w w w . t o r o n t o i n v e s t . c o m

Start Right Coalition

The following is an overview of the Canadian Start Right Program by it's founder Mr. Michael J. Gulliver.

Cheers,
JimC

What are you teaching your kids?

Society has trained our kids about many of the dangers that exist in today society. We go to great lengths to teach our kids about issues such as smoking, drug abuse, sexually transmitted diseases and a host of other concerns. Research shows that the one thing we are not teaching our children is how to deal with money. Theyl all have it. Theyl all use it. And if we don deliver the information on tips for successful money management, we could well be denying them access to one of the more important lifeskills there is.

Over 1500 grade 12 students from across the United States were asked Where did you learn the most about managing money? The responses to this question were startling and produced the following results - 10.8 % said at school, 57.5 % aid at home from my family, 26.3 % said from managing my own funds and the balance sited books, magazines friends etc. as their financial management educator. For those who think that the results for Canadian students would be better, you are only fooling yourself. The fact is the U.S. and the U.K. have had financial literacy programs in place for a number of years. In Canada, we are just now beginning to make inroads into the problem.

The recent formation of a national non-profit organization called Start Right Coalition for Financial Literacy has provided a partial solution to the financial literacy dilemma in Canada. Formed in April of 1998, the Start Right organization is creating a national registry of volunteer financial service professionals who agree to offer their services to deliver FREE money management seminars to high school students, colleges, universities, youth groups etc. The presentations are non-partisan and are designed to get youth to start to think about successful money management techniques.

The organization recognizes that there are a number of very valid reasons that educators and parents aren successfully teaching their youth to be financially literate. A few of these include issues such as lack of time, lack of funding, lack of support material and very often a lack of expertise. By offering the services of a volunteer financial service professional, Start Right has created a unique cooperative method that brings financial service companies together with the educators and concerned parents.

In an effort to provide an on going resource for the students, Start Right has also created a web site www.startright.com and a free Ezine called Wise and Wealthy. The organization has chosen to distribute most of its information via the web because of the obvious cost advantages, as well as the mass acceptance of the internet by youth. Under constant development, the web site is being assembled by a 16 year old web master under the guidance and direction of Start Right founder Michael Gulliver.

Thus far the organization has funded all of their activity through its memberships. While membership for youth is free, the organization asks others to support their activities by taking on a various levels of membership. Friendship memberships are $10.00, associate memberships are $20.00, association membership is $150.00 and a corporate membership is $300.00. Members will receive various forms of recognition of their support for the initiative. Complete membership details are available on the web site.

In addition to members, Start Right is also seeking youth who would be interested in volunteering for a positon with the youth advisory board, as well as individuals who would be interested in assuming positions on the board of directors.

For additional information on Start Right and /or to arrange presentation, please contact Executive Director, Michael Gulliver at info@startright.com or by phone at 1-888-311-3495.