A qualified university degree is an important requirement for a good paying job in today's competitive and fast growing world. Without a degree from a reputed university, the student cannot get into any kind of job that pays well. It stops the growth of the child. Since the 1990s the cost of post secondary education has been rising without any downfall. This rising costs are increasingly becoming burden on the families from middle income group. This investment in the future of the child is becoming unaffordable to the parents and the students as well. The student loans leave a huge debt for the students to repay which is again a big cause of concern.

RESP plan

There are some plans that are sponsored by the Federal Government that offer financial aid to the concerned families. These programs give very little relief to the parents because even after the help, parents have to pay huge amount from their pockets which is impossible. But one exception to these plans is the Registered Education Savings Plan, RESP. This is an investment plan where the parents can invest and save for the future of their children.

The growth

This plan has been approved by the government of Canada and all the income earned by the investments on this plan is tax sheltered as per the Income Tax Act. Usually this plan remains active for a term of 35 years during which the parents can opt to invest as much as they can to a maximum life time limit of $50,000. Most of the RESP plans are associated with the grants sponsored by the federal government like the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG), Canada Learning Bond (CLB) and few other grants sponsored by the provincial governments. All the eligible beneficiaries get the financial aid from these grants which add up to 20% of all the annual savings in the plan to a maximum limit of $500 per child per year.

The requirements

Parents can start an RESP plan with couple of simple steps. The first step involves choosing a provider with whom the RESP plan is created and then providing the necessary information like the Social Insurance Number (SIN), birth certificate and permanent residency card of the child. The parents who starts the plan is called the subscriber of the plan and the child who for whom the plan is being created is called the beneficiary.

The provider

RESP plans are easily accessible to the parents across Canada through the banks, credit unions and other financial institutions. Established in the year 1965, the Heritage Education Funds is the most reputed and leading service provider of the RESP plans in Canada. They exclusively deal with RESP plan which makes them experienced and stable. There are over 400,000 happy and satisfied customers who have achieved their dreams with the help of Heritage.

The Heritage RESP plans are highly flexible and offer great variety of options to the parents to invest. Parents can choose to invest monthly, yearly or at their own convenience once in every five or ten years. The contributed money is invested very careful in opportunities where there is minimum risk and high returns.

The parents as well as the children have always been and will be benefited by the knowledgeable staff at the Heritage who guide and help them to achieve their dreams.