Thousands of Manitobans respond to Your Future Self campaign

Thousands of Manitobans respond to Your Future Self campaign

Winnipeg, March 26, 2012 – The Manitoba Securities Commission’s (MSC) Your Future Self campaign that talked to Manitobans about the importance of investments and making wise financial decisions has proven to be a huge success.

The Commission invited Manitobans to imagine what their future self would say to them about their current spending, saving and investing patterns. If they could re-visit some previous financial decisions which ones would they be and what would they do differently. A cleverly crafted website designed to look like a personal “in box” was populated with more than 45 messages that provided information on a variety of topics such as saving, budgeting, debt, investment fraud and investing

The four week campaign received over 14,000 web visits from all across our province. “We have never experienced this level of participation,” says Ainsley Cunningham, MSC’s Education and Communication Manager, “public response to this unique campaign was overwhelmingly positive.” The visual components attracted peoples’ attention and the content engaged the public in learning about key financial literacy topics. These are topics that the National Task Force on Financial Literacy would like to see all Canadians learn about.

In addition, the campaign offered those willing to take some time to answer a few questions and craft solutions to improve their current money management habits an opportunity to win an iPad along with other prizes. The winner of the “Your Future Self” contest grand prize was Ms. Kirstan Osborne. Other prize winners were: Michael Charach, Kirby Gomph, Mike Gustafson and Travis Rintoul.

 In receiving her prize, Kirstan said “The billboards really caught my attention and when I visited the website, I couldn’t believe all the valuable information that was available. The financial questions that I needed to complete to enter the contest were not easy, but I sure learned a lot that I can apply to my everyday life. And I also won an IPad! Now I can start to track my spending and set up a budget. How great is that!”

To take advantage of the free saving and investing information available, visit yourfutureself.ca

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