School's (almost) out for summer, but are graduates ready to move out on their own?

Summer is just around the corner, and for young people preparing to leave home for the first time, it marks a significant rite of passage — one that can be riddled with challenges around managing money.

Reese Finlay will graduate from Kennebecasis Valley High School next month and will be taking a bachelor of music at Mount Allison University in September. 

She said her parents have set aside some money for her tuition and she's been saving, too.

"I've been working since I was 14, saving up for university. So I'm hoping to get through relatively debt free," she said.

Finlay's parents are cattle farmers and she grew up selling steers to make money, later moving on to become a lifeguard and camp counsellor. Financial responsibility was an open conversation in her house, she said, with her parents making sure she and her sisters are "prepared for life." 

"I feel like our parents are really drilling into us that we don't want to end up in a situation that's hard to come back from, because you really have to get it right the first time," she said.

Those are important dinner table conversations that experts say don't happen nearly enough.

Marissa Sollows, director of communications and public affairs with the Financial and Consumer Services Commission of New Brunswick, said people need to get over the taboo of talking about money in order to help teens navigate financial challenges and build resilience.

"There's so much excitement coming into summer. There's a lot of freedom for the students, but underneath that there is a real financial landscape that they're navigating now," she said.

In an economy increasingly populated by meme coins and other crypto currencies, traditional savings vehicles, like RESPs, RRSPs and TFSAs, can seem quaint, if not downright old-fashioned. But understanding where and how to save are lessons best learned early in life. 

"Young people today are facing a confluence of rising costs for essentials like groceries and rent, the responsibilities of managing credit cards maybe for the first time, or budgeting maybe for the first time," said Sollows. "And they're facing some pretty significant economic headwinds while they're doing this."

Sollows points to an annual survey the commission conducts which tests the financial knowledge of New Brunswickers. 

"We fluctuate between 55 and 60 per cent scores on the tests, not a passing grade in all cases, but not misaligned with performance across the country."

Another study by the Financial Consumer Agency released in January found that 44 per cent of Canadians describe themselves as financially knowledgeable, compared to 46 per cent last year.