Money Matters workshop helps newcomers with financial literacy

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This article was published 07/11/2016 (3591 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Pencils in hand, a small group of new Canadians listened intently to their instructor as he defines different terms on a Saturday morning.

The course material this volunteer instructor was teaching, however, is knowledge that most Canadians take for granted.

Money Matters, a community program launched by ABC Life Literacy Canada, helps newcomers and new Canadians improve their math and money management skills and educate them on banking in Canada.

“When I was an immigrant here in Canada, I had no knowledge about banking structure. I was getting cheques … and I was paying so much money to cash my cheque,” said Abhinay Kumar, a volunteer instructor from TD Canada Trust. “Now I’m working in a bank and know the ways to save money.”

The free class covers everything from social insurance numbers to credit card fraud, investments and retirement saving plans. Students participated for a variety of reasons — from wanting to know how to buy a home to finding out the steps to start a business.

“Most of these people basically need information, and this information is so important to help to build credit, help them to save money, help them plan for their kids, help them to purchase a home … we need to help people,” Kumar said.

The workshop packs a lot of information into four hours, but Kumar stopped to answer every question and patiently explained terms as many times as needed until participants understand. The language barrier tends to complicate things, Kumar said.

“I try to cover as much as possible,” Kumar said. “They were asking questions and that’s really amazing … Not everyone is comfortable with the English language.”

This is the first time the Brandon Literacy Council has hosted the Money Matters workshop, said Tammy Bourgeois, executive director of the Brandon Literacy Council. With November being financial literacy month, running the Money Matters class just made sense.

“When we moved into this building (on 12th Street) in 2006, we saw our numbers go up a little bit, but when Maple Leaf opened, our numbers doubled,” Bourgeois said.

The Brandon Literacy Council helps members of the community with literacy in all forms, Bourgeois said, from computer learning to healthy eating classes.

“I can’t imagine going to a different country and having to learn their whole banking system along with everything else … how difficult it would be to adjust,” Bourgeois said.

For David Yu, who immigrated to Canada six years ago and has taken to referring to himself as a Brandonite, navigating the Canadian banking system is still a huge struggle.

“As an immigrant, I need this kind of knowledge. I live like a blind sheep, so this activity helped me a lot to learn new information,” Yu said. “I’m going to use the information I got from here in the future to improve my banking and investments, to maximize my benefits … I knew nothing about the registered education savings plan so now that I know, (my kids) can get some benefits … of course, kids come first.”

A record 1,000 adult learners are registered this November in classes across Canada. Bourgeois said they are planning to host another local Money Matters workshop in April.

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