Service That Foster Financial Responsibility. And They're Free!
In school, we learn how to read and write. By the time we graduate from high school, if we even get that far, we can read a book, a map and a bank statement. Literacy. It may surprise you to know that 42 percent of Canadians aged 16 to 65, have low literacy skills.
42 percent of Canadians aged 16 to 65, have low literacy skills.
What about financial literacy? It wasn’t until the mid 90s that financial education or financial literacy became a focal point and priority for countries around the globe. In 2001, the Canadian Government created the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) to provide critical financial information and education about financial services to Canadians. In 2008, at the second national conference on financial literacy (Reaching Higher), conference resolutions called for a national strategy on financial literacy. In 2009, the Task Force on Financial Literacy was established.
The 2014 Canadian Financial Capability Survey was conducted and here are some of the findings.
- Too few Canadians have a budget.
- Higher income earners have the highest debt levels—and don’t struggle to pay bills.
- Canadians are not doing enough to secure their retirement—with low-income earners and Aboriginal peoples living off reserve at particular risk.
- Completing post-secondary education goes hand-in-hand with better financial management and well-being.
It’s no surprise that mortgages and credit cards are the two highest forms of debt. How are you doing in all of this? Would you say you are financially literate?
Would you say you are financially literate?
If the answer is “no”, don’t feel embarrassed. Truth be told, most of us are unfamiliar with the basics. This does not mean we lack the intelligence. What we lack is the information and, yes, sometimes the willingness to embrace our financial situation. Also, we are often reluctant to reach out for assistance. Organizations, such as Cashco Financial, have, in the last few years, reshaped their financial programs to offer more than just financial solutions. They realized that life was much more than simply providing clients with payday loans. It’s about responsible personal financing and management.
Financial solutions are much more than just payday loans.
It’s about responsible personal financing and management.
Realizing that people are reluctant to take action, especially when they feel they don’t completely understand the process, Cashco developed an internal culture that clearly placed the focus on managing people rather than managing money. As much as consumers are wary of companies that say they “care”, Cashco’s program was built on the notion that they, in fact, should care. Certainly, this is a socially responsible attitude, but, frankly, it’s also good business. In order to sustain its financial programs for the long term, Cashco recognized that it had to help Canadians sustain their financial stability. To do this, Cashco would have to help its clients manage their financial situations.
One of the steps Cashco took was to provide information and offer it free. The staff was trained to provide money management support and debt counseling. Cashco redesigned its stores to create an environment within which it was comfortable for customers to engage in sensitive conversations about their financial situations.
Next, Cashco expanded the products and services they offered which would maximize a customer’s financial options. The key priority was to ensure that customers did not over extend themselves. The objective was (and now always is) to work with clients to consistently manage their finances, improve credit scores, and prevent debt from overwhelming the process.
Free services to all Albertans are a key component
to helping customers manage finances responsibly.
As you can see by the poster element above, Cashco recognizes that life happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Also, you can always go online to find out more and make an inquiry. So, if you are reluctant to reach out in person, you can enjoy the privacy of connecting from the comfort of your own home. Just go here. www.cashcofinancial.com.
And this is how a group of people (not just a company) cares about other people.
