Many experts would agree that having a budget and financial plan are key ways to lower financial stress, and ensure you meet your short- and long-term financial goals.
However, Canadians are struggling to save and pay off debt, with the average Canadian owing $73,532 in 2020, according to Equifax. That’s up 2.2% from the year before. Further, Canadians are feeling added financial stress as a result of the pandemic, with 30% worried they will not financially recover, notes FP Canada.
And the story isn’t much different in America, with 56% of people living paycheck to paycheck, according to Jungle Scout. Also, 48% say they’ve experienced unexpected financial setbacks in the first three months of 2021.
It's no secret that many people have gaps in their financial knowledge. The assumed solution for a knowledge gap has been education. Unfortunately, even though countless initiatives and studies have tried to improve financial literacy, the needle isn't moving.
Learning something and changing behaviour are two different things. The knowing-doing gap keeps literacy efforts from being effective alone.
CacheFlo has a new offering: the Financial Capability Program (FCP). It combines quick and practical lessons with tools, including Winton, which helps your clients make financial changes they can stick to. Users can apply what they've learned to their financial situation, thus bridging the knowing-doing gap. The goal of the FCP is to help people get more life from their money.
And don’t worry. The FCP doesn’t focus on what your clients need to give up, so they can keep their morning coffee. Instead, they'll learn ways to make lasting changes. They can go through the lessons at their own pace from anywhere, on any device. Even if they only have a few minutes, they’ll pick up practical financial strategies that they can put to use immediately.
Here’s a quick breakdown of each lesson, and what they’ll learn.
Lesson 1: Budgeting Barriers
Time: 15 min
Learn why budgets are so hard to follow, why they don't work for many things, and when they can work.
Lesson 2: Mental Math
Time: 10 min
Too often, we try to keep track of what we’ve spent in our heads. Learn why mental math isn’t the best way to manage day-to-day expenses.
Lesson 3: Smarter Spending
Time: 10 min
Learn strategies to simplify the number of decisions you have to make to keep your finances on track without getting overwhelmed.
Lesson 4: Meet Winton
Time: 20 min
Winton is an easy-to-use app that assists you by uncovering easy financial changes to help you get more life from your money. Users will see how much money they can free up to put towards their goals.
Lesson 5: Automating Accounts
Time: 5 min
Learn why keeping separate spendable and committed accounts helps you create the structure you need to improve your chances of financial success.
Lesson 6: Money Mindset
Time: 10 min
Most financial decisions are directly correlated with our personality and spending behaviour. Take the Money Mindset Quiz to learn more about your relationship with money.
Lesson 7: Goal Getting
Time: 10 min
Your money found is what's left of your take-home pay after your committed expenses and recommended spendable is accounted for. Find out how it's calculated and why choosing a short-term goal is key to your long-term success.
Lesson 8: Funding Fun
Time: 5 min
Learn exactly how much is safe to put towards your short-term goal every month.
Lesson 9: Safety Savings
Time: 5 min
We teach you how to figure out your emergency savings target, and how much of your money found can be put towards it each month.
Lesson 10: Future Funds
Time: 3 min
Whether you see yourself in retirement, starting a new business, or travelling the world, you’ll learn how much is safe to put towards your long-term goals.
Lesson 11: Destroy Debt
Time: 5 min
We help you decide what debt to concentrate on paying first and how much more than the minimum you can afford.
Lesson 12: Tips and Tricks
Time: 10 min
We’ll take a look back at what you’ve learned so far, and give you some advanced tips on how to move forward from here.
Interested in giving your clients access to the Financial Capability Program? Check out Professional for pricing. Still not sure? Reach out to us at support@cacheflo.co.
The FCP is also available to larger financial firms, employers, unions and other organizations. Connect with us via CacheFlo Support or fill out our Enterprise form to find out more about developing financial capability at your organization.
References
FP Canada (2020, October 27). One third of Canadians feel they'll never financially recover from the COVID-19 pandemic. Cision. URL
Equifax (n.d.). Consumer debt is up with renewed mortgage activity. Equifax. URL
Jungle, S. (2021, March 16). Report: 56% of American consumers are living paycheck to paycheck. Cision. URL
