Coming home from the hospital after the birth of our baby, securing our daughter an RESP (Registered Education Savings Plan) was an important item on our to-do list. In amongst all the papers sent home with us, supposed to serve as some sort of instruction as to how to best provide for our new baby, was information about RESPs and how to sign up for them. The tricky thing was, we were hearing all kinds of information about what to do to make sure our daughter would be able to afford a post-secondary education. We were keen to make sure she wouldn’t be paying high rates for decades of student loan repayment as myself and my husband are. People were calling, emailing, posting and advertising different options for RESPs and other programs, and we were overwhelmed. As with every decision that comes up in raising a child, we wanted to give her the best, but the overabundance of information coming at us made it very difficult to wade through and decide what we actually wanted to do.
It took us far longer than expected to finally start her an RESP (after her first birthday, I believe), and while I’m glad ours is finally put into place, I feel for those of you who are still trying to make the decision about what to do (if anything) when it comes to planning for your child’s educational future. If you’re as confused and uncertain about RESPs and saving for a costly future in post-secondary, here is something that might help answer your questions and make your more aware of your options.
Parent Life Network and Canada Scholarship Trust (CST) Consultants will be hosting a Twitter Party and you’re invited! Join us for an hour of fun to get your burning RESP questions answered. We’ll be giving away $1,000 in that hour!
Date: Thursday, May 5
Time: 9 p.m. EDT
Hashtag: #letstalkRESPs
Hosts: Peter Lewis, CST Vice President (and resident expert), @ParentLifeNet & @CSTConsultants
Eligibility: Canada-wide
Prizing: $1,000 in prizing to be awarded.
For a chance to win a prize during the twitter party you must RSVP by registering here:
Good luck with all of those many questions and hesitancies you’re sure to face in this new endeavor of raising a child you’re setting out on. It’s not easy, but it sure is a beautiful thing (once you look past the sleepless night and crumby floors).
This post has been sponsored by Parent Life Network and Canadian Scholarship Trust. However, all the opinions and personal experience remain my own. As always, I only share what I can get behind. Being informed about options that will keep your kids from racking up years and years of debt just to get an education is definitely one of those things. See my full disclosure policy here.