Mobile digital technology at the end of 2016 appears to be securing a foothold in the 21st-century financial world, but fintech speed and convenience will be of little benefit without
increased financial literacy.
According to Accenture’s Fintech and the Evolving Landscape: Landing Points for the Industry, investment in what five years ago was a financial-sector curiosity has joined the mainstream, at least in the minds of investors. The report notes that more than $50 billion has been invested in almost 2,500 companies since 2010. In 2015 alone fintech investment hit $22.3 billon. So the new math is taking hold for investors. But is new math/old math/any math taking hold down at street level?
Recent data suggests not.
For example, Statistics Canada numbers show household debt, which is hovering around $1.7 trillion, now outpaces Canada’s GDP. That elevated level of debt, the Bank of Canada warned last week, is now one of three key vulnerabilities in the Canadian financial system.
Meanwhile, the Canadian University Survey Consortium has estimated that the average debt accumulated by a student in Canada upon graduation is now around $27,000.
Despite technological advances in transferring money and using it to buy products online and elsewhere, the basics of money management have not changed.
Spending more than you have is far easier now than ever. But the realities of failing to acquire, manage and conserve wealth remain.
Debt is a dead weight that can sink businesses, futures and families fast.
Financial literacy needs to occupy a far more prominent role in the curriculum of Canada’s public schools. Basic budgeting and the bottom-line business realities of how wealth is created, maintained and increased should all be among the fundamental skills students graduate with.
Fintech speed and convenience coupled with innumeracy adds up to more citizens slipping underwater financially faster – the bill from which, as always, will be borne by the Canadian taxpayer.
