We characterize rates of intergenerational income mobility at each college in the United States using administrative data for over 30 million college students from 1999-2013. First, access to colleges varies greatly by parent income. Second, children from low and high-income families have very...

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...

These are notes from John Stapleton on learnings from presenting on Retiring on a Low Income in the Toronto Library System in...

Financial planners and advisors want to better the lives of the people they work with, but may not know that conventional retirement advice often doesn’t work for low-income retirees. Getting it right when every dollar counts The advice that works well for higher- and middle-income clients can...

In this presentation, John Silver, Executive Director, Community Financial Counselling Service (CFCS), Winnipeg, shares insights from the low income tax program at CFCS. This program files almost 10,000 returns each year, and also provides tax clinic support to other agencies and delivers detailed...

This is a webinar presentation recorded with John Stapleton at Prosper Canada on October 4th, 2016. John Stapleton is a Principal of Open Policy, and has worked for the Ontario Government for 28 years in the areas of social assistance policy and operations. In the session John describes the...

This is a one-hour webinar on matched savings programs and personal savings strategies that work for people living on low incomes. Our panelists share experiences from their programs in Ontario and Calgary. The presenters in this webinar are: Dean Estrella, Momentum, Calgary, AB John...

This is an editorial opinion written by J. Michael McGinnis, MD, MPP, on findings by John Hopkins Boomberg School of Public Health connecting life expectancy with income level. It has long been known from national-level data that incomes and standards of living are associated with life expectancy,...

For many newcomers, living in Canada involves learning about finances and money management in new ways. This can include navigating new financial systems, and learning about tax filing and benefits, as well as day-to-day money management and saving. One-on-one financial coaching programs...

This report has two purposes. The first is to document some of the lessons learned from conducting a financial literacy course on behalf of Houselink Community Homes over the winter of 2013/14. We want to share these insights with others who work with consumer survivors and low-income people. The...

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...

This booklet contains information on retirement planning on a low income. Topics include four things to think about for low income retirement planning, a background paper on maximizing the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), and determining Old Age Security (OAS) and GIS eligibility for people who...

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...

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...

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...

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...

This report estimates the price of inaction. Regardless of the strategy used to address poverty, it asks, “What does it cost us to allow poverty to persist in Toronto?” It estimates how much more we may be spending in the health care and justice systems simply because poverty exists, and how...

This presentation covers information about retiring on a low income in Ontario. It covers: 1. What seniors get in Ontario 2. What does ‘low income’ mean? 3. What does ‘taxable income’ mean? 4. How to reduce taxable income or get money back ─ understanding the system 5. Protecting...

This is a guide on retirement planning for people living on a low income in Ontario. It reviews the Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS), CPP and CPP early retirement, smart ways to save before turning 65, and smart ways to save between ages 65 and 71. It gives background on eligibility criteria,...

We have to consider the implications of working poverty in Canada’s richest city. The working poor cannot buy homes on their wages and many use food banks and other services to meet their basic needs. At the same time, shifts in the labour market suggest declining opportunities for a growing...

Low-income people need savings and retirement strategies that won’t leave them worse off in their senior years. The purpose of this paper is to educate people who help low-income adults plan for their financial future. Our aim is to put GIS planning at the centre of the pre-retirement discussion...

SAILis Ontario’s competency-based professional development program for management and staff of Ontario Works (programs delivering financial assistance, employment assistance and social supports).•SAIL competencies are tools for service integration at both the organizational and community...

Students spend a significant portion of their day in school – and as a result, schools can offer these students a safe and consistent place to study and access to caring adults who can help them navigate some of the challenges they face. In an otherwise chaotic time of homelessness, schools can...

Policy makers have embraced financial education as a necessary antidote to the increasing complexity of consumers’ financial decisions over the last generation. This research conducts a meta-analysis of the relationship of financial literacy and of financial education to financial behaviours in...

This collection of financial empowerment tools and resources is intended to support both Indigenous and non-Indigenous organizations working to build financial wellness in First Nation communities. It was created as part of the Financial Wellness in First Nations project (2021-2023) where...