Videos

Advertisements. Ever heard of them? Advertisements, or ads for short, try to influence you with different messages. That’s why it’s important to pay special attention to them. Here we go—time for an example! Announcer’s voice: “With the new AirForce4000s, you’ll not only run faster, you’ll get noticed more, too! Cool kids wear AirForce4000s. Get yours today!” Wait a second—for real? This is why you need to be careful. Ads sometimes try to get you to want things you don’t really need. This ad is trying to make you believe that AirForce4000s can make you faster and cooler—they can’t. A pair of shoes won’t ever make you more popular or a faster runner. But ads make sometimes false promises. That’s why it’s important to think critically and question what you hear. And it’s not just TV ads that try to influence you. Ads are everywhere: online, on buses, in the metro, on social media … Even in online games. Companies will try to get you to spend money on items that help you get to the next level or make your character stronger. And sure, it may be pretty tempting to buy that magic elixir and level up! But don’t forget that they’re just trying to make you buy things you don’t necessarily need. So be on guard! Another trick advertisers use to get you to buy their product over someone else’s is beautiful packaging. The last time you went to the grocery store, did you notice the bright colours and fun pictures on cereal boxes, candy bars and bags of chips? The packaging is designed to grab your attention. Companies are trying to get you to choose their product over another. They do that by making you want something bad enough to buy it. Ask your parents to help you compare the actual products, not the packages they come in, and decide whether it’s something you really need. Obviously, not all ads spread false messages. You just need to keep your eyes open and develop the reflexes to ask questions before buying something. The next time you see or hear an ad, try to recognize the strategies it’s using and ask questions before you decide to buy something. Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on advertisements.

Cooperation. Ever heard of it? To cooperate means to work as a team. It means joining forces so that you can grow stronger. For example, let’s say you want to sign up for a skills competition at school. If you signed up alone, you’d have to be good at spelling, sports and art, all at the same time. That’s a lot for just one person! Maybe you’re good at sports, but your friends might be better at spelling and art. By joining forces, you’d make one heck of a team… …with a great shot at winning! Anything’s possible when you and your friends work together! The same thing can happen in a business. People can decide to cooperate to achieve a common goal. Businesses where this happens are called cooperatives, and the people that are a part of them are called members. Unlike other types of businesses that only have 1 or 2 owners, a cooperative belongs to all of its members, and each member can vote on decisions. Like you and your friends, the members of a cooperative are equal. They join forces to work toward a common goal that they wouldn’t be able to achieve alone. It’s like if you were a member of your favourite candy store. As a member, you could vote for your friends and neighbours to get the best candy at the best price! And who wouldn’t want that? It’s the same thing with cooperatives—when you become a member, you work with other members toward a common goal that benefits everyone. Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on cooperation.

Overconsumption. It’s a big word! But the idea behind it is simple. Let's take a closer look. Let’s say you’re buying things for back to school, but you’re not sure which lunch box you want. There are three colours with patterns you like and all three are on sale. So you decide to buy and use them all. Your friends think you look pretty cool eating lunch! But do you really need all three? Of course not! You really only need one. Buying more than you need is called overconsumption. Let’s look at another example. On your list of school supplies is a pencil case. Your mom picks out a sturdy plain one. But you’ve already spotted a different one. A great colour with stars on it. It doesn’t seem as strong, but you really like it. And you know your mom will buy you a new one when it breaks. But is the one with stars on it the smart choice? Especially when you know you’ll probably need to replace it soon anyway? It’s always better to buy things that will last and that you can use for a long time. That way you don’t have to throw things out so often and buy new ones. It makes sense for your bank account. And for the planet! So you can overconsume when you buy things. But that's not all. Maybe you let the tap run when you don’t need to. Like when you brush your teeth. Or maybe you leave the TV on…when you're not watching it anymore. You don't need a magic wand to stop overconsumption. You just need to take a minute to think about what you really need. So you can make good choices. Smart, right? Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on overconsumption.

Supply and demand. Ever heard of it? It affects the price of everything you buy. Pretty cool, huh? You’ve probably already noticed that items in a store don’t all cost the same. An item’s price is determined by how much it costs to produce and ship to the store. This includes the cost of things like materials, produce, labour, transportation and a number of other factors. Besides production costs, supply and demand are also major factors that influence the prices of various products. Here’s what we mean: Let’s say that you’re shopping with your parents for some swim gear to wear to the pool this summer. Right before swim season, swim gear is normally more expensive than in the fall. Can you guess why? It’s because in the spring, lots of people are buying swim gear in preparation for the summer. But not a lot of people are doing that in the fall after swim season’s just ended. For this reason, we can say that in the spring, the demand for swim gear is higher than the supply. Demand refers to the number of shoppers interested in the same product. Supply refers to the number of products available to be purchased. So that awesome floatie you wanted to buy for your pool? It’ll cost more right before summer. And less in the fall, when very few people will feel like buying it. Smart shoppers wait for demand to go down and then buy their items at a lower price! But prices don’t just fluctuate because of the seasons. Trends, advertising and new product releases all play a role. These factors can all increase or decrease demand, which can then influence the price. Psst! Now that you understand supply and demand, keep an eye on the price of things you want to buy so that you spend less! Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on supply and demand.

Payment methods. Ever heard of them? A payment method is a way to pay for goods and services. You probably already know about cash payments. That’s when you pay for something—say, your favourite pop—with coins or bills. But did you notice that your parents don’t always pay for stuff in cash? They probably use a card sometimes to pay for things in the store or online. There are 2 kinds of payment cards: debit cards and credit cards. They’re similar, but they work in different ways. Let’s take a closer look together. When you open an account in a financial institution, you get a debit card. You can think of your debit card—along with your password, which we call a PIN—as a kind of key. It gives you access to your account. Your debit card lets you use money that’s been deposited in your account. When you want to buy something, you can take out money at the ATM or use your card at a store. How about an example? Let’s say that Noah’s dad buys Noah an ice cream cone for $3. He inserts his card into the machine, enters his secret password and bam! The financial institution uses the money from his account and sends it to the merchant. This process is called direct payment. It lets Noah’s dad leave all those coins and bills at home. Pretty handy, right? But don’t forget: Those $3 are automatically withdrawn from his account. Even if we don’t see it, the money is still spent. The other card is the credit card. It looks a lot like a debit card, but it works differently.Let’s say Noah and his dad keep shopping and stop to buy some flowers. Noah’s dad decides to pay for the bouquet with his credit card. The financial institution sends money to the florist. But instead of taking money from Noah’s dad’s account, it temporarily lends him the money. That means the money isn’t taken out of his account right away. Noah’s dad still has to pay it back on time otherwise he’ll need to pay even more. This way of buying things is called credit. Credit is a bit like a library card: When you use your library card to borrow books, they don’t belong to you. You have to return them after a certain time, otherwise you pay a fine. Credit works the same way. That’s why you have to use it wisely. Whether you’re paying with cash or a payment card, you don’t always see the money you spend. That’s why budgets are so important: They help you understand where your money is going and know how much you can spend. Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on payment methods.

Budgets and savings. Ever heard of them? A budget is a tool that lets you keep track of exactly how much money you earn and how much money you spend. It also lets you calculate how much money you have left over for future goals. Here, let’s look at an example. Let’s say that you grew so much since last winter, that you need to buy a new snowboard this year. Since your parents are already paying for your snowboarding lessons, they ask you to pay for a part of the cost of your new board. That means you’ll have to pay $40 by the time your lessons start. And you’re right, that’s a lot! But there’s no need to panic. Since your lessons don’t start for another 10 weeks, you only need to save $4 a week to make it to $40 in time. (super: $4 x 10 weeks = $40.) It’s already looking less scary, right? To figure out how to make the money you need in the time you have, all you need is a game plan. So, let’s do the math: Every day of the week, you walk your grandma’s dog, Coco. As a thank you, she gives you $1 a day, which makes $7 a week. Phew—looks like you’ll have enough for your new board! You could even put aside the $3 left over. That’s what we call savings. Savings is money you have left over once you’ve paid your expenses. You keep it for later and put it toward something you care about. Like that movie you want to see in the theatres, or a new basketball or a gift for your little sister’s birthday. To figure out how much you can save, you need to make a budget. Think of it as a map to your treasure! Ahoy there, matey! Ask your parents to help you set up a budget and a realistic savings goal. They’ll guide you in the right direction! Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on budgets and savings.

Personal information. Ever heard of it? Your name, home address, phone number, photos, email address and even your email password is all personal information because people can use it to identify you. Here’s an example: Charlotte has red hair, brown eyes and wears glasses. And you’re right, she’s probably not the only one! But she’s the only Charlotte with red hair and glasses living at 28 Lillac Road. You can think of personal information as a set of clues: One alone doesn’t trace back to you, but together they point right at you! Make sense? That’s why it’s really important that you protect your personal information. You wouldn’t want someone pretending to be you, right? Never give out your personal information to strangers online, over the phone or face to face. Here’s another example: Charlotte’s birthday is coming up. She invites her friends over to celebrate and tells them to email her if they’re coming. She can share her email address with them because they’re her close friends. But Charlotte would never share her password with them. Why? Because if they had her email address and her password, they could read her emails and even write some pretending to be her. Charlotte knows that she has to protect her personal information and that only she and her parents can use it, and share it with the right people when they need to. Pretty smart, huh? Do you know what personal information is and how to keep it safe now? Pstt! If you’re not sure, ask your parents for help. They’ll point you in the right direction! Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on personal information.

Where does money come from? Pretty big question, right? Let’s answer it together! You’ve probably already heard the expression, “Money doesn’t grow on trees,” which means it doesn’t just magically appear. It’s part of a cycle. Kind of like the water cycle. And just like water—which evaporates to form clouds before it comes back down as rain—money is also part of a cycle; one in which we all play a role. Let’s look at an example. Say, of a chef. Every week, he gets paid a salary to come up with tasty dishes. He deposits his salary into an account at a financial institution. When he needs money, he can take out cash at the ATM. He can then use that cash or his payment card to pay for things like groceries, clothes and movie tickets, and pay different bills, like his internet. But he also keeps some of his money in his account so he can save for future goals or be prepared for the unexpected. This is what we call savings. The financial institution is where lots of people keep their money to make sure it’s safe—like the chef! The financial institution will also lend this money to someone who wants to buy, say, a house or a car. This is what we call a loan. And that’s how money circulates. Then, one day, it comes back to the financial institution in the form of someone else’s salary or savings. It’s just like the water cycle! This money cycle is the foundation of the economy. It may not be magical, but it sure is impressive! The next time you see your parents paying for groceries or taking out cash at the ATM, you’ll know that they’re also helping circulate money. Well done! You’ve now finished watching our video on the money cycle.