Reader Tim managed to jump through the hoops to set up a TD Bank e-Series Funds RESP account for this two children and has the following question:
My plan is to invest approx $100 to each of the 2 plans every two weeks in order to qualify for the maximum government match. I want to take [...]

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Despite charging some of lowest fees, the TD e-Series mutual funds may not be suitable for everyone because TD Bank RESP accounts are not set up to receive the enhanced Canada Education Savings Grant available for lower income Canadian families. Reader TS who had RESP accounts at TD sent the following note (slightly edited) about [...]

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Ellen Roseman’s recent column and blog post on group scholarship plans generated a lot of comments, including the following from a group RESP seller on how the fees of group RESPs stack up against bank mutual funds:
Banks promote their family of mutual funds as the investment vehicle for just about anyone who wants to save [...]

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After reading Rob Carrick’s article in the Globe and Mail on a study commissioned by the Federal Government on Registered Education Savings Plans, I went looking for the report. Fortunately, it is available online, provides a wealth of interesting information and explains various RESP options available to parents in a clear and straightforward manner. As [...]

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While chatting with a friend, I found out that it is not common knowledge that if you didn’t contribute to a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) in previous years, you can catch up on contributions and possibly still get the lifetime maximum Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) of $7,200 that your child can receive. It’s [...]

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The more I learn about group RESPs, the less I like them. In the comments thread on an earlier post on Group RESP plans, a reader referred to the prospectus for the years 2000 to 2007 filed by the Canadian Scholarship Trust filed with SEDAR. I was initially excited to lay my hands on so [...]

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RESPs are already the best way to save for a child’s education. In most instances, a RESP beats out other alternatives - it is better than a RRSP, it will be better than the TFSA and it is certainly better than saving in a taxable account. Bill C-253 introduced by MP Dan McTeague proposes to [...]

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Where does the introduction of TFSA to our savings options leave the RESP? Contributions to both TFSA and RESP are made with after-tax dollars and both offer the benefit of tax-deferred growth. RESPs have the advantage of attracting the CES Grant of at least 20% but the grant and all the growth within the RESP [...]

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I have received a couple of emails that the process of opening a new TD Mutual fund account in order to buy the e-Series index funds described in this post is not very clear. I regret that I did not do a better job of explaining and hope to make the process clearer in this [...]

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Mike of Four Pillars blog commented that the RESP information on the Government of Canada website that I referred to in yesterday’s post has not been updated with RESP changes introduced in the 2007 Federal Budget. As the RESP rules are confusing and widely misinterpreted at the best of times, I hope to provide comprehensive [...]

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