Comments on: Compounding Your Success

By: Rhythibly

Rhythibly — Wed, 20 May 2009 19:25:20 +0000

Great writing! will definitely come back soon..

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:58:32 +0000

Ioana:
Hummmm…

Angela:
If towards the end of your child’s high school you find out that a post-secondary education is not the path…
Stop contributing to the plan (RESP), limit your contributions to your RRSP so that you have the contrubtion room available for the transfer.
YOU NEED RRSP ROOM to do the transfer without penalty.

By: ioana

ioana — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:33:10 +0000

Um which makes me wonder… say if I put in the RESP 50000 (the maximum)…. and then I move that amount into the RRSP (paying tax on the 2.5% interest that this will make me – I’m an optimist) and use the 12500 I receive in grant for my child’s education… is this kosher?? Can’t be.

By: ioana

ioana — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:13:35 +0000

@Angela, I’m still trying to give my son a sibling so I put my RESP under “Family RESP”. So it will be available for all of the kids.

I found this by chance about alberta:

“What should I do when a child chooses not to continue education after high school?
• Wait for a period of time, he or she may decide to continue studying later.
• Use the money for a brother or sister who will continue studies at the post secondary level.
• Transfer up to $50 000 into a Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP).
• You can withdraw your personal contributions tax-free, the interest accrued will be taxed.
• Any Canada Education Savings Grant paid into the plan that cannot be transferred to an
alternate beneficiary, this must be returned to the government. However, interest or
investment growth earned on grant money does not have to be paid to the government.”

http://www.su.ualberta.ca/services_and_businesses/services/sfaic/forms_and_reports/RESP%20Tip%20Sheet%202008-2009

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 20:10:24 +0000

And it’s not much of a gamble; worst case is that you’ll be able to put all your contributions into your rrsp and/or pay some extra taxes on them, not like it’ll go to waste (government match goes back to government though). but I mean really, what are the odds that a child won’t go to ANY post-secondary in 15 years? It’s hard enough today to get a job with only high school, let alone two decades from now. And especially if they know they have at least some money to pay for it (I paid for my education out of my own pocket/borrwing from osap and would rather spare my son that drag if at all possible, though I won’t be writing a blank cheque either).

By: angela

angela — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 19:58:47 +0000

I think that may be another worry of my husbands. He asked me if we had to put it in one of the kids names or both and just see who needs it. Not knowing where we will be living and what jobs our kids get you just don’t know. If we are still in alberta there is a chance that the kids may just get a good paying job here that you only need highschool for. You just don’t know.

By: Marie

Marie — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:53:13 +0000

Angela:
You can open up an RESP at most banks. You can keep the money in a GIC if you are worried. The biggest gamble is whether the kids will want post-secondary education.

By: angela

angela — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 18:46:44 +0000

yeh it was heritage that my husband talked with, im still working on my husband on it, we do have both our boys SIN cards so the only thing stopping us is both of us agreeing.

By: ioana

ioana — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 16:12:33 +0000

@angela, I second what geoff said, to the letter.

It’s worth looking into it because of the 500$ a year which otherwise you’re missing. The most important thing that my parents gave me was to pay for my education.

The only thing you need to do, is open an account with the bank as an RESP account (you’ll need the kids’ social insurance numbers) and then put money in it.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 14:46:07 +0000

Angela — I’m not sure what you mean by groups, but please tell your husband to view any group resp plan (Heritage, CST etc) with EXTREME CAUTION. Most have severe penalties if you suspend payments, and ALL will take your initial payments as fees and not earn a return on them. You don’t need to go with any group plan to get the $500, a plain old individual account with a bank will get that for you too.

By: angela

angela — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 05:18:20 +0000

The only thing i know about my husband being anti RESP is the lack of control. I did talk to him today briefly about at least trying to get the free $500 from the government for our kids he wants to look more into it. He has talked to various groups about them. I trust my husbands judgement so im not pushing too hard about it.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:16:02 +0000

@ Ioana – it is brave in my opinion to put your own life out there (no harm, just brave). Your reasons make sense but you should be able to fold some of them into the others now that they’re opened, but find out about any fees / limits to be aware of.

@ Angela — have to ask — – why is your husband anti-RESP? Gail’s posted on the virtues of an RESP and I don’t understand why anyone would be against them. Unless they’re against saving for a child’s education in general, an RESP is without a doubt the best way to save for the majority of people. There would be exceptions almost by definition but I can’t think of any, maybe your husband has some rationale? (Keep in mind the differences between an individual RESP, a family RESP, and a group plan RESP may come into play here).

By: ioana

ioana — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:20:48 +0000

@geoff – no I’m not brave, I just can’t see any harm in posting what my investments were for this year… can’t think of any!

The reason I diversified so is because right now I received a bonus, and lots of the funds on that list have a minimum amount. Well, in a regular month I won’t be able to put down that mininum amount if I wanted to purchase it. So if I put the minimum amount down now, then I will be able to set up PACs with these funds for their “additional” amounts which are as low as 25$.. so I’m just trying to keep my options open…

does this make sense?

By: angela

angela — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:23:57 +0000

ok so i just talked with my husband hes not anti rrsp hes anti resp
he says he doesn’t know enough about rrsp’s yet, there ya go! talking clears everything up

By: angela

angela — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 16:19:02 +0000

Oh I know where our money is and how much we have and what my husband puts away for cpp and how much his work matchs, im the one who takes care of our finances, im just clueless when it comes to rrsp stuff.
Our account is joint the others i have control over, my buisness account, and my boys accounts. We won’t ever get divorced that is not an option for us .

anywho, just sharing, the money we have is just in accounts or around the house, no investments besides the bank, that may be a bad thing according to some people but like i said before, both people have to agree on where you put your money.