Saving For School: Understand RESPs, Take Control of Your Savings, Minimize Student Debt

by Gail Vaz-Oxlade

The average debt hanging around the necks of Canadian graduates is $27,000. So when they don their cap and gown and look forward to the future, what they are actually looking at is decades of payments. Yet only 35% of eligible kids receive the Canada Education Savings Grant—up to $7,200 that the government wants to GIVE parents as a reward for saving for school.

So why don’t more parents use RESPs?

They don’t understand how they work They say they can’t come up with the money They don’t know about the grant – the free money They aren’t convinced their kids will need their help The language and rules just seem too complicated .

Saving for School will explain the ins and outs in Gail’s trademark clear, straight-forward style. It takes parents and future students through putting money into a plan, and taking it out in the most tax-effective way, makes following the rules and regulations simple, and shows you how to set your plan up to work for YOU (as opposed to making it easy on your financial institution).

Beyond RESPs, Gail offers a full plan for minimizing your student debt, guiding you through how much student loan you should take on, and offer general tips and strategies for saving and for following a budget at school. With Gail by your side, there’s no excuse not to start Saving for School.

Genres: Nonfiction, Finance

76 pages, Kindle Edition

First published December 31, 2013

About the author

"Hello! I'm Gail Vaz-Oxlade. I'm a mother, step-mother, grand-mama, friend, confessor, writer, TV host, money maven, teacher, artist, and ex-wife. I'm loud, large and laugh a lot. I'm passionate about learning, committed to sharing and hell-bent on getting people to take control of their money and their lives.

I've written 13 books on personal finance, hundreds of articles for the financial media, published a financial magazine for women, hosted three prime-time television shows and worked with Canada’s leading financial services companies to help educate employees and clients. (I've been busy, eh?)

My corporate projects have ranged from the design of a product knowledge and sales curriculum to cover every product sold through the branch network, to the writing of several consumer-oriented brochures, the development of web content, the on-camera hosting of consumer-oriented videos, and myriad public presentations. I can make the most complex financial topic accessible to everyone, even kids.

For those of you who have detected an accent, go ahead and guess! I immigrated to Canada in 1977, lived in The Big City for a long time and then moved to the country. I have dozens of houseplants, read or listen to about 150 books a year and I'm a fabulous cook. I’m learning to knit and dying to get a new puppy… but the time’s not quite right yet so I’m practicing what I preach and being patient.

I’m all about change, and I believe that we can have anything we want in life…anything. It’s all a matter of what’s important to us and how hard we’re prepared to bust our butts. I also believe that a well-balanced life is one of the keys to happiness, and so I strive to achieve a sense of balance.

I’m happy with my life. I am determined to do interesting work and to be useful. I love to learn new things. And I’m practicing living in The Now. I am a work in progress."

Reviews

[Jignesh · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you are planning to open RESP account for your child this is a short quick read.

Do you know how many types of RESPs are there?
Do you know what happens to RESP if something happen to Subscriber?
Do you know what's down fall to open Group Plan (Scholarships Trusts)?

Do you know what's the difference between Post Secondary Education Contribution Amount (PSE) and Non-Contribution amount (EAP) ? And which one you should use first to withdraw money from a RESP account.

I didn't have answers or unknown to many of these questions. If you are planning to open RESP account this is a good read.

[Michelle · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a great book! I didn't give it 5 stars because the whole section on "how to save money in your budget to have money to contribute to the RESPs" is all stuff we know already. Maybe it helps others but I went through that section quickly. What is great about this book is how it covers all the rules, catch up rules, differences in accounts and how to take out the money in different scenarios. I'm going to gather up my numbers and put together a plan to catch up! Free money, people!

[Tanya · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have to say, I really like how simple this book was to understand. Gail really does make understanding RESP's simple. I wasn't sure where to begin or even how, her tips in the book are so very helpful. I think this is a great book to help other new parents understand what the heck to do with the RESP's and how to get the most out of them. I would highly recommend this book.

[Nihad · Rating 2 out of 5]

A very generic book, you can get better information from Google.

[Carmen LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great tips and very helpful information on saving money, minimizing student debts, and how to take advantage of funding offered to students in Canada.

[Kate · Rating 5 out of 5]

Super helpful explaining RESPs

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full review is on my blog: http://mackenziesmountain.com/2016/02...

"Saving for School" is short and sweet. The book itself is small, like the size of a Harlequin Romance paperback. And it is only 84 pages. I read it in a couple of hours ... in the same room where my parents and sister were talking and my nephew was (loudly!) watching soccer. There were a lot of distractions around. I promise you can get through it too.

Gail has a way of writing as if she is sitting down next to you explaining. Her books don't come across as academic or "lectury" to me. It could be a friend or a parent trying to explain something, only with Gail, I'm sure it isn't well-meant but completely inaccurate advice.

So who is "Saving for School" written for?

Anyone with an interest in post-secondary education. That could be a parent of a teenager or a pre-schooler, or someone planning to become pregnant.

It could be a grandparent, uncle, church leader, or the student himself (or herself).

I've already graduated from university, but even I found some tips to help me pay back my student loans in a way that reduces the interested that I pay, and how to do the calculations that will tell me how much interest I'll pay based of different payment options...

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I thought it was for my age group but it isn't. It is written more for the baby boomer generation of 30-50 year old people with kids and not for struggling young adults.
Solid advice otherwise. If I was considering children in my future this book would be something I would keep and follow.

[Sue · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent and very informative little to the point book. Although I borrowed this from the library was glad to see the Canadian Retail sale price was fair and I will probably go and purchase the book as Gail provides many great references for websites etc. that will be useful in the future.

[Robin LMD · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'll reread this in a couple of years because it offers some excellent tips and refreshes and reinforces my ideas of why we contribute to RESPs, what the rules are and how to maximize the benefits.