The Plan by Investors Group^TM

Beyond RESPs

Options to help what you’re saving match what you’ll need

You want the best for your child – and for plenty of powerful reasons, a college or university education is one of the best things you can do to give them a great start in life. There’s the increased earning potential, of course – the average university graduate earns almost twice as much as someone with a high school diploma¹. There’s the increased opportunity for employment as many jobs require a post-secondary education and having a degree or diploma is bound to become even more important in the future. And there are the valuable life lessons and relationships that are an essential part of the post-secondary experience.

RESPs are the first choice

But you already know all that – which is why you contribute to a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) for your child. After all, for the vast majority of Canadians, an RESP is the most effective way to create an education fund that grows to offset future education costs. However, when was the last time you checked to see how much of the total education bill your RESP will actually cover?

Here are some sobering facts about the dramatically escalating cost of a post-secondary education:

A student attending a full-time university program can expect to pay an average of $5,138 a year in tuition alone².
Canadian college and university graduates have an average debt of $13,600 and $26,800, respectively³.
If you take all costs into account – books, student fees, transportation, housing and other expenses – a full-time university student pays $14,500 on average to cover a year of post-secondary expenses. That’s roughly $58,000 for a four-year program⁴.

Beyond RESPs – further tax-efficient saving strategies

All this means you need every advantage you can get when saving to help your children pay for a post-secondary education. We can help you identify further saving strategies fit for you, so you can avoid burdening them with huge student loans or the extra stress of a part-time job during the school year.

Talk to us about options that may make sense for you, such as:

Helping fund your child’s education with a universal life insurance policy
Contributing additional after-tax dollars into a Tax-Free Savings Account (TFSA)
Rebalancing the investments in your non-registered portfolio, without triggering capital gains and incurring an immediate tax liability with tax-advantaged mutual funds
Creating a stable, tax-efficient, monthly cash flow that can be used to support your child with monthly income portfolios
Putting away a large sum of money to accumulate capital in a properly structured age 40 inter vivos trust

When the time comes, you want your children to be able to afford the college or university program of their choice, to follow the career they want and to obtain the earning power they desire. Your Investors Group Consultant will design a plan to help you make the best RESP and beyond RESP investment choices for your life and theirs.

Canadian Census, 2006.
Statistics Canada, 2010.
Canadian Council on Learning, 2009.
Can Learn, Government of Canada, 2011.

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Written and published by Investors Group as a general source of information only. It is not intended as a solicitation to buy or sell specific investments, nor is it intended to provide tax, legal or investment advice. Readers should seek advice on their specific circumstances from an Investors Group Consultant.

Insurance products and services offered through I.G. Insurance Services Inc. (in Québec, a Financial Services Firm). Insurance license sponsored by The Great-West Life Assurance Company (outside of Québec).