President, SunLife Global Investments (Canada) Inc.
“While attending high school in Saskatchewan during the 1980s, I understood the value of money because we did not have any excess. Having said this, I never lacked for anything and my parents gave me the opportunity to pursue a post-secondary education, the first in my family to do so. I think a key difference was that my friends and I held a belief that as long as we graduated with a University degree, we would be successful and be financially secure in adulthood. In contrast, although my daughters have grown up in Toronto, they still understand the value of money, at least I hope so! However, today a University degree is table stakes and they are already planning their post-graduate degree…while they are still in high school! Further, the competition for entrance into a University is far more intense and there is little confidence of financial security after graduating with a University degree. Many of their friends have accepted jobs unrelated to their degrees and are faced with a much higher relative cost of living. In short, although I had much less money than my daughters when I went to high school, they have less confidence in their financial future than I did.”
