (FE) interventions) within communities and provide individualized FE services to individuals with low income. This final evaluation report includes the following lines of evidence: linked administrative data from MCCSS (Social Assistance Management System (SAMS)), FECs sites and PC; a pre-service and a postservice survey; and interviews with FECs staff, management and community partner organizations. The evaluation was initiated in August 2017 and the final data was collected in June 2020.

The Well-Being and Financial Well-Being of Canadians: financially vulnerable households the most challenged

This brief discusses how more financially vulnerable Canadians are most challenged based on the Seymour Financial Resilience Index ^TM. This E-Brief builds on Statistics Canada Canadians' Well-being in Year One of the COVID-19 Pandemic report and Seymour’s February 2021 Index Release Summary.

Make Change that Counts: National Financial Literacy Strategy 2021-2026

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada’s (FCAC’s) mandate is to protect Canadian financial consumers and strengthen financial literacy.

The National Strategy is a 5-year plan to create a more accessible, inclusive, and effective financial ecosystem that supports diverse Canadians in meaningful ways. The National Strategy is focused on how financial literacy stakeholders can reduce barriers, catalyze action, and work together, to collectively help Canadians build financial resilience.

Workers receiving payments from the Canada Emergency Response Benefit program in 2020

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit program (CERB) was introduced to provide financial support to employees and self-employed workers in Canada who were directly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. This article examines the proportion of 2019 workers who received CERB payments in 2020 by various characteristics. CERB take-up rates are presented by industry, earnings group in 2019, sex, age group and province, as well as for population groups designated as visible minorities, immigrants and Indigenous people. Some factors that help explain differences in take-up rates among these groups of workers are also examined.

Ganohonyohk (Giving Thanks): Indigenous Prosperity

The Ganohonyohk/Prosperity Research Project explored how seven Indigenous Friendship Centre communities in Ontario understood the concept of prosperity. The guiding research question of “How do urban Indigenous Friendship Centre communities in Ontario view a prosperous/wealthy life?” was used to gauge the meaning of prosperity through a community driven lens.

This strength-based research explores culturally appropriate approaches to urban Indigenous prosperity and considers the role of Friendship Centres in promoting prosperity. It concludes that approaches to Indigenous prosperity need to be context-specific and allow for self-determination in establishing communities’ priorities.

Household economic well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, experimental estimates, fourth quarter 2020

A highlight of some of the findings reported in this briefing:

Disposable income declined for most households in the fourth quarter of 2020, with the largest losses for the lowest-income earners (-10.2%).
Compensation of employees—of which wages and salaries make up the largest share—was up in the fourth quarter.
The most pronounced wage losses were experienced by the lowest-income (-5.3%) and the youngest (-3.1%) households, as many people in these households work in industries or jobs hard hit by the pandemic.
There was a decline in COVID-19-specific support measures and a significant rise in EI benefits in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Overall consumption expenditure was down in 2020 compared with 2019.
Net saving for many households declined as their disposable income decreased and consumption edged up.
The debt-to-income ratio increased the most for households in the lowest income quintile.

The effects of child tax benefits on the income of single mothers

The financial resources available to families with young children are an important factor affecting child development, and they can have long-term impacts on socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood.

This article summarizes the findings of a new study using Statistic Canada’s data and analyzes the effects of expanding child tax benefits on after-tax income among single mothers, in the context of the 2015 reform to the Universal Child Care Benefit (UCCB) and the 2016 introduction of the Canada Child Benefit (CCB).

Gender differences in employment one year into the COVID-19 pandemic: An analysis by industrial sector and firm size

An important aspect of the impact of COVID-19 is its disproportional impact across gender. This Insights article proposes a year-over-year approach that compares employment from March 2020 to February 2021 to their March-2019-to-February-2020 counterparts. It uses the Labour Force Survey to study gender gaps patterns in employment by industrial sector (goods or services) and firm size.

Impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on productivity growth in Canada

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed how production occurs in the economy in two ways. One is the full or partial closure of non-essential activities such as travel, hospitality, arts and entertainment, personal services, airlines, etc. The other is the widespread shift from in-office work to working from home. This Insights article depicts labour productivity growth in Canada and its sources by industry during the COVID-19 pandemic in order to examine the implications these changes may have had on the productivity performance of the economy.

Food Insecurity amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: Food Charity, Government Assistance, and Employment

To mitigate the effects of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, the federal government has implemented several financial assistance programs, including unprecedented funding to food charities. Using the Canadian Perspectives Survey Series 2, the demographic, employment, and behavioural characteristics associated with food insecurity in April–May 2020 was examined. One-quarter of job-insecure individuals experienced food insecurity that was strongly associated with pandemic-related disruptions to employment income, major financial hardship, and use of food charity was found, yet the vast majority of food-insecure households did not report receiving any charitable food assistance. Increased financial support for low-income households would reduce food insecurity and mitigate negative repercussions of the pandemic.

Economic impact of COVID-19 among Indigenous people

This article uses data from a recent crowdsourcing data initiative to report on the employment and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on Indigenous participants. It also examines the extent to which Indigenous participants applied for and received federal income support to alleviate these impacts. As Canada gradually enters a recovery phase, the article concludes by reporting on levels of trust among Indigenous participants on decisions to reopen workplaces and public spaces.

Designing a remote financial help service

ProsperCanada-DesigningRemoteFinancialHelpService

Resources

Project reports, journey maps, and toolkit

Reports
These slide decks describe the goals and outcomes of this project.
Socialization deck: Supporting the design of a remote financial help service (Bridgeable)

Client Journey maps
These journey maps offer a visual explanation of the process used by the 3 participating community agencies offering one-on-one client support.
Family Services of Greater Vancouver
SEED Winnipeg
Thunder Bay Counselling

Toolkit
This toolkit was developed in collaboration with community partners, and shares tools for coaches and clients in the virtual one-on-one process.
Virtual service delivery tools (Toolkit)

Federal Spending on First Nations and Inuit Health Care

An analysis of provincial/territorial health care funding and funding for First Nations and Inuit by Indigenous Services Canada through the First Nations and Inuit Health Branch.

This report provides an analytical overview of federal and provincial/territorial government health spending for the First Nations and Inuit population.

parliamentarybudget-firstnationsinuithealthcare

A labour market snapshot of South Asian, Chinese and Filipino Canadians during the pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the varying labour market experiences and outcomes of diverse groups of Canadians.

To mark Asian Heritage Month, Statistics Canada is providing a profile of the employment characteristics of the three largest Asian populations in Canada: South Asian, Chinese and Filipino Canadians.

Results from the Labour Force Survey (LFS) show that South Asian men are much more likely to be employed than South Asian women, that Chinese Canadians have higher average hourly wages than other visible minority groups, and that Filipino women have among the highest employment rates of all groups, with many working on the front line in the health care sector during the pandemic.

Unless otherwise stated, all data in this article reflect the population aged 15 to 69 during the three months ending in April 2021, and are not seasonally adjusted.

Labour Force Survey, April 2021

April Labour Force Survey (LFS) data reflect labour market conditions during the week of April 11 to 17.

The Wealth of Unattached Men and Women Aged 50 and Older, 1999 to 2016

The evolution of the wealth, assets and debts of various groups of Canadians since the late 1990s has been documented in several studies. Yet little is known about the evolution of the wealth holdings of unattached men and women aged 50 and older, who make up a large part of the population. This study assesses how the wealth holdings of unattached men and women aged 50 and older evolved from 1999 to 2016 using data from the Survey of Financial Security of 1999, 2005, 2012 and 2016, and fills this information gap.

Cash Back: A Yellowhead Institute Red Paper

This report looks at how the dispossession of Indigenous lands nearly destroyed Indigenous economic livelihoods and discusses restitution from the perspective of stolen wealth.

The Economic Reality of The Asian American Pacific Islander Community Is Marked by Diversity and Inequality, Not Universal Success

By most measures of economic success—whether it be income, education, wealth or employment—Asian Americans are doing well in the United States, both when compared to other communities of color as well to White households. But while these measures of success are noteworthy, the way they are collected, analyzed and presented all too often masks the disparate financial situations of the dozens of ethnic subgroups categorized as “Asian American.”

This brief explores some of the misconceptions that feed into broadly held beliefs that all members of the AAPI community are part of one large homogenous and successful group.

Innovations in Financial Capability: Culturally Responsive & Multigenerational Wealth Building Practices in Asian Pacific Islander (API) Communities

The Innovations in Financial Capability report is a collaborative report by National CAPACD and the Institute of Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University’s Heller School for Social Policy and Management, in partnership with Hawaiian Community Assets (HCA), and the Council for Native Hawaiian Advancement (CNHA). This survey report builds upon the 2017 report Foundations for the Future: Empowerment Economics in the Native Hawaiian Context and features the financial capability work of over 40 of our member organizations and other AAPI serving organizations from across the US. IASP’s research found that AAPI leaders are adopting innovative multigenerational and culturally responsive approaches to financial capability programming, but they want and need more supports for their work.

3 Principles for an Antiracist, Equitable State Response to COVID-19 — and a Stronger Recovery

COVID-19’s effects have underscored the ways that racism, bias, and discrimination are embedded in health, social, and economic systems. Black, Indigenous, and Latinx people are experiencing higher rates of infection, hospitalization, and death, and people of color are also overrepresented in jobs that are at higher infection risk and hardest hit economically. Shaping these outcomes are structural barriers like wealth and income disparities, inadequate access to health care, and racial discrimination built into the health system and labor market.

This article discusses three recommended principles for guiding policymakers in making equity efforts.

Measuring the Financial Well-Being of Hispanics: 2018 Financial Well-Being Score Benchmarks

This report provides a foundational set of benchmarks of the financial well-being of Hispanics ages 18 and older in the United States in 2018, as measured by the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale, that practitioners and researchers can use in their work. The benchmarks were developed using data from the FINRA Foundation’s 2018 National Financial Capability Survey. This report specifically shows financial well-being score patterns for Hispanic adults by socio-demographics, financial inclusion, safety nets, and financial literacy factors. The report highlights key findings in the data and the implications for organizations that are planning to use the benchmarks.

Report – Social and economic impacts of COVID-19 on transgender and non-binary people in Canada

A survey led by researchers at Western University explores the experiences of trans and non-binary Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. Initial research from the Trans PULSE Canada survey highlighted that many trans and non-binary Canadians will avoid seeking necessary health care because of a fear of discrimination. The survey findings also show that trans and non-binary Canadians had disruptions in primary health care, mental health care and gender-affirming care during the pandemic, and a high frequency of interruptions to hormone regimens. They also found that twice as many trans and non-binary people reported that they stopped accessing mental health support than those who started accessing support. The team also looked at the social and economic impacts of the pandemic and found that a majority of trans and non-binary people in Canada are experiencing negative financial and social impacts of COVID-19. Almost 60 per cent of respondents said they their access to trans and non-binary social spaces has decreased.

Non-Profit Organizations and Volunteering Satellite Account: Human Resources Module, 2010 to 2019

In 2019, non-profit organizations (NPOs)—serving households, businesses and governments—employed 2.5 million people, representing 12.8% of all jobs in Canada. The employment share ranged between 12.4% and 12.8%, increasing during the 2010-to-2019 period.

While the economic and social landscape of Canada is very different at the time of this release than it was in 2019, these data provide a valuable baseline to better understand the potential impacts of COVID-19 in later reference years.

Financial Anxiety and Stress among U.S. Households: New Evidence from the National Financial Capability Study and Focus Groups

From Relief to Resilience: Reimagining Investments

The events of 2020 revealed unvarnished truths that demand that philanthropic organizations take action to build economic well-being for all. This long-overdue moment emphasizes the critical need for strategies that provide a range of support to women and Black, Latinx, Indigenous, and Asian people, who are struggling due to deep financial disparities. Today’s disparities are built on, and exacerbated by, long-standing inequities created by structural racism, sexism, and classism, which have limited financial security and overall well-being for those affected. This brief responds to the urgency of this moment, reimagining and building on past recommendations to map more just paths to economic resilience moving forward.

Employment Insurance, February 2021

February Employment Insurance (EI) statistics reflect labour market conditions as of the week of February 14 to 20.

Ahead of the February reference week, non-essential businesses, cultural and recreation facilities, and in-person dining reopened in many provinces, subject to capacity limits and various other public health requirements. Public health measures were relaxed in Quebec, Alberta, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick on February 8, although a curfew remained in effect in Quebec. Measures were loosened in many regions of Ontario on February 10 and 15, although stay-at-home orders remained in place in the health regions of Toronto, Peel, York and North Bay Parry Sound. In Manitoba, various measures were eased on February 12. In contrast, Newfoundland and Labrador reintroduced a lockdown on February 12, requiring the widespread closure of non-essential businesses and services.

A snapshot: Status First Nations people in Canada

This is a custom report produced in collaboration between the Assembly of First Nations and Statistics Canada. It includes a variety of social and economic statistics for Status First Nations people living on and off reserve and includes comparisons with the non-Indigenous population.

Urban, Rural, and Northern Indigenous Housing

This report examines Indigenous housing in urban, rural, and northern areas, an expression which is taken to refer to Indigenous housing in all areas of Canada other than on reserves. This report is intended to provide an analysis of unmet Indigenous housing need and homelessness in these areas, and of government spending to address those issues. The report ends with a range
of estimated costs for addressing housing need to various extents under various programs.
This report was prepared at the request of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Human Resources, Skills and Social Development and the Status of Persons with Disabilities (HUMA).

Impact of the COVID-19 Crisis on Montreal “Cultural Communities”

This exploratory study aims to better understand the challenges experienced by members of cultural communities in Montreal, particularly the most disadvantaged groups, during the COVID-19 pandemic in the Spring of 2020.

Unconnected: Funding Shortfalls, Policy Imbalances and How They Are Contributing to Canada’s Digital Underdevelopment

In an effort to understand the challenges and opportunities facing civil society and community organizations working to improve the quality of Canada’s internet, the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) commissioned research firm The Strategic Counsel to conduct a qualitative and quantitative assessment of stakeholder perceptions of the nation’s digital philanthropy landscape.

The research results show that digital development in Canada is underfunded, piecemeal, ad hoc and unorganized despite stakeholders sharing many of the same goals. The research results show that digital development in Canada is underfunded, piecemeal, ad hoc and unorganized despite stakeholders sharing many of the same goals – the connecting of Canadians to the internet in an affordable and reliable manner so that they can comfortably and knowledgeably participate in an increasingly digital economy and society. The research also found that these goals and the challenges surrounding them have only become more pressing with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, a global crisis that has pushed nearly every aspect of our daily lives online.

Barriers to Digital Equality in Canada

Internet is an essential service. As technology increasingly shapes our world, it is important that Canadians can keep up with the rapid changes, latest skills and emerging industries. Unfortunately, not every resident of Canada is able to access these opportunities to unlock a potentially brighter future.

AIC and ACORN partnered to undertake research with low and moderate income Canadians, in order to uncover the barriers to digital equity that exist in Canada today and shine a light on the urgent need to tackle these barriers to ensure equal access to digital opportunities.

National Report on High Interest Loans

ACORN Canada undertook a study focusing on high interest loans, especially when taken online. For the purpose of the study, high interest loans were defined as loans such as payday loans, installment loans, title loans etc. that are taken from companies/institutions that are not regular banks or credit unions.

The study was conducted to examine the experience of lower-income consumers in the increasingly available online high-cost credit markets.

The study was divided into three phases - conducting a literature review and webscan which was undertaken by Prosper Canada; legislative scan to understand the regulatory framework; and a national survey to capture experiences of people who have taken high interest loans, especially online.

Ongoing Impacts of the COVID-19 Crisis on the Charitable Sector

While most charities have been able to adapt and innovate to continue to offer services and programs to their communities since the onset of the pandemic, the situation remains challenging. For the vast majority of organizations, the constraints and uncertainty of the pandemic, paired with social distancing mandates, are driving significant shifts to organizational priorities. Nearly a year since the onset of the pandemic, the COVID-19 crisis continues to have a significant impact on demand, capacity, and revenue, and is influencing staffing decisions and volunteer contributions.

The crisis is dramatically changing how many organizations operate. Findings from Imagine Canada's second COVID-19 Sector Monitor study show the ongoing effects of the pandemic on the charitable sector.

Racial Equity In Philanthropy: Closing the Funding Gap

The Bridgespan Group is a social impact consultant and advisor to nonprofits and NGOs, philanthropists, and investors. This collection of resources discuss the barriers that leaders of color face in securing philanthropic funding.

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.

The relationship between COVID-19 pandemic and people in poverty: Exploring the impact scale and potential policy responses

This research project aims to identify the relationship between COVID-19 pandemic and poverty in Vancouver, by analyzing how the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed people into poverty and the impact of COVID-19 on people already living in poverty. Several examples of COVID-19 recovery policies and projects being implemented elsewhere that could support people experiencing poverty in Vancouver are also provided.

Control, Sufficiency, and Social Support Lessons from Low-income Canadians about Financial Wellbeing

This report examines how diary participants achieve the financial wellbeing that they have. The evidence we found is that low-income people work very hard to manage their finances. They endeavor to control their finances so that, as one participant said, their finances don’t control them. They must prioritize needs and wants because there is not enough for both. One participant talked about her goal of having a ‘little bit more’ than her needs so that there was a little extra for savings or small purchases or trips. Finally, we saw that family and friends are terribly important for achieving financial wellbeing because social supports can provide loans, gifts, and emotional support. Having a low-income means that banks offer few financial supports. Of course, family and friends also make demands.

The Differential Impact of the Pandemic and Recession on Family Finances

This report summarizes the results of a follow-up survey with nineteen low- and modest-middle income Winnipeggers, undertaken in June through September 2020. These respondents were drawn from the 29 Canadian Financial Diaries (CFD) participants who completed a year-long diary in 2019. The results of the survey illustrate that low- and moderate-income earners are feeling stressed with increased expenses and uncertainty about future economic stability.

Children’s Savings Account: Survey of Private and Public Funding 2019

Children’s Savings Account (CSA) programs offer a promising strategy to build a college-bound identity and make post-secondary education an achievable goal for more low- and moderate-income children. CSAs provide children (starting in elementary school or younger) with savings accounts and financial incentives for the purpose of education after high school. Beyond their financial value, CSAs are associated with beneficial effects for children and parents, including improved early child development. child health, maternal mental health, educational expectations, and academic performance. Many of these benefits are strongest for children from low-income families.

This report shares a snapshot of the scale and makeup of the funding for the CSA field in 2019. It follows similar AFN reports on CSA funding in 2014-2015 and 2017 and captures the following data on CSA programs’ financial support in calendar year 2019:

Private and public financial investments.
Private and public in-kind contributions.
Intended uses of funds.

Proposals for a Northern Market Basket Measure and its disposable income

As stated in the Poverty Reduction Act, the Market Basket Measure (MBM) is now Canada’s Official Poverty Line. The Northern Market Basket Measure (MBM-N) is an adaptation of the MBM that reflects life and conditions in two of the territories – Yukon and Northwest Territories^Note. As with the MBM, the MBM-N is comprised of five major components: food, clothing, transportation, shelter and other necessities. The MBM-N is intended to capture the spirit of the existing MBM (i.e., represent a modest, basic standard of living) while accounting for adjustments to the contents of the MBM to reflect life in the North.

This discussion paper describes a proposed methodology for the five components found in the MBM-N, as well as its disposable income. This discussion paper also provides an opportunity for feedback and comments on the proposed methodology of the MBM-N.

Investing and The COVID-19 Pandemic: Survey of Canadian Investors

The Investor Office conducted this study to further our understanding of the experiences and behaviours of retail investors during the COVID-19 Pandemic. The study explored several topics including the financial preparedness, savings behaviour, financial situations, changing preference, and trading activity of retail investors. Key findings include that 32 per cent of investors have experienced a decline in their financial situation during the pandemic while 16 per cent have experienced an improvement. Half of investors have not done any trading during the pandemic, but of those who have been trading, 63 per cent have increased their holdings.

Impacts of the Covid-19 Pandemic on Women: Report of the Standing Committee on the Status of Women

The effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have been profound and far-reaching. Beyond endangering the health of Canadians, the pandemic has worsened inequalities among groups of people. Women, girls and gender-diverse people have faced unique challenges during the pandemic.

The Committee recommends that the Government of Canada take various actions to assist women, girls and gender-diverse people during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Many recommendations relate to improving women’s health and labour force participation. Some recommendations focus specifically on women’s paid and unpaid care work. The Committee also recommends interventions to help reduce trafficking and violence against women.

Budget 2021: A Recovery Plan for Jobs, Growth, and Resilience

The federal budget released on April 19, 2021 covers the Canadian government's plan for:

Canadians’ Well-being in Year One of the COVID-19 Pandemic

Financial Well-Being: A Conceptual Model and Preliminary Analysis

Based on an extensive literature review and re-analysis of existing qualitative data, this report offers a working definition and an a priori conceptual model of financial well-being and its possible determinants. Using survey data from Norway (2016), ten regression models have been conducted to identify the key drivers of financial well-being and enhance the understanding of the underlying mechanisms responsible for the unequal spread of well-being across the population. The preliminary analyses in this report were consistent with both the definition and the model, albeit with some nuances and unexplained effects.

The empirical analysis identified three sub-domains of financial well-being. It was found that all three measures share three behaviours as their main drivers: ‘active saving’, ‘spending restraints’ and ‘not borrowing for daily expenses’. Also, ‘locus of control’ stood out as an important explanatory variable, with significant impacts on all three levels of well-being. Beyond that, some distinguishing characteristics were identified for each of the measures.

Measuring Health Equity: Demographic Data Collection in Health Care

The Toronto Central Local Health Integration Network (Toronto Central LHIN) provided financial support to establish the Measuring Health Equity Project and has called for recommendations on health equity data use and a sustainability approach for future data collection.

This report describes the journey Toronto Central LHIN and Sinai Health System have taken to embed demographic data collection in hospitals and Community Health Centres. It also summarizes the potential impact of embedding demographic data collection into Ontario health-care delivery and planning. And finally, it describes the use of this data, the lessons learned, and provides recommendations for moving forward.

2020 Second Annual Report of the Disability Advisory Committee

In November 2017, the Minister of National Revenue, the Honourable Diane Lebouthillier, announced the creation of the Disability Advisory Committee to provide advice to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) on interpreting and administering tax measures for persons with disabilities in a fair, transparent and accessible manner. The committee’s full mandate is attached as Appendix A. Key disability tax measures are described in Appendix B.

Our first annual report, Enabling access to disability tax measures, was published in May 2019. Since that time, we believe there has been important progress with respect to the administration of and communications about the disability tax credit (DTC). Our second annual report describes in detail the many improvements that the CRA has introduced over the past year in response to the recommendations in our 2019 report. These changes are summarized in “The Client Experience” on the following pages.

Section 1 of this second annual report presents a review of the 42 recommendations made in our first annual report. Each recommendation summarizes the relevant context and associated follow-up actions.

Section 2 covers the new areas of conversation during the second year of our mandate. Selected topics focus, for example, on DTC data, concerns of Indigenous peoples and eligibility for a registered disability savings plan.

Section 3 includes the appendices, which provide details not covered in the text.

Building Understanding: The First Report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty

In August 2018, the Government of Canada announced Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy. The Strategy included a commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goal's target of reducing poverty by 20% by 2020 and 50% by 2030. Opportunity for All included the adoption of the Market Basket Measure (MBM) as Canada's Official Poverty Line and the creation of the National Advisory Council on Poverty (Council) to report on progress made toward the poverty reduction targets.

This is the first report of the National Advisory Council on Poverty. It continues Canada's discussion on poverty by bringing forward the voices of individuals with lived expertise of poverty. It details progress toward our poverty targets and recommends improvements to our poverty reduction efforts.

Opportunity for All – Canada’s First Poverty Reduction Strategy

Canada is a prosperous country, yet in 2015 roughly 1 in 8 Canadians lived in poverty. The vision of Opportunity for All – Canada's First Poverty Reduction Strategy is a Canada without poverty, because we all suffer when our fellow citizens are left behind. We are all in this together, from governments, to community organizations, to the private sector, to all Canadians who are working hard each and every day to provide for themselves and their families.

For the first time in Canada's history, the Strategy sets an official measure of poverty: Canada's Official Poverty Line, based on the cost of a basket of goods and services that individuals and families require to meet their basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living in communities across the country.

Opportunity for All sets, for the first time, ambitious and concrete poverty reduction targets: a 20% reduction in poverty by 2020 and a 50% reduction in poverty by 2030, which, relative to 2015 levels, will lead to the lowest poverty rate in Canada's history.

Through Opportunity for All, we are putting in place a National Advisory Council on Poverty to advise the Minister of Families, Children and Social Development on poverty reduction and to publicly report, in each year, on the progress that has been made toward poverty reduction.

The Government also proposes to introduce the first Poverty Reduction Act in Parliament in Canada’s history. This Act would entrench the targets, Canada's Official Poverty Line, and the Advisory Council into legislation.

Study: A labour market snapshot of Black Canadians during the pandemic

In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, many Canadians, including Black Canadians, have experienced significant economic hardship, while others put themselves at risk through their work in essential industries such as health care and social assistance.

Statistics Canada looked at how the 1 million Black Canadians aged 15 to 69 are faring in the labour market during one of the most disruptive times in our economic history. Analysis of the recent labour market situation of population groups designated as visible minorities is now possible as a result of a new question added to the Labour Force Survey (LFS) in July 2020.

Unless otherwise stated, all data in this release are unadjusted for seasonality and are based on three-month averages ending in January 2021.

Aboriginal Peoples Survey: Data tables, 2017

New data tables on the labour activities of Indigenous Peoples are now available.

Data are from the 2017 Aboriginal Peoples Survey and include information on labour force status, job satisfaction, skills training, skills that limit job opportunities, job permanency, part-time or full-time job status, mismatch of skills for current job, disability status and disability severity class, by Indigenous identity, age group and sex.

Data are available for Canada, the provinces (Atlantic provinces combined) and the territories.

Longitudinal Immigration Database: Asylum claimant and immigrant economic region tables, 2018

Tables on the income and mobility of immigrants by economic region, and a table on asylum claimant economic outcomes, are now available. These tables use data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database.

Aspects of quality of employment in Canada, February and March 2020

The labour market in Canada has experienced unprecedented changes over the last 12 months. Entire sectors of the economy have been subject to temporary restrictions on business activities as a result of public health measures aimed at limiting the spread of COVID-19. At the same time, many workers have seen changes in working conditions, such as teleworking, reduced work hours and greater job insecurity.

From mid-February to mid-March 2020, the 2020 Survey on Quality of Employment (SQE) collected information on aspects of job quality in Canada from the perspective of workers. Estimates reflect employment characteristics before the full onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and contribute to establishing a baseline for future analysis of quality of employment in Canada. Unless otherwise stated, the analysis focuses on the 23.5 million workers who were employed in February or March 2020 or who had last worked in 2018 or after, and excludes unpaid family workers.

Longitudinal Immigration Database: Immigrant children and census metropolitan area tables, 2018

The most recent 2018 data from the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) indicate that immigrant children make a significant contribution to Canadian society and the Canadian economy over time. Although immigrant children (32.2%) are more than twice as likely as non-immigrant children (15.4%) to live in low-income households, factors such as the opportunity to be educated in the Canadian system and an increased proficiency in the official languages help immigrant children attain wages in adulthood similar to those of their Canadian-born peers.

This analysis connects the characteristics of immigrants who came to Canada as children with their adulthood socioeconomic outcomes in 2018, such as participation in postsecondary education and median wages. The IMDB provides a long-term perspective on immigrants and their socioeconomic outcomes in Canada, offering details on how immigration is shaping Canada's future. In addition, these data from 2018 contribute to baseline estimates in preparation for future research on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on immigrant children, including immigrant children admitted during the pandemic, their adjustment period and their long-term socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood.

Financial Education Affects Financial Knowledge and Downstream Behaviors

This study covers the rapidly growing literature on the causal effects of financial education programs in a meta-analysis of 76 randomized experiments with a total sample size of over 160,000 individuals. The evidence shows that financial education programs have, on average, positive causal treatment effects on financial knowledge and downstream financial behaviors. Treatment effects are economically meaningful in size, similar to those realized by educational interventions in other domains and are at least three times as large as the average effect documented in earlier work. These results are robust to the method used, restricting the sample to papers published in top economics journals, including only studies with adequate power, and accounting for publication selection bias in the literature. The study concludes with a discussion of the cost-effectiveness of financial education interventions.

The TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index (P-Fin Index)

The TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index (P-Fin Index) measures knowledge and understanding that enable sound financial decision making and effective management of personal finances among U.S. adults. The P-Fin Index is an annual survey developed by the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center, in consultation with Greenwald & Associates. It is unique in its breadth of questions and its coverage of the topics that measure financial literacy. The index is based on responses to 28 questions across eight functional areas: earning, consuming, saving, investing, borrowing/managing debt, insuring, comprehending risk, and go-to information sources.

Growing household financial instability: Is income volatility the hidden culprit?

On March 9th, 2018, leading American and Canadian researchers and policy makers from all sectors gathered in Toronto to explore the question: Growing household financial instability: Is income volatility the hidden culprit? The policy research symposium was an invitational event co-hosted by the Investment Industry Regulatory Organization of Canada (IIROC) and Prosper Canada. Its purpose was to shine a light on an issue that has gained prominence in US economic and policy circles but was just emerging as a topic for exploration in Canada in the context of
growing household financial instability.

This report summarizes key insights, conclusions and next steps from the symposium in the hopes that it will inform, catalyse and support further action on this issue. To view the conference agenda and links to all conference presentations, please see Appendix 1. Presentation videos can be found online at
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC0J2kAG0MZZ5gd_6ZaHjqqEcenL2jCtP

Yukon Poverty Report Card 2020

This report was released as part of public education movement Campaign 2000's annual assessment of child and family poverty in Canada, providing an overview of the following key issues relating to poverty in Yukon:

the housing crisis and the challenge of food insecurity with a focus of the disproportionate impact on children and youth, Indigenous peoples, and others.
an overview of previous initiatives and ongoing work that can be leveraged to support a comprehensive approach to reducing poverty in the Yukon.
a description of some successful community-driven initiatives that are supporting improvements in the health and wellness of Yukoners.
ten recommendations including several policy proposals to improve the health and wellness of children, youth, and families specifically.

NWT Market Basket Measure

The Market Basket Measure (MBM) is a national measure of low income based on the cost of a fixed basket of goods that represents a modest, basic standard of living. It includes the cost of food, clothing and footwear, transportation, shelter, and other expenses for a reference family of two adults (aged 25 to 49) and two children (aged 9 and 13).

The Northwest Territories Market Basket Measure (NWT-MBM) adjusts the clothing portion of the national basket to better represent life in the North. This has been used to calculate the NWT-MBM for regional centres across the NWT.

The Cost of Poverty in the Atlantic Provinces

This report costs poverty based on three broad measurable components: opportunity costs, remedial costs and intergenerational costs. The authors state that these costs could potentially be reallocated, and benefits could potentially be realized if all poverty were eliminated. The total cost of poverty in the Atlantic region ranges from $2 billion per year in Nova Scotia to $273 million in Prince Edward Island. It is close to a billion in Newfoundland and Labrador, $959 million, and $1.4 billion in New Brunswick. These costs represent a significant loss of economic growth of 4.76% of Nova Scotia’s GDP to 2.9% in Newfoundland and Labrador. The impact on Prince Edward Island’s GDP is 4.10%, and 3.71% in New Brunswick.
The purpose of this costing exercise is to illustrate the shared economic burden of poverty, and the urgency that exists for Atlantic Canadian governments to act to eradicate it.

Distributional and Fiscal Analysis of a National Guaranteed Basic Income

Several parliamentarians requested that the PBO prepare a distributional analysis of Guaranteed Basic Income using parameters set out in Ontario’s basic income pilot project, examine the impact across income quintiles, family types and gender, and identify the net federal revenue increase required to offset the net cost of the new program. This analysis also accounts for the behavioural response.

Roadblocks and Resilience

This report, Roadblocks and Resilience Insights from the Access to Benefits for Persons with Disabilities project, provides insights on the barriers people with disabilities in British Columbia face in accessing key income benefits. These insights, and the accompanying service principles that participants identified, were obtained by reviewing existing research, directly engaging 16 B.C. residents with disabilities and interviewing 18 researchers and service providers across Canada. We will use these insights to inform development and testing of a pilot service to support people with disabilities to access disability benefits.

The related journey map Common steps to get disability benefits also illustrates the complexities of this benefits application process.

This journey map illustrates the process of applying for the Disability Tax Credit.

The journey map Persons with Disability (PWD) status illustrates the process of preparing for and applying for and maintaining Persons with Disabilities Status and disability assistance in B.C.

2021 Reports of the Auditor General of Canada to the Parliament of Canada – Report 4 – Canada Child Benefit

A report from Auditor General Karen Hogan concludes that the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) managed the Canada Child Benefit (CCB) program so that millions of eligible families received accurate and timely payments. The audit also reviewed the one-time additional payment of up to $300 per child issued in May 2020 to help eligible families during the COVID‑19 pandemic.

The audit noted areas where the agency could improve the administration of the program by changing how it manages information it uses to assess eligibility to the CCB. For example, better use of information received from other federal organizations would help ensure that the agency is informed when a beneficiary has left the country. This would avoid cases where payments are issued on the basis of outdated information. To enhance the integrity of the program, the agency should request that all applicants provide a valid proof of birth when they apply for the benefit.

The audit also raised the concept of female presumption and noted that given the diversity of families in Canada today, this presumption has had an impact on the administration of the Canada Child Benefit program.

Creating Change: Momentum’s Contribution to High-Cost Credit Reform in Alberta

As part of Momentum’s systems change planning process that was grounded in both participant and community experience, the issue of payday loans and other forms of high-cost credit (e.g., pawn, installment, rent-to-own, title and car loans) emerged as a priority issue for Momentum to address the financial barriers for people living on low incomes to exit poverty and build sustainable livelihoods.
To evaluate its work for high-cost credit reform in Calgary and Alberta in the period of 2012 to 2019, an outcome harvest was conducted. This evaluation reflects the collective efforts of multiple partners, identifies outcomes achieved as well as Momentum’s contribution to these outcomes.

Housing insecurity and the COVID-19 pandemic

CFPB released their first analysis of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on housing in the United States. Actions taken by both the public and private sector have, so far, prevented many families from losing their homes during the height of the public health crisis. However, as legal protections expire in the months ahead, over 11 million families — nearly 10 percent of U.S. households — are at risk of eviction and foreclosure.

Disability Inclusion Analysis of Lessons Learned and Best Practices of the Government of Canada’s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic

This report provides the findings of research conducted to assist Employment and Social Development Canada in identifying good or best practices and lessons learned from the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada.

Conducted in partnership with the DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada (DAWN), this research helps us better understand how diverse people with disabilities in Canada have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of government COVID-19 measures on diverse people with disabilities in Canada.

liveworkwellresearchcentre-disabilityinclusionanalysis

Overcoming Digital Divides Workshop Series: Framing Paper

Canada’s digital divide has often been narrowly defined as the gap that exists between urban and rural broadband internet availability — Canadian urban centres have significantly greater internet subscription levels at faster speeds than rural communities.(Government of Canada, 2019). The cost of building new internet infrastructure in less developed areas continues to impede equitable access to sufficient internet services.

This series aims to engage people living in Canada, industry, academia and policymakers to advance a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the circumstances that precipitate the conditions that shape digital inequities in Canada. Through expert panel discussions and thoughtful participatory dialogue, the series aims to drive toward innovative solutions to greater digital inclusion across Canada. The series will be presented in six parts, each tackling a specific theme with unique concerns. The series will also build on intersectional connections across themes while identifying new issues and impacted communities.

Homeless Shelter Flows in Calgary and the Potential Impact of COVID-19

Social distancing and self-isolation are two of the key responses asked of citizens during a pandemic. For people without a home, this advice is rather more difficult to follow. This article uses daily data describing the movements of 36,855 unique individuals who used emergency homeless shelters in Calgary over the period 1 January 2014–31 December 2019. The use of emergency shelters is characterized by large flows from and into the broader community and smaller flows between individual shelters. Between admissions of new people into the shelter system and multiple re-admissions of current clients, there were an average of 43,613 movements between the community and between shelters each month. The size of these flows provide a measure of the extent to which people reliant on homeless shelters are exposed to the risk of transmission of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).

Cross Canada Check-up (updated March 2021)

Canada ranks consistently as one of the best places to live in the world and one of the wealthiest. When it comes to looking at the financial health of Canadian households, however, we are often forced to rely on incomplete measures, like income alone, or aggregate national statistics that tell us little about the distribution of financial health and vulnerability in our neighbourhoods, communities or provinces/territories.

The purpose of this report is to examine the financial heath and vulnerability of Canadian households in different provinces and territories using a new composite index of household financial health, the Neighbourhood Financial Health Index or NFHI.

This report is an update of Cross Canada Check-up: Provincial/territorial findings from Canada's Neighbourhood Financial Health Index published in 2018.

Update July 22, 2022: Please note that the Neighbourhood Financial Health Index is no longer available

Household economic well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, experimental estimates, first quarter to third quarter of 2020

Over the first three quarters of 2020, disposable income for the lowest-income households increased 36.8%, more than for any other households. At the same time, the youngest households recorded the largest gain in their net worth (+9.8%). These changes were driven by unprecedented increases in transfers to households, as the value of government COVID-19 support measures exceeded losses in wages and salaries and self-employment income.

As the pandemic unfolded in Canada, households experienced extraordinary changes in their economic well-being. While quarterly releases of gross domestic product and the national balance sheet provide an aggregate view of these impacts, new experimental sub-annual distributions of household economic accounts (DHEA), released today, provide insight into how the pandemic and the associated government support measures have affected the economic well-being of different groups of households in Canada.

statscan-householdeconomicwellbeingCOVID19

Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile, 2019

Family violence in Canada: A statistical profile is an annual report produced by the Canadian Centre for Justice and Community Safety Statistics at Statistics Canada as part of the Federal Family Violence Initiative. Since 1998, this report has provided data on the nature and extent of family violence in Canada, as well as an analysis of trends over time. The information presented is used extensively to monitor changes that inform policy makers and the public.

Low income measure (LIM) thresholds by income source and household size

Low income measure (LIM) thresholds by household size for market income, total income and after-tax income, in current and constant dollars, annual.

COVID-19 in Canada: A One-year Update on Social and Economic Impacts

This summary provides highlights on the work the Agency has and is undertaking using existing and new data sources to provide critical insights on the social and economic impacts of COVID-19 on Canadians. It covers the first year of the pandemic from March 2020 to March 2021.

Study: Association between food insecurity and stressful life events among Canadian adults

The COVID-19 pandemic and the related business closures and lockdowns have given rise to a series of unprecedented socioeconomic and health-related challenges, one of which is increasing food insecurity.

Throughout the pandemic, Statistics Canada has continued to collect and release data on food insecurity in Canada—including exploring the link between food insecurity and mental health, financial stability and Indigenous people living in urban areas.

This study looks at the characteristics of food insecure Canadians, focusing on how losing a job, suffering an injury or illness, or a combination of events can increase the risk of food insecurity. This release compares the food security outcomes of two different subpopulations: those who had experienced a stressful life event and those who had not.

Labour Force Survey, February 2021

February Labour Force Survey (LFS) data reflect labour market conditions during the week of February 14 to 20.

In early February, public health restrictions put in place in late December were eased in many provinces. This allowed for the re-opening of many non-essential businesses, cultural and recreational facilities, and some in-person dining. However, capacity limits and other public health requirements, which varied across jurisdictions, remained in place.

Restrictions were eased to varying degrees in Quebec, Alberta, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia on February 8, although a curfew remained in effect in Quebec. In Ontario, previous requirements were lifted for many regions on February 10 and 15, while the Toronto, Peel, York and North Bay Parry Sound health regions remained under stay-at-home orders through the reference week. Various measures were eased in Manitoba on February 12.

In contrast, Newfoundland and Labrador re-introduced a lockdown on February 12, requiring the widespread closure of non-essential businesses and services.

Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts (2nd edition)

Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts, 2nd edition, provides Canadians with an updated introduction to the social determinants of our health. We first explain how living conditions “get under the skin” to either promote health or cause disease. We then explain, for each of the 17 social determinants of health:

Why it is important to health;
How we compare on the social determinant of health to other wealthy developed nations; and
How the quality of the specific social determinant can be improved.

Improving the health of Canadians is possible but requires Canadians to think about health and its determinants in a more sophisticated manner than has been the case to date. The purpose of this second edition of Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts is to stimulate research, advocacy, and public debate about the social determinants of health and means of improving their quality and making their distribution more equitable.

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.

Trends in Intergenerational Income Mobility and Income Inequality in Canada

In this paper, administrative Canadian tax data are exploited to compute measures of intergenerational income mobility at the national, provincial and territorial levels. This work provides detailed descriptive evidence on trends in social mobility. Five cohorts of Canadians, born between 1963 and 1985, are observed as teens living with their parents and again as adults in their late 20s and early 30s.

statscan-intergenerationalincomemobility

Social Listening: Covid-19, Social Media, and The Path to a Better Safety Net

This brief outlines how beneficiaries are using online platforms to identify breakdowns in public services, celebrate the positive impact of public policy and urge reform. Ways in which government can capitalize on widespread social media feedback and begin to build long-term measures to center people’s experience as an important component of policy design are explored.

Economic Security Programs Reduce Overall Poverty, Racial and Ethnic Inequities

Financial Well-being among Black and Hispanic Women

This paper provides an in-depth examination of the financial well-being of Black and Hispanic women and the factors contributing to it, using the 2018 wave of the National Financial Capability Study. Differences between Black and Hispanic women versus White women are documented, in that the former are more likely to face economic challenges that depress financial well-being. Controlling for differences in socio-demographic characteristics, there are important differences in the factors that contribute to financial well-being for Black and Hispanic women compared to White women. This includes distinct impacts of education, family structure, employment, and financial literacy. Results imply that extant financial education programs inadequately address the needs of Black and Hispanic women.

Fearless Woman: Financial Literacy and Stock Market Participation

Women are less financially literate than men. It is unclear whether this gap reflects a lack of knowledge or, rather, a lack of confidence. This survey experiment shows that women tend to disproportionately respond “do not know” to questions measuring financial knowledge, but when this response option is unavailable, they often choose the correct answer. The authors find that about one-third of the financial literacy gender gap can be explained by women’s lower confidence levels. Both financial knowledge and confidence explain stock market participation.

Testing the use of the Mint app in an interactive personal finance module

To advance understanding of effective financial education methods, the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center (GFLEC) conducted an experiment using Mint, a financial improvement tool offered by Intuit, whose financial products include TurboTax and QuickBooks. This study measures Mint’s effectiveness at improving students’ financial knowledge, attitudes, and behavior. Students at the George Washington University participated in a half-day budgeting workshop and were exposed to either Mint, which is a real-time, automated platform, or Excel, which is an offline, static tool.

The authors found that participation in both workshops was associated with improved preparedness to have conversations about money matters with parents, a greater sense of financial autonomy, and an increased awareness of the importance of budgeting, but that participants in the Mint workshop were more likely to have a positive experience using the budgeting tool, to feel confident that they could achieve a financial goal, and to be engaged in budgeting one month after the workshop. Results show that even short financial education interventions can meaningfully influence students’ financial attitudes and behavior and that an interactive tool like Mint may have advantages over a more static tool like Excel.

The Inequality of Poverty

This report explores the connections between low income, poverty and protected characteristics, how these can shape the experience of poverty, and whether this can result in a similar inequality in terms of when and how poverty premiums are incurred. COVID-19 has thrown light on the link between insecure work, low incomes and protected characteristics, with an opportunity for this link to be formally recognised. The pandemic, and the economic consequences look likely to throw many more people into poverty, and this poverty is falling hardest on those with protected characteristics.

Investing in Financial Coaching with a Racial Equity Lens

In this moment, it is pivotal for philanthropy to support communities of color in achieving financial well-being. Combined with systems-change efforts that would create fairer economic opportunities and conditions, financial coaching is a vital component of providing needed support. Through background information, case stories, and key investment considerations, this brief focuses on financial coaching with a racial equity lens as an important strategy for helping people of color achieve equitable outcomes.

Prosperity Now Scorecard Cost-Of-Living Profiles by State

Prosperity Now has created state-level Cost-of-Living profiles as new features on their Scorecard website. The Prosperity Now Cost of Living profiles provide a comprehensive look at the financial stability of every person living in the United States. Each state profile can be downloaded and used to determine the true cost of living is in the state, based on median monthly income and discretionary spending left at the end of each month after expenses. These values determine what is left over for emergency expenses and long-term aspirational expenses.

This video presents the cost of living in Georgia.

Diversity of charity and non-profit boards of directors: Overview of the Canadian non-profit sector

Charities and non-profit organizations play a vital role in supporting and enriching the lives of Canadians. A crowdsourcing survey of individuals involved in the governance of charities and non-profit organizations was conducted from December 4, 2020, to January 18, 2021. The objectives of the survey were to collect timely information on the activities of these organizations and the individuals they serve and to learn more about the diversity of those who serve on their boards of directors. A total of 8,835 individuals completed the survey, 6,170 of whom were board members.

Labour Force Survey, January 2021

After the December Labour Force Survey (LFS) reference week—December 6 to 12—a number of provinces extended public health measures in response to increasing COVID-19 cases. January LFS data reflect the impact of these new restrictions and provide a portrait of labour market conditions as of the week of January 10 to 16.

In Ontario, restrictions already in place for many regions of southern Ontario—including the closure of non-essential retail businesses—were extended to the rest of the province effective December 26. In Quebec, non-essential retail businesses were closed effective December 25 and a curfew implemented on January 14 further affected the operating hours of some businesses.

As of the January reference week, existing public health measures continued in Alberta and Manitoba, including the closure of in-person dining services, recreation facilities and personal care services, as well as restrictions on retail businesses.

Restrictions were eased between the December and January reference weeks in two provinces. In Prince Edward Island, closures of in-person dining and recreational and cultural facilities were lifted on December 18. In Halifax, Nova Scotia, and the surrounding area, restrictions on in-person dining were eased on January 4.

Canadian Economic News, January 2021 edition

This module provides a concise summary of selected Canadian economic events, as well as international and financial market developments by calendar month. All information presented here is obtained from publicly available news and information sources, and does not reflect any protected information provided to Statistics Canada by survey respondents. This is the issue for January 2021.

Income and mobility of immigrants, 2018

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected many aspects of Canadian immigration, including reduced permanent resident admissions and lower labour market outcomes. This article presents the latest economic and mobility outcomes of immigrants admitted to Canada using data from the 2019 Longitudinal Immigration Database, and provides baseline estimates prior to the pandemic for future analyses.

In recent years, the profile of immigrants admitted to Canada has changed. The median entry wage for immigrants admitted to Canada in 2017 was the highest to date, reaching $30,100 in 2018.

This value surpassed the previous high of $26,500 for 2017 outcomes of immigrants admitted in 2016. These new data also highlight a decreasing gap between the immigrant median entry wage and the Canadian median wage ($37,400). Factors such as pre-admission experience, knowledge of official languages, and category of admission, among other socioeconomic characteristics, could contribute to the rise in median entry wage compared with previous admission years.

The COVID-19 pandemic and Indigenous people with a disability or long-term condition

This paper uses crowdsourced data to provide an overview of the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on the health, service access, and ability to meet basic needs of Indigenous participants with disabilities or long-term conditions. Changes in overall health and mental health are examined by disability type, age group and sex. The most commonly reported service disruptions since the start of the pandemic are also presented.

The crowdsourcing data reflected health and other disparities between Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants with a disability or long-term condition. Indigenous participants were more likely to report worsened overall health and mental health, service disruption, and a greater impact on their ability to meet essential needs.

Report on the Charities Program 2018 to 2020

The charitable sector is a major social and economic force, offering vital services to Canadians and people around the world. The Canada Revenue Agency's Charities Directorate employs an education-first approach and client-centric philosophy. It aims to promote compliance with the charity-related income tax legislation and regulations in order to support charitable giving and development of the sector, while protecting charities and the public from abuse.

This report provides an update on the Directorate’s activities over the past two years, including the initial impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

State of Fair Banking in Canada 2020: Borrower and Lender Perspectives

The DUCA Impact Lab defines fair banking as any financial product or service that lives up to the following set of principles:

Pricing is clear, transparent, and well understood
Pricing is representative of the cost of funds, cost of administration and risk, rather than what the market will bear
It is clear to all parties how any personal data is being used by the lender
Personal data is only used for purposes agreed to by both the borrower and lender
The terms and conditions, including penalties and the rights of each party are clearly explained and well understood by both lender and borrower
Products are only recommended that will bring the borrower closer to their expressed goals
The borrower is clear on what the institution will do (and not do), with deposits to earn a return
The assessment of risk is objective, transparent and not prejudicial
Financial institution recommendations are not biased towards in-house product recommendations
Products empower consumers when they need access to financial services, not just when they do not

Their Fair Banking 2020 report presents data on the following areas:

Debt load and its impact on Canadians
Financial confidence
Divide between borrowers and lenders
How financial products are priced
Poor credit and ability to access to financial product and services
Demographic snapshot: People of colour and Indigenous Canadians

The COVID-19 Wildfire: Nonprofit Organizational Challenge and Opportunity

Nonprofit organizations in Canada were significantly impacted by COVID-19, including lost revenue and needing to adjust the program delivery. The lack of technology capacity in the nonprofit sector is a key barrier for many nonprofit organizations to adapt to delivering programs online. Momentum, a Calgary-based nonprofit organization, experienced both financial and programmatic challenges due to COVID-19. Momentum pivoted program delivery to provide supports during the COVID-19 lockdown and developed innovative approaches to online programming. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada, Momentum was able to rapidly develop its capacity to use technology for online programming with the support of critical new funding. Many nonprofits will have to transform their business models to not only survive but thrive in the post-COVID world.

One in five Canadians with mental health-related disabilities lives in core housing need

Canadians with mental health-related disabilities were more than twice as likely as those without disabilities to live in households considered to be in core housing need in 2017. Canadians with mental health-related disabilities were also more likely than those without disabilities to live alone, to rent their homes and to live in subsidized housing, according to the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability (CSD).

The Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) has identified those living with pre-existing mental health-related disabilities as a particularly vulnerable population because of the impacts of isolation and disruptions to mental health-related services during the COVID-19 pandemic. A recent crowdsourcing survey by Statistics Canada found that almost three-quarters (73%) of participants with mental health-related disabilities stated that their mental health had worsened since the beginning of the pandemic. In addition, PHAC has indicated that those living with inadequate or unsuitable housing are also more vulnerable during the pandemic and are at higher risk of contracting COVID-19.

This infographic presents pre-existing living situations and housing conditions among Canadians with mental health-related disabilities that may put them at greater risk of contracting COVID-19, as well as the emotional and psychosocial impacts of living through a pandemic.

Study: The changing nature of work in Canada amid recent advances in automation technology

While automation has changed the nature of work in Canada over the past few decades, this change was very gradual, and did not accelerate with the very recent developments in artificial intelligence.

The results of this study reveal that the share of Canadians working in managerial, professional and technical occupations increased from 23.8% in 1987 to 31.2% in 2018, while the share employed in service occupations increased more moderately from 19.2% to 21.8% over the same timeframe. Jobs in both of these occupational groups are generally difficult to automate.

Meanwhile, the share of workers employed in production, craft, repair and operative occupations (more automatable tasks) went from 29.7% in 1987 to 22.2% in 2018, while the share employed in sales, clerical and administrative support occupations also fell over the period (from 27.3% in 1987 to 24.9% in 2018). These jobs are generally more amenable to automation.

Pandemic to Prosperity – January 21, 2021: One year after the first announcement of Covid on U.S. soil

The National Conference on Citizenship (NCoC) developed the Pandemic to Prosperity series. It builds on NCoC’s data infrastructure and advocacy network developed for its national Civic Health Index, with The New Orleans Index, which informed many public and private decisions and actions post-Katrina. This series is designed to enable a solid understanding of the damage to lives and livelihoods as the pandemic continues to unfold, as the United States enters the era of vaccines, and the nation grapples with new shocks and stressors such as disasters and civil unrest; it will also examine aspirational goals around strong and accountable government, functioning institutions from child care to internet access to local news availability, effective civic participation, and outcomes for people by race regarding employment, health, housing, and more. With each new report in the series, indicators will change as the recovery transitions. This report highlights mostly state-level metrics with breakdowns by race, gender, and age where available, relying on both public and private data sources.

Together BC: British Columbia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy

British Columbia’s Poverty Reduction Strategy, sets a path to reduce overall poverty in B.C. by 25% and child poverty by 50% by 2024.

With investments from across Government, TogetherBC reflects government’s commitment to reduce poverty and make life more affordable for British Columbians. It includes policy initiatives and investments designed to lift people up, break the cycle of poverty and build a better B.C. for everyone.

Built on the principles of Affordability, Opportunity, Reconciliation, and Social Inclusion, TogetherBC focuses on six priority action areas:

More affordable housing for more people
Supporting families, children and youth
Expanding access to education and training
More opportunities, more jobs
Improving income supports
Investing in social inclusion

Attitudes Toward Debt and Debt Behavior

This paper introduces a novel survey measure of attitude toward debt. Survey results with panel data on Swedish household balance sheets from registry data are matched, showing that debt attitude measure helps explain individual variation in indebtedness as well as debt build-up and spending behavior in the period 2004–2007. As an explanatory variable, debt attitude compares well to a number of other determinants of debt, including education, risk-taking, and financial literacy. Evidence that suggests that debt attitude is passed down along family lines and has a cultural element is also presented.

Mapping Toronto’s Digital Divide

This report analyzes Toronto's home internet and device access, quality, affordability, and usage, during pandemic closures of businesses, schools, and community organizations.

Read this report to help you:

Understand the demographics and geographies of who is not connected or cannot afford home internet in Toronto, with comparisons to provincial and national data, how they get online, and where in Toronto they live.
Unpack the digital divide beyond basic access: speed, affordability, quality, and devices per household member.
Identify gaps in existing programs and services meant to close the digital divide.

Statistics on Indigenous peoples

This data hub includes data on the following subjects:

Labour Force Survey, December 2020

December Labour Force Survey (LFS) results reflect labour market conditions as of the week of December 6 to 12.

As of the reference week, public health measures introduced earlier in the fall remained in place in Manitoba and much of Quebec. These included the closure of many recreation and cultural facilities and in-person dining services, as well as various degrees of restrictions on retail businesses.

Food insecurity and mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Canadians living in households that experienced food insecurity (insecure or inadequate access to food because of financial constraints) during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic were significantly more likely to perceive their mental health as fair or poor and to report moderate or severe anxiety symptoms than Canadians in food-secure households. Approximately one in seven Canadians (14.6%) were estimated to live in a food-insecure household in May 2020.

This study, released in Health Reports, is the first to examine the association between household food insecurity and self-perceived mental health and anxiety among Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study also estimated that 9.3% of Canadians living in food-insecure households reported having recently accessed free food or meals from a community organization.

Tax Time: An opportunity to Start Small and Save Up

This paper provides a description of how having liquid savings contributes to people’s financial stability and resiliency, and the unique opportunity that tax time offers to begin saving for the short and longer term. Starting to save or continuing to save when receiving a tax refund may lead to longer term financial well-being.

This paper also provides a few examples of how Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) programs creatively used Bureau tools, resources and technical assistance to encourage savings as well as some of the results they reported. It provides insights from a subgroup of the programs in the cohort that collected additional information from consumers on their intent to save, the various types of accounts into which they saved, and the goals they were striving for by saving. Finally, this paper offers recommendations on some strategies that can be employed to increase people’s interest and commitment to saving during the tax preparation process.

2019 Financial Literacy Annual Report

The 2019 Financial Literacy Annual Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau highlights the Bureau’s Start Small, Save Up campaign, the Office of Financial Education’s foundational research, in conjunction with the Office of Older Americans, to understand the pathways to financial well-being, the Office of Servicemembers Affairs’ Misadventures in Money Management online training program, the Office of Older Americans’ Managing Someone Else’s Money guides, and the Office of Community Affairs’ Your Money, Your Goals toolkit, along with other direct to consumer tools, community outreach channels, and areas of research.

Planning for tax-time savings

This report presents the results of a large-scale field experiment that the tax preparation company H&R Block (the Company) conducted in collaboration with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (the CFPB). The field experiment investigated whether customers could be encouraged, through consumer communications with and without the offer of a small financial incentive, to use a savings feature on a prepaid card to save a portion of their tax refunds from all sources, including state and federal refunds. The CFPB was particularly interested in whether consumers who receive the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) would be receptive to messages about saving.

2020 Financial Literacy Annual Report

The 2020 Financial Literacy Annual Report details the United States' Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection's financial literacy strategy and activities to improve the financial literacy of consumers. Congress specifically charged the Bureau with conducting financial education programs and ensuring consumers receive timely and understandable information to make responsible decisions about financial transactions. Empowering consumers to help themselves, protect their own interests, and choose the financial products and services that best fit their needs is vital to preventing consumer harm and building financial well-being. Overall, this report describes the Bureau’s efforts in a broad range of financial literacy areas relevant to consumers’ financial lives. It highlights our work, including the Bureau's:

Response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Pivot to financial resilience
Start Small, Save Up campaign
Foundational research to understand the pathways to financial well-being
Misadventures in Money Management online training program
Managing Someone Else’s Money guides
Your Money, Your Goals toolkit
Paying for College tool
Direct to consumer tools, community outreach channels, and areas of research

Retirement Security and Financial Decision-making: Research Brief

A growing number of retirees are not experiencing the expected gradual reduction in spending after they retire. This report summarizes the findings of a Bureau study into whether people who retired between 1992 and 2014 had the income, savings, and/or non-housing assets to maintain the same level of spending for at least five consecutive years after retiring. The study found that about half of people who retired between 1992 and 2014 had income, savings, and/or non-housing assets to maintain the same spending level for five consecutive years after retiring. In addition, the Bureau found that the ability to maintain the same spending level in the first five years in retirement was associated with large spending cuts in later years. The study helps identify ways to protect retirees from overspending their savings in early retirement.

Debt Relief Options in Canada – Long Term Outcome Comparison

This research report compares the long-term financial outcomes of Canadians, based on a study comparing consumers who used a debt management program (DMP), bankruptcy (BK), or a consumer proposal (CP) to obtain relief from debt.

creditcounsellingcanada-debtreliefoptions

Financial Life Stages of Older Canadians

This study, commissioned by the Ontario Securities Commission (OSC) and conducted by the Brondesbury Group, provides some insights on the knowledge that older Canadians have about the financial realities of retirement and how they would apply that knowledge earlier in life if they are able to do so. The top financial concerns and main financial risks of older Canadians are identified for each life stage and how they are being managed are discussed.

Behavioural insights: key concepts, applications and regulatory considerations

There are numerous factors that influence the decisions that people make. Behavioural insights (BI) recognizes this and, through a combination of psychology, economic and more recently other behavioural research, examines how people are often neither deliberate nor rational in their decisions in the way that traditional models, strategies and policies assume.

Behavioural insights recognize how people actually behave versus traditional economic and market theory of people as rational actors. This report discusses how leading practitioners and regulators around the world are using behavioural insights to address issues in capital markets and improve outcomes for investors and market participants.

Encouraging Retirement Planning through Behavioural Insights

This research report identifies behaviourally informed ways that government, regulators, employers, and financial institutions can encourage retirement planning.

Thirty different initiatives and tactics that could be implemented by a variety of stakeholders to encourage retirement planning are proposed, and interventions are organized around four primary challenges people face in moving from having the intention to create a retirement plan to the action of making a plan: (1) it’s hard to start, (2) it’s easy to put off, (3) it’s easy to get overwhelmed and drop out, and (4) it’s hard to get the right advice.

The report also includes the results of a randomized experiment that evaluated several of the approaches proposed in the report. This report was published as part of the Ontario Securities Commission’s strategy and action plan to respond to the needs and priorities of Ontario seniors.

Cash Value: How The Financial Clinic Puts Money into the Pockets of Working Poor Families

Practitioners engaged in the nascent field of financial development lack a shared system of tracking and analyzing customer progress toward financial security. Practice leaders—ranging from direct service organizations such as the Chicago-based LISC to NeighborWorks America of Washington, D.C.—define customer progress by their individual outcomes frameworks. But without uniform outcomes measures to assess our customers’ progress—and thus, our own performance—the field as a whole is handicapped. Many factors contribute to this problem, two being most prominent: organizations are grounded in distinct theories of change, are funded by a variety of sources with their own expectations, and lack of clarity about how to measure aspects of our work.

Change Matters Volume 2: Assets

This is the second brief in a new series from The Financial Clinic. Change Matters leverages the data gathered through our revolutionary financial coaching platform, Change Machine, alongside the voices, wisdom, and lived experiences of Change Machine customers. We hope that our action oriented analysis will lead to positive social change. We believe we have a responsibility to ask the right questions, to use our data for good, and to inspire products, practice, and policy innovations that centralize the needs of the working-poor in building economic mobility.

The Pivotal Role of Human Service Practitioners in Building Financial Capability

This report shares remarks by Mae Watson Grote, Founder and CEO of The Financial Clinic, at the Coin A Better Future conference in May 2018.

The journey from financial insecurity to security, and eventually, mobility—what we conceptualize and even romanticize as the quintessential American experience—is one that far too often ensnares people at the insecurity stage, particularly those communities or neighborhoods that have historically been marginalized and deliberately excluded from the traditional pathway towards prosperity. Fraught with debt and credit crises, alongside a myriad of predatory products and lending practices, to a sense of stigma and shame many Americans feel because of their economic status, financial insecurity involves navigating a world on a daily basis where everyday needs are at the mercy of unjust and uncontrollable variables.

Effective Programs and Policies for Promoting Economic Well-Being

Overcoming Poverty Together 3: The New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Plan 2020-2025

The new Economic and Social Inclusion plan for New Brunswick builds upon progress accomplished over the past 10 years. It includes nine priority actions divided into three pillars:

Income Security: includes actions addressing improvements to social assistance, changes to the Employment Standards Act and an increase of the capacity and sustainability of social enterprises.
Co-ordination of Programs and Services: includes actions towards a review of government programs, services and tax policies targeted to low-income individuals, and the implementation of a One-Stop-Shop service to help New Brunswickers access information and navigate government and community programs and services.
Inclusion and Healthy Communities: includes actions bringing improvement to mental and addictions services, the development of regional transportation plans, work with partners to provide inclusive opportunities for recreation activities for New Brunswickers on a low income, and the development of food programs in all schools.

The objective of the plan is to reduce income poverty by at least 50 per cent by 2030, in line with the objectives of Opportunity for All, Canada’s first poverty reduction strategy, and those of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainability of the United Nations.

State of the Child Report 2020: Protecting Child Rights in Times of Pandemic

The 2020 State of the Child Report includes six recommendations and gives a snapshot of some of the challenges New Brunswick children and youth will have to overcome as the province moves forward and juggles the new realities of public health measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while respecting child rights.

State of the Child Report 2019

This report's release was part of Child Rights Education Week and also in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). 2019 was declared the International Year of Indigenous Languages by the United Nations.

The report contains an overview of some of the serious challenges facing New Brunswick children and youth, including more than 200 statistics presented in the report’s Child Rights Indicators Framework. A special emphasis was placed on education rights.

Some of the concerning findings revealed in the report include:

nearly half of youths in poverty feel socially excluded;
half of all youths have no one they look up to; and
one in four youths with special needs does not feel that they belong at their school.

Canadian Economic Dashboard and COVID-19

This dashboard presents selected data that are relevant for monitoring the impacts of COVID-19 on economic activity in Canada. It includes data on a range of monthly indicators - real GDP, consumer prices, the unemployment rate, merchandise exports and imports, retail sales, hours worked and manufacturing sales -- as well as monthly data on aircraft movements, railway carloadings, and travel between Canada and other countries.

CPA Canada 2020 Canadian Finance Study

Chartered Professional Accountants of Canada (CPA Canada) has released its comprehensive Canadian Finance Study 2020, which examines people's attitudes and feelings towards their personal finances. The results highlight the new financial realities that Canadians are experiencing during these unprecedented times.

Nielsen conducted the CPA Canada 2020 Canadian Finance Study via an online questionnaire, from September 4 to 16, 2020 with 2,008 randomly selected Canadian adults, aged 18 years and over, who are members of their online panel.

Among the key pandemic-related findings:

31 per cent of the participants say their income has decreased as a result of COVID-19.
30 per cent of respondents report COVID-19 has reduced the amount they are saving.
21 per cent of pre-retired respondents reveal they now plan to retire later as a result of COVID-19.
COVID-19 also is impacting the way survey participants are spending, with 55 per cent saying they are spending less, on average.
Nearly half of the respondents (46 per cent) say that their financial situation is about the same as it was a year ago.
77 per cent of those surveyed are not receiving a COVID-19-related benefit from the federal government.

Inter-generational comparisons of household economic well-being, 1999 to 2019

This study of data from the Distributions of Household Economic Accounts compares households' economic well-being from a macro-economic accounts perspective, as measured by net saving and net worth for each generation when the major income earner for a household in one generation reached the same point in the life cycle as the major income earner for a household in another generation. The study finds that while younger generations have higher disposable income and higher consumption expenditure than older generations when they reached the same age, their net saving is relatively similar. As well, younger generations' economic well-being may be more at risk due to the COVID-19 pandemic since they depend more on employment as a primary source of income, they have higher debt relative to income, and they have less equity in financial and real estate assets from which to draw upon when needed.

Gender Results Framework: Data table on core housing need

Statistics Canada's Centre for Gender, Diversity and Inclusion Statistics has released an enhanced data table on the topic of core housing need. These statistics will be used by the Gender Results Framework, a whole-of-government tool designed to track gender equality in Canada.

Using data from the 2006 Census of Population, the 2016 Census of Population and the 2011 National Household Survey, the table shows the proportion of the population in core housing need by selected economic family characteristics.

This table includes a breakdown by province and territory, age group as well as other demographic characteristics such as population groups designated as visible minorities and Indigenous identity.

Achieving Financial Resilience in the Face of Financial Setbacks

Financial shocks like these happen to financially vulnerable families every day. Such shocks destabilize household finances and can create hardships that threaten overall well-being. Having tools to manage financial emergencies is critical for people’s long-run financial security.

The Asset Funders Network (AFN) developed this primer to inform community-based strategies that can help economically-vulnerable families to better manage financial setbacks, shortfalls, and shocks. The goal of this brief is to provide a common understanding and language for funders and financial capability programs as part of a financial emergency toolkit.

A profile of Canadians with a mobility disability and groups designated as visible minorities with a disability

Results from the 2017 Canadian Survey of Disability (CSD) have shown that over half of Canadians with a mobility disability need at least one workplace accommodation. Among population groups designated as visible minorities who have a disability, one-quarter considered themselves to be disadvantaged in employment because of their condition.

In recognition of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Statistics Canada released three new data products based on findings from the 2017 CSD. One infographic focuses on disabilities related to mobility and another takes a look at visible minorities with disabilities. In addition, two data tables, on industry and occupation of those with and without disabilities, are now available.

stats can - disability survey infographic

Labour Force Survey, November 2020

November Labour Force Survey (LFS) results reflect labour market conditions as of the week of November 8 to 14.

In September and October, many provinces began introducing targeted public health measures in response to rising COVID-19 numbers. In early November, restrictions related to indoor dining and fitness facilities were eased in Ontario, while in Manitoba new measures affecting restaurants, recreational facilities and retail businesses were introduced. Much of Quebec remained at the "red" alert level in November, leading to the ongoing closure of indoor dining and many recreational and cultural facilities.

Review of Financial Literacy Research in Canada: An Environmental Scan and Gap Analysis

The Review of Financial Literacy Research in Canada highlights past and current advancements in financial literacy research (produced by government and non-governmental stakeholders) while identifying existing gaps within the financial landscape. The overriding goal is to help strengthen the financial well-being of all Canadians. The review contains four research priorities: managing debt, navigating the financial marketplace, building savings, and budgeting.

The Impact of COVID-19 on Women living with Disabilities in Canada

DisAbled Women’s Network (DAWNRAFH) Canada is a national, feminist, cross-disability organization whose mission is to end the poverty, isolation, discrimination and violence experienced
by Canadian women with disabilities and Deaf women.

People with disabilities, specifically women with disabilities face unique barriers related to Covid-19. This includes both the increased risk oftransmission and death from COVID-19, as well as the unique ways policies targeting COVID-19 impact this group. Prior to COVID-19 more than 50% of human rights complaints at the Federal, Provincial and Territorial levels in Canada for the last four years have been disability related, which speaks to systemic failures that have been exacerbated under COVID-19. In this brief, DAWN Canada highlights these unique considerations, as well as significant and existing policy gaps facing this group.

Financial Literacy and Wellness Among U.S. Women: Insights on Underrepresented Minority Women

The 2020 TIAA Institute-GFLEC Personal Finance Index (P-Fin Index) survey was fielded in January 2020 and included an oversample of women. This enables examining the state of financial literacy and financial wellness among U.S. women immediately before the onset of COVID-19. A more refined understanding of financial literacy among women, including areas of strength and weakness and variations among subgroups, can inform initiatives to improve financial wellness, particularly as the United States moves forward from the pandemic and its economic consequences.

The long-term labour market integration of refugee claimants who became permanent residents in Canada

Although refugee claimants seek asylum in Canada for humanitarian reasons, their labour market outcomes play a crucial role in their successful integration, which is why it is important to monitor the degree of labour market success achieved by refugee claimants. This study compares the long-term labour market outcomes of refugee claimants who eventually became permanent residents in Canada (RC-PRs) with those of government-assisted refugees (GARs) and privately sponsored refugees (PSRs), as well as with refugee claimants who did not become permanent residents in Canada (RC-NPRs).

Millennials and money: Financial preparedness and money management practices before COVID-19

Millennials (individuals age 18–37 in 2018) are the largest, most highly educated, and most diverse generation in U.S. history

This paper assesses the financial situation, money management practices, and financial literacy of millennials to understand how their financial behaviour has changed over the ten years following the Great Recession of 2008 and the situation they were in on the cusp of the current economic crisis (in 2018) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Findings from the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS) show that millennials tend to rely heavily on debt, engage frequently in expensive short- and long-term money management, and display shockingly low levels of financial literacy. Moreover, student loan burden and expensive financial decision making increased significantly from 2009 to 2018 among young adults.

Financial literacy and financial resilience: Evidence from around the world

This study presents findings from a measurement of financial literacy using questions assessing basic knowledge of four fundamental concepts in financial decision making: knowledge of interest rates, interest compounding, inflation, and risk diversification. Worldwide, just one in three adults are financially literate—that is, they know at least three out of the four financial concepts. Women, poor adults, and lower educated respondents are more likely to suffer from gaps in financial knowledge.

Financial wellness: What is it? How do we make it happen?

Achieving financial wellness takes more than just financial resources. It also requires the ability to make good financial decisions and engage in sound money- management practices. To inform policies and programs that promote financial wellness—including those sponsored by employers—the TIAA Institute and the Global Financial Literacy Excellence Center held a roundtable discussion featuring a range of experts. This report presents the key findings and recommendations that emanated from the discussion. To learn more about the roundtable itself, visit TIAA Institute events page.

Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada: Statistics and Research

The Office of the Superintendent of Bankruptcy Canada releases statistics on insolvency (bankruptcies and proposals) numbers in Canada.

The latest statistics released on November 4, 2020 show that the number of insolvencies in Canada increased in the third quarter of 2020 by 7.9% compared to the second quarter.

Financial Consumer Protection responses to COVID-19

This policy brief provides recommendations that can assist policy makers in their consideration of appropriate measures to help financial consumers, depending on the contexts and circumstances of individual jurisdictions, during the COVID-19 crisis. These options are consistent with the G20/OECD High Level Principles on Financial Consumer Protection that set out the foundations for a comprehensive financial consumer protection framework.

Supporting the financial resilience of citizens throughout the COVID-19 crisis

This policy brief outlines initial the measures that policy makers can make to increase citizen awareness about effective means of mitigation for the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its potential consequences on their financial resilience and well-being.

Launch of the OECD/INFE 2020 International Survey of Adult Financial Literacy

This report provides measures of financial inclusion including elements of financial resilience and a newly-created score on financial well-being.

Twenty-six countries and economies, including 12 OECD countries, participated in this international survey of financial literacy, using the 2018 OECD/INFE toolkit to collect cross-comparable data. The survey results report the overall financial literacy scores, as computed following the OECD/INFE methodology and definition, and their elements of knowledge, behaviour, and attitudes.

The data used in this report are drawn from national surveys undertaken using and submitted to the OECD as part of a co-ordinated measurement exercise; as well as data gathered as part of the OECD/INFE Technical Assistance Project for Financial Education in South East Europe.

Clipped Wings: Closing the Wealth Gap for Millennial Women

AFN’s latest report, in collaboration with the Closing the Women’s Wealth Gap (CWWG) and the Insight Center for Community Economic Development reveals the current economic reality for millennial women and the primary drivers contributing to their wealth inequities. The report, Clipped Wings: Closing the Wealth Gap for Millennial Women is the second in a series of publications that builds off AFN’s 2015 publication, Women & Wealth, exploring how the gender wealth gap impacts women.

On Shaky Ground: Stabilizing the Financial Security of Single Women

From Surviving to Thriving – Ensuring the Golden Years Remain Golden for Older Women

This brief explores the drivers of economic insecurity for older women and sets forth a number of strategies and promising practices for funders to consider which address the needs of older women. Doing so will ensure this generation and future generations of men and women in this country can age financially secure and with dignity.

This publication is the fourth in a series of briefs that build on AFN’s publication, Women & Wealth, to explore how the gender wealth gap impacts women, particularly low-income women and women of color, throughout their life cycle, and provides responsive strategies and best practices that funders can employ to create greater economic security for women.

Women and Wealth: Insights for Grantmakers

The women’s wealth gap has been largely overlooked in discussions of women’s economic security, yet wealth is the most comprehensive indicator of financial health. Without wealth, families are one paycheck away from financial disaster. The brief Women and Wealth: Insights for Grantmakers examines the causes and dimensions of the women’s wealth gap and provides recommendations and best practices for grantmakers to reduce the women’s wealth gap and improve women’s access to the wealth escalator. Improving women’s ability to build wealth is not only good for women, but is essential for the economic well-being of children, families, and our nation.

The webinar, included Mariko Chang, PhD, K. Sujata, President and CEO, Chicago Foundation for Women, and Dena L. Jackson, PhD, Vice President – Grants & Research, Texas Women’s Foundation.

Achieving financial resilience in the face of financial setbacks

The Asset Funders Network (AFN) developed this primer to inform community-based strategies that can help economically-vulnerable families to better manage financial setbacks, shortfalls, and shocks. The goal of this brief is to provide a common understanding and language for funders and financial capability programs as part of a financial emergency toolkit.

The poverty premium: a customer perspective

Fair By Design and Turn2Us (in the United Kingdom) commissioned this research to explore recent changes in the poverty premium landscape, to understand if they are having any impact on the cost of premiums, or the number of people who pay them. Importantly, we did this through the lens of the low-income customer in order to hear first-hand how they experience these extra costs; how they see the problems with the current system; how they respond to initiatives and interventions designed to reduce poverty premiums; and the changes they feel would make the most difference to them and their household.

This research report:

Describes recent initiatives to reduce the poverty premium and reviews any evidence of what works.
Re-calculates the level and types of poverty premiums paid by low-income households in 2019. We focus on high-cost credit use, energy tariffs and insurance (specifically home contents, car and specific item insurance) because our previous work identified these as potentially the most harmful to low-income households (Davies et al, 2016; Davies and Finney, 2017).
Looks in detail at the financial difficulties experienced by low-income households, their impact on individuals and families, and the things that prevent low-income households from getting a better deal.
Sets out ‘user-led’ solutions and ideas that people living in poverty feel could help to reduce the extra costs they pay.

How to really build financial capability

Recent years have seen an explosion in interventions designed to improve financial outcomes of participants. Yet on-the-ground evidence suggests that not all financial education programs are equally successful at achieving this aim.

This paper examines the difference between interventions that work, and those than do not. It attempts to answer the question: “How do you actually build financial capability?” In doing so, we aim to help interested parties enhance the effectiveness of their programs and policies by providing them with evidence-based recommendations to drive positive outcomes in participants.

Race, Ethnicity, and the Financial Lives of Young Adults: Exploring Disparities in Financial Health Outcomes

Young adults of color, particularly those who are Black and Latinx, have borne a disproportionate share of economic hardship, as decades of systemic racism have made their communities more vulnerable to the effects of these crises. This report shares new data on the financial lives of young adults, focusing on Black and Latinx young adults, in order to inform policies, programs, and solutions that can improve financial health for all.

Quarterly Consumer Credit Trends: Recent trends in debt settlement and credit counseling

This report used a longitudinal, nationally-representative sample of approximately five million de-identified credit records maintained by one of the three nationwide consumer reporting agencies. Trends in debt settlement and credit counseling during the Great Recession and in recent years are presented. This report shows that nearly one in thirteen consumers with a credit record had at least one account settled through a creditor or had account payments managed by a credit counseling agency from 2007 through 2019. Since 2016, the number of debt settlements has increased steadily, while credit counseling numbers are relatively unchanged.

Targeting credit builder loans: Insights from a credit builder loan evaluation

This report presents the results of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) funded evaluation of a Credit Builder Loan (CBL) product. CBLs are designed for consumers looking to establish a credit score or improve an existing one, while at the same time giving them a chance to build their savings.

The study used random assignment to explore four research questions:

How does the CBL affect participants’ likelihood of having a credit score?
For participants who already had a credit score, how does the CBL affect their score?
How likely are CBL borrowers to make late payments on the CBL and other loans?
Does the CBL affect participants’ savings balances?

The Early Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Credit Applications

This report documents the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on credit applications, which are among the very first credit market measures to change in credit report data in response to changes in economic activity. Using the Bureau’s Consumer Credit Panel, how applications for auto loans, mortgages, credit cards, and other loans changed week-by-week during the month of March, compared to the same time in previous years was studied.

Beyond Hunger: the hidden impacts of food insecurity

This report illustrates the hidden impacts of food insecurity in people’s lives through a survey of 561 people in 22 communities across Canada. The people interviewed shared that food insecurity makes them ill, breaks down relationships, makes it harder to get stable work, and fully participate in society.

Labour Force Survey, October 2020

October Labour Force Survey (LFS) results reflect labour market conditions as of the week of October 11 to 17. By then, several provinces had tightened public health measures in response to a spike in COVID-19 cases. Unlike the widespread economic shutdown implemented in March and April, these measures were targeted at businesses where the risk of COVID transmission is thought to be greater, including indoor restaurants and bars and recreational facilities.

Employment increased by 84,000 (+0.5%) in October, after growing by an average of 2.7% per month since May. The unemployment rate was 8.9%, little changed from September.

Employment increases in several industries were partially offset by a decrease of 48,000 in the accommodation and food services industry, largely in Quebec.

Labour Force Survey, September 2020

The September Labour Force Survey (LFS) results reflect labour market conditions as of the week of September 13 to 19. At the beginning of September, as Canadian families adapted to new back-to-school routines, public health restrictions had been substantially eased across the country and many businesses and workplaces had re-opened. Throughout the month, some restrictions were re-imposed in response to increases in the number of COVID-19 cases. In British Columbia, new rules and guidelines related to bars and restaurants were implemented on September 8. In Ontario, limits on social gatherings were tightened for the hot spots of Toronto, Peel and Ottawa on September 17 and for the rest of the province on September 19.

Roadblock to Recovery: Consumer debt of low- and moderate-income Canadians in the time of COVID-19

Almost half of low-income households and 62 per cent of moderate-income households carry debt, with households on low incomes spending 31 per cent of their income on debt repayments, according to a new report published by national charity, Prosper Canada.

This report analyzes the distribution, amount and composition of non-mortgage debt held by low- and moderate-income Canadian households and explores implications for federal and provincial/territorial policy makers as they develop and implement COVID-19 economic recovery plans and fulfill their respective regulatory roles.

Accessing Financial Literacy Education Programs: Barriers and opportunities for women living on low incomes

When women living on low incomes are able to access effective Financial Literacy Education (FLE) programs, they will be better positioned to fully participate in economic life, help build a stronger economy, and improve the quality of life for themselves, their families, and their communities.

This needs assessment was part of Families Canada’s 3-year project titled “Increasing financial literacy opportunities for women living on low incomes: An action plan for change.” Partners included the Canadian Credit Union Association and Vancity. Funding was generously provided by the Department for Women and Gender Equality. The project seeks to ensure organizations have the information they need to adapt their existing financial literacy initiatives and programs to better meet the needs of women living on low incomes.

Cities Reducing Poverty: 2020 Impact Report

The Vibrant Communities – Cities Reducing Poverty 2020 Impact Report is the Tamarack Institute's first attempt at capturing and communicating national trends in poverty reduction and the important ways in which member Cities Reducing Poverty collaboratives are contributing to those changes.

This impact report is meant for poverty reduction organizers and advocates, and public decision-makers to get a sense for how collaborative, multi-sectoral local roundtables with comprehensive plans contribute to poverty reduction in their communities and beyond; and spotlights high-impact initiatives that are demonstrating promising results.

Report on Income and Canadian Financial Consumer Complaints

The changes in health and well-being of Canadians with long-term conditions or disabilities since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic

This article examines how the self-reported health and mental health of people with long-term health conditions or disabilities has changed since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic explored by age, sex and type of reported difficulty. Additionally, the rates of health service disruptions are explored by type of service and region.

stats can - health wellbeing disability covid-19

Making Safety Affordable: Intimate Partner Violence is an Asset-Building Issue

This brief explores three existing unmet needs that contribute to survivors’ inability to build wealth: money, tailored asset-building support, and safe and responsive banking and credit services. Within each identified need, specific issues facing survivors, strategic actions in response to those issues, as well as innovative ideas and existing promising practices to help funders take action to prioritize survivor wealth are discussed.

The Canadian Housing Survey, 2018: Core housing need of renter households living in social and affordable housing

This article provides a high level overview of those living in social and affordable housing by painting a portrait of them based on the results of the 2018 CHS. Socio-demographic and household characteristics are examined using housing indicators such as core housing need.

Wealth and Health Equity: Investing in Structural Change

Building on the Asset Funders Network’s the Health and Wealth Connection: Investment Opportunities Across the Life Course brief, this paper details:

What we know about the health-wealth connection for adults.
Why investment in integration is important.
How philanthropy can contribute to improving health-wealth outcomes for adults.

On September 29th, AFN hosted a webinar to release the paper with featured speakers:

Dr. Annie Harper, Ph.D., Program for Recovery and Community Health, Yale School of Medicine
Joelle-Jude Fontaine, Sr. Program Officer, Human Services, The Kresge Foundation
Dedrick Asante-Muhammad, Chief of Race, Wealth, and Community, National Community Reinvestment Coalition

Lifting the Weight: Consumer Debt Solutions Framework

Aspen Financial Security Program’s the Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC) has identified seven specific consumer debt problems that result in decreased financial insecurity and well-being. Four of the identified problems are general to consumer debt: households’ lack of savings or financial cushion, restricted access to existing high-quality credit for specific groups of consumers, exposure to harmful loan terms and features, and detrimental delinquency, default, and collections practices. The other three problems relate to structural features of three specific types of debt: student loans, medical debt, and government fines and fees.

This report presents a solutions framework to address all seven of these problems. The framework includes setting one or more tangible goals to achieve for each problem, and, for each goal, the solutions different sectors (financial services providers, governments, non-profits, employers, educational or medical institutions) can pursue.

Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the NEET (not in employment, education or training) indicator, March and April 2020

A fact sheet released by Statistics Canada shows that, in March and April 2020, the proportion of young Canadians who were not in employment, education or training (NEET) increased to unprecedented levels.

The COVID-19 pandemic—and the public health interventions that were put in place to limit its spread—have affected young people in a number of ways, including high unemployment rates, school closures and education moving online.

Indicators for Financial Empowerment: Learnings from the National Financial Empowerment Champions Project

English

Indicators for financial empowerment

French

Indicateurs d’autonomisation financiere

Labour Force Survey, August 2020

The August Labour Force Survey (LFS) results reflect labour market conditions as of the week of August 9 to 15, five months following the onset of the COVID-19 economic shutdown. By mid-August, public health restrictions had substantially eased across the country and more businesses and workplaces had re-opened.

Low Income Measure: Comparison of Two Data Sources, T1 Family File and 2016 Census of Population

This study looks at the differences in after-tax low income measure (LIM) statistics from two data sources which both use administrative tax data as their principal inputs: the 2016 Census of Population and the T1 Family file (T1FF). It presents a summary of the two data sources and compares after-tax LIM statistics by focussing on unit of analysis, LIM thresholds and the percentage of population below the LIM. The study also explores what factors users may want to consider when choosing one data source over the other.

The mental health of population groups designated as visible minorities in Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic

This article examines the mental health outcomes (i.e., self-rated mental health, change in mental health since physical distancing began, and severity of symptoms consistent with generalized anxiety disorder in the two weeks prior to completing the survey) of participants in a recent crowdsource questionnaire who belong to population groups designated as visible minorities in Canada.

Canada’s Forgotten Poor? Putting Singles Living in Deep Poverty on the Policy Radar

This report presents the findings of extensive research about employable singles on social assistance undertaken by Toronto Employment and Social Services, in partnership with the Ontario Centre for Workforce Innovation. Drawing on data from 69,000 singles who were receiving social assistance in Toronto in 2016, and 51 interviews with randomly selected participants, the report highlights these individuals’ characteristics, their complex needs, and the barriers they face in moving off social assistance and into employment. Complementing the quantitative analysis, the interviews provide important insights into the daily realities of participants’ lives and their journeys on and off assistance.

The Economic Toll of COVID-19 on SaverLife Members

SaverLife is an organization that seeks to advance savings programs, analytic insights, and policy initiatives through a network of employers, financial institutions, nonprofits and advocacy groups in the United States.

This report provides insight into the financial challenges presented by their savings program members during the COVID-19 pandemic from March to August of 2020.

Impacts of COVID-19 on persons with disabilities

This article provides a general snapshot of the employment and income impacts of COVID-19 on survey participants aged 15 to 64 living with long-term conditions and disabilities.

Parents’ Incomes and Children’s Outcomes: A Quasi-experiment Using Transfer Payments from Casino Profits

Debt settlement and financial recovery companies: too risky an option?

This report presents a study of the debt settlement and financial recovery industry and examines Canadian consumer issues from these services.

Data is gathered from company websites and contracts as well as customer surveys and questionnaires completed by governmental and non-governmental organizations. A comparative study of legislation applicable to the industry is also conducted.

The Impact of Matched Savings Programs: Building Assets & Lasting Habits

Matched Savings programs, or Individual Development Accounts, are a financial empowerment strategy that aim to build financial stability and reduce poverty. These programs build sustainable livelihoods by working with participants to earn savings while learning about money management, build regular savings habits, self-confidence, and hope for the future. Matching
funds act as a power boost to the participants’ own savings, allowing them to purchase productive assets to move their lives forward.

This brief presents key findings from Momentum's Matched Saving programs and the impact on program graduates' saving habits, establishment of emergency savings, and contribution to registered savings.

Transitions into and out of employment by immigrants during the COVID-19 lockdown and recovery

During the widespread lockdown of economic activities in March and April 2020, the Canadian labour market lost 3 million jobs. From May to July, as many businesses gradually resumed their operations, 1.7 million jobs were recovered. While studies in the United States and Europe suggest that immigrants are often more severely affected by economic downturns than the native born (Borjas and Cassidy 2020; Botric 2018), little is known about whether immigrants and the Canadian born fared differently in the employment disruption induced by the COVID-19 pandemic and, if so, how such differences are related to their socio-demographic and job characteristics. This paper fills this gap by comparing immigrants and the Canadian-born population in their transitions out of employment in the months of heavy contraction and into employment during the months of partial recovery. The analysis is based on individual-level monthly panel data from the Labour Force Survey and focuses on the population aged 20 to 64. Immigrants are grouped into recent immigrants who landed in Canada within 10 years or less, and long-term immigrants who landed in Canada more than 10 years earlier.

Meeting the Emergency Moment: Key Takeaways from Delivering Remote Municipal Financial Counseling Services

Local governments across the United States are working to help their residents weather the health and financial impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. In many cities and counties, that means deploying their Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs), which provide professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a public service. Local leaders were able to offer FEC financial counseling as a critical component of their emergency response infrastructure; the fact that this service already existed, and was embedded into the fabric of municipal anti-poverty efforts, meant that it could quickly pivot to meet new COVID-19 needs, including through offering remote financial counseling.

This brief describes how FEC partners identified the right technology; developed skills to deliver counseling remotely; messaged the availability of FEC services as part of their localities’ COVID-19 response; and shared lessons learned with their FEC counterparts around the country.

A Feminist Economic Recovery Plan for Canada: Making the Economy Work for Everyone

This report offers an intersectional perspective on how Canada can recover from the COVID-19 crisis and weather difficult times in the future, while ensuring the needs of all people in Canada are considered in the formation of policy.
YWCA Canada and the University of Toronto’s Institute for Gender and the Economy (GATE) offer this joint assessment to highlight the important principles that all levels of government should consider as they develop and implement policies to spur post-pandemic recovery.

Hunger Lives Here: Risks and Challenges Faced by Food Bank Clients During COVID-19

This report provides quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of hunger and poverty in Toronto during COVID-19. Based on phone surveys with over 220 food bank clients in May and June 2020 and an analysis of food bank client intake data, the report demonstrates that COVID-19 has led to increased reliance on food banks. The rate of new clients accessing food banks has tripled since the pandemic began. Among new clients, 76% report that they began accessing food banks as a result of COVID-19 and the associated economic downturn.

Changes in the socioeconomic situation of Canada’s Black population

This study provides disaggregated statistics on the socioeconomic outcomes of the Black population by generation status (and immigrant status), sex and country of origin, and is intended to illustrate and contribute to the relevance of disaggregation in understanding these populations and the diversity of their situation. This study sheds light on some of the issues faced by the Black population and shows differences that exist compared with the rest of the working-age population, by sex, generation and place of origin, from 2001 to 2016.

Race to Lead: Women of Color in the Nonprofit Sector

This report reveals that women of color encounter systemic obstacles to their advancement over and above the barriers faced by white women and men of color. Education and training are not the solution—women of color with high levels of education are more likely to be in administrative roles and are more likely to report frustrations about inadequate and inequitable salaries. BMP’s call to action focuses on systems change, organizational change, and individual support for women of color in the sector.

From Emergency to Opportunity: Building a Resilient Alberta Nonprofit Sector After COVID-19

This report presents an analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the nonprofit sector drawn from data collected in CCVO's Alberta Nonprofit Survey, data from surveys by the Alberta
Nonprofit Network, Imagine Canada, and partner organizations across the country.

The analysis in this report shows that the effects on the nonprofit sector have been magnified through increased service demand, decreased revenue, and diminished organizational capacity coupled by delays in support and inadequate recognition for the leadership role that the sector is being called upon to play.

How Are the Most Vulnerable Households Navigating the Financial Impact of COVID-19?

The COVID-19 pandemic has already had an unprecedented impact on the financial lives of households across the United States. During June and July 2020, Prosperity Now conducted a national survey of lower-income households to better understand the circumstances these households are confronted with and the strategies they use to secure resources to navigate this crisis.

Measuring financial health: What policymakers need to know

This report provides an overview of financial health and the policy responses around the world. Based on this, and the key questions of whether financial health measure more than income and if financial inclusion supports financial health, the report offers recommendations to policy makers on strategies for measuring the financial health of their population.

Weathering Volatility 2.0: A Monthly Stress Test to Guide Savings

In this report, the JPMorgan Chase Institute uses administrative bank account data to measure income and spending volatility and the minimum levels of cash buffer families need to weather adverse income and spending shocks.

Inconsistent or unpredictable swings in families’ income and expenses make it difficult to plan spending, pay down debt, or determine how much to save. Managing these swings, or volatility, is increasingly acknowledged as an important component of American families’ financial security. This report makes further progress toward understanding how volatility affects families and what levels of cash buffer they need to weather adverse income and spending shocks.

U.S. Financial Health Pulse: 2019 Trends Report

This report presents findings from the second annual U.S. Financial Health Pulse, which is designed to explore how the financial health of people in America is changing over time. The annual Pulse report scores survey respondents against eight indicators of financial health -- spending, bill payment, short-term and long-term savings, debt load, credit score, insurance coverage, and planning -- to assess whether they are “financially healthy,” “financially coping,” or “financially vulnerable”. The data in the Pulse report provide critical insights that go beyond aggregate economic indicators, such as employment and market performance, to provide a more accurate picture of the financial lives of people in the U.S.

Financial well-being in America

This report provides a view into the state of financial well-being in America. It presents results from the National Financial Well-Being Survey, conducted in late 2016. The findings include the distribution of financial well-being scores for the overall adult population and for selected subgroups, which show that there is wide variation in how people feel about their financial well-being. The report provides insight into which subgroups are faring relatively well and which ones are facing greater financial challenges, and identifies opportunities to improve the financial well-being of significant portions of the U.S. adult population through practice and research.

Credit Characteristics, Credit Engagement Tools, and Financial Well-Being

This report presents results from a joint research study between the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) and Credit Karma. The purpose of the study is to examine how consumers’ subjective financial well-being relates to objective measures of consumers’ financial health, specifically, consumers’ credit report characteristics. The study also seeks to relate consumers’ subjective financial well-being to consumers’ engagement with financial information through educational tools.

Understanding the Pathways to Financial Well-Being

The National Financial Well-Being Survey Report is the second report in a series from the Understanding the Pathways to Financial Well-Being project.

In order to measure and study the factors that support consumer financial well-being, in 2015, the Bureau of Consumer Financial Protection (the Bureau) contracted with Abt Associates to field a large, national survey to collect information on the financial well-being of U.S. adults. The present report uses data collected from that survey to answer a series of questions on the relationship among financial well-being and four key factors: objective financial situation, financial behavior, financial skill, and financial knowledge. In this study, we aim to enhance understanding of financial well-being and the factors that may support it by exploring these relationships.

New Risks and Emerging Technologies: 2019 BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report

The Better Business Bureau Institute for Marketplace Trust (BBB Institute) is the 501(c)(3) educational foundation of the Better Business Bureau (BBB). BBB Institute works with local BBBs across North America.

This report uses data submitted by consumers to BBB Scam Tracker to shed light on how scams are being perpetrated, who is being targeted, which scams have the greatest impact, and much more. The BBB Risk Index helps consumers better understand which scams pose the highest risk by looking at three factors—exposure, susceptibility, and monetary loss. The 2019 BBB Scam Tracker Risk Report is a critical part of BBB’s ongoing work to contribute new, useful data and analysis to further the efforts of all who are engaged in combating marketplace fraud.

Update February 24, 2022: BBB Scam Tracker- Risk Report 2020

Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth, 2019

The current pandemic has reinforced the need for additional information on the health of Canadian children and youth, particularly for those younger than age 12.

Results from the new Canadian Health Survey on Children and Youth (CHSCY) indicate that 4% of children and youth aged 1 to 17, as reported by their parents, had fair or poor mental health in 2019, one year prior to the pandemic. The survey also found that poor mental health among children and youth was associated with adverse health and social outcomes, such as lower grades and difficulty making friends.

Recently released crowdsourced data suggest that the perceived mental health of Canadian youth has declined during the pandemic, with over half (57%) of participants aged 15 to 17 reporting that their mental health was somewhat worse or much worse than it was prior to the implementation of physical distancing measures.

Expected changes in spending habits during the recovery period

Around mid-June, physical distancing measures began easing across the country, giving Canadians more opportunities to spend money. However, COVID-19 is still with us, shopping habits have changed and there are 1.8 million fewer employed Canadians now than there were prior to the pandemic.

How our economy evolves going forward will largely depend upon the spending choices Canadians make over the coming weeks and months. This study presents results from a recent web panel survey conducted in June, looks at how spending habits may change.

Shelters for victims of abuse with ties to Indigenous communities or organizations in Canada, 2017/2018

There were 85 shelters for victims of abuse that had ties to First Nations, Métis or Inuit communities or organizations operating across Canada in 2017/2018. These Indigenous shelters, which are primarily mandated to serve victims of abuse, play an important role for victims leaving abusive situations by providing a safe environment and basic living needs, as well as different kinds of support and outreach services. Over a one-year period, there were more than 10,500 admissions to Indigenous shelters; the vast majority of these admissions were women (63.7%) and their accompanying children (36.1%).

This article uses data from the Survey of Residential Facilities for Victims of Abuse (SRFVA). Valuable insight into shelter use in Canada and the challenges that shelters and victims of abuse were facing in 2017/2018 is presented.

Costing a Guaranteed Basic Income During the COVID Pandemic

The Parliamentary Budget Officer (PBO) supports Parliament by providing economic and financial analysis for the purposes of raising the quality of parliamentary debate and promoting greater budget transparency and accountability.

This report responds to a request from Senator Yuen Pau Woo to estimate the post-COVID cost of a guaranteed basic income (GBI) program, using parameters set out in Ontario’s basic income pilot project. In addition, the report provides an estimate of the federal and provincial programs for low-income individuals and families, including many non-refundable and refundable tax credits that could be replaced by the GBI program.

Labour Force Survey, June 2020

Labour Force Survey (LFS) results for June reflect labour market conditions as of the week of June 14 to June 20. A series of survey enhancements continued in June, including additional questions on working from home, difficulty meeting financial needs, and receipt of federal COVID-19 assistance payments. New questions were added to measure the extent to which COVID-19-related health risks are being mitigated through workplace adaptations and protective measures.

Impacts of COVID-19 on Canadian families and children

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the way of life for Canadian families, parents and children. Because of physical distancing and employment impacts, parents have altered their usual routines and supports, and many children and families have been isolated in their homes for months. Children, in particular, may not have left their homes or seen any friends or family members other than their parents for an extended period, since children do not typically have to leave their homes for essential services. However, the impact of the pandemic on families has yet to be described. The purpose of this report is to provide a snapshot of the experiences of Canadian parents and families during this unprecedented time.

stats can - impact of covid19 on families1

Gender differences in mental health during the COVID-19 pandemic

Previous research has demonstrated that the COVID-19 pandemic is negatively affecting the mental health of Canadians. Today, a new study highlights gender differences in the pandemic's impacts on the mental health of participants in a recent crowdsourcing survey, conducted by Statistics Canada from April 24 to May 11, 2020. Around 46,000 Canadian residents participated in this survey.

Female participants were more likely than their male counterparts to report "fair" or "poor" self-rated mental health, "somewhat worse" or "much worse" mental health since physical distancing began, and symptoms consistent with moderate or severe generalized anxiety disorder in the two weeks before completing the questionnaire. Female participants were also more likely than male participants to report that their lives were "quite a bit stressful" or "extremely stressful."

Gender-diverse participants—that is, participants who did not report their current gender as exclusively female or male—reported poorer mental health outcomes than both female and male participants across all measures.

stats can - gender diff in mental health

Economic impact of COVID-19 among visible minority groups

Since visible minorities often have more precarious employment and higher poverty rates than the White population, their ability to adjust to income losses due to work interruptions is likely more limited. Based on a large crowdsourcing data collection initiative, this study examines the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on visible minority groups.

Among the crowdsourcing participants who were employed prior to work stoppages, Whites and most visible minority groups reported similar rates of job loss or reduced work hours. However, visible minority participants were more likely than White participants to report that the COVID-19 pandemic had affected their ability to meet financial obligations or essential needs, such as rent or mortgage payments, utilities, and groceries.

stats can - impact of covid19 on minority groups

Economic and Fiscal Snapshot 2020

The COVID-19 crisis is a public health crisis and an economic crisis. The Economic and Fiscal Snapshot 2020 lays out the steps Canada is taking to stabilize the economy and protect the health and economic well-being of Canadians and businesses across the country.

Taxpayer Rights in the Digital Age

This paper explores the intersection of digital innovation, digital services, access, and taxpayer rights in the Canadian context, in light of the experiences of vulnerable populations in Canada, from the perspective of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman. Many aspects of the CRA’s digitalization can further marginalize vulnerable populations but there are also opportunities for digital services to help vulnerable persons in accessing the CRA’s services.

Reaching Out: Improving the Canada Revenue Agency’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program

The CVITP provides people, who may otherwise have difficulty accessing income tax and benefit return filing services, with an opportunity to meet their filing obligations. Often, filing a return is required to gain access to, or continue to receive, the government credits and benefits designed to support them.

This report illustrates that the CRA needs to take a broad, country-wide perspective of the CVITP, while also taking into consideration regional and other differences. Services offered and training provided to volunteers need to reflect the realities of the diverse regional, geographic, socio-economic, workforce, and vulnerable, sectors throughout Canada. Different areas of the country will have different primary needs from the CVITP. The CRA needs to address those needs, both in its actions through the CVITP, as well as in the training provided to CVITP volunteers and the support given to partner organizations.

Transformation through disruption: Taxpayers’ Ombudsman Annual Report 2019-20

The mandate of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman is to assist, advise, and inform the Minister about any matter relating to services provided by the CRA.

The Taxpayers’ Ombudsman fulfills this mandate by raising awareness, upholding taxpayer service rights, and facilitating the resolution of CRA service complaints issues. Through independent and objective reviews of service complaints and systemic issues, the Ombudsman and her Office work to enhance the CRA’s accountability and improve its service to, and treatment of, people. and systemic issues.

This is the Annual Report of the Taxpayers' Ombudsman for 2019-20.

Why are lower-income parents less likely to open an RESP account? The roles of literacy, education and wealth

Parents can save for their children's postsecondary education by opening and contributing to a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) account, which provides tax and other financial incentives designed to encourage participation (particularly among lower-income families). While the share of parents opening RESP accounts has increased steadily over time, as of 2016, participation rates remained more than twice as high among parents in the top income quartile (top 25%) compared with those in the bottom quartile.

This study provides insight into the factors behind the gap in (RESP) participation between higher and lower-income families.

How does the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) impact eligibility of provincial benefits?

This policy backgrounder provides an overview of how provincial and territorial governments have decided to treat receipt of the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) for those receiving social assistance and/or living in subsidized housing. It also looks at provisions for youth aging out of care during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Locked down, not locked out: An eviction prevention plan for Ontario

Ontario tenants who have fallen behind on their rent because of COVID-19 will need provincial help to stay housed when the current eviction ban is lifted. A new analysis calls for targeted rent relief, a gradual easing of the eviction ban, and a reintroduction of rent controls.

Social Assistance Summaries

The Social Assistance Summaries series tracks the number of recipients of social assistance (welfare payments) in each province and territory. It was established by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy to maintain data previously published by the federal government as the Social Assistance Statistical Report. The data is provided by provincial and territorial government officials.

Income Volatility: Why it Destabilizes Working Families and How Philanthropy Can Make a Difference

As the work environment has evolved and jobs look more different, it is important to understand the impact of these changes on income—predictability, variability, and frequency—and how this affects the opportunity for mobility. Because of the complexity of income volatility, there is a unique role for philanthropy.

This brief helps grantmakers understand the enormous challenges income volatility presents in America and provides an array of strategies for philanthropy to leverage both investments and leadership to empower families to protect themselves from volatility’s worst effects.

When a Job Is Not Enough: Employee Financial Wellness and the Role of Philanthropy

This report sheds light on the role employers and philanthropy can play in best promoting financial well-being for workers through the offering of Employee Financial Wellness Programs (EFWPs). Data suggests that EFWPs improve employees financial stability and help create a more productive work enviroment.

Volunteering in Canada: Challenges and opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic

In 2018, over 12.7 million Canadians engaged in formal volunteering, with a total of 1.6 billion hours of their time given to charities, non-profits and community organizations—equivalent to almost 858,000 full-time year-round jobs. Today, Canadians are courageously volunteering in the midst of one of the largest health, economic and social challenges of our lifetime.

The study, based upon the 2018 General Social Survey on Giving, Volunteering and Participating, measures the contributions of those who have given their time. While these data are from prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, they provide insight into challenges and opportunities facing volunteerism in the current situation.

Advancing Health and Wealth Integration in the Earliest Years

Despite the well-documented connection between health and wealth, investing in this intersection is still a new approach for many grantmakers. With the goal of inspiring increased philanthropic attention, exploration, and replication, this new spotlight elevates responsive philanthropic strategies that support both health and wealth.

This report focuses on the in utero-toddler stage of the life cycle (0-3 years). This age segment has some health-wealth integration activity, primarily through two-generation approaches. The goal is to inspire more philanthropic investment for this cohort by highlighting research and examples and offering recommendations.

Reaching Out: Improving the Canada Revenue Agency’s Community Volunteer Income Tax Program

The position of Taxpayers’ Ombudsman (the Ombudsman) was created to support the government priorities of stronger democratic institutions, increased transparency within institutions, and fair treatment. As an independent and impartial officer, the Ombudsman handles complaints about the service of the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA).

The Office of the Taxpayers’ Ombudsman hears first-hand the concerns of individuals, tax practitioners, and community support organizations. The Ombudsman visited with Community Volunteer Income Tax Program (CVITP) partner organizations, volunteers, and the Canada Revenue Agency’s (CRA) CVITP coordinators to learn more about the program and to understand the success stories and challenges they all experience. This report gives voice to what they have heard and provides recommendations on how to address the issues raised.

Inequality in the feasibility of working from home during and after COVID-19

The economic lockdown to stop the spread of COVID-19 has led to steep declines in employment and hours worked for many Canadians. For workers in essential services, in jobs that can be done with proper physical distancing measures or in jobs that can be done from home, the likelihood of experiencing a work interruption during the pandemic is lower than for other workers.

To shed light on these issues, this article assesses how the feasibility of working from home varies across Canadian families. It also considers the implications of these differences for family earnings inequality.

Defining disability for social assistance in Ontario: Options for moving forward

Narrowing the definition of disability used by the Ontario Disability Support Program (ODSP) could have serious implications. Improving the program’s assessment process would yield better results for applicants, Ontario's social safety net, and the government.

This report explores the role of ODSP, the risks of narrowing the definition of disability, models of disability assessment from other jurisdictions, and alternative ways that the government could reform the program. Most importantly, the paper recommends that the Ministry focus on improving ODSP’s initial application process. A simplified assessment system would save time and money for applicants, medical professionals, legal clinics, adjudicators, and the Social Benefits Tribunal. These savings should be reinvested back into social assistance.

Understanding the perceived mental health of Canadians during the COVID-19 pandemic

While the physical health implications of the COVID‑19 pandemic are regularly publicly available, the mental health toll on Canadians is unknown. This article examines the self-perceived mental health of Canadians during the COVID‑19 pandemic and explores associations with various concerns after accounting for socioeconomic and health factors.

Just over half of Canadians aged 15 and older (54%) reported excellent or very good mental health during the COVID‑19 pandemic. Several concerns were also associated with mental health. Notably, after considering the effects of socioeconomic and health characteristics, women, youth, individuals with a physical health condition and those who were very or extremely concerned with family stress from confinement were less likely to report excellent or very good mental health.

Providing one-on-one financial coaching to newcomers: Insights for frontline service providers

One-on-one financial help is a key financial empowerment (FE) intervention that Prosper Canada is working to pilot, scale and integrate into other social services, in collaboration with FE partners across the country. FE is increasingly gaining traction as an effective poverty reduction measure. FE interventions include financial coaching and supports that assist people to build money management skills, access income benefits, tackle debt, learn about safe financial products and services and find ways to save for emergencies.

This report shares insights on providing one-on-one financial coaching to newcomers captured through two financial coaching pilot projects that Prosper Canada conducted in collaboration with several frontline community partners.

Supporting Financial Health Fintechs in Canada: Trends, Challenges, and Opportunities

COVID-19 and support for seniors: Do seniors have people they can depend on during difficult times?

In an effort to avoid the spread of COVID-19, Canadians are engaging in physical distancing to minimize their social contact with others. However, social support systems continue to play an important role during this time. In particular, seniors living in private households may depend on family, friends or neighbours to deliver groceries, medication and other essential items to their homes. This study examines the level of social support reported by seniors living in private households.

Canadian Perspectives Survey Series 1: Impacts of COVID-19 on job security and personal finances, 2020

Findings from a web panel survey developed by Statistics Canada on how Canadians are coping with COVID-19. More than 4,600 people in the 10 provinces responded to this survey from March 29 to April 3. In addition to content on the concerns of Canadians and the precautions they took to reduce the risk of exposure to COVID-19, the survey includes questions on work location, perceptions of job security, and the impact of COVID-19 on financial security.

A workplace-based economic response to COVID-19

This brief emerged from a conversation, held in late March 2020, among a number of individuals and organizations who work on issues of household financial security. Employers with financial resources and governments have an opportunity to use the workplace as a significant channel to deliver financial relief as part of the economic response to COVID-19, complementing critical supports governments are providing to individuals and businesses.

Voice of Experience: Engaging people with lived experience of poverty in consultations

The engagement of Canadians with lived experiences of poverty in government consultations on poverty reduction is critical. But as hard as governments work to try to include people living in poverty as full participating members in their consultation processes, there are many barriers that continue to impede their participation. This paper explores what these barriers and impediments are.

Building Sustainable Communities

Social Prescribing in Ontario

Research has shown that even short-term isolation can have long-term impacts to mental health. Social and community supports are essential for vulnerable persons, especially during times of severe impacts to routine and imposed social distancing. This report discusses the findings of the Rx: Community - Social Prescribing in Ontario pilot, using social prescribing as a tool to better connect social and clinical care and broaden the definition of health and well-being.

Implementing the National Strategy for Financial Literacy – Count me In, Canada

The Government of Canada has long recognized the need to strengthen financial consumers’ knowledge and decision-making abilities, and has made it a key priority. When more Canadians feel more in control of their finances, the benefits are immediate and potentially far-reaching.

In this report, the Financial Consumer Protection Agency (FCAC) looks back over the past four years, beginning in 2015 with the release of the National Strategy for Financial Literacy—Count me in, Canada and its vision to strengthen the financial well-being
of all Canadians. They report on progress in helping Canadians strengthen their financial knowledge and decision-making, manage their day-to-day finances, and plan for their futures.

Canadian Income Survey, 2018

This report from Statistics Canada shares data on median after-tax income and overall poverty rate decline based on 2018 data.

Basic Income: Some Policy Options for Canada

As the need for basic income grows, the Basic Income Canada Network (BICN) is often asked how Canada could best design and pay for it. To answer that in a detailed way, BICN asked a team to model some options that are fair, effective and feasible in Canada. The three options in this report do just that. The three options demonstrate that it is indeed possible for Canada to have a basic income that is progressively structured and progressively funded. BICN wants governments, especially the federal government, to take this seriously—and to act.

Evaluating Tax Time Savings Interventions and Behaviors

This report explores the behaviors and outcomes related to savings and financial well-being of low- and moderate-income (LMI) tax filers in the United States. Findings from research conducted by Prosperity Now, the Social Policy Institute at Washington University in St. Louis and SaverLife (formerly EARN) during the 2019 tax season are presented. This analysis is unique in that it compares tax filers' outcomes over time across three different tax-filing and savings program platforms: volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) sites, online tax filing through the Turbo Tax Free File Product (TTFFP), and SaverLife's saving program.

prosperity now - taxtime savings behaviours

Community Benefits of Supportive Housing

This report highlights mostly B.C.-based research and includes key information, facts, and statistics to answer common questions that neighbours, local government, and other stakeholders may have about supportive housing. The easy-to-read question and answer format also includes infographics to showcase the benefits of supportive housing in neighbourhoods across British Columbia and beyond.

State of homelessness in Canada 2016

Ending homelessness in Canada requires partnerships across public, private, and not-for-profit sectors. Preventative measures, and providing safe, appropriate, and affordable housing with supports for those experiencing homelessness is needed.

This paper provides a series of joint recommendations – drafted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness and the Canadian Alliance to end Homelessness – for the National Housing Strategy.

The Collaborative to Advance Social Health Integration: What We’re Learning About Delivering Whole-Person Care

The Collaborative to Advance Social Health Integration (CASHI) is composed of a community of 21 innovative primary care teams and community partners committed to increasing the number of patients, families and community members who have access to the essential resources they need to be healthy. CASHI focused efforts to improve social health practices, spread them to additional sites, and work toward financial sustainability plans.

This report discusses the key learnings and successes as a result of this 18-month collaboration to spread social health integration.

Comparison of Provincial and Territorial Child Benefits and Recommendations for British Columbia

First Call BC Child and Youth Advocacy Coalition has been tracking child and family poverty rates in BC for more than two decades. Every November, with the support of the Social Planning and Research Council of BC (SPARC BC), a report card is released with the latest statistics on child and family poverty in BC and recommendations for policy changes that would reduce these poverty levels.

This report presents data from the latest report card released by First Call on a cross-Canada comparison of child benefits.

Working Without a Net: Rethinking Canada’s social policy in the new age of work

This report explores the implications of new technologies on Canada’s economy and labour market and the adequacy of current social programs and policies supporting workers.

Economic volatility in childhood and subsequent adolescent mental health problems: a longitudinal population based study of adolescents

This research paper investigates the association between the patterns of duration, timing and sequencing of exposure to low family income during childhood, and symptoms of mental health problems in adolescence.

A Scan of Municipal Financial Capability Efforts

As the connection between financial capability and social mobility is made evident, both public and private actors are increasingly interrogating the drivers of personal financial health and investing in the innovation of products and services designed to improve the condition of economically vulnerable individuals.

This high-level scan of existing U.S. financial capability initiatives and the ways they fit together lends insight into the role that cities and their core institutions can play in promoting residents’ personal economic growth. This study, funded by JPMorgan Chase & Co. and executed by Urbane Development (UD), leverages
primary and secondary research to explore features of the broad range of programs and policy efforts that make up the financial capability landscape of the U.S. This examination focuses particularly on programs deployed by and within municipalities.

Associations of Income Volatility With Incident Cardiovascular Disease and All-Cause Mortality in a US Cohort

State of Fair Banking in Canada

Everyone needs to bank and nearly everyone has a relationship with at least one financial institution. Financial Institutions need relationships with consumers too, in order to thrive as businesses. The role these relationships play in financial decision making for Canadians is an important consideration for anyone seeking to understand the financial health of Canadians and the impact of the banking sector in Canada. This report discusses the findings from a national sample of both banking consumers and lenders who were asked about their perspectives on fairness, access, credibility and transparency.

Defining Disposable income in the Market Basket Measure

This paper discusses the concept of disposable income used in the MBM. Disposable income is a measure of the means available to a Canadian family to meet its basic needs and achieve a modest standard of living. The disposable income of families surveyed in the Canadian Income Survey (CIS) is compared to the cost of the MBM basket for the size of the family and the region, and families with disposable incomes below that cost are deemed to be living in poverty.

Client Engagement and Retention—The Secret Ingredient in Successful Financial Capability Programs

Grantmakers and practitioners recognize the importance of financial security for individuals and families, and many organizations therefore offer financial capability programs aimed at strengthening the financial well-being of the people they serve. But good financial capability programs are often high-touch and costly to provide for program administrators, and time consuming for clients to participate in. To benefit fully from such programs’ offerings, clients must actively participate in the program’s coaching, counseling, or other sessions, and engage in related activities to boost their financial health.

Thus, understanding what drives client engagement is critical to helping programs improve program retention and outcomes, and concurrently, helps funders maximize the value of philanthropic dollars and customers’ time. Grantmakers concerned about best practices for funding effective financial capability efforts must therefore understand the vital role of client retention and the strategies for supporting the nonprofit sector to address this challenge.

The brief explains the importance of client retention and engagement for financial capability program success, describes three key barriers to effective program participation, offers strategies to overcome those barriers, and closes with recommendations for philanthropy.

Financial Health Index: 2019 Findings and 3-Year Trends Report

This report explores consumer financial health, wellness/ stress and resilience for Canadians across a range of financial health indicators, demographics and all provinces excluding Quebec. This report provides topline results from the 2019 Financial Health Index study and three-year trends from 2017 to 2019.

OECD/INFE Report on Financial Education in APEC Economies: Policy and practice in a digital world

This report responds to a call made by APEC Finance Ministers at their 23rd Ministerial Meeting in Lima in 2016 to advance “the design and implementation of financial literacy policies building on the expertise and standards developed by the OECD International Network on Financial Education”.

The findings illustrate that the majority of APEC economies are well-advanced in their efforts to collect relevant data, implement appropriate financial education policies, and address the remaining issues related to financial literacy, inclusion and consumer
protection. They are applying international best practices and making good use of available tools and resources to develop and refine strategic approaches and specific initiatives. However, there is still some way to go in ensuring that everyone living in an APEC
economy has the financial literacy that they need and concerns about financial fraud or abuse, the high complexity of financial services and the low financial literacy of specific population groups are driving policy interest in improving financial education.

Ageing and Financial Inclusion: 8 key steps to design a better future

The G20 Fukuoka Policy Priorities for Ageing and Financial Inclusion is jointly prepared by the GPFI and the OECD. The document identifies eight priorities to help policy makers, financial service providers, consumers and other actors in the real economy to identify and address the challenges associated with ageing populations and the global increase in longevity. They reflect policies and practices to improve the outcomes of both current generations of older people and future generations.

Using Research to Improve the Financial Well-being of Canadians: Post-symposium Report

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) co-hosted the 2018 National Research Symposium on Financial Literacy on November 26 and 27, 2018 at the University of Toronto, in partnership with Behavioural Economics in Action at Rotman (BEAR).

This report presents the key ideas and takeaways from the event, while shining a light on the research shaping new solutions designed to enhance financial well-being in Canada and around the world.

2018 White Paper: Financial Wellbeing Remains Challenged in Canada

The study examines consumers’ financial knowledge and confidence levels; financial and money stressors, financial capability aspects and financial management behaviours and practices (across the financial services spectrum). The study also explores external or environmental factors such as income variability and the extent to which Canadians have access to and lever their social capital (i.e. their family and friends who can provide financial advice and/or support in times of hardship).

The study also explores consumer financial product and service usage, debt management and debt stress, access to financial products, services, advice and tools, usage of more predatory financial services (e.g. payday lending) and perceived levels of support by consumers’ primary Financial Institution for their financial wellness. The study also provides benefits of improved support for financial providers improving the financial wellness of their customers – including from a banking share of wallet and brand perspective.

How personality traits and economic beliefs shape financial capability and literacy

An emerging body of international literature is beginning to reveal a significant connection between financial capability metrics and personality, suggesting that what influences our financial well-being may be more nuanced than we previously thought.

This report investigates how the inclusion of personality traits impacts the analysis of the gender difference in financial capability scores.

The impact of personality traits: a fresh look at gender differences in financial literacy

An emerging body of international literature is beginning to reveal a significant connection between financial capability metrics and personality, suggesting that what influences our financial well-being may be more nuanced than we previously thought.

This study investigates how the inclusion of personality traits impacts the analysis of the gender difference in financial capability scores.

The Dynamics of Disability: Progressive, Recurrent or Fluctuating Limitations

Different from common perception, many disabilities do not follow a stable pattern. Persons with disabilities may experience periods of good health in between periods of their limitations and/or experience changes in the severity of their limitations over time. These types of disabilities may be characterized as dynamic because the very nature of the disability is one of change with different possible trajectories over time. As a consequence, the collective experiences of those with disability dynamics are likely to be different than those with so-called “continuous” disabilities.

In this paper, four groups of persons with different disability dynamics (or lack of dynamics) are profiled based on data from the 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability. Each group has their own unique demographic, employment, and workplace accommodation profile based on the length of time between periods of their limitations, as well as changes in their limitations over time.

Results from the 2016 Census: Examining the effect of public pension benefits on the low income of senior immigrants

This is a study released by Insights on Canadian Society based on 2016 Census data. Census information on immigration and income is used to better understand the factors associated with low income among senior immigrants.

This study examines the factors associated with the low-income rate of senior immigrants, with a focus on access to Old Age Security (OAS) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) benefits.

Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) and Financial Empowerment

This policy brief discusses issues surrounding access to Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSPs) in the province of Alberta and recommended solutions for increasing RDSP uptake. With the Government of Alberta's commitment to improving financial independence for people in the province, suggestions are provided on how to link the government RDSP strategy with financial empowerment collaboratives and champions existing in the province to maximize effectiveness and efficiency.

Canada’s Colour Coded Income Inequality

Canada’s population is increasingly racialized. The 2016 census counted 7.7 million racialized individuals in Canada. That number represented 22% of the population, up sharply from 16% just a decade earlier. Unfortunately, the rapid growth in the racialized population is not being matched by a corresponding increase in economic equality. This paper uses 2016 census data to paint a portrait of income inequality between racialized and non-racialized Canadians. It also looks at the labour market discrimination faced by racialized workers in 2006 and 2016.

These data provide a glimpse of the likely differences in wealth between racialized and non-racialized Canadians. This paper also explores the relationship between race, immigration and employment incomes.

Taken together, the data point to an unequivocal pattern of racialized economic inequality in Canada. In the absence of bold policies to combat racism, this economic inequality shows no signs of disappearing.

System transformation in Ontario Works: Considerations for Ontario

This paper focuses on proposed system transformation in Ontario Works, and explores the possibilities and limitations associated with the proposed changes in 2018. First, it looks at the broader context within which the government’s social assistance reforms are taking place. Second, it provides an overview of what is known about some of the structural changes in social assistance to date, as well as an overview of experiences in other jurisdictions that have undertaken similar reforms. In conclusion, the paper outlines some key considerations and unresolved questions that the government will need to address before it can move forward with a plan for reform.

Creating a Strong Foundation for Change

This guide is designed to be a resource for programs working with low income families to use when anticipating or implementing a new approach, such as coaching, to doing business. It helps you to systematically – and honestly – look at your foundational readiness for change, so that the improvements you want to make will take root and grow in fertile ground. Making time and space to look deeply into your organization can offer the opportunity to reconsider what quality service delivery looks like, help you discover how coaching (or other techniques) could be a tool, and plan efficiently on where it fits best into your existing context.

Investor Protection Clinic and Living Lab: 2019 Annual Report

The Investor Protection Clinic, the first clinic of its kind in Canada, provides free legal advice to people who believe their investments were mishandled and who cannot afford a lawyer. The Clinic was founded together with the Canadian Foundation for Advancement of Investor Rights (FAIR Canada), an organization that aims to enhance the rights of Canadian shareholders and individual investors.

The 2019 Annual Report summarizes the work of The Clinic, including description of the work and types of cases, example case scenarios of the clients who benefited from The Clinic's services, client data and demographics, and recommendations.

Welfare in Canada, 2018

These reports look at the total incomes available to those relying on social assistance (often called “welfare”), taking into account tax credits and other benefits along with social assistance itself. The reports look at four different household types for each province and territory. Established by the Caledon Institute of Social Policy, Welfare in Canada is a continuation of the Welfare Incomes series originally published by the National Council of Welfare, based on the same approach.

The shared path: First Nations financial wellness

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The shared path: First Nations financial wellness

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Un parcours commun : Le bien-être financier des Premières Nations

Urban Spotlight: Neighbourhood Financial Health Index findings for Canada’s cities

This report examines the financial health and vulnerability of households in Canada’s 35 largest cities, using a new composite index of household financial health at the neighbourhood level, the Neighbourhood Financial Health Index or NFHI. The NFHI is designed to shine a light on the dynamics underlying national trends, taking a closer look at what is happening at the provincial/territorial, community and neighbourhood levels.

Update July 22, 2022: Please note that the Neighbourhood Financial Health Index is no longer available

Canadians and their money: Key findings from the 2019 Canadian Financial Capability Survey

This report provides results from the 2019 Canadian Financial Capability Survey (CFCS). It offers a first look at what Canadians are doing to take charge of their finances by budgeting, planning and saving for the future, and paying down debt. While the findings show that many Canadians are acting to improve their financial literacy and financial well-being, there are also emerging signs of financial stress for some Canadians. For example, about one third of Canadians feel they have too much debt, and a growing number are having trouble making bill, rent/mortgage and other payments on time.

Over the past 5 years, about 4 in 10 Canadians found ways to increase their financial knowledge, skills and confidence. They used a wide range of methods, such as reading books or other printed material on financial issues, using online resources, and pursuing financial education through work, school or community programs. Findings from the survey support evidence that financial literacy, resources and tools are helping Canadians manage their money. For example, those who have a budget have greater financial well-being based on a number of indicators, such as managing cashflow, making bill payments and paying down debt. Further, those with a
financial plan to save are more likely to feel better prepared and more confident about their retirement.

Financial well-being in Canada

Financial well-being is the extent to which you can comfortably meet all of your current financial commitments and needs while also having the financial resilience to continue doing so in the future. But it is not only about income. It is also about having control over your finances, being able to absorb a financial setback, being on track to meet your financial goals, and—perhaps most of all—having the financial freedom to make choices that allow you to enjoy life.

The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) participated in a multi-country initiative that sought to measure financial well-being. FCAC conducted this survey to understand and describe the realities of Canadians across the financial well-being spectrum and help policy-makers, practitioners and Canadians themselves achieve better financial well-being. This is in keeping with the Agency’s ongoing work to monitor trends and emerging issues that affect Canadians and their finances.

Homelessness and Brain Injury – Program Findings

Incentivized Savings: An Effective Approach at Tax Time

A tax refund is often the largest amount of money a low-income household will receive throughout the year. It offers a unique opportunity to think long term and save for the future. Thus, in 2018, Momentum launched a new pilot program called Tax Time Savings (TTS), presented by ATB. It was through a dedicated collaboration with ATB Financial, Aspire Calgary, Sunrise Community Link Resource Centre, Centre for Newcomers, and First Lutheran Church Calgary that made it all possible.

This report shares results and highlights from the 2018 Tax Time Savings program. 93% of participants earned the maximum match of $500.

Trends in the Citizenship Rate Among New Immigrants to Canada

This Economic Insights article examines trends in the citizenship rate (the percent of immigrants who become Canadian citizens) among recent immigrants who arrived in Canada five to nine years before a given census. The citizenship rate among recent immigrants aged 18 and over peaked in 1996 and declined continuously to 2016. Most of this decline occurred after 2006. The citizenship rate declined most among immigrants with low family income, poor official language skills, and lower levels of education. There was also significant variation in the decline among immigrants from different source regions, with the decline largest among Chinese immigrants.

Helping Families Save to Withstand Emergencies

This brief identifies policy solutions to help American families build savings to withstand emergencies that threaten their financial stability.

Removing Savings Penalties for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

This brief discusses the savings penalties in public assistance programs in the United States, also known as asset limits, and that actions that can be taken to eliminate these limits and the barriers towards building savings for families living on low income.

Saving for Now and Saving for Later: Rainy Day Savings Accounts to Boost Low-Wage Workers’ Financial Security

This report discusses the vulnerability of millions of people in the US who lack adequate emergency savings. A workplace-based solution—rainy day savings accounts— can potentially help workers with low savings weather financial shocks.

Consumer Perspectives on Fintech

This brief raises consumer perspectives on financial technology (fintech), and offers guidance for fintech developers on how to best serve low- to moderate-income clients.

Running in Place: Why the Racial Wealth Divide Keeps Black and Latino Families From Achieving Economic Security

This report examines data from the Federal Reserve System’s 2016 Survey of Consumer Finances to understand how the wealth of median Black, Latino and White families have changed since the findings of its previous survey were released in 2013.

Expanding Educational Opportunity Through Savings

This brief discusses the benefits that Children's Savings Accounts (CSAs) bring to help more families save for their children's education. Recommendations to federal policies in the United States are made for the purpose of helping families to start saving early to build greater savings and impact.

Spurring Savings Innovations: Human Insight Methods for Savings Programs

This brief uses the experiences of participants in a service design process called the Savings Innovation Learning Cluster (SILC) to gather key insights into client perspectives and how it can be used to better program design. Four human insights research and design methods are explored—client interviews, client journey mapping, concept boards and prototyping—which can be used to develop more effective savings programs.

Tax Time: An opportunity to Start Small and Save Up

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s continuing effort to encourage saving at tax time is now part of a larger Bureau initiative to support people in building liquid savings. The new initiative is called Start Small, Save Up. The vision for Start Small, Save Up is to increase people’s financial well-being through education, partnerships, research, and policy or regulatory improvements that increase people's opportunities to save and empower them to realize their personal savings goals.

This paper provides a description of how having liquid savings contributes to people’s financial stability and resiliency, and the unique opportunity that tax time offers to begin saving for the short and longer term. Starting to save or continuing to save when receiving a tax refund may lead to longer term financial well-being.

Money and Youth

The Canadian Foundation for Economic Education (CFEE) works collaboratively with funding partners, departments of education, school boards, schools, educators, and teacher associations to develop and provide free, non-commercial programs and resources for teachers and students – developed and reviewed by educators. The online version of their curriculum Money and Youth is organized into separate modules so that users can select individual topics that align with interests. An introduction to the topic, a teachers guide containing lesson plans, and parent resources are included within each module.

The Present and Future of Bank On Account Data: Pilot Results and Prospective Data Collection

Bank On coalitions are locally-led partnerships between local public officials; city, state, and federal government agencies; financial institutions; and community organizations that work together to help improve the financial stability of unbanked and underbanked individuals and families in their communities. The CFE Fund’s Bank On national initiative builds on this grassroots movement, supporting local coalitions with strategic and financial support, as well as by liaising nationally with banking, regulatory, and nonprofit organization partners to expand banking access. This report details the Bank On Data Pilot, which collected and measured quantitative data on 2017 Bank On account usage at four pilot financial institutions with certified accounts: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase, U.S. Bank, and Wells Fargo.

cfe - present and future of bank on account data

Accessing the Canada Learning Bond: Meeting Identification and Income Eligibility Requirements

Not having a Social Insurance Number (SIN) and not filing taxes may represent challenges to access government programs and supports such as the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) and the Canada Learning Bond (CLB).

Limited data availability has prevented a full assessment of the extent of these access challenges. This study attempts to address this knowledge gap by analyzing overall differences in SIN possession and tax-filing uptake by family income, levels of parental education, family type and Indigenous identity of the child and age of children using the 2016 Census data augmented with tax-filing and Social Insurance Number possession indicator flags.

Low income among persons with a disability in Canada

Persons with a disability face a higher risk of low income compared to the overall population. This report uses data from the 2014 Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA) to study the relationship between low income and characteristics of people aged 25 to 64 with a disability, including disability type, severity class, age of onset of disability, family composition, and other risk factors associated with low income. It also examines the composition of the low-income population in relation to disability, and provides information on the relationship between employment and low income for this population.

Does education pay? A comparison of earnings by level of education in Canada and its provinces and territories

This report examines the relationship between the earnings of Canadians in the labour market and their post-secondary education credentials. Findings are based upon information gathered from the 2016 Census on adults between the ages of 25 to 64 with different levels of education and working in different parts of the country.

The Effects of Education on Canadians’ Retirement Savings Behaviour

This paper assesses the extent to which education level affects how Canadians save and accumulate wealth for retirement. Data from administrative income-tax records and responses from the 1991 and 2006 censuses of Canada show that individuals with more schooling are more likely to contribute to a tax-preferred savings account and have higher saving rates, have higher home values, and are less likely to rent housing.

effects of ed on retirement savings behaviour

Canadian Financial Diaries

The Canadian Financial Diaries Research Project is using the financial diaries methodology to understand the financial dynamics of vulnerable Canadians in a rapidly changing socio-economic context. This includes understanding the barriers and opportunities that people face in trying to improve their financial and overall well-being.

The website shares research insights and news about the project as the different phases of research are synthesized.

Money on Your Mind

Chronic Low Income Among Immigrants in Canada and its Communities

This study examines the rate of chronic low income among adult immigrants (aged 25 or older) in Canada during the 2000s. Data is taken from the Longitudinal Immigration Database (IMDB) for the period from 1993 to 2012, with regional adjustments used for the analysis. Chronic low income is categorized as having a family income under a low-income cut-off for five consecutive years or more.

The study found that for immigrants were in in low-income in any given year, half were in chronic low-income. Including spells of low income which become chronic in later years, this number rises to two-thirds. The highest chronic rates were found in immigrant seniors and immigrants who were unattached or lone parents. Chronic low income is a large component of income disparity and overall low income among immigrants.

Money stories: Financial resilience among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

This report builds on previous work on financial resilience in Australia and represents the beginning of an exploration of the financial resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Overall, we found significant economic disparity between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. This is not surprising, given the histories of land dispossession, stolen wages and the late entry of Indigenous Australians into free participation in the economy (it is only 50 years since the referendum to include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as members of the Australian population).

Specifically, we found:

Only one in ten Indigenous Australians are financially secure.
Fewer than two in five Indigenous people can access $2,000 for an emergency, compared with four in five in the broader Australian population.

Severe financial stress is present for half the Indigenous population, compared with one in ten in the broader Australian population. Read the report to find out more about the financial barriers faced by Indigenous people in Australia, and the sharing economy in which money as a commodity can both help and hurt financial resilience.

Enterprise Communities Plus: A network of financial capability services in low-income housing developments in New York City

In early 2018, Enterprise Community Partners (Enterprise) began a pilot program, Enterprise Community Plus (EC+), to provide financial capability services to residents in two neighborhoods in New York City. Enterprise is a nonprofit housing developer seeking to create opportunity for low- and moderate-income people through affordable housing in diverse, thriving communities. The pilot program seeks to develop a network of service providers dedicated to supporting the housing developments and introduce rent reporting for credit building and matched savings accounts to residents. Prosperity Now joined the implementation process in May 2018.

In this brief, we provide some initial information on the participants that currently are enrolled in the program and some lessons learned to guide other organizations in their efforts to provide financial capability services into housing programs.

Backgrounder: Preliminary findings from Canada’s Financial Well-Being Survey

This backgrounder reports preliminary findings from a survey of financial well-being among Canadian adults.

Preliminary analysis of the survey data indicates that two behaviours are particularly important in supporting the financial well-being of Canadians. First, our analysis indicates that Canadians who practice active savings behaviour have higher levels of financial resilience as well as higher levels of overall financial well-being. In other words, regardless of the amount of money someone makes, regular efforts to save for unexpected expenses and other future priorities appears to be the key to feeling and being in control of personal finances.

Secondly, Canadians who often use credit to pay for daily expenses because they have run short of money have lower levels of financial well-being. While this behaviour is likely symptomatic of low levels of financial well-being, our analysis indicates that a person can substantially improve their financial resilience and financial well-being by implementing strategies to reduce the frequency of running out of money and of having to rely on credit to get by.

Retirement 20/20: The 2019 Fidelity Retirement Survey

The Fidelity Retirement Survey is focused on how Canadians near, and already in, retirement approach the next stage of their lives. This is the 14th year of the survey.

The results indicate Canadians are retiring earlier than expected. They also show 46% of pre-retirees expect to have some long-term debt when they retire, and that 70% believe they will be working in retirement, among other results.

Promise Accounts: Matched Savings to Help Families Get Ahead

This report from Prosperity Now shows the importance of matched savings programs called 'Promise Accounts' which help families successfully save for their futures. They are especially important for households of color as compared to white households.

Decreasing economic inequality and closing the racial wealth divide means creating saving pathways for low-income households to build wealth. Promise Accounts make some key changes to traditional matched savings programs. Specifically, these accounts would have features including:

Standardized accounts created through one platform, managed by the US Department of the Treasury
A strong role for local organizations
Broadening the uses for Promise Accounts including higher education, work, and housing
Allowing more families to participate
Elimination of savings penalties

Short-term financial stability: A foundation for security and well-being

Short-term cushions are key to longer-term financial security and well-being.

This report shines a light on the central role that short-term financial stability plays in a person’s ability to reach broader financial security and upward economic mobility, a measurement of whether an individual moves up the economic ladder over one’s lifetime or across generations.

The insights presented in this report draw primarily on evidence provided by members of the Consumer Insights Collaborative (CIC), a group of nine leading nonprofits across the United States convened by the Aspen Institute Financial Security Program. These diverse organizations offer a window into the financial lives of the low- and moderate-income individuals they serve.

Accessing the Canada Learning Bond: Meeting Identification and Income Eligibility Requirements

Introduced in 1998, the Canadian Education Savings Program (CESP) was designed as an incentive to encourage education savings for the post-secondary education of a child. The program is centred on Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs), where savings accumulate tax-free until withdrawn, to pay for full- or part-time postsecondary studies such as a trade school, CEGEP, college, or university, or in an apprenticeship program.

The CLB was introduced in 2004 specifically for children from low income families. CLB provides, without family contribution being required, eligible families with an initial RESP payment which may be followed by annual payments up until the child is aged 15 years old.

The objective of this paper is to assess the extent to which not tax-filing and not having a SIN for a child could pose a challenge to accessing the CLB and the CESG. This study will address the knowledge gap by analyzing overall differences in SIN and tax-filing uptake by family income, levels of parental education, family type and Indigenous identity of the child. The findings will help understand access issues related to the CLB but also to other programs with similar administrative conditions.

En francais: Accéder au Bon d’études canadien: l’atteinte des critères d’identification et d’éligibilité selon le revenu.

2019 First Annual Report of the Disability Advisory Committee: Enabling access to disability tax measures

Trading Equity for Liquidity: Bank Data on the Relationship Between Liquidity and Mortgage Default

For many, homeownership is a vital part of the American dream. Buying a home represents one of the largest lifetime expenditures for most homeowners, and the mortgage has generally become the financing instrument of choice. For many families, their mortgage will be their greatest debt and their mortgage payment will be their largest recurring monthly expense.

In this report, we present a combination of new analysis and previous findings from the JPMorgan Chase Institute body of housing finance research to answer important questions about the role of liquidity, equity, income levels, and payment burden as determinants of mortgage default. Our analysis suggests that liquidity may have been a more important predictor of mortgage default than equity, income level, or payment burden.

The Financial Health Check: Scalable Solutions for Financial Resilience

A large majority of American households live in a state of financial vulnerability. Across a range of incomes, people struggle to build savings, pay down debt, and manage irregular cash flows. Even modest savings cushions could help households take care of unexpected expenses or disruptions in income without relying on costly credit. But in practice, setting aside savings can be difficult.

Research from the field of behavioral science shows that light-touch interventions can help address these barriers. For example, changing default settings or bringing financial management to the forefront of everyday life have had powerful effects on savings activity. The Financial Health Check (FHC) draws on such insights to offer a new model of scalable support for achieving financial goals.

Habit Change: Literature Review

Habits are incredibly powerful. Good habits can make people highly successful, and bad habits can ruin people’s lives. Still, it is important to go beyond the anecdotal evidence of the many self-help books on habit, and to take stock of the scientific evidence.

This literature review discusses we discuss how habits are formed, how bad habits can be abandoned, how approach-avoidance training can help adopting good habits and abandoning bad habits, and, finally, how habits can be measured properly.

Do Tax-Time Savings Deposits Reduce Hardship Among Low-Income Filers? A Propensity Score Analysis

A lack of emergency savings renders low-income households vulnerable to material hardships resulting from unexpected expenses or loss of income. Having emergency savings helps these households respond to unexpected events, maintain consumption, and avoid high-cost credit products. Because many low-income households receive sizable federal tax refunds, tax time is an opportunity for these households to allocate a portion of refunds to savings. We hypothesized that low-income tax filers who deposit at least part of their tax refunds into a savings account will experience less material and health care hardship compared to non-depositors.

Six months after filing taxes, depositors have statistically significant better outcomes than non-depositors for five of six hardship outcomes. Findings affirm the importance of saving refunds at tax time as a way to lower the likelihood of experiencing various hardships. Findings concerning race suggest that Black households face greater hardship risks than White households, reflecting broader patterns of social inequality.

Debt and mental health: A statistical update

Financial problems can be a significant source of distress, putting pressure on people's mental health, particularly if they are treated insensitively by creditors. Some people in financial difficulty cut back on essentials, such as heating and eating, or social activities that support their well being, to try and balance their budget. In many cases this has a negative impact on people's mental health.

This policy note from draws on nationally representative data to update key statistics on the relationship between debt and mental health problems, and sets out implications for policymakers, service providers and essential services firms.

Why Community Foundations Make Perfect Partners for Children’s Savings Account Programs

In this brief, we articulate why collaboration between community foundations and CSA programs is in their mutual interest. We describe the variety of roles that community foundations can play in promoting the growth and success of CSA programs, and then identify the primary challenges encountered by community foundations in supporting CSAs. The brief concludes with key lessons learned about collaboration between community foundations and CSA programs.

This brief was designed primarily to educate CSA practitioners and community foundation staff about the benefits of collaboration. It may also be of interest to a wider audience in the fields of asset building and philanthropy. The ideas and findings in this brief are based primarily on in-depth interviews and in-person meetings with board members, executives and senior staff from three community foundations.

Evaluation of the Guaranteed Income Supplement

The Old Age Security program is the largest statutory program of the Government of Canada, and consists of the Old Age Security pension, the Guaranteed Income Supplement, and the Allowance. The Guaranteed Income Supplement is provided to low-income seniors aged 65 years and over who receive the Old Age Security pension and are below a low-income cut-off level.

This evaluation examines take-up of the Guaranteed Income Supplement by various socioeconomic groups, the characteristics of those who are eligible for the Supplement but do not receive it, and barriers faced by vulnerable groups.

Debt and assets among senior Canadian families

Using data from the Survey of Financial Security (SFS), this article looks at changes in debt, assets and net worth among senior Canadian families over the period from 1999 to 2016. It also examines changes in the debt-to income ratio and the debt to-asset ratio of senior families with debt.

This study finds that the proportion of senior families with debt increased from 27% to 42% between 1999 and 2016.

Mortgage and Consumer Credit Trends Report

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) publishes a quarterly report on Canadian trends relating to mortgage debt and consumer borrowing. Find out the level of Canadian household indebtedness, and emerging trends in outstanding debt balances in different urban areas and by age group.

Are Low-Income Savers Still in the Lurch? TFSAs at 10 Years

The introduction of Tax-Free Savings Accounts (TFSAs) in 2009 transformed how Canadians save. One of the main reasons for creating TFSAs was to provide a taxassisted savings instrument for low-income Canadians to enable them to improve their retirement income. Now, 10 years later, many low-income savers are still not using TFSAs in ways that would allow them to benefit fully from the government transfer programs intended for them in retirement, such as the Guaranteed Income Supplement. Consequently, intended benefits from TFSAs are going untapped. Improving public education and financial literacy may be part of the solution to this problem, but built-in policy nudges and tax adjustments will be more effective.

Analyzing the Landscape of Saving Solutions for Low-Income Families

To address challenges around savings, the asset building and financial services fields have developed an array of solutions that attempt to support savings and wealth accumulation. However, the landscape of savings solutions is complex, difficult for households to navigate, and full of solutions that are not designed specifically for low-income and low-wealth households.

This brief examines the savings challenges that households face, their underlying causes, and a vision for new solutions.

More Than Just Taxes

Tax time financial capability services offered at Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites range from encouraging taxpayers to save a portion of their refund to free credit reviews, to referrals to financial coaching, and others in between.

This report from Prosperity Now summarizes research findings on VITA programs offering asset-building and financial capability services. Specifically, findings address barriers to be overcome, facilitating factors, and the opportunities for targeted outreach, tailored messages, and policy improvements to move the needle on Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) take-up rates.

In sickness and in health: The association between health and household income

This study uses data from the Longitudinal and International Study of Adults (LISA) to analyze the association between health and household income.

Using data on both self-reported general health and self-report mental health, as well as self-reported labour-market outcomes and linked tax records, the association between spouse-pair labour-market income and health is further decomposed into an employment effect reflecting the association between health and the probability of employment, an hours worked effect reflecting the association between health and the number of hours worked, and a wage effect reflecting
the association between health and hourly wages.

Consumer Insights on Managing Spending

The CFPB conducted research on consumer challenges in tracking spending and keeping to a budget. The research found that consumers aspire to manage their spending but for many reasons, many consumers spend more than intended and sometimes have\ difficulty in staying within their budgets. In addition, we found that although most people would like to use budgets and plans, they often don’t use them to guide spending decisions in the moment.

Budgeting and tracking spending are often considered to be overwhelming or too much of a hassle, and even those consumers who have a budget generally do not benchmark their spending to their budget frequently or regularly.

Effective financial education: Five principles and how to use them

Because of the key role that financial education can play in people’s lives, the CFPB has conducted research over its first five years into what makes financial education effective for consumers. What do we mean by “effective?” It does not just mean training that helps people perform better on a test of financial facts. It means equipping consumers to understand the financial marketplace and make sound financial choices in pursuit of their life goals.

Earnings Inequality and the Gender Pay Gap in Canada

This study from Statistics Canada explores how increases in top earnings and the representation of women among top earners affect the overall gender earnings gap in Canada. Results show that even though the representation of women in top earnings groups increased from 1978 to 2015, their continued under-representation in these groups accounted for a substantial and growing share of the gender gap in total annual earnings.

An Evaluation of Financial Empowerment Centers: Building People’s Financial Stability as a Public Service

This report is a three-year evaluation of the Financial Empowerment Center initiative’s replication in 5 cities (Denver, CO; Lansing, MI; Nashville, TN; Philadelphia, PA and San Antonio, TX). Financial Empowerment Centers (FECs) offer professional, one-on-one financial counseling as a free public service. The evaluation draws on data from 22,000 clients who participated in 57,000 counseling sessions across these first 5 city replication partners, and provides additional evidence of the program’s success.

Does State-Mandated Financial Education Affect High-Cost Borrowing?

Using pooled data from the 2012 and 2015 waves of the National Financial Capability Study (NFCS), this research finds that young adults who were required to take personal finance courses in high school were significantly less likely to borrow payday loans than their peers who were not. These effects do not significantly differ by race/ethnicity or gender, suggesting that financial education may be useful regardless of demographics.

Economic Well-being Across Generations of Young Canadians: Are Millenials Better or Worse Off?

This article in the Economic Insights series from Statistics Canada examines the economic well-being of millennials by comparing their household balance sheets to those of previous generations of young Canadians. Measured at the same point in their life course, millennials were relatively better off than young Gen-Xers in terms of net worth, but also had higher debt levels.

Higher values for principal residences and mortgage debt mainly explain these patterns. Financial outcomes varied considerably among millennial households. Home ownership, living in Toronto or Vancouver, and having a higher education were three factors associated with higher net worth.

Financial Expectations and Household Debt

This Economic Insights article quantifies the degree to which families who expect their financial situation to get better in the next two years have, all else equal, more debt than comparable families.

The study shows that even after a large set of socioeconomic characteristics is controlled for, families who expect their financial situation to improve in the near future have significantly more debt and generally higher debt-to-income ratios than other families.

Overview: Financial Empowerment Center Counselor Training Standards

This overview summarizes the Financial Empowerment Center (FEC) model’s Counselor Training Standards. The Standards delineate the breadth and depth of the financial content areas, counseling and coaching skills, practice and experiential learning, and socio-economic and cultural context setting necessary to serve the diverse needs and backgrounds of FEC clients. The Standards also include a Code of Ethics that promotes responsible, professional and ethical financial counseling, furthering the profession of one on-one financial counseling.

The Who’s Hungry Report

The Who’s Hungry Report provides quantitative and qualitative data about the experience of hunger and poverty in Toronto. To create the reports, trained volunteers conduct face-to-face interviews with over 1,400 food bank clients at nearly 40 member agencies, collecting demographic data as well as information about the day-to-day experience of living with hunger.

Poverty Trends 2018 report

This annual report on poverty in Canada reports that a staggering 5.8 million people in Canada (or 16.8%) live in poverty. The report uses several low-income indicators, including the Low-Income Measure (LIM), the Census Family Low Income Measure (CFLIM) and the Market Basket Measure (MBM). Each measure of low income provides different information on poverty using different methodologies to calculate rates of poverty.

Debt and assets among senior Canadian families, 1999 to 2016

These results are from the new study "Debt and assets among senior Canadian families." released in April 2018. The study examines changes in debt, assets and net worth among Canadian families whose major income earner was 65 years of age or older.

In recent years, household debt has increased. The level of debt and value of assets are especially important for the financial security of seniors. Because income typically declines during the retirement years, seniors often need accumulated assets to finance their consumption, especially if they do not benefit from a private pension plan. Debt can also be particularly problematic for seniors as repayment can be more difficult on a reduced income.

The Economic Well-Being of Women in Canada

Economic well-being has both a present component and a future component. In the present, economic well-being is characterized by the ability of individuals and small groups, such as families or households, to consistently meet their basic needs, including food, clothing, housing, utilities, health care, transportation, education, and paid taxes. It is also characterized by the ability to make economic choices and feel a sense of security, satisfaction, and personal fulfillment with respect to finances and employment pursuits.

Using Statistics Canada data from a variety of sources, including the Survey of Labour and Income Dynamics, the Canadian Income Survey, the Survey of Financial Security, and the 2016 Census of Population, this chapter of Women in Canada examines women’s economic well-being in comparison with men’s and, where relevant, explores how it has evolved over the past 40 years. In addition to gender, age and family type (i.e., couple families with or without children; lone mothers and fathers; and single women and men without children) are important determinants of economic well-being. Hence, many of the analyses distinguish between women and men in different age groups and/or types of families.

NPW 2018 Employee Research Survey

Working Canadians seem to be making some minor progress towards improving their financial health. But, while 66% report being in a better financial position than a year ago, their debt levels remain high, they chronically undersave for retirement, and put themselves at severe risk in the event of economic changes.

According to the Canadian Payroll Association’s tenth annual survey, 44% of working Canadians report it would be difficult to meet their financial obligations if their pay cheque was delayed by even a single week (down from the three-year average of 48%).

View full suite of news release and infographics from this survey, by province.

Indebtedness and Wealth Among Canadian Households

Understanding the health of the balance sheets of Canadian households is a complex issue that continues to generate considerable discussion. A new Statistics Canada study contributes to these discussions by highlighting the extent to which national measures of indebtedness and wealth mask significant variation across the country. The study is largely based on results from the 2016 Survey of Financial Security (SFS), which allow for a detailed profile by census metropolitan area (CMA) and by income groups.

Tax time insights: Experiences of people living on low income in Canada

English

Download in English

Tax time insights: Experiences of people living on low incomes in Canada

French

Download in French

Données sur la période des impôts: Expériences vécues par des personnes à faible revenu au Canada

The Perils of Living Paycheque to Paycheque

This report, 'The Perils of Living Paycheque to Paycheque: The relationship between income volatility and financial insecurity', examines the relationship between income instability and broader measures of financial well-being.

This study makes use of a unique dataset that collected self-reported month-to-month volatility in household income, measures of capability, financial knowledge and psychological variables.

One in three adult Canadians reported at least some volatility in their monthly incomes, with six per cent reporting that the source and amount were both uncertain. Income volatility is present across a wide swath of the survey respondents, regardless of gender, family status, region of the country, education level and even income sources. Income volatility is correlated with lower financial knowledge, lower financial capability, and stronger beliefs that financial outcomes are up to fate and outside of personal control.

Better Borrowing: How State-Mandated Financial Education Drives College Financing Behaviour

As student loan reform continues to dominate national discourse, a NEFE-funded study shows that financial education in states with state-mandated personal finance graduation requirements causes students to make better decisions about how to pay for college. It increases applications for aid, federal aid taken, and grants — all while decreasing credit card balances. Put simply, financial education makes better borrowers.

This study examines positive effects of state-mandated financial education graduation requirements. As of 2017, 25 states have implemented mandates for personal finance education prior to graduation.

A Life-Cycle and Generational Perspective on the Wealth and Income of Millenials

Young adulthood is the life stage when the greatest increases in income and wealth typically occur, yet entering into this period during the Great Recession has put Millennials on a different trajectory. As a result, this generation will need to make very large gains in the years ahead to compensate for these shortfalls.

Understanding the dynamics of how the recession has impaired the financial outlook of Millennials, such as identifying how far behind they are compared to previous
generations of young adults, the impact of the recession on their current wealth holdings and earning potential, and the pace at which they’re recovering, is essential to developing appropriate policy interventions that can put them back on track.

Canadian Millenial Social Values Study

A major national survey conducted in 2016 reveals a bold portrait of Canada’s Millennials (those born between 1980 and 1995), that for the first time presents the social values of this generation, and the distinct segments that help make sense of the different and often contradictory stereotypes that so frequently are applied to today’s young adults.

Key findings from the survey explore Millennials' relationship with money, education, work and career interests, voting turnout, and engagement with social justice.

State of Cities Reducing Poverty

How has the Vibrant Communities – Cities Reducing Poverty (VC – CRP) network contributed to poverty reduction in Canada? In seeking to answer this central question, the State of Cities Reducing Poverty paper highlights the network’s numerous and varied impacts.

2018 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada: Bold Ambitions for Child and Family Poverty Eradication

The 2018 national report card “Bold Ambitions for Child Poverty Eradication in Canada,” provides a current snapshot of child and family poverty and demonstrates the need for a costed implementation plan to eradicate child poverty in this generation.

In advance of the 30th year of the all-party commitment to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000 and the federal election in 2019, our spotlight is on the central role of universal childcare in the eradication of child poverty. The lack of affordable, high quality childcare robs children of valuable learning environments and keeps parents, mainly women, out of the workforce, education and training. Without childcare, parents cannot lift themselves out of poverty and improve their living standards.

What does poverty look like in Canada? Survey finds one-in-four experience notable economic hardship

What does it mean to be poor in Canada? Does it mean having to rely on food banks and payday loans to make ends meet? Does it mean struggling to afford warm clothes for the winter? What about having to live far away from work or school?

A new, two-part study from the Angus Reid Institute examines the state of poverty in Canada by looking at lived experiences, rather than income, with some striking results.

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.

Asset Building: An Effective Poverty-Reduction Strategy

This brief explains the asset-building approach to poverty reduction.

While many families who live on low incomes struggle to meet basic needs, they miss out on opportunities to save and invest - opportunities that are critical in overcoming poverty. Without income, people are unable to get by and without assets, people are unable to get ahead.

At Momentum, we call opportunities to save or invest, Asset Building.
With financial assets, individuals can pay down debt, save more, earn a good credit rating, save for a down payment on a home, and build a sustainable livelihood.

Improving Education Outcomes through Children’s Education Savings

Children’s education savings accounts are a vital tool in boosting high school completion rates, increasing post-secondary education attainment, and reducing poverty. Research shows that saving for a child’s education is connected to improved child development, greater educational and career expectations, and future financial capability.

This brief explains why RESPs are so important, and how parents can use RESPs to save for their children's education.

Integrating Financial Capability Services into Tribal LIHEAP

This brief is a companion resource to Building Financial Capability: A Planning Guide for Integrated Services (also known as the Guide) and provides real-world examples of financial capability integration efforts. The brief shares lessons and approaches for how tribal-serving organizations can integrate financial capability services into LIHEAP and other emergency assistance services.

The brief highlights the experiences of two tribal serving organizations in Alaska that integrated financial capability services: the Kenaitze Indian Tribe and the Aleutian Pribilof Island Association (APIA). It is organized into three sections: understanding households’ financial lives, deciding which financial capability services to integrate, and assessing organizational and community capacity to plan for how to deliver services.

Financial Coaching Toolkit

English

Financial coaching tools - Exploring client needs and priorities

Tools for exploring client priorities
Urgent vs. important – fillable PDF
Dreams for the future
Financial wheel of life
First coaching meeting checklist
My money priorities
Values worksheet
My ‘money personality’ – fillable PDF

Key coaching skills
Coaching skills: Active listening
Coaching skills: The art of acknowledgement
COACH-ing moments

Program support tools

These are some example tools to support the coach in assessing client readiness for coaching, guiding clients towards potential actions to meet their goals, and in discovering referral support in their community.

Milestones, actions, and tools
Client readiness assessment – PDF
Client readiness assessment – fillable PDF
Financial health pre-assessment – PDF
Financial health pre-assessment – fillable PDF
Developing a referrals network
Virtual tools for participant engagement

Resources:

Inclusive facilitation of social change, FSG

Virtual service delivery tools

We are grateful to Family Services Greater Vancouver in British Columbia, Thunder Bay Counselling in Ontario, and SEED Winnipeg Inc. in Manitoba for their content consultation support and resource sharing.

Supporting client intake, triage, and referral in virtual financial help services
Virtual tools for participant engagement
Implementing a practice of self-care for practitioners – PDF
Implementing a practice of self-care for practitioners – fillable PDF

Participant tools:
Action plan – PDF
Action plan – fillable PDF
Contact list – PDF
Contact list – fillable PDF
Information to remember – PDF
Information to remember – fillable PDF
Action items – PDF
Action items – fillable PDF

Please note that some of the resources below were developed prior to the COVID-19 pandemic and serve as samples only. Current materials used by community agencies may have been revised to reflect updates to services and to meet public health guidelines.

Intake and assessment tools:
Intake Form – Family Services Greater Vancouver
First Financial Coaching Session Survey – Family Services Greater Vancouver
Financial Health Assessment – Thunder Bay Counselling
Financial Assessment Spreadsheet – Thunder Bay Counselling

Consent forms:
Consent to Service – Thunder Bay Counselling
Consent to Release and Obtain Information – Thunder Bay Counselling

Promotional materials:
Welcome and introduction to services brochure – Thunder Bay Counselling
Community Financial Helpline social media material (image 1, image 2, image 3) – SEED Winnipeg Inc.

Goal setting and action planning

Action plan template
Financial goals worksheet
Mind mapping
Setting a savings goal – PDF
Setting a savings goal – fillable PDF
‘Plan, do, review’ action plan template

Case studies and common questions

Use these case studies and common questions to practice or develop your coaching skills. Try them on your own or with your fellow staff.

Case study: Linda
Case study: Jacob
Case study: Nina
Common questions 1: “Just tell me what to do!”
Common questions 2: “There’s no point.”

Budgeting tools

Coaching conversation tips: Budgeting
Cash flow budget template – PDF
Cash flow budget template – fillable PDF
Simplified monthly budget template – PDF
Simplified monthly budget template – fillable PDF
Finding money – PDF
Finding money – fillable PDF

Saving tools

Coaching conversation tips: Saving
Finding money – PDF
Finding money – fillable PDF
Tool: My savings goal – PDF
Tool: My savings goal – fillable PDF
Ways to save at the grocery store
Seven habits of savvy spending and saving
Your spending habits

External resources
Cutting expenses tool – CFPB

Debt tools

Coaching conversation tips – Debt
Guide for talking to creditors
Determining debt payoff order (FC toolkit)
Debt list tool (FC toolkit) – PDF
Debt list tool (FC toolkit) – fillable PDF
Net worth tool (FC toolkit) – PDF
Net worth tool (FC toolkit) – fillable PDF
Payment arrangements worksheet (FC toolkit) – PDF
Payment arrangements worksheet (FC toolkit) – fillable PDF
Who do you owe? (FC toolkit) – PDF
Who do you owe? (FC toolkit) – fillable PDF

Banking and credit

Banking fees info sheet (FC toolkit)
Choosing a credit card tip sheet (FC toolkit)

Tax filing tools

Coaching conversation tips – Tax filing
Getting ready to file your taxes checklist
Planning for your refund worksheet – PDF
Planning for your refund worksheet – fillable PDF

French

Outils de coaching financier

Urgent c. important (FC toolkit)
Rêves d’avenir (FC toolkit)
La roue de la vie (FC toolkit)
Aide memoire: la première séance (FC toolkit)
Mes priorités financières (FC toolkit)
Exemples de valeurs (FC toolkit)
L’écoute active (FC toolkit)
L’art de la reconnaissance (FC toolkit)

Fixation d‘objectifs et planification d’actions

Outil: Le plan d’action (FC toolkit)
Financial goals worksheet (FC toolkit)
Outil: La cartographie (FC toolkit)
Fixer un objectif d’épargne (FC toolkit)
Outil : Planifier, agir et revoir – Plan d’action

Études de cas et questions courantes

Études de cas : Linda
Études de cas : Jacob
Études de cas : Nina
Des questions courantes 1 : C’est inutile, cela ne changera rien!
Des questions courantes 2 : Dites-moi simplement quoi faire!

Outils de budgétisation

Budget de caisse (PDF)
Budget de caisse (PDF à remplir)
Budget mensuel simplifié

Vos dépenses reflètent vos habitudes

Outils de la dette

Détermination de l’ordre de remboursement de la dette (FC toolkit)
Guide pour parler aux créanciers (FC toolkit)
List des dettes (FC toolkit)
Outil: La valeur nette (FC toolkit)
Outil: les modalités de paiement (FC toolkit)
Outil: Une dette envers qui? (FC toolkit)

Banque et crédit

Fiche d’information sur les frais bancaires (FC toolkit)
Choisir une carte de crédit (FC toolkit)

Outils de déclaration de revenue

Se préparer a produire sa déclaration de revenus (FC toolkit)
Planifier le remboursement d’impôt (FC toolkit)

Cross Canada Check-up: Provincial/territorial findings from Canada’s Neighbourhood Financial Health Index

Canada ranks consistently as one of the best places to live in the world and one of the wealthiest. When it comes to looking at the financial health of Canadian households, however, we are often forced to rely on incomplete measures, like income alone, or aggregate national statistics that tell us little about the distribution of financial health and vulnerability in our neighbourhoods, communities or provinces/territories.

The purpose of this report is to examine the financial heath and vulnerability of Canadian households in different provinces and territories using a new composite index of household financial health, the Neighbourhood Financial Health Index or NFHI. The NFHI has been designed to shine a light on the dynamics underlying these national trends, taking a closer look at what is happening at the provincial/territorial, community and neighbourhood levels.

Update July 22, 2022: Please note that the Neighbourhood Financial Health Index is no longer available

Who pays? A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in all 50 States

Who Pays: A Distributional Analysis of the Tax Systems in All Fifty States (the sixth edition of the report) is the only distributional analysis of tax systems in all 50 states and the District of Columbia. This comprehensive report assesses tax fairness by measuring effective state and local tax rates paid by all income groups. No two state tax systems are the same; this report provides detailed analyses of the features of every state tax code. It includes state-by-state profiles that provide baseline data to help lawmakers and the public understand how current tax policies affect taxpayers at all income levels.

Financial Literacy of Indigenous Secondary Students in the Atlantic Provinces

Research conducted by agencies such as AFOA, Native Women’s Association of Canada, and various other Canadian entities, has identified the need for improved financial literacy education in Indigenous communities, particularly among youth and Elders. Such research reports are often equipped with a list of recommendations for improving and addressing the gaps in education around financial literacy.

In the spirit of building upon this research into financial literacy and Indigenous peoples, the Purdy Crawford Chair in Aboriginal Business Studies (PCC) proposed a project focused on Atlantic Canada’s 14-18 year old Indigenous population and their levels of financial literacy.

The results reveal that the majority of respondents would like to learn more about money. As well, they affirm that face-to-face learning from family members and in classroom settings remain the preferred way to learn about financial issues. Finally, based on the literature review, the environmental scan, survey data, and feedback from the community consultation process, a web application titled Seven Generations Financial Literacy was developed and is located at www.sevengenerationsfinancial.com.

Increasing Take-Up of the Canada Learning Bond

The Canada Learning Bond (CLB) is an educational savings incentive that provides children from low income families born in 2004 or later with financial support for post-secondary education. Personal contributions are not required to receive the CLB, however take-up remains low among the eligible population.

The Impact and Innovation Unit (IIU), in collaboration with the Learning Branch and the Innovation Lab at Employment and Social Development Canada (ESDC) conducted a randomized controlled trial to test the effectiveness of behavioural insights (BI) in correspondence sent to primary caregivers of children eligible for the CLB.

This trial demonstrates the effectiveness of BI interventions tailored to the particular behavioural barriers that affect specific populations in increasing take-up of programs like the CLB. If scaled across the eligible population, the best performing letter would result in thousands more children receiving this education savings incentive on an annual basis.

Supporting Employee Financial Stability: How Philanthropy Catalyzes Workplace Financial Coaching Programs

More than half of all employees in the United States report that they are
financially stressed, and nearly one in three employees reports being distracted by personal financial issues while at work. This financial stress impacts individuals’ health, relationships, productivity, and time away from work.

This report describes different workplace models, the common characteristics and challenges of programs, and provides recommendations for funders who want to invest in workplace approaches to help workers achieve financial stability.

Boosting the Earned Income Tax Credit for Singles

By providing a refundable credit at tax time, the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) is widely viewed as a successful public policy that is both antipoverty and pro-work. But most of its benefits have gone to workers with children.

Paycheck Plus is a test of a more generous credit for low-income workers without dependent children. The program, which provides a bonus of up to $2,000 at tax time, is being evaluated using a randomized controlled trial in New York City and Atlanta. This report presents findings through three years from New York, where over 6,000 low-income single adults without dependent children enrolled in the study in late 2013.

The findings are consistent with other research on the federal EITC, indicating that an effective work-based safety net program can increase incomes for vulnerable and low-income individuals and families while encouraging and rewarding work.

High-Cost Alternative Financial Services: The Customer Experience

In early 2017 Momentum reached out to over 50 community members and participants to better understand local experiences with high-cost alternative financial services. In addition to connecting with individuals through interviews, Momentum hosted community consultations in partnership with Poverty Talks! and Sunrise Community Link Resource Centre. The following document summarizes what we learned from these conversations and the loan contracts that borrowers shared with us. It also identifies several themes that emerged from these discussions.

Summary Brief: High-Cost Alternative Financial Services

Many Albertans turn to high-cost alternative financial services when they need a short-term fix for a financial issue. Though these services are expensive and unsafe, they are often the only option for low-income individuals, particularly those who struggle to obtain credit at mainstream financial institutions. High-cost alternative financial services contribute to a two-tiered banking system, in which the poor often pay more for inferior services.

Without more stringent regulation, and in the absence of safe and affordable short-term credit options, Albertans living on lower-incomes will continue to experience financial exclusion and take on heavy debt loads – both of which are major contributors to long-term poverty.

High-Cost Alternative Financial Services: Policy Options

Many Canadians turn to high-cost alternative financial services when they need a short-term fix for a budgetary issue. Though these banking and credit alternatives are a convenient choice for individuals in search of fast cash, particularly those who face barriers to obtaining credit at a bank or credit union, access comes at a steep price and with a high degree of risk. On its own, one high-cost loan has the potential to trap a borrower in a cycle of debt, not only amplifying their short-term problem, but also limiting their ability to secure the income and assets needed to thrive in the long term.

The policy recommendations presented in this brief, and summarized in the chart on page two, are inspired by the regulatory initiatives across the country, and reflect ways in which all three levels of government can contribute to better consumer protection for all Canadians.

The Omega Foundation and the SmartSAVER Program, Lessons in Taking Social Innovations to Scale

This case study is about the Omega Foundation’s SmartSAVER program. It has effectively elevated the Canada Learning Bond (a post-secondary education savings program for low income families) from a struggling idea to a fully-fledged and well-utilized national resource. In so doing, Omega and SmartSAVER have created new pathways out of poverty for thousands of Canadians.

This story gives us significant insight into the process of bringing an innovative idea to life. It offers important observations about the barriers to launching and scaling innovative ideas. It also offers insights into the solutions that can overcome these barriers.

Breaking down barriers: A critical analysis of the Disability Tax Credit and the Registered Disability Savings Plan

The Disability Tax Credit helps Canadians by reducing the amount of income tax they are required to pay. The Registered Disability Savings Plan helps people with a disability or their caregiver save for the future by putting money into a fund that grows tax free until the beneficiary makes a withdrawal.

This report, released by the Senate Committee on Social Affairs, Science and Technology, makes 16 recommendations aimed at improving both programs. They are divided into short-term objective to make the process for the two programs simpler and clearer, and a long-term philosophical shift in the way Canada deals with people who are in financial distress but cannot advocate for themselves. Recommendations include removing barriers that prevent people from taking advantage of the Disability Tax Credit and making enrolment in the Registered Disability Savings Plan automatic for eligible people under 60 years of age.

Measuring Financial Capability and Well-Being in Financial Coaching Programs

This brief describes the data collected and lessons gleaned from the Financial Coaching Impact & Evaluation Fellowship, which took place over the course of 10 months in 2017. Ultimately, this brief argues that the Financial Well-Being Scale and the Financial Capability Scale are promising tools for financial capability programs seeking to understand the impact of their programs.

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.

Core competencies frameworks on financial literacy

Developed in response to a call from G20 Leaders in 2013, the core competencies frameworks on financial literacy highlight a range of financial literacy outcomes that may be considered to be universally relevant or important for the financial well-being in everyday life of adults and youth.

These documents describe the types of knowledge that youth aged 15 to 18, and adults aged 18 and up, could benefit from.

The Regulation of Group Plan RESPs and the Experiences of Low-Income Subscribers

Through the Group RESP Research and Education Project, SEED Winnipeg, Momentum (Calgary), the Legal Help Centre of Winnipeg, and an interdisciplinary research team studied the regulation of group plan RESPs and the experiences of low-income subscribers, and developed public legal education materials to support low-income RESP subscribers in understanding and making informed decisions about their RESP investments. This report presents the research component of this project.

This report shows that group plan RESPs are complex, and while they can be beneficial, participation in a group plan may be detrimental to a subscriber's financial well-being if the plan is not well aligned with the subscriber's needs. Low-income subscribers continue to be significantly represented in RESPs held by group plan promoters.

Financial Coaching Process Evaluation Report

This report presents the findings of the process evaluation of the Financial Coaching pilot, a part of the Financial Empowerment Collaborative in Calgary. In documenting the procedures and early thoughts of participating programs on the implementation of this pilot project, we assessed how well early goals are being met, documented some promising best practices, identified common roadblocks encountered by agencies, and compiled solutions developed in response to those roadblocks.

My Budget Coach Pilot Evaluation

This pilot study explores the delivery and effectiveness of MyBudgetCoach, a financial coaching program designed to help low- and moderate-income adults develop budgeting skills, set financial goals, and work towards those goals. Specifically, this study compares two modes of program delivery, traditional in-person coaching and fully remote coaching. By testing financial coaching in these two contexts, this project seeks to generate a deeper understanding of the mechanisms that underpin coaching and the role technology may play in facilitating behavior change.

Canada Islamic Finance Outlook 2016

Islamic finance is growing rapidly, outpacing the growth of the conventional finance industry and even grabbing market share from it. This success has been driven in part by the internationalisation of Islamic finance as it reaches beyond its core markets of the Middle East, North Africa and Southeast Asia, and into new ones such as Europe and the Americas, including Canada, which is the focus of this report.
This report provides an introduction to Islamic banking in Canada.

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Data Point: Becoming Credit Viable

Very little is known about the number or characteristics of credit
invisibles or consumers with unscored credit records.

This Data Point documents the results of a research project undertaken by Staff in the Office of Research of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) to better understand how many consumers are either credit invisible or have unscored credit records and what the demographic characteristics of such consumers are.

Enhancing access to the Canada Learning Bond

This discussion paper responds to a request from ESDC to develop options for reforms to the Canada Education Savings Program and, more specifically to improve access to the Canada Learning Bond. It reviews individual and institutional challenges to participation in the current system and consider three approaches for reform. It presents a case study of the United Kingdom’s Child Trust Fund, which included an auto-enrolment default mechanism. It concludes that the model used in the UK is not suitable for Canada and instead make a series of recommendations for both incremental and more ambitious reforms to fulfill the Government’s commitment to improve access to the Bond.

Gig Workers in America: Profiles, Mindset and Financial Wellness

The Gig Worker On-Demand Economy survey was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Prudential from January 5 to February 18, 2017, among a nationally representative (U.S.) sample of 1,491 workers including 514 full-time and 256 part-time traditional employees and 721 gig workers. Gig work was defined as providing a service or labor, and did not include renting out assets. Survey respondents were selected from among adults aged 18+ who had agreed to participate in online surveys from the Harris Poll Online panel and preferred sample partners.

Financial Empowerment and Alleviating Poverty in Canada: A concept paper

Paychecks, Paydays, and the Online Platform Economy Big Data on Income Volatility

An Evaluation of the Impacts and Implementation Approaches of Financial Coaching Programs

Qualitative Research: The Experiences of Indigenous Communities with Tax Filing

Unfinished Business Pension Reform in Canada

Since taking office in the fall of 2015, the Liberal government has made important changes to the publicly administered components of Canada’s retirement income system (RIS). It has restored the age of eligibility for benefits under Old Age Security (OAS) and the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS) to 65, it has increased the top-up on GIS benefits for single elderly persons, and it has agreed with the provinces to enhance Canada Pension Plan (CPP) benefits, starting in 2019.
Each of these changes, on its own, contributes to one of the two main objectives of the RIS: to minimize the people’s risk of poverty in old age and to enhance their ability to retain their standard of living as they move from employment to retirement. However, as Bob Baldwin and Richard Shillington show in this study, when examined together, the changes are problematic and incomplete.

Microdata on household vulnerability in Canada: 1999 to 2014

Perspectives on Evaluation in Financial Education: Landscape, Issues, and Studies

Financial education plays an important role in guiding individuals to achieve their financial goals and contribute to the economic well-being of society as a whole. While the examination on the effectiveness of financial education has many factors to consider, the National Endowment for Financial Education (NEFE) has taken measures to improve evaluation studies—both for the practitioner and the researcher. These actions include the conception of two documents what will assist in guiding practitioners and researchers in planning high-quality evaluations. The first is the Financial Education Evaluation Manual that is designed to support the evaluation of financial education programs by helping educators to understand the purpose and goals of evaluation, and to provide a basic understanding of the evaluation process. This information is designed for program managers, educators, and decision-makers, in traditional school settings or community-based programs/non-profit organizations, who are implementing financial education programs

The Impact of Credit Counseling on Consumer Outcomes: Evidence from a National Demonstration Program

The Political Economy of Education, Financial Literacy, and the Racial Wealth Gap

This article examines the mismatch between the political discourse around individual agency, education, and financial literacy, and the actual racial wealth gap. The authors argue that the racial wealth gap is rooted in socioeconomic and political structure barriers rather than a disdain for or underachievement in education or financial literacy on the part of Black Americans, as might be suggested by the conventional wisdom. Also, the article presents a stratification economic lens as an alternative to the conventional wisdom to better understand why the racial wealth gap persists.

The Ever Growing Gap: Without Change, African American and Latino Families Won’t Match White Wealth for Centuries

This report examines the growing racial wealth divide for Black and Latino and the ways that accelerating concentrations of wealth at the top compound and exacerbate this divide. It looks at trends in wealth accumulation from 1983 to 2013, as well as projections of what the next thirty years might bring. It also considers the impact public policy has had in contributing to the racial wealth divide and how new policies can close this gap.

Financial Capability of Children, Young People and their Parents in the UK 2016

This new research study: the 2016 UK Children and Young People’s Financial Capability Survey, is the first of its kind: a nationally representative survey of the financial knowledge, attitudes and behaviours of 4- to 17-year-olds and their parents, living in the UK. A total of 4,958 children and young people aged 4–17, and their parents, were interviewed as part of this research. This report presents an initial analysis of the findings of this new survey and covers: ■ how children get money ■ how children spend and save money ■ children’s attitudes to spending, saving and debt ■ children’s confidence about managing their money ■ children’s understanding of the value of money and the need to make trade-offs ■ children’s knowledge and education about financial products, concepts, and terminology ■ parents’ beliefs and attitudes towards their own financial capability and the skills, abilities and attitudes of their children.

Backgrounder: Working Income Tax Benefit

The federal government has indicated that it will expand WITB by approximately $250 million per year beginning in 2019 to “provide additional benefits that roughly offset incremental Canada Pension Plan (CPP) contributions for eligible low-income workers.”1 The changes to CPP will be phased in, starting in 2019. These changes mean that workers will be paying higher CPP contributions from their paycheques. Low-income workers especially could feel the impact on their take-home pay.

This backgrounder provides an introduction to the program, explores how it impacts low-income workers, and how it could be improved.

An Evaluation of Financial Empowerment Centers Building People’s Financial Stability as a Public Service

This report provides information on the Financial Empowerment Center model, the people it served, the outcomes they achieved, the impact services had on nonprofit and city partners, and lessons learned for others looking to replicate or support this model. The evaluation was designed as a utilization-focused, foundational and exploratory study, aimed at creating an evaluation report that was useful to stakeholders. The report includes both qualitative and quantitative sources

A Missing Element of Financial Capability – Your Money Mindset

Leaders of workforce development programs have been taking the initiative to integrate financial literacy and capability services into their own curriculum and services. However, this requires resources, knowledge, and capacity that workforce development programs may not have. With support from JPMorgan Chase & Co., The Prosperity Agenda partnered with two workforce development programs with the goal of answering, “How might we improve the financial wellness of graduates in career development programs?”

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.

We Tracked Every Dollar 235 U.S. Households Spent for a Year, and Found Widespread Financial Vulnerability

Income inequality in the United States is growing, but the most common economic statistics hide a signiﬁcant portion of Americans’ ﬁnancial instability by drawing on annual aggregates of income and spending. Annual numbers can hide ﬂuctuations that determine whether families have trouble paying bills or making important investments at a given moment. The lack of access to stable, predictable cash ﬂows is the hard-to-see source of much of today’s economic insecurity.

A Much Closer Look: Enhancing Savings Counseling at Financial Empowerment Centers

Building savings is a fundamental strategy for empowering individuals and families with low incomes. Even relatively small amounts of savings can serve as a buffer against inevitable financial shocks that can otherwise undermine social service efforts and successes – and short-term savings offer realistic first steps toward building longer-term savings and acquiring assets.

The CFE Fund conducted a research pilot at municipal Financial Empowerment Centers to better understand how clients are saving, and inform new savings indicators for financial counseling success. This report explains the insights of this research pilot, and client outcomes in savings and goal setting.

Savings for the Future Solving the Savings Puzzle for Low Income Households

People manage their money in a variety of different ways, sometimes in ways that others fail to understand, but that work well for them. The research in this new report focuses on one of those ways: informal saving.

Informal saving can take many forms: saving in cash at home (sometimes literally in jam jars), careful spending and shopping, letting a current account balance mount up, savings stamps and over-payment on prepayment meters. However, there has been very little research carried out into what motivates people to save informally. This report plugs that gap. In so doing we find that low income individuals and households employ a variety of informal savings techniques that help them to be more financially resilient, particularly with budgeting and preparing for unforeseen expenses.

Overall this report helps to dispel the myth that people on a low income do not have savings methods or personal techniques to build financial resilience.

Canadian Income Survey, 2015

Financial well-being in America

There is wide variation in how people in the U.S. feel about their financial well-being. This report presents findings from a survey by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) on the distribution of financial well-being scores for the U.S. adult population overall and for selected subgroups defined by these additional measures. These descriptive findings provide insight into which subgroups are faring relatively well and which ones are facing greater financial challenges.

MPower Money Coaching Program

This is the final report on the MPower Money Coaching Program. This program was a unique collaboration that brought together Prosper Canada, a national charity, Canada’s leading investment firms and investment industry associations, and the City of Toronto’s Employment and Social Services Division (TESS) to provide neutral, high quality financial help to people living on low incomes.

Financial Empowerment: What it is and how it helps to reduce poverty

Handout 9-12: Consumerism resources

This is the resources handout for Module 9: Consumerism, from the Prosper Canada Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

2017 Financially Underserved Market Size Study

CFSI presents their 2017 Financially Underserved Market Size Study that illustrates the growing opportunity to address the needs of financially underserved consumers and identifies significant trends driving marketplace evolution and growth.

Child Welfare and Youth Homelessness in Canada: A Proposal for Action

Without a Home, conducted by the Canadian Observatory on Homelessness in partnership with A Way Home Canada, surveyed 1,103 youth experiencing homelessness across Canada. Youth in 42 different communities and nine of the 10 Canadian provinces, as well as Nunavut Territory, completed the self-report survey. The results provide the first national picture of youth homelessness in Canada.

Responses to and Repercussions from Income Volatility in Low- and Moderate-Income Households: Results from a National Survey

This is the second in a series of briefs produced by a partnership between the Aspen Institute’s Expanding Prosperity Impact Collaborative (EPIC), Washington University’s Center for Social Development (CSD), and the Intuit Tax and Financial Center. The first brief highlighted new data on the prevalence of income and expense volatility in low- and moderate-income households. This brief will focus on the potential consequences of volatility and how it relates to financial behavior.

Policy Brief – Why is Uptake of the Disability Tax Credit Low in Canada?

Disability supports should be designed to provide benefit and not burdens to eligible recipients. Unfortunately, this is not a reality when it comes to one of the main benefits open to Canadians with disability: the federal Disability Tax Credit (DTC). Designed to recognize some of the higher costs faced by people with severe disabilities and their caregivers, the DTC appears to be more of a burden for many, with estimated utilisation unacceptably low at around 40 per cent of working-aged adults with qualifying disabilities.

Low uptake is a concern not only because people are missing out on the credit itself but also because eligibility to the DTC – which is not automatic – is a gateway to other important and more valuable benefits such as the Child Disability Benefit and Registered Disability Savings Plans (RDSP).

How Improved Training Strategies can Benefit Taxpayers Using VITA Programs

Many volunteer income tax assistance (VITA) sites experience inaccuracy in the taxes prepared according to audits conducted by the treasury inspector general for tax administration (TIGTA). Effective training strategies may influence the accuracy rates of tax returns prepared at VITA sites. Following the conceptual framework of the human capital theory, this multiple case study described the training strategies used by 4 VITA site coordinators in northwest Indiana. Emergent themes included multiple training strategies, mostly dependent on the size of the VITA site; quality reviews and their critical role in ensuring the accuracy of taxes prepared at VITA sites; and annual certification requirements to help verify volunteers’ understanding of tax law. Positive social change might occur when qualifying taxpayers gain access to the tax knowledge and expertise of volunteer tax preparers, resulting in more confidence in their tax situations. Under-served individuals should receive the tax credits and deductions to which they are entitled through accurate tax preparation.

Family-Centred Coaching Toolkit

This is a set of tools and resources developed by The Prosperity Agenda to implement a holistic vision of financial coaching for individuals and families.

(Note: Accessing the toolkit requires submitting user information).

Managing your Money: Tools and tips to help you meet your goals

Managing your money: Tools and tips to help you meet your goals (English)

MYM Worksheet 1: Your money goals
MYM Worksheet 1: Your money goals – Fillable PDF

MYM Worksheet 2: Tracking your regular income
MYM Worksheet 2: Tracking your regular income – Fillable PDF

MYM Worksheet 3: Tracking your spending
MYM Worksheet 3: Tracking your spending – Fillable PDF

MYM Worksheet 4: Tracking your bills
MYM Worksheet 4: Tracking your bills – Fillable PDF

MYM Worksheet 5: Monthly budgeting
MYM Worksheet 5: Monthly budgeting – Fillable PDF

MYM Worksheet 6: Setting a savings goal
MYM Worksheet 6: Setting a savings goal – Fillable PDF

MYM Worksheet 7: Preparing for tax filing
MYM Worksheet 7: Preparing for tax filing

About the ‘Managing your money’ resource
All ‘Managing your money’ worksheets

Managing your money- Full booklet

Facilitator resources (English)

Managing your money: Workshop facilitation guide
Managing your money: Facilitator deck (power point presentation)

Gérer votre argent: Outils et conseils pour vous aider à atteindre vos objectifs (French)

Feuille de travail #1: Vos objectifs en lien à l’argent (MYM)
Feuille de travail #2: Suivi de votre revenu régulier (MYM)
Feuille de travail #3: Suivi de vos dépenses (MYM)
Feuille de travail #4: Suivi de vos factures (MYM)
Feuille de travail #5: Budget mensuel (MYM)
Feuille de travail #6: Fixer un objectif d’épargne (MYM)
Feuille de travail #7: Préparation pour la déclaration de revenus (MYM)
Note pour les communautés et les organismes (MYM)
Feuilles de travail complètes

Ka-paminit kisôniyâm (Plains Cree)

1- Kisôniyâm akâwâtamowina

2- Pisiskêyihtamowin kitâh-têpi sôniyâhkêwin

3- Pisiskêyihtamowin kimêstinikêwin

4- Pisiskêyihtamowin kimasinahikêwina

5- Itahto pîsim manâcihcikêwin

6- Ka-atoskâtamihk mâwacihcikêwin akâwâtamowin

7- Kwayâcayawin kiki tako-tipahikêwin ka-wîhtamâkêhk

Plains Cree- full booklet

Ge-inaabiji’ad gizhooniyaam (Ojibwe)

01- Ge-naabajidizid zhooniyaa

02- Ge-onji-naanaagajitooyan enaabadizid zhooniyaa

03- Gikendaman minik edaawaageyan

04- Ji-gikendaman apii ge-odisigooyan ge-diba’aman

05- Endaso-giizis minik ge-aabaji’ad zhooniyaa

06- Onendan naagajwaa-kakwe-adaaweyan

07- Minik ge-diba’am taaksis

Ojibwe- full booklet

Handout 9-13: Consumerism glossary

This handout is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary of terms relating to consumerism.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 9-8: Dealing with consumer problems

This handout is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Examples of how to deal with consumer problems.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 9-7: Common frauds and scams

This handout is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Common consumer frauds and scams to look out for.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 9-5: Cell phone information

This handout is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Information about cell phone plans and what is involved when you purchase one.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 9-3: Smart shopping tips

This handout is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Smart shopping tips.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 9-2: Advertising techniques and sales tactics

This handout is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Explanation of different advertising and sales techniques.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 9-11: Consumerism goal setting

This activity sheet is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Setting goals related to consumerism.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 9-10: Rate your financial knowledge, part 2

This activity sheet is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Use this quiz to rate your financial knowledge.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 9-9: Complaint letter

This activity sheet is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. A template for writing a consumer complaint letter.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 9-6: Cell phone checklist

This activity sheet is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. A checklist of questions to answer when you are getting a cell phone.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 9-4: Find the better deal

This activity sheet is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Figure out which item is the better deal by calculating the unit cost.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 9-1: Consumer quiz

This activity sheet is from Module 9 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. What kind of consumer are you? Take the quiz.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 8-10: Debt glossary

This handout is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary of terms about debt.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 8-9: Debt resources

This handout is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Web resources about debt in Canada.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 8-6: Collection rules

This handout is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Debt collection rights and what a collection agency has the right to do and not to do.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 8-5: Dealing with creditors

This handout is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Tips for dealing with creditors over the phone or by mail, or for creating a debt repayment plan.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 8-4: Steps to debt repayment

This activity sheet is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Steps for debt repayment.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 8-8: Goal setting

This activity sheet is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Goal setting for debt.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 8-7: Debt collection role play

This activity sheet is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Role play activity about debt collection.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity Sheet 8-3: Ladder of debt repayment options

This activity sheet is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Print these pages and cut into individual ‘rungs’ for use in the activity.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 8-2: Debt do’s and don’ts

This activity sheet is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Group activity to talk about debt do's and don'ts.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 8-1: How much is TOO much?

This activity sheet is from Module 8 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. How much debt is too much debt? Consider the 20/10 rule.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-13: Credit reporting glossary

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary of terms for credit reporting.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-12: Credit reporting resources

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Web resources for credit reporting in Canada.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-10: Ways to improve your credit score

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Ways to improve your credit score.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-8: Correcting common errors on credit reports

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. How to correct common errors on credit reports.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-5: Credit scores

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. A credit score is a score between 300 and 900 that credit bureaus use to rate the information in your credit report. Credit bureaus use a mathematical formula based on many factors to arrive at your credit score.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-4: Reading a credit report

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. The information in an Equifax credit report varies slightly from a TransUnion credit report, but both contain the same basic sections.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-3: Sample Equifax credit report

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. A sample of a credit report received from Equifax.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-2: Credit reports

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Credit bureaus summarize your credit use in a report. The credit report is one of the main things lenders look at when they decide whether or not to give you credit. A credit report contains your history of credit use, and your credit ratings.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 7-1: Credit bureaus

This handout is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Credit bureaus are agencies that collect information about how we use credit. They produce personal credit reports. Credit bureaus are private companies. They are regulated by the province, but they are not part of the government.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 7-11: Goal setting and credit reports

This activity sheet is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Practice setting goals related to credit reports.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 7-9: Credit score scenarios

This activity sheet is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Credit score scenarios to practice learning.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 7-7: TransUnion sample request form

This activity sheet is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. A sample of the TransUnion request sheet to obtain a free credit report.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 7-6: Sample Equifax request sheet

This activity sheet is from Module 7 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. A sample of the Equifax request sheet to obtain a free credit report.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 6-7: Credit glossary

This handout is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary of terms related to credit.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 6-6: Credit resources

This handout is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Web resources for credit and credit cards.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 6-4: Managing credit

This handout is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Tips for managing credit.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 6-3: The cost of credit

This handout is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy facilitator curriculum. The cost of credit for different payment methods.

Handout 6-2: Credit card features

This handout is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. The features of credit cards and what they mean.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 6-1: Types of credit

This handout is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. The different types of credit and their lending conditions.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 6-5: Goal setting and credit

This activity sheet is from Module 6 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Practice setting goals related to credit.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 5-10: Saving resources

This handout is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Website resource list for saving.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 5-6: Savings tools (basic)

This handout is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy facilitator curriculum. Basic description of savings accounts and financial products available in Canada.

To view full Financial Literacy facilitator curriculum, click here.

Handout 5-11: Glossary for saving module

This handout is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary of savings terms.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 5-7: Savings tools (detailed)

This handout is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Explains details about different kinds of savings accounts and financial products typically available in Canada.

To view fill Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 5-4: Compound interest

This handout is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Explains compound interest.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 5-9: Goal setting for saving

This activity sheet is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Review the activities you did early in this session to help you get ideas about savings goals. Also, think about other goals you can set, like doing more research or making an appointment with a financial advisor.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 5-8: Savings tools quiz

This activity sheet is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Savings tools quiz.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 5-5: Christine and Aparna

This activity sheet is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Saving scenario with Christine and Aparna.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 5-3: Finding money

This activity sheet is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Use this chart to list some of the things that you buy a lot. Note how often you buy them in a month. Put down how much they usually cost (“average price”). Then figure out how much you spend on them in a month.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 5-2: Needs and wants

This activity sheet is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. List some of the things you have spent money on in the last two weeks. Which items are needs and which are wants?

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 5-1: Setting savings goals

This activity sheet is from Module 5 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Steps to setting a savings goal.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-12: Glossary for banking and financial services

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary for banking and financial services.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-11: Banking and financial services resources

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Resource list of websites about banking and financial services.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-8: Alternative financial services

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Alternative financial services are outside of the traditional, regulated banking system. They do not take deposits like a bank or credit union.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-7: What are my rights?

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. What are your rights when opening a bank account in Canada?

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-6: Opening a bank account

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. How to open a bank account in Canada.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-4: Bank accounts and services

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. The different kinds of bank accounts and services available. in Canada.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-5: Choosing a bank and choosing an account

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Choosing a bank and choosing an account based on your banking needs.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 4-2: Deposit insurance at credit unions

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Deposit insurance amounts from credit unions in different provinces.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resource, click here.

Handout 4-1: Banks and credit unions

This handout is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Banks and credit unions are places where you can safely deposit your money, cash your cheques, pay your bills, ask for a loan or credit card and use a variety of saving and investment tools. This chart explains the differences between banks and credit unions.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 4-10: Goal setting

This activity sheet is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Take a few minutes to set one or two SMART goals for your use of banks and alternative financial services.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 4-9: Comparing alternative financial services to banking services

This activity sheet is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Why use alternative financial services? Why use banking services? List the reasons for using the services that your group was assigned.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 4-3: Banks and banking services quiz

This activity sheet is from Module 4 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Banks and banking services quiz: In pairs, match the items in column A to column B.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 3-12: Budgeting glossary

This handout is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Glossary of budgeting terms.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 3-11: Resources – Money management websites

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Resource websites for money management.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 3-9: Financial record keeping

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Here are some important papers and records. You should keep them in a safe place and organize them so that you can find what you need. The chart shows their “shelf life” – how long you should keep them.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 3-8: Budgeting tips

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Different types of budgeting tips to help you stay on track.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 3-7: Budgeting strategies

Activity sheet 3-10: Goal setting

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Take a few minutes to reflect on how this workshop relates to your life. Set one or two SMART goals for your personal budgeting and financial record-keeping.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 3-6: Making your own budget

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy facilitator curriculum. Steps involved in making your own budget.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here

Activity sheet 3-5: Monthly budget worksheet

Activity sheet 3-4: Budgeting scenarios

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy facilitator curriculum. Using the Monthly Budget Worksheet, put together a budget for the person in your scenario. Feel free to make up more details. You can also change or add categories to the budget to match your person’s situation.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 3-3: Budgeting expense categories

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Tracking your different categories of expenses.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 3-2: Income sources

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. Tracking your income sources.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 3-1: The ‘B’ word – budget

This activity sheet is from Module 3 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources. What do you think about when you hear the word “budget’?
What words or feelings come to mind?

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 2-8: Glossary

This activity sheet is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. Glossary for income and taxes module.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 2-7: Resources

This activity sheet is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. Resource list for income and taxes module.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 2-6: Income and taxes

This activity sheet is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. Goal setting for filing your income taxes.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 2-4: Filing your taxes

This handout is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. How to file your taxes.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 2-3: Reading a pay stub

This handout is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. How to read a pay stub.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 2-2: Reading David’s pay stub (quiz)

This activity sheet is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. Reading David's pay stub - a quiz.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Activity sheet 2-5: Maria and Fernando’s story

This activity sheet is from Module 2 of the Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources from Prosper Canada. Maria and her husband Fernando worked together cleaning a big office building at night. They were hired by a man who ran a large cleaning company. They each got a paycheque twice a month. In February, it was time to do income tax for their previous year’s income.

To view full Financial Literacy Facilitator Resources, click here.

Handout 2-1: Government benefits

Managing your money #7: Preparing for tax filing

Even if you make no money, you should file a tax return each year. You may be eligible for a refund (money back). Filing your taxes triggers access to government benefits that you can’t get any other way. This worksheet will help you gather the information you will need at tax time. You will need a file folder, an envelope, or a small box to put all of your paperwork in.

This is worksheet #7 from the booklet 'Managing your money'.

Pervasive and profound: The impact of income volatility on Canadians

Managing your money #6: Setting a savings goal

Setting a savings goal means that you have decided how much money you can put away, and what you are going to save for. This activity can help you write down some money goals and when you would like to achieve them. You can build savings by putting aside small amounts on a regular basis.

This is worksheet #6 from the booklet 'Managing your money'.

Managing your money #5: Monthly budgeting

When you make a budget, you give yourself a clear picture of your financial situation. A budget compares your income to your expenses, all in one place.

This is worksheet #5 from the booklet 'Managing your money'.

Managing your money #4: Tracking your bills

Knowing what bills you have and when they are due can help you plan your spending. This activity will help you to be aware of two things: how much you owe each month, and at what time of the month that money is due. This will help you to pay bills on time, and avoid late fees.

This is worksheet #4 from the booklet 'Managing your money.'

Managing your Money #3: Tracking your spending

Keeping track of where your money goes during the month is another helpful step towards making a budget. Then you will be able to compare your spending with your income.

This is worksheet #3 from the booklet 'Managing your money.'

Managing your money #2: Tracking your regular income

Income is the money that comes into your household. This worksheet will help you see the ‘big picture’ of your income and other resources. Then you can think about how to plan your expenses.

This is worksheet #2 from the booklet 'Managing your money.'

Managing your money #1: Your money goals

Activity sheet 1-7: Goal setting

Handout 1-6: How to set SMART goals

Activity sheet 1-5: Rate your financial knowledge

Activity sheet 1-4: Just imagine

Activity sheet 1-2: “Money is…”

Activity sheet 1-1: Find someone who…

Do States Benefit From Restricting Safety-Net Eligibility Based on Wealth?

This brief examines the findings of three studies—one from The Pew Charitable Trusts and two commissioned by Pew with support from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation—that looked at the effect of asset limits on family finances and state and program costs and obligations.

Changes in wealth across the income distribution, 1999 to 2012

Chicago – The Cost of Eviction and Unpaid Bills of Financially Insecure Families for City Budgets

Paving the Way – A Roadmap for Organizations Partnering to Deliver Financial Capability Services

Creating a More Inclusive and Accessible Financial Coaching Program: A Case Study Exploration of Strategies and Recommendations

The Monthly Stress-Test on Family Finances

Transition from Temporary Foreign Workers to Permanent Residents

Implementing Financial Education in Youth Apprenticeship Programs

Where are the Unbanked and Underbanked in New York City?

Poverty Trends Scorecard – Fact Sheet Series – Income, Wealth, and Inequality

Investments in Registered Education Savings Plans and Postsecondary Attendance

Emergency Funds and Savings among Service Members

Skills and Higher Education in Canada

Do State Earned Income Tax Credits Increase Participation in the Federal EITC?

Killer Debt – The Impact of Debt on Mortality

Workplace Financial Education’s Effects on Retirement Planning

How Income Volatility Interacts With Americans Families’ Financial Security

Report on the Economic Well-being of US Households in 2015

Zambia Financial Diaries – Interim Report

Understanding the Gaps in Postsecondary Education Participation Based on Income and Place of Birth: The role of high school course selection and performance

Tackling financial exclusion: A country that works for everyone?

Mobility Report Cards: The Role of Colleges in Intergenerational Mobility

The Widening Academic Achievement Gap Between the Rich and the Poor: New Evidence and Possible Explanations

Creating Mobility from Poverty: An Overview of Strategies

Participation of Low-Income Students in Ontario

The Case for Social Investment in Microcredit

Closing the Racial Wealth Gap: Establishing and Sustaining an Initiative

YOLO: Mortality Beliefs and Household Finance Puzzles

The health and wealth connection – Opportunities for Investment Across the Life Course

Fraud Facts 2017 – Recognize, Reject, Report Fraud

Integrating Financial Capability Services into Community Health Centers

Poverty Reduction and Disability Income

Consumer Experiences with Debt Collection – Findings from the CFPB’s Survey of Consumer Views on Debt

Financial wellness at work – A review of promising practices and policies

Navigating the Market – A comparison of spending on financial education and financial marketing

Transforming the Financial Lives of a Generation of Young Americans

Living arrangements of Aboriginal children aged 14 and under

Canadian Demographics at a Glance – Second edition

The influence of community well-being on mortality among Registered First Nations people

Literacy and numeracy among off-reserve First Nations people and Metis – Do higher skill levels improve labour market outcomes

First Nations, Metis and Inuit Women

Scaling Impact for Community Development Financial Institutions

Nonstandard Work Schedules and the Well-Being of Low-Income Families

Small-Dollar Credit – Protecting Consumers and Fostering Innovation

Families of Color in the Quest to Build Wealth – A Special Report from CFED

Perceptions of the Social Determinants of Health Across Canada: An Examination of the Literature

Social determinants of health for the off-reserve First Nations population, 15 years of age and older, 2012

The fall and rise of Canada’s top income earners

Canada’s Part-Time Conundrum

An Economy for the 1% – How privilege and power in the economy drive extreme inequality and how this can be stopped

Job Polarization and the Great Recession

Housing Costs and Financial Challenges for Low-Income Older Adults

Helpful shortcuts for credit card use: Ideas for financial educators

Portrait of Homelessness in First Nations Communities in Quebec

The Liquid Hand-to-Mouth: Evidence from Personal Finance Management Software

Strengthening Banking in Inner-cities: Practices & Policies to Promote Financial Inclusion for Low-Income Canadians

Family savings for post-secondary education – A summary of Research on the Importance and Impact of Post-Secondary Education Savings Incentive Programs

Minimum Payments and Debt Paydown in Consumer Credit Cards

Income Timing, Temptation and Expenditures: A Field Experiment in Malawi

Consumer Voices on Financial Rules to Live By

SmartSAVER Final Evaluation Report

Building Savings for Success Early Impacts from the Assets for Independence Program Randomized Evaluation – Final Report

Comparing Poverty Measures – Ontario

From Financial Literacy to Financial Action

The Canadian student financial aid system: the case for modernization

The association between skills and low income

RESPs: Untapped education supports for low-income students

Low Income (‘Poverty’) Lines

Equitable Investments in the Next Generation: Designing Policies to Close the Racial Wealth Gap

A Road Map to Eradicate Child & Family Poverty: 2016 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada

Social and political attitudes of people on low incomes

LIFT-UP: Innovative City Strategy Reduces Utility Debt and Financial Insecurity for Residents

U.S. Microfinance at the Cross Roads. Scale and Sustainability: Can Lessons from International Experience Help Guide the U.S. Sector?

How are we doing on social policy? Is the recession paralyzing or transformative?

Precarious Employment in Canada: Does the Evidence Square with the Anecdotes?

On the Road: Exploring Economic Security Pathways in Indiana

Meeting People Where They Are: Five Lessons for Integrating Financial Capability Services

Hidden homelessness in Canada

Grad Survey: Ontario University Graduates Are Securing Well-Paying Jobs in their Field

Barista or Better? Where Post-Secondary Education Will Take You

The Cumulative Earnings of Postsecondary Graduates Over 20 Years: Results by Field of Study

Investing in a Post Secondary Education Delivers a Stellar Rate of Return (TD Economics Topic Paper)

Do What You Love: Financial Planning for Artists & Designers

Building Bridges to Collaborative Success: An Evidence-Based, Inter-Agency Primer for Health Promotion

Enrolled by Six: Peel Post Secondary Strategy, Saving with the Canada Learning Bond

The Cost of Poverty in Toronto

Access, persistence and financing: First results from the Postsecondary Education Participation Survey

Out of the Shadows: Shining a light on Canada’s unequal distribution of federal tax expenditures

Implementation and Impact Evaluation of Local Interventions for Financial Empowerment through Utility Payments (LIFT-UP) Final Report

Implementation and Impact Evaluation of Local Interventions for Financial Empowerment through Utility Payments (LIFT-UP) Executive Summary

Taking Stock of Ten Years of Research on the Relationship between Assets and Children’s Educational Outcomes: Implications for Theory, Policy and Intervention

First Comprehensive Review of the Market Basket Measure of Low Income. Final Report

Towards a Poverty Reduction Strategy

Predatory Lending: A Survey of High Interest Alternative Financial Service Users

Unaccounted: The Millions of Americans without Bank Accounts

Financial Literacy and People Living with Disabilities

Recommendation on Principles and Good Practices for Financial Education and Awareness

Scholarly Research on Children’s Savings Accounts

Assets and Liabilities, Educational Expectations, and Children’s College Degree Attainment

E-learning methodologies: A guide for designing and developing e-learning courses

Tax Time Savings for Native Communities: Ten Best Practices for Effective Native VITA Programs

Racial Wealth Divide in Miami

The Mental Health of Manitoba’s Children

Federal Spending on Primary and Secondary Education on First Nations Reserves

Precarious Positions: Policy Options to Mitigate Risks in Non-standard Employment

Pilot Lessons. How to design a basic income pilot project for Ontario

High-income trends among Canadian taxfilers, 2014

Youth Survey: Learning About Money – Overview

Where have all our nest eggs gone?

Financial Literacy and Youth

Benefits Screening Tool Project: Phase 1 report

Developing Innovations in Tribal Per Capita Distribution Payment Programs: Promoting Education, Savings, and Investments for the Future

Divided City: Life in Canada’s Child Poverty Capital. 2016 Toronto Child and Family Poverty Report Card

2016 BC Child Poverty Report Card

Insights to Impact: Harnessing Behavioural Science to Build Financial Well-Being

No Vacancy. Affordability & Homelessness in Vancouver.

Thinking Regionally: How to Improve Service Delivery in Canada’s Cities

Racial Wealth Divide in New Orleans

Financial Literacy Annual Report

A Growing Movement: The State of the Children’s Savings Field 2016

The Children’s Savings Account (CSA) movement has taken off in the past few years. These programs provide long-term savings or investment accounts and savings incentives to help children build savings for their future. In 2016, CSA initiatives started in a diverse range of locations, such as Durham, NC; Boston, MA; and Worcester, MA. In 2017, we expect several more program launches, including in places like Oakland, CA, and Milwaukee, WI. Based on a recent survey, this document offers a snapshot of this growing field, illustrating the range of program models being customized to meet the needs of the communities and states these programs serve.

Financial Coaching: Review of Existing Research

My spending rule to live by

Financial Planning Worksheet: My New Money Goal

SAVED: Five steps for making financial decisions

The eLearning Guild’s Handbook of e-Learning Strategy

Building blocks to help youth achieve financial capability: A new model and recommendations

Building blocks to help youth achieve financial capability: Report brief

Payday Loans: Market Trends

VITA Sites Serving Native Communities: The State of the Field

Social Determinants of Health: The Canadian Facts

Ending homelessness in Canada: A Study of 10-Year Plans in 4 Canadian Cities

Evidence and Ideology in Assessing the Effectiveness of Financial Literacy Education

An Analysis of the Effects of Financial Education on Financial Literacy and Financial Behaviour

Financial Literacy around the World: An Overview of the Evidence with Practical Suggestions for the Way Forward

Against Financial Literacy Education

A million Canadian kids missing out on free education money

Financial well-being: What it means and how to help

My credit rule to live by

My savings rule to live by

Aboriginal Financial Literacy in Canada: Issues and Directions

Shadow Economies: Economic Survival Strategies of Toronto Immigrant Communities

Closing the gap in a generation. Health equity through action on the social determinants of health

Financial Capability: What is it, and how can it be created?

Break the Barriers: Millions in Canada still struggle to get by

Collective Impact 3.0: An Evolving Framework for Community Change

Our Community Can Change When We Work Together Well

A Game-changer Approach to Poverty Reduction Strategy and Evaluation

Thriving but Still Vulnerable in the U.S.

Financial coaching – A strategy to improve financial well-being. Research Brief.

Implementing financial coaching: Implications for practitioners. Practitioner Brief

Working Hard but Still Struggling

Financial Capability and Essential Skills: An exploratory analysis

FINAL REPORT Public Opinion Research to Strengthen Financial Literacy for Seniors

Canadian Consumer Finance Association: Filling the Gap – Canada’s Payday Lenders

Increasing saving at tax time and promising practices for the field

Geographies of Inequality

TOcore Community Services & Facilities Study Phase One: Taking Stock

We ask because we care. The Tri-Hospital + TPH Health Equity Data Collection Research Project Report

Child Rich Communities: Aotearoa New Zealand’s ‘Bright Spots’

A Profile of the Working Poor – 2014

A Profile of the Working Poor – 2015

The Invisible Crime: A Report on Seniors Financial Abuse

Short-Term Gain, Long-Term Pain: Examining the Growing Payday Loan Industry in B.C.

Advancing Health Equity through Benefits Screening

Re-framing poverty as a matter of rights

Understanding Credit Card Fees (Financial Literacy Series)

On the Map: The Atlas of Student Homelessness in New York City

Inclusive Employment for Canadians with Disabilities: Toward a New Policy Framework and Agenda

Paychecks, Paydays, and the Online Platform Economy Big Data on Income Volatility

Vulnerable Households and the Smart Grid in Ontario Emerging Challenges and Opportunities

The childhood origins of social mobility: socio-economic inequalities and changing opportunities

The Very Poor and the Affordability of Housing

An Advocacy Roadmap for Enacting Statewide Policies to Encourage Retirement Savings

Cities and States Developing Creative Approaches to Fund Children’s Savings Accounts

Children’s Savings Accounts (CSA) are proving to be a powerful tool for growing college funds and building children’s aspirations for their future. CSAs are long-term, incentivized savings or investment accounts for post-secondary education that help promote economic mobility for children and youth. Advocates have found that the idea and goals of CSAs can be appealing to policymakers from across the political spectrum. However, while able to generate initial interest from policymakers, advocates often find that their efforts can stall when it comes to the question of how to fund a program.

This paper provides advocates and policymakers with several funding options—including examples from the city and state-levels—for establishing publicly-supported CSA programs. For more information about CSAs in general, please visit savingsforkids.org.

Growing Youth Financial Capability through Workforce Development: Opportunities for Lawmakers & Advocates

International Review: Mobile Payments and Consumer Protection

Canadians living pay cheque to pay cheque, challenged by debt and economy, payroll survey finds

Tools for saving: Using prepaid accounts to set aside funds

Toronto’s Vital Signs

Banking Fees in Canada: Patterns and Trends

MyBudgetCoach Pilot Study: Summary of Findings

MyBudgetCoach Pilot Evaluation: Final Report

Report on Equality Rights of People with Disabilities

The USFD Methodology – The financial lives of low-and moderate-income Americans

Spikes and Dips: How Income Uncertainty Affects Households

Lifting Asset Limits Helps Families Save

Rebuilding American Success: Savings and Opportunity for All

Determinants of Asset Building

An Evaluation of the Impacts and Implementation Approaches of Financial Coaching Programs

Budgeting for a Year with Lumpy Income

Emergency Savings

Relying on Erratic Income Sources

Extended family strives to get ahead

Getting By With Limited Resources

Income Gains and Month-to-Month Income Volatility: Household evidence from the US Financial Diaries

An Invisible Finance Sector: How Households Use Financial Tools of Their Own Making

Keeping Control by Relying on Cash

Using low income and material deprivation to monitor poverty reduction

Building Economic Security in America’s Cities New Municipal Strategies for Asset Building and Financial Empowerment

Examining the Canadian Education Savings Program and its Implications for US Child Savings Account (CSA) Policy

This report analyzes the Canadian experience with education savings programs, as the US moves towards more comprehensive Children's Savings Account policy.

Three Essays in the Economics of Education: Evidence from Canadian Policies

All In: Building the Path to Global Prosperity Through Financial Capability and Inclusion

A Random Control Trial of Financial Coaching: The Practitioners’ Overview of “An Evaluation of the Impacts and Implementation Approaches of Financial Coaching Programs”

Financial Coaching: Describing the Practice

Welfare Re-form: The Future of Social Policy in Canada

Toronto’s Vital Signs

The Unequal City 2015: Income and Health Inequities in Toronto

The Unequal City 2015: Income and Health Inequities in Toronto – Technical Report

TO Prosperity: Toronto Poverty Reduction Strategy

Aboriginal Life Skills and Financial Literacy Curriculum Development and Education

Fringe Financial Institutions, The Unbanked, and the Precariously Banked: Survey Results from Prince George, B.C.

Favoriser La Santé Financière des Aînés

How Young People View Credit: Predictable Debt Overload?

Financial Stability through Integration of Service Delivery

Taking Back Our Neighbourhoods: Mapping the Need for Neighbourhood Revitalization

The Opportunity Equation: Building opportunity in the face of growing income inequality

Family income and income of individuals, related variables: Sub-provincial data, 2014

Canadian Income Survey, 2014

2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey – Retirement planning

Emerging Pathways to Transformative Scale

Nonprofit-Corporate Partnerships: A New Framework

Gender Differences in the Financial Knowledge of Canadians

Women in Canada: A Gender-based Statistical Report

The destructive legacy of housing segregation

Banking the Unbanked? Evidence from Three Countries

The Evolution of Household Income Volatility

Welcome to the financial mainstream? The hazards facing low income people when navigating the financial world

Planning for Retirement on a Low Income

The Working Poor in the Toronto Region: Mapping working poverty in Canada

Aboriginal People and the Labour Market: Estimates from the Labour Force Survey, 2008-2010

What can we learn about low-income dynamics in Canada from the Longitudinal Administrative Databank?

Canadian and US Millenials: One of these is Not Like The Other

Caught in the Middle: Some in Canada’s Middle Class Are Doing Well; Others Have Good Reason to Worry

The Disability Tax Credit: Why it Fails and How to Fix It

Evaluation of San Francisco’s Homelessness Prevention and Rapid Re-Housing Program

Collective Impact

The Community Cure for Health Care

Beyond Housing First: Essential Elements of a System-Planning Approach to Ending Homelessness

Community-led approaches to reducing poverty in neighbourhoods: A review of evidence and practice

An Analysis of the Economic Circumstances of Canadian Seniors

Financial Literacy and the Take-Up of Government Benefits

Mapping momentum: A snapshot of the emerging field of systems change

Integrating Financial Stability Strategies into Workforce Development Programs: An Implementation Pilot in Boston

My Turn to Speak: Voices of Microfinance Clients in Benin, Pakistan, Peru and Georgia

The Rise and Fall of Social Assistance Use in Canada, 1969-2012

The role of financial literacy in financial decisions and retirement preparedness among seniors and near-seniors

Future to Discover: Sixth Year Post-secondary Impacts Report

Learning to Save, Saving to Learn

The link between financial confidence and financial outcomes among working-aged Canadians

Long-term impacts of supporting all students leaving high school to apply to college or university

Report on the Design of the National Demonstration Project

Delivery models for financial literacy interventions – A case study approach

Why Financial Capability Matters – Synthesis Report on Canadians and Their Money: A National Symposium on Financial Capability

Towards a Comprehensive and Inclusive Consumer Protection Framework for Canada. Submission to Finance Canada

Financial Empowerment: Proven Strategies for Reducing Poverty in Ontario

Towards a National Policy/Program on Financial Literacy

Promoting Competency, Self Care and Team Care

Environmental Scan of the Supply of Financial Capability Information Education and Advice in Canada

Financial Capability and Poverty: Discussion Paper

Capacité financière et pauvreté: Document de discussion

Financial Inclusion for Homeless Persons and Those at Risk

Financial Literacy: Strategies to Meet the Needs of Low Income Albertans

Independent Living Accounts: Leaving Homelessness in the Past

Opportunities Account for Youth in Care

The Registered Disability Savings Plan Program: Why Isn’t It Helping More People?

Is it the Best of Times or the Worst? A Tale of Two Trends

Measuring Perceived Financial Capability

Accessing Income-Boosting Benefits Through Tax Filing

Financial Empowerment: Improving financial outcomes for low-income households

Financial Empowerment is a new approach to poverty reduction that focuses on improving the financial security of low-income people. It is an evidence-driven set of interventions that have proven successful at both eliminating systemic barriers to the full financial inclusion of low-income people and providing enabling supports that help them to acquire and practice the financial skills and behaviours that tangibly improve their financial outcomes and build their financial security. The Financial Empowerment approach focuses on community level strategies that encompass five main types of interventions that have been identified as both necessary for low-income households to improve their financial outcomes, and effective at helping them to do so.

Financial Literacy and Aboriginal Peoples

Financial Literacy and People Living on Low Incomes

Financial Literacy and Youth

Building Financial Education: Impact and Insights from the TD Financial Literacy Grant Fund

Financial Counselling For People Living on Low Incomes: International Scan of Best Practices

Financial Experience & Behaviors Among Women

Financial Planning Profiles of American Households: The 2013 Household Financial Planning Survey and Index

The case for Financial Literacy: Assessing the effects of financial literacy interventions for low income and vulnerable groups in Canada

A new (and better) way to measure individual financial capability

The Incharge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being Scale: Establishing Validity and Reliability

InCharge Financial Distress/Financial Well-Being Scale: Development, Administration, and Score Interpretation

A Life-Course Approach to Social Policy Analysis: A Proposed Framework. Discussion Paper

A Framework for Evaluating the Effectiveness of Performance Measurement Systems

Exploring the Promise of Asset-Based Social Policies: Reviewing Evidence from Research and Practice

The Role of Emergency Savings in Family Financial Security: Barriers to Saving and Policy Opportunities

The Role of Emergency Savings in Family Financial Security: What Resources do Families Have for Financial Emergencies?

The Role of Emergency Savings in Family Financial Security: How do Families Cope with Financial Shocks?

Do Limits on Family Assets Affect Particpation in, Costs of TANF?

Moving On Up: Why Do Some Americans Leave the Bottom of the Economic Ladder, but Not Others?

Payday Loan Facts and the CFPB’s Impact

The Peel Children and Youth Initiative’s Enrolled By Six: Peel Postsecondary Strategy. A collective impact approach to the Canada Learning Bond in Peel

The Precarious State of Family Balance Sheets

Building an Equitable Tax Code: A Primer for Advocates

Americans’ Financial Security: Perception and Reality

Unsteady Incomes Keep Millions Behind on Bills

Big Data, Small Credit: The Digital Revolution and Its Impact o Emerging Market Consumers

The savings jackpot

Asset Building and the Escape from Poverty: A New Welfare Policy Debate

USAI Utility Self-Voicing Access Inter-Relationality Research Framework

Income and Health: Opportunities to achieve health equity in Ontario

Planning for Life: Results Report for the Operation Come Home Finance Matters Program

Taking the First Step: Using Behavioral Economics to Help Incarcerated Parents Apply for Child Support Order Modifications

Debt and the Racial Wealth Gap

Income Volatility and Food Assistance Programs

Access to Capital and Credit in Native Communities

Building Assets and Building Lives: Financial Capability Programs in Native Communities

Building Financial Counseling into Social Service Delivery: Research and Implementation Findings for Social Service Programs

Findings from the Citywide Financial Services Study

Immigrant Financial Services Study

NYC’s Paid Sick Leave Law: First Year Milestones

Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs. Strategy #2: Professionalizing the Field

Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs. Strategy #3: Integrating Safe and Affordable Bank Accounts.

Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs. Strategy #4: Targeting Consumer Financial Protection Powers.

Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs. Strategy #5: Integrating Asset Building

Municipal Financial Empowerment: A Supervitamin for Public Programs. Strategy #1: Integrating Professional Financial Counseling

Virtual VITA: Expanding Free Tax Preparation. Program Insights

This brief highlights findings from a small-scale pilot that integrated Virtual Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) services at two New York City Head Start programs during the 2013 tax season. The New York City Department of Consumer Affairs Office of Financial Empowerment (OFE) coordinated the pilot in partnership with the Administration for Children & Families (ACF) Region Food Bank For New York City was the VITA provider. Participating Head Start programs included The Children’s Aid Society and Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (KHCC).

Financially fragile households: Evidence and implications

Why It’s So Hard to Regulate Payday Lenders

Thriving Residents, Thriving Cities: Family Financial Security Matters for Cities

Financial Coaching: Understanding the Skills Needed to Become a Successful Coach

Financial Coaching: A Proven Approach for Building Consumer Financial Capability. A learning series from the Financial Capability Demonstration Project

Getting it Right: Promising Practices for Financial Capability Programs

Financial Capability Evaluation: Helping Practitioners Improve Outcomes

No Safe Street: A Survey of Hate Crimes and Violence Committed Against Homeless People in 2014 & 2015

The Dollars and Sense of Solving Poverty

Financial Capability of Adults with Disabilities. Findings from the FINRA Investor Education Foundation 2012 National Financial Capability Study

Measuring Outcomes of Financial Capability Programs: Success Measures Tools for Practitioners

Scaling Financial Coaching: Critical Lessons and Effective Practices

Networked Change: How progressive campaigns are won in the 21st Century

Financial Empowerment: How Delaware Improved Financial Security through Coaching

Umbrellas Don’t Make it Rain: Why Studying and Working Hard isn’t Enough for Black Americans

A population-based study of premature mortality in relation to neighbourhood density of alcohol sales and cheque cashing outlets in Toronto, Canada

Income, Life Expectancy, and Community Health. Underscoring the Opportunity.

Financial Literacy and Economic Outcomes: Evidence and Policy Implications

Social Entrepreneurship: Social Impact Metrics

Train the Trainer: Adult Learning Principles

Stretch Your Dollars: Budgeting Basics

The Panel Study of Income Dynamics: overview, recent innovations, and potential for life course research

Estimates of the asset-effect: the search for a causal effect of assets on adult health and employment outcomes

The Real Cost of Payday Lending

Since the early 1990s payday lending businesses have become increasingly prolific in most parts of Canada, including Calgary. Social agencies and advocates working to reduce poverty view payday lenders and other fringe financial businesses as problematic for those looking to exit the cycle of poverty. Payday lenders charge interest rates that, when annualized, top 400%. The industry justifies this by stating that comparisons to an annual rate are unfair as loans are not meant to or allowed to last longer than two months. However, the fact remains that these businesses charge far more for credit than mainstream financial institutions and are more prevalent in lower income neighbourhoods.

Emerging Models and Promising Practices: A “snapshot” of Community-based financial capability Practice in Canada

Understanding the Financial Advocacy and Problem-Solving (FAPS) Model

Pathways to Social and Economic Inclusion: An evaluation of the Financial Advocacy and Problem-Solving (FAPS) Program

A Woman’s Guide to Money, Relationships, and the Law in Ontario

Visual Tools and Narratives: New Ways to Improve Financial Literacy

Evaluating Student Performance in Pathways to Education

Income Volatility and Low-Income Households

Evaluation of the Family Self-Sufficiency Program: Prospective Study

Poverty Interrupted: Applying Behavioural Science to the Context of Chronic Scarcity

Hidden in Plain Sight: Homeless Students in America’s Public Schools

An Asset Account for Looked After Children: A proposal to improve educational outcomes for children in care

Living in the Red – Winnipeg bankruptcy and debt

Weathering Volatility: Big Data on the Financial Ups and Downs of U.S. Individuals

Poverty, Aspirations, and the Economics of Hope: A Framework for Study with Preliminary Results from the Oaxaca Hope Project

Financial Capability in the United States. National Survey – Executive Summary

The Use of Cash in Canada

The 2013 Consumer Financial Literacy Survey

Letter From The Guest Editor: Collective Impact

Scaling Financial Development: Improving Outcomes and Influencing Impact

Financial Capability in the United States 2016

Financial Capability in the United States 2013

The Workplace as a Platform for Financial Stability: A Profile of Working Bridges

Hunger Count 2014: A Comprehensive Report on Hunger and Food Bank Use in Canada, and Recommendations for Change

The Town with No Poverty: The Health Effects of a Canadian Guaranteed Annual Income Field Experiment

Levels of Financial Capability in the UK: results of a baseline survey

Let’s Do This. Let’s End Child Poverty For Good. 2015 Report Card on Child and Family Poverty in Canada

Canada Education Savings Program (CESP): Summative Evaluation Report

Canada Education Savings Program: Annual Statistical Review – 2013

2013 Survey of Consumer Payment Choice: Summary Results

Fin Lit Fin Ed and Behaviours

Moving Forward with Financial Literacy. Synthesis Report on Reaching Higher: Canadian Conference on Financial Literacy

National Strategy for Financial Literacy. Phase 1: Strengthening Seniors’ Financial Literacy

Overcoming Poverty Together: The New Brunswick Economic and Social Inclusion Plan, 2014-2019

Auto Finance: Market Trends

Payday Loans: An Expensive Way to Borrow

Managing Money and Planning for the Future: Key Findings from the 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey

Strengthening Financial Literacy Through Collaboration: Highlights of the 2014 National Conference on Financial Literacy

2013 FDIC National Survey of Unbanked and Underbanked Households

The Color of Wealth in Boston: A Joint Publication with Duke University and The New School

The Color of Wealth in Los Angeles

The 2013 Federal Reserve Payments Study

Report on the Economic Well-being of US Households in 2013

Addressing Income Volatility of Low Income Populations

Keeping it Simple: Financial Literacy and Rules of Thumb

Advancing Financial Coaching for Low-Income Populations: Midstream Lessons from EARN

End Poverty in a Generation: A Road Map to Guide Our Journey

The Rising Instability of American Family Incomes, 1969-2004: Evidence from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics

Canadian Credit Union Scan of Financial Literacy Initiatives

System Brief. Financial Literacy: What’s Best and What’s Next?

Save to Win: 2009 Final Project Results

Foundations of Financial Well-Being: Insights into the Role of Executive Function, Financial Socialization, and Experience-Based Learning in Childhood and Youth

Great Expectations: Findings from 13 years of Children’s Education Savings Accounts

Monthly household income volatility in the U.S., 1991/92 vs. 2002/03

Fair Financing: Expanding Small-Dollar Short-Term Credit for Albertans

Barista or Better? New evidence on the earnings of post-secondary education graduates: A tax linkage approach. Analysis of Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Poverty Reduction Strategy Summary, New Brunswick

Teaching Taxes: Teacher’s Manual

Financial Coaching: An Asset-Building Strategy

Financial coaching is a promising strategy to help people improve their financial well-being, but is often not yet universally understood. Practitioners are turning to coaching strategies to better facilitate behaviour change as opposed to the disappointing results often found when only financial education or financial access programs are introduced. Shared insights on financial coaching can help shape collective action by funders seeking to facilitate greater financial capability among targeted populations.

Competing on Financial Health: How Credit Unions Can Win the Gen Y Market

The burden of Poverty: A snapshot of poverty across Canada

Enough for all: Unleashing our communities’ resources to drive down poverty in Calgary

Financial Literacy: Lessons from International Experience

Community Volunteer Tax Program: A Guide for Community Organizations

Past Due: Debt-collection reforms that protect consumers not found to restrict credit availability

Dealing with Dollars NL: A look at financial literacy gaps and barriers

Small-Dollar Children’s Savings Accounts, Income, and College Outcomes

Trends in Low-Wage Employment in Canada: Incidence, Gap and Intensity, 1997-2014

Taking a Needs-Based Approach to Financial Literacy for Low-income Individuals and Families in Greater Victoria

Impact Brief: The Thrill of Impulse Savings

Using Technology in Financial Coaching

Engaging Clients in Financial Goal Setting

How and Why to Engage Clients in Financial Behavioral Change.

Impact of Financial Counseling on Financial Stability : Analysis of the New York model

In-depth Financial Coaching Interviews Final Report

One Size Does Not Fit All: A Comparison of Monthly Financial Services Spending

Secured Credit Cards: Innovating at the Intersection of Savings and Credit

How Should We Serve the Short-Term Credit Needs of Low-Income Consumers

A Snapshot of Quality and Innovation Among Small-Dollar Credit Installment Lenders

Report on Equality Rights of Aboriginal People

Trends in Income-Related Health Inequalities in Canada

How are Canadians Really Doing? The 2012 CIW Report

CFPB Proposal for Payday and Other Small Loans

Building Consumer Credit: A Winning Strategy for Financial Institutions and Consumers

Your Money, Your Goals: A Financial Empowerment Toolkit for social service programs

Big Data, Big Potential: Harnessing Data Technology for the Underserved Market

Understanding and Improving Consumer Financial Health in America

Designing for Financial Health: Stories and profiles from the Financial Capability Innovation Funds

Driving Towards Impact: The Emergence of Financial Capability

Eight Ways to Measure Financial Health

Expanding Financial Services to Underbanked Consumer: How Tax Preparation Partnerships Can Help Bridge The Gap

Investing in the American Dream: How Financial Institutions Can Build Long-Term Relationships with Immigrants Before and After Immigration Reform

Know Your Borrower: The Four Need Cases of Small-Dollar Credit Consumers

Income Volatility: A Primer

Income Volatility: Managing the Swings

A New Framework for Achieving Household Financial Security

The Professionalizing Field of Financial Counseling and Coaching: A Journal of Essays from Expert Perspectives in the Field

Summer Jobs Connect: Building Banking and Savings Programs in Summer Youth Employment

Summer Jobs Connect. More than a Job: Lessons from the First Year of Enhancing Municipal Summer Youth Employment Programs through Financial Empowerment

Data Point: Credit Invisibles

Empowering low income and economically vulnerable consumers

Rigorous evaluation of financial capability strategies – Why, when and how

Recent Trends in the Variability of Individual Earnings and Household Income

Fair Lending Report of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Building financial capability in youth employment programs: Insights from a roundtable with practitioners

Financial Literacy Annual Report

Supplemental findings on payday, payday installment, and vehicle title loans, and deposit advance products

Financial well-being: the goal of financial education

Measuring financial well-being – A guide to using the CFPB Financial Well-Being Scale

2014 VITA Data: Volunteer Tax Preparers Helped Return Nearly $4 Billion to Low-Income Taxpayers Across the Nation

Integrating Financial Empowerment Strategies into Social Service Organizations

Meeting People Where They Are

Increasing Financial Well-Being through Integration: Gaining and Retaining Employment

Getting a Head Start on Financial Security

Hidden in Plain Sight: A look at the $335 Billion Federal Asset-Building Budget

The Steep Climb to Economic Opportunity for Vulnerable Families

From Upside Down to Right-Side Up: Redeploying $540 Billion in Federal Spending to Help all Families Save, Invest, and Build Wealth

Consumer Experiences in Online Payday Loans

Banking on the Margins: Finding Ways to Build an Enabling Small Dollar Credit Market

On Policy Summer 2016

Highlights of The Case for Financial Literacy

Ontario’s Social Assistance Poverty Gap

Practical Evaluation Strategies for Building a Body of Proven-Effective Social Programs – Suggestions for Research and Program Funders

Social Isolation and Community Connection Backgrounder

Financial Goals and Values: A Study of Financial Literacy in Canada

Building a Foundation for Effectiveness: Findings on Financial Literacy Evaluation in Canada 2012

Poverty or Prosperity: Indigenous Children in Canada

Working Poverty in Metro Vancouver

Summer Jobs Connect: Connecting Youth to Developmental and Financial Goals

Small changes, real impact: Applying behavioral economics in asset-building programs, A brief from the BETA Project

The Ever-Growing Gap: Without Change, African-American and Latino Families Won’t Match White Wealth for Centuries

Family Strengthening Through Integration and Scaling of Asset-Building Strategies

Struggling to Make Ends Meet: Using Financial Diaries to Examine Financial Literacy Among Low-Income Canadians

“There Are No Banks Here.” Financial & Insurance Exclusion in Winnipeg’s North End

Highlights of women’s earnings in 2014

Better Money Habits Millennial Report

Choosing Financial Services Where the Options are Limited: A Report on a Survey of Financial Service Choice of Residents in Inner-city Neighbourhoods in Toronto, Vancouver & Winnipeg

Asset-Based Social Policies – A “New Idea” Whose Time Has Come?

Consumer Expenditures in 2013

Banking the Poor: Policies to Bring Low-Income Americans Into the Financial Mainstream

Different degrees of debt: Student borrowing in the for-profit, nonprofit, and public sectors

One Third of A Nation: Strategies for Helping Working Families

Some thoughts on a National Housing Strategy

Teacher’s Manual: Counterfeiting, Identity Crime

Worksheets: Identity Crime

Student Loans are Widening the Wealth Gap: Time to Focus on Equity

RESP Service Design

Social Policy That Works: An Agenda

In from the Margins: A Call to Action on Poverty, Housing and Homelessness

Does Community Access to Alternative Financial Services Relate to Individuals’ Use of These Services? Beyond Individual Explanations

“We’re Going to Do This Together”: Examining the Relationship between Parental Educational Expectations and a Community-Based Children’s Savings Account Program

This paper presents quantitative and qualitative evidence of the relationship between exposure to a community-based Children’s Savings Account (CSA) program and parents’ educational expectations for their children. First, we examine survey data collected as part of the rollout and implementation of The Promise Indiana CSA program. Second, we augment these findings with qualitative data gathered from interviews with parents whose children have Promise Indiana accounts.

Though results differ by parental income and education, the quantitative results using the full sample suggest that parents are more likely to expect their elementary-school children to attend college if they have a 529 account or were exposed to the additional aspects of The Promise Indiana program (i.e., the marketing campaign, college and career classroom activities, information about engaging champions, trip to a University, and the opportunity to enroll into The Promise).