Today, Seniors Day in Canada, the Canadian Foundation for Economic Education is pleased to be able to join with our partner – IG Wealth Management – to provide help and assistance to seniors all across Canada in managing their financial affairs.

Our seniors play such a vital role in our society in so many ways – through their family support, volunteer activities, business start-ups, and fulfilling so many jobs that contribute to the well-being of our economy.

Yet, as with so many soon-to-be-seniors, so many middle-aged adults, and so many young adults today, they never received much in the way of financial education. Many face challenges in managing their financial affairs – and often lack confidence and competence that could help them to live financially healthier lives.

Beyond the challenges that many of our seniors face in handling expenses in retirement, managing savings and investments, paying taxes, planning for the transfer of their estates, dealing with health-related costs and difficulties, understanding and being able to avoid various frauds and scams that target them, enjoying travel and visiting friends and family, and other leisure activities, … the pandemic has exacerbated these challenges as they have for virtually all Canadians.

This vital cohort in our society is being recognized and celebrated today – as they should be every day. On this Seniors Day, CFEE is pleased to be able to participate in a webinar being organized in Brandon, Manitoba. This is not just an online presentation but is also being broadcast on community television – WCG -TV.

This is the start of the fall series of webinars that CFEE will be organizing for seniors. CFEE has conducted many such workshops for seniors in the past – in-person workshops that have now been replaced by webinars in these Covid 19 times. From those past workshops, we have been able to focus in on the financial topics that are of most interest to seniors, including:

• learning how to set and reach their financial goals
• adapting, planning for and managing retirement from a financial perspective
• how to recognize and prepare for various expenses and plan a practical budget
• learning how to continue saving in retirement
• planning and starting a second career
• coping with the loss of a partner or spouse
• making estate arrangements

The workshop/webinar today, and those that will follow, will also address the financial challenges of living in a COVID-19 pandemic – a time of particular challenge for our seniors.

CFEE will be conducting a series of workshops/webinars for seniors throughout November – Financial Literacy Month. These workshops are available to seniors in all regions of the country and have been scheduled to accommodate the various time zones across Canada.

The dates and times of each of the three workshops/webinars are listed below. We encourage seniors, those who work with seniors, and the children of seniors to use the respective registration link below to sign up interested seniors for the most convenient workshop:

• November 3, 2020, 1:00-2:30 pm EST: https://cfee-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_lxV4Gux6TXy4CK7OVLykMg

• November 13, 2020, 10:00-11:30 am EST: https://cfee-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_vjhkng-cR-qxkidLqnv27w

• November 25, 2020, 3:00-4:30 pm EST: https://cfee-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_I3yQC9sIRG6J7nYp0G4Zpg

CFEE extends our sincere thanks to our partner, IG Wealth Management, for supporting this program for seniors. IG has supported the work of the Foundation for more than 40 years and has provided support to CFEE to help, in addition to seniors, youth, teachers, parents, and newcomers. Together we have been able to connect with, and help, hundreds of thousands of Canadians over the years to help them undertake their financial decisions and actions with confidence and competence – and to be better able to build a successful financial future.

We are delighted to be able to celebrate this Seniors Day knowing that we are in a position to provide help and support to so many through our workshop/webinar series.

By Gary Rabbior
President
Canadian Foundation for Economic Education
October 1, 2020