Taking Time to Think About Their Future

During our childhood my siblings and I used to ask our parents to tell us stories from when they were younger. We heard about my father's family who immigrated to Canada when he was just 3 years old and how they adjusted to being in a new country, learning the language, and starting a business. I recall tales about my mother's childhood in the country, and plenty of accounts of the adventures she had when she went away to University. Those stories are the first things that made me want to go to university and I kept that goal as I got older.

I did go to university and received a Bachelor's Degree. My husband also attended university and received a Bachelor's Degree, a Master's Degree, and is coming up on completing his PhD. We know as well as anyone that post secondary education is expensive and we want to help our children to be able to afford it if they choose to attend when the time comes for them.

Ken & I at Graduation for my Bachelor of Arts & his Bachelor or Science

Years ago, we decided that we wanted to start a savings plan for our girls' education. In the U.S. you have 529 Plans that are tax-advantaged savings plans sponsored by states, state agencies, or educational institutions. In Canada, we have RESPs (Registered Education Savings Plans), which are tax-sheltered plans that can help you save for a child's post-secondary education and give access to grants like the CESG (Canada Education Savings Grant); money that the government will add to your child's RESP on top of what you put into the plan.

When we decided we wanted to start RESPs for our girls, we looked into several different providers. We even had interviews in our home with representatives from different companies before deciding on Heritage Education Funds. This is a topic that we think is really important for parents to know about because it can make a huge difference for you and your kids in the future! The cost of education is increasing and the job market is getting more competitive, with many jobs requiring a higher education. The sooner you decide to start an RESP, the more you'll make on your investment, so it's a good idea to start learning about them as early as possible.

Life is busy when you're raising kids and it's easy to push something like this to the bottom of your list of things to do. Over the next several months, I'll be sharing our experience with RESPs, why they're a good financial investment, and some of the products that Heritage offers. Right now, we're on track to nearly quadruple our initial investment and that's not even taking into account the immediate (and future) tax benefits... but more on that in a future post!

In the meantime, you can start learning more about RESPs and Heritage Education Funds' plans by visiting www.heritageresp.com.

Have you had any experience with RESPs or 529 plans?

Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Heritage Education Funds. All opinions shared are my own.

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