Kingston elementary school students taught basics of financial literacy by the pros

Hundreds of grade 7 and 8 students got some life lessons in Kingston on Thursday, attending a symposium on financial literacy put on by students from St. Lawrence College.

Project leader, Chad Herman, says the goal was to teach the basics.

“How to use your money and, more importantly, how to make your money work for you. So when you have an understanding of the money, everything else gets a lot easier.”

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A group of professional financial planners and advisors helped with the four-hour event speaking to students like grade 8 Vienna Harsell about wants versus needs and making money work for you.

“I’m actually a big spender so this will help me a lot with learning how to save my money and using it properly,” Harsell said. “Our generation is going to be so much smarter and more knowledgeable when it comes to financial literacy and spending and saving and investing your money properly.”

While financial literacy will be part of Ontario’s grade 10 curriculum starting next year, the professionals involved in the session say learning about money can’t start soon enough.