Synergy is teaching local youth the fundamentals they need to be successful in the future with a Financial Literacy Workshop.
Youth aged 13 and up can go to the Centre for Community Leadership to learn about the basics to finances at 10 a.m., until 12 p.m., on Oct. 13.
“The whole goal of this course is to empower youth to have the knowledge,” said Synergy Program Coordinator Terry Gill.
“I used to work at a bank, and the University of Calgary and dealing with students and youth I realized that they have a complete lack of knowledge of basic financial fundamentals,” Gill said.
Gill added, in the world of banking a lot of students are having account fees that are not necessary, their spending their money and losing a lot of their money needlessly.
“They need to know to know some basic banking fundamentals, it affects their credit, it affects their opportunities for purchasing later on, literately hundreds of dollars if not thousands they wasted over years just from lack of knowledge,” he said.
Gill bases the Financial Literacy Workshop off of practical knowledge of basic banking, the differences between a chequing and savings account, what the consequences are if a fee isn’t paid on time, scholarships, what a mortgage interest rate is, what’s involved in investing money, and what exactly youth are financially responsible for.
What is taught during the two-hour Financial Literacy Workshop will depend on the group’s knowledge of banking, Gill said.
If the group can prove that they already know the basics, Gill will begin teaching more advanced material.
“We live in a world where money is important, we’re entering the most competitive work force.
“It’s a two-hour workshop, it might seem like dry material but kids before loved it,” Gill said.
He added, he has done the Financial Literacy Workshop before for a group of 10 to 12-year-olds.
“They enjoyed it a lot and got some real hands on experience,” he said.
The group of youth were given monopoly money with an income of two thousand dollars a month, they were given bills they needed to pay, tickets, and unexpected expenses, sooner rather than later the group of youth didn’t have any money left.
Gill said this activity showed the group of youth the value of money, and how to budget properly.
“We make it as engaging as possible, every single person there, money is a part of their life, it’s a fact of life,” he added, “I don’t sit there and just lecture, it’s more hands on.”
Having Synergy host a Financial Literacy Workshop was important for Gill because of his past work in a bank. At the bank Gill saw first-hand how unsure most adults are about how finances work.
“I was shocked at the lack of knowledge of people who wanted a cash advance for five thousand but didn’t realize they pay interest on it daily not monthly.
“I want to make sure everyone is on the same page, and have that core knowledge,” Gill said.
He added, “It’s something I’m passionate about, I hated youth wasting their money. Being a student is very expensive, that’s the reason we started this, just to save youth money and be empowered that way.
The Financial Literacy Workshop applies to every youth who has or will have a bank account, an income, and expenses.
“It’s applicable to every single person. There’s no possible way you couldn’t benefit from it,” Gill said.
“Falling in dept is so hard to get out of, and it causes stress. We’re trying to prevent it. If there’s anything we can do to keep that from happening, we’re happy to do it,” Gill said.
The Financial Literacy Workshop is a free for youth to attend.
Anyone who is interested are asked to email Synergy Resource Coordinator Khadija Samoylove at khadija@yoursynergy.ca to RSVP before Oct. 11.
Door prizes will be offered to youth who attend every workshop, for more information please visit the Synergy Website at www.yoursynergy.ca/.
