Financial Services Resources for the Non-Specialist

As a follow-up to an item from earlier this week, I received news of a one-day workshop at the Faculty of Information Studies (University of Toronto) on May 6th.

The workshop will focus "on Canadian sources which are freely and/or easily available on the Internet or at a local library, although international (primarily US) and specialized, fee-based resources will also be mentioned".

The class will deal with:

• Banking
• Capital Markets (securities dealers)
• Insurance
• Asset Management (mutual funds, pensions), plus

In terms of basic financial literacy, many government agencies and financial regulators have set up "investor education" websites.

Among some of the more interesting are:

• Federal Reserve Board Education (US)
• Investor Education Fund (Canada) - funded by penalties collected by the Ontario Securities Commission
• Canadian Foundation for Investor Education
• Investor's Clearinghouse (US)
• Financial Consumer Agency of Canada (government)
• Your Money Network (Canada) - funded by the Canadian Bankers Association, but with many other private, non-profit and government partners and aimed at young people, it contains many good educational resources