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Financial Literacy
Books
Financial Literacy for Generation Z: A Practical Guide to Managing your Financial Life
This book combines financial planning and psychology to provide generationally-specific guidance to Generation Z (those born after the mid-to-late 1990s) to optimize decision-making across the life course, but especially in the formative years. Topics covered include choosing a career, personal money management, financial scams, making major purchases, understanding taxes, insurance, and job benefits, along with the financial implications of major life events. The specifics are US-based, but much of the information is more generally applicable.
Stacks
Personal Finance
This textbook provides Canadian-specific information on personal financial planning, combining theory with practical applications. Topics include budgeting, tax strategies, banking services, consumer credit, insurance, investing, and retirement planning.
Stacks
The Debt-Free Spending Plan: An Amazingly Simple Way to Take Control of Your Finances Once and For All
This title from the American Management Association provides individualized debt-reduction plans by outlining daily spending strategies, expense-tracking tools, and budgeting guidance. It explains how to downsize expenses and offers tips on how to talk about debt problems with family.
Stacks
Canadian’s Guide to Money-Smart Living
This title won the Institute for Financial Literacy’s Excellence in Financial Literacy Education (EIFLE) award. It provides step-by-step instructions, including self-assessment checklists.
Stacks
Other Financial Literacy Resources
Government COVID-19 Resources
The Ontario government provides COVID-related financial information on their COVID-19: Support for People page. The Canadian government provides information on financial support during the pandemic in its COVID-19 Economic Response Plan.
November is financial literacy month! Find resources from the Government of Canada on the National Financial Literacy Strategy.
Resources on COVID-19 and financial well-being can be found in the "Other Financial Literacy Resources" section below.
Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC)
The Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (FCAC) offers a variety of financial literacy programs and maintains the Canadian Financial Literacy Database of resources such as tools, tip sheets, books, workshops, conferences, and more. Test your knowledge by taking the Financial Literacy Self-Assessment Quiz which directs you to linked resources in the Database, based on your answers.
The FCAC provides COVID-19 Updates, as well as a resource called COVID-19: Managing financial health in challenging times. The latter includes topics such as getting through a financial emergency, efforts the federal government is taking to assist Canadians, and how to protect yourself from financial fraud.
Practical Money Skills: Financial Literacy for Everyone
Practical Money Skills is a free financial literacy program to help Canadians understand the fundamentals of money management. The program offers money management resources including calculators, games, and lesson plans tailored for use by Canadian families and educators.
Understanding Tax
From the Ontario Securities Commission, the Understanding Tax site provides information on how income tax works, how to understand tax deductions on your pay stub, and information on filing your tax return.
The Ontario Securities Commission provides a resource on COVID-19 and Your Money, which covers fraud alerts, protecting yourself from scams, and information on investing during the pandemic.
Get Smarter About Money
Provided by the Ontario Securities Commission, the Get Smarter About Money site provides information on all aspects of financial literacy, from planning basics to investment, along with various calculators and tools (e.g. spending habits calculator).
iSkills Workshop: Financial Literacy
A financial literacy guide created by Helen Kula, librarian at the University of Toronto Mississauga Library.
Questions?
Locating Additional Sources
Please consult one of our reference librarians or schedule a research consultation if you have questions about the resources listed in the guide or if you would like to find additional books, articles or online sources and advice related to financial literacy.
compiled by: Colin Deinhardt. Last updated March 2022.
