LACK OF KNOWLEDGE IS NOT THE ISSUE

This is a response to the opinion piece 'Young people need knowledge to succeed financially' by Logan McLellan in Thursday's Guardian.

With all due respect, Mr. McLellan, I would challenge you on your conclusion that lack of knowledge is impeding financial success.

The annihilation of education grants and bursaries and replacing them with interest-bearing student loans is not a lack of knowledge. Rents and mortgages that account for 50 per cent or more of household income (versus less than 35 per cent in the 1970s) is not a lack of knowledge. Allowing credit cards/lending companies to charge usury interest rates is not a lack of knowledge. A shift from tenured employment with benefits to contract work and self-employment without benefits is not a lack of knowledge.

Never have I chosen not to max out my RRSP contribution or TFSA because of a lack of knowledge, but every time it has been a lack of funds.

Indeed, those I know with little money have vast financial knowledge. Their budgets are squeezed to within an inch of bursting. They can tell you how much money is in the bank, the exact time any deposit or withdrawal takes place, and the best way to stretch a dollar. A lot of time is invested in making day-to-day living manageable, and worrying about the impact of any unexpected emergencies (can I afford an ambulance?) or celebrations (how many birthday party invitations can a kid get in a year?).

I do however, agree with your statement: “It’s time we started treating the decline in personal finances as the urgent problem that it is.”

As you are running for office, I look forward to hearing more concrete ideas than passing the problem off to an education system that is already strained and tasked with the job of educating students for a world that we can’t even imagine.

Personal finances are already taught in high school. I know because I taught it 20 years ago.

Laura K. Bird, Charlottetown