Education brings out the child’s potential skills and talents. Every parent dreams to see their child achieve success in life. In today’s competitive world, without proper higher education, there is no chance of getting a high paid job or career growth. A qualified qualification from a reputed university is essential for success. The post secondary education in Canada is beyond reachable for parents from small income groups.

Although there are some education assistance programs sponsored by the government of Canada that pay financial aid to the qualified families, they are barely sufficient to meet the expenses. The Registered Education Savings Plan can strongly impact the parents’ capacity to afford the post secondary education of their children.

[b]How to start RESP[/b]:

RESP plans are offered by all the banks, group plan dealers, certified financial planners and credit unions in the country. Parents can start the RESP plans for their children as soon as they are born. The funds in the plans keep growing with the children. Apart from the parents, grandparents, friends, relatives or legal guardians anyone can become the subscriber and start the RESP plan for the children. To start a RESP, the subscriber has to provide the Social Insurance Number (SIN), Birth certificate and the permanent residency card of the beneficiary. The Heritage Education Funds Savings Plan established in 1965 is the most reputed and the leading provider of exclusively RESP plans across Canada. They have made $900 million as Education assistance Payouts (EPA) to over 400,000 beneficiaries in 50 years.

[b]Growth[/b]:

When the money is invested in RESP plans offered by the Heritage, the contributions from all the subscribers is pooled and carefully invested to earn competitive returns. The RESP plans are also associated with the other grants provided by the Federal government like the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG), Canada Learning Bond (CLB) and grant provided by the other provincial governments. The money in the plan grows with contributions from the subscriber, interest earned on the investments and the incentives paid by the grants. By the time the beneficiary requires the money for education, there will be sufficient accumulation in the account.

[b]Benefits[/b]:

The benefits of RESP plans are many. They are approved by the Federal Government, all the money earned on the investment are tax deferred. The beneficiary can withdraw the money from the plan as and when required. No need to wait for the plan to mature. The subscriber can nominate himself as the beneficiary. And in many plans, the beneficiary need not be related to the subscriber either by blood or by adoption.

[b]Different plans[/b]:

The Heritage RESP is mainly offered in two varieties namely Individual plan and the Family plan. Individual plan works for the subscriber who wants to invest for one child. This child need not be related to the subscriber. The Family plan suits for the subscriber who wishes to invest for multiple children in one plan. Usually the invested money is shared among the siblings. And the beneficiary has to be related to the subscriber by birth or by adoption.

With the help of Heritage the future of the children is definitely bound to shine.