Québec Financial Education Strategy
Let’s work together to support Quebeckers in acquiring financial knowledge and skills
The Québec Financial Education Strategy (QFES) is a wide-ranging collaborative project to improve Quebeckers’ financial literacy. For the third edition of this initiative, five governmental partners have worked together to broaden the range of actions to be taken:
- AMF
- Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail
- Office de la protection du consommateur
- Retraite Québec
- Revenu Québec
The action plan is based on an enhanced collective commitment from Québec organizations seeking to support Quebeckers in acquiring financial knowledge and skills at every key stage of life.
(pdf - 395 KB)General orientations
Specifically, QFES partners commit to:
- working in a more coordinated and consistent manner. They will assist each other in addressing common or complementary issues in order to, among other things, spread their messages to a wider audience;
- pooling their efforts to better identify Quebeckers’ financial education needs and how best to address them.
Issues and strategic orientations 2024-2026
In the first step, three issues and four main orientations, focused on building Quebeckers’ personal finance knowledge, skills and confidence and ensuring their financial well-being, were identified.
Issue 1
Financial literacy
In a changing socioeconomic environment characterized by digital transformation, higher inflation and interest rates, limited access to defined benefit pension plans, new financial products and services and increasingly sophisticated fraud schemes, it is important for Quebeckers to understand certain financial and economic concepts.
It is becoming critical that Quebeckers acquire personal finance knowledge so they achieve the necessary level of financial literacy to support good decision making and their efforts to ensure their financial well-being.
Addressing the challenge of financial literacy involves, among other things, developing a strong, ongoing desire to learn more about personal finances or other related concepts, understanding basic financial actions, and developing the ability to think critically about consumer and investment offers.
Orientation 1.1 – Enhance the level of financial literacy
Objective
Increase Quebeckers’ personal finance knowledge, skills and confidence
Priority areas
1.1.1 Making Quebeckers aware of financial skills through messages, tools and dissemination
The Charter of essential skills for financial well-being (pdf - 129 KB)
This link will open in a new windowUpdated on January 12, 2024In 2016, as part of the work related to the Québec Financial Education Strategy, key stakeholders in financial education pooled efforts to establish a common description of the essential financial skills Quebeckers needed to acquire. The resulting document, called the Charter of essential skills for financial well-being, provides an inventory of skills and behaviours conducive to informed personal finance decision making. Associations, organizations and people working in financial education can refer to it when developing training programs or educational tools. The AMF, supported by the Commission des normes, de l’équité, de la santé et de la sécurité du travail, the Office de la protection du consommateur, Retraite Québec and Revenu Québec, updated the document in November 2023. presents the main financial skills that need to be acquired to ensure one’s financial well-being. Helping Quebeckers develop these skills means providing them with accurate, neutral information and tailored tools and publicizing those tools The tools will be varied: events, seminars, webinars, tutorials, audio or video capsules, podcasts, blogs, etc.
1.1.2 Coordinating efforts to support the public
All such accurate, neutral financial information should be brought together on a single platform. Currently, Quebeckers have to search for information on a topic on various websites while exercising constant vigilance as to its quality and impartiality. A single platform tailored to a variety of clienteles would facilitate things for them and help increase their interest in the topics at the appropriate stage of life.
A Québec directory of financial education tools containing relevant information and the financial education tools available in Québec already exists. While the directory is mainly intended for financial education specialists, it could serve as a starting point for the single platform project.
1.1.3 Supporting teachers’ efforts to develop youth personal finance knowledge, skills and confidence
Young people are a priority clientele, specifically because they need to acquire good financial habits early in their financial journey, in their first financial experiences, and are able to acquire those habits more easily. As this audience is still in school, these habits can be learned from teachers. Teachers who give the Secondary V financial education course often look for turnkey course materials to enhance their teaching. The QFES partners are well-positioned to provide such materials.
1.1.4 Developing tools or initiatives for vulnerable clienteles
There is also a wish to develop specific tools or initiatives to address the needs of more vulnerable groups. Initiatives may take various forms, including the sharing of expertise. These initiatives would include developing educational materials.
Orientation 1.2 – move the financial literacy needle forward
Objective
Raise Quebeckers’ interest in financial education and sound personal finance management
Priority areas
1.2.1 Providing financial education to Quebeckers at key life stages
The Applied Financial Literacy Index indicates that Quebeckers develop new financial skills through doing, i.e., when buying financial products and services or dealing with key events in their lives. To attract Quebeckers’ interest, we need to catch them at those moments using such things as educational materials suited to their situation.
1.2.2 Promoting the benefits of sound personal finance management
From the perspective of the individual, the benefits of sound personal finance management can be huge and include reduced financial anxiety, good financial decision making and a financially secure retirement. The benefits for society are also huge and include the promotion of fairness to citizens. An extended major awareness campaign should be developed to foster interest in and the adoption of good financial habits.
1.2.3 Making financial education accessible
Making various needs-oriented financial education concepts accessible to people supports the development of essential financial skills (pdf - 139 KB)This link will open in a new windowMise à jour en décembre 2023Charte des compétences financières essentielles (in French only). The acquisition of new skills could be facilitated by adhering to Web accessibility standards for vulnerable clients, or by ensuring that texts are drafted in a clear and simple manner.
Issue 2
Developing an overview of the situation in financial education
There is a real need to measure Quebeckers’ level of financial knowledge, skill and confidence in order to better support them in their quest for financial well-being. Literacy surveys and studies conducted among or about Quebeckers have never been inventoried. As a result, there is no comprehensive overview of the situation in financial education. To better target future efforts, it is important to develop such an overview so that financial education actions can be tailored to identified needs.
Orientation 2.1 – define the status of financial education
Objective
Develop an overview of financial literacy in Québec
Priority areas
2.1.1 Developing knowledge
Inventory existing studies and surveys, analyze them, use them to develop an overview of Quebeckers and, if necessary, supplement this information about Quebeckers with an appropriate study or survey. The studies and surveys could be stored in a common location where they could be shared.
2.1.2 Sharing financial education and related research
A number of researchers and organizations are conducting financial education and related research. Keeping up to date on all their work can be challenging. Increasing the sharing of research between partners and promoting the flow of exchange between researchers would contribute to an enhanced overview of financial literacy. it would also contribute to the dissemination of potentially more effective approaches.
Issue 3
Improving financial education offering coordination and governance
The various organizations in the field usually work independently. Some have developed research or communication methods focused on the same clienteles or financial education tools that address similar needs. However, the abundance and overlap of methods and tools makes it more difficult for Quebeckers to choose among them.
Coordination and governance of the financial education offering should be improved. Ensuring action and message consistency and simplifying access to the various tools to maximize their use would make it easier for Quebeckers to find the answers to their questions.
3.1 – guide and support coordination among stakeholders Objective
Objective
Ensure greater coordination and consistency of actions
Priority areas
3.1.1 Developing a governance structure
The QFES governmental partners will identify key stakeholders and define their roles and responsibilities. They will also develop a governance framework that will determine which of them will be responsible for accepting, refusing or monitoring the progress of actions and coordinating them.
To ensure coordination and a better use of resources, a partners table will be established to limit duplication and ensure message consistency and inter-partner support.
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End of the InformationDocuments
To view all the documents and archives of the Québec Financial Education Strategy, see the Publications section