Canadian Personal Finance Place

Some older RESP Posts from the Past:

• Canada Learning Bond and RESPs, where I think I have figured out more money, that I have never actually ever received thanks to TD not doing what I think they should.
• RESP and more tree died (which they did this year too), which is last year’s installment on the entire RESP saga.
• RESP Wrinkles where I first learned taking out money from an RESP wasn’t going to be as easy as the previous year.
• RESP Money to get Money where I found out how much it cost to prove I just spent $2500
• RESP: The Old Switcheroo where I rant about one Universities trick for getting more money out of me
• RESPs and Rules taking your own money out shouldn’t be this hard, should it?
• RESP: Withdrawals Redux then I learned that call centers and local branches do not talk nor really acknowledge each other’s existance
• RESP: This Round Finally Ends (Prologue) I actually try to start taking money out of the RESP
• RESP: Lessons Learned it’s important to write down what you have learned so you remember it for the next time.

Yes, it is that magical time of the year, when my wife and I must haemorrhage money at a ferocious rate.

For those of you who are worried about buying pens, pencils, binders and such, allow me to say, “You have no idea of what is coming down the tracks at you”. As your child moves up the academic levels, it all starts getting much more expensive, and it does so at a higher rate than you might guess.

So far this summer we have already paid for:

• Four months rent on an apartment that no one has lived in. To be fair no one lived in it for 3 months, someone has now moved into it……

What are your plans for this fall? Given (specifically September) is now about 60 days away, do you have a plan?

For many folks September really is just another month, and I hope some time in my life it returns to that state, however if you have children, you know full well that the month of September can actually be one of the biggest outlay months of the year (yes even bigger than December (or January for that matter)).

As a proud Dad I was happy to see my daughter succeed and reach her goal, but as she was handed her diploma this thought came to mind:

So that is what $50,000 looks like? {but then after a moment I had a further thought} Best investment I’ve ever made.

Indeed, it is hard to get your head around paying that much money and at the end of it your child has a piece of paper and no real guarantee of employment, however, as a parent the sense of pride silences the nasty inner financial demons that keep asking,“… was that really a good use of your money?“. Whether my child gets a job, or whether their degree helps them is a risk I (as a parent) am willing to take (hell I have invested in much riskier things and been paid back much less).

I had a discussion with a writer on Monday about my experiences with the entire RESP system, and I had an epiphany , which is that if I look at the current costs that I know of, and the maximum amount that you can put into an RESP, this will really only (barely) cover the cost of tuition at your child’s university (at this moment in time).

As part of my regular duties as the father of University Students, I must act as the I.T. support for all computers bought in my house. I actually enjoy keeping my skills up to date with all of this, but it is also a very nerve wracking job, when the kids are long distances away (remote I.T. is not an easy thing). I use LogMeIn (a free utility) to try to do some elementary remote debugging, but inevitably the problems are fairly bad and not easily fixed over the phone.

If you are still saving for your children’s education, now might be a good time to add a little more to their RESPs (if you haven’t reached the yearly limit yet).  Make sure the RESP is with an investment mechanism that you are comfortable with, and that might actually make you a few bucks over time as well. For those of us with kids at University, it is another time to withdraw whatever funds are needed from the accounts.