Financial literacy under spotlight at NDG talent show

WATCH ABOVE: On the last day of Black history month an event was thrown to help create awareness on financial literacy among young people. Global’s Billy Shields has more.

MONTREAL — Jaye-Marie Hunter, 15, shyly approached the microphone at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall and started to sing.

Although it was just a sound check, she said she was still a bit nervous preparing to perform.

She was going to face off against about two-dozen other hopefuls.

But when it comes to money she’s strictly business.

“When you think of the future, you really have to think about money, because money is power,” she said.

The “Monnaie-Money” talent show she practiced for is a benefit that has occurred for a half-dozen years to help fund a financial literacy program from the Carrefour-Jeunesse, an organization in Cote-des-Neiges aimed at helping young people find jobs.

This is “going to wrap up the end of Black History Month, and also bring our message of financial literacy to the greater community as well,” said Brian Smith, project coordinator at Carrefour-Jeunesse.

WATCH: Black History month in Montreal

Racial profiling can be an obstacle for many young people who seek his help, he said.

And as a consequence “a lot of our youth are unemployed, a lot of youth are underemployed.”

A problem that faces young people of all walks of life, said one NDG accountant, is credit card debt.

“What people do in this age of instant gratification, they want things right away, and they tend to rack up credit card debt and they don’t pay the balance in full,” said Ronika Khanna, who works with individuals and small businesses.

She described credit card debt as the entry point to a host of other financial headaches.

Someone with a maxed out credit card is “just living to pay off interest,” she said.

“If you’re not making your minimum payments that can affect your credit report. And that can impact your future when you want to buy a house.”

Cash prizes are on offer for the contestants at the talent show. Hunter told Global News she already knew what she’d do with the money if she won.

“I think I’d save some of it for schooling,” she said.

“But I’d love to get myself a guitar!”