Is Saving for Your Child’s Education Still on Your To-Do List?
With this bright plan, you can do it right from home.
We busy moms have a lot on our plate. The fall season brought back to work and back to school, and it all looks very different this year. We’re doling out masks and hand sanitizer, wondering what to do about Halloween and figuring out how to make the holidays as normal as possible. We worry about the future, and the idea of long-term prep is starting to become a regular thought for many families. So, have you given any thought to your child’s post-secondary education?
Don’t put planning for their future on the back burner. It may be hard to imagine while they’re working on their ABCs and 123s, but high school will be over before you know it. Here’s why you need to start saving and why the CST Bright Plan™ is the right approach for families like yours.
Why invest in your little superstar’s bright future now?
The first few years of a child’s life is the best time to start saving for post-secondary education. An early start with a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP) makes a big impact. Investing early means the money has more time to grow. You have the option to keep your contributions low, optimize government grants and hopefully reach the maximum contribution limit of $50,000 per child.
RESPs unlocks access to government grants such as the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG), which provides up to $500 per year to a maximum of $7,200 per child over the lifetime of an RESP. Some provinces also offer grants for RESPs, and lower income families can benefit from an additional grant, the Canada Learning Bond.
To attract the maximum CESG each year and earn income as soon as possible, families need to contribute $2,500 by December 31 (just around the corner!). Why not knock it off your to-do list now?
Note, conditions apply. Grant room (unclaimed CESG amounts) accumulates until the end of the year in which the child turns 17.
An RESP is a smart savings tool.
It can be used for university, college and almost any training program, including apprenticeships. On top of tuition, the money can be used for school-related expenses such as residence, books, transportation, a laptop and meal plan. How much will you need for your child’s education? Try this easy RESP planner and see how much to save and when to start.
Once your child enrols in a post-secondary program, they receive payments from their RESP called Education Assistance Payments (EAPs), which are made up of the government grants and investment income earned on your contributions and government grants. Once the EAPs are used up, your original contributions can be used to pay for your child’s school and is returned tax free,. Cool, right?
Let’s say your child decides she’s going to travel the world instead of going to school. The RESP can stay open for up to 36 years, so she has flexibility regarding when she starts her post-secondary education.
CST Bright Plan™ can help make your child’s dreams become a reality.
It’s easy to start saving for your child’s future with CST Bright Plan™ — a smart, simple and flexible RESP that checks all the boxes.
- A digital-first RESP. Skip the bank appointments and piles of paper. Open your RESP easily and conveniently from home. You can access your plan safely from your laptop, tablet or phone, watch your money grow and track your projected future savings, with support via live chat or over the phone.
- Age-based rebalancing. In the early years, the plan aims to maximize your growth potential with equity focused exchange-traded funds (ETFs). As your child gets closer to graduation, it rebalances investments to ETFs invested in fixed income to reduce risk and preserve your gains.
- Flexible contributions. You control how much and how often to make contributions, with as little as $10 per month or a single contribution of $500.
- Tax-free growth. In all RESPs, including CST Bright Plan™, investments grow tax-free in the plan. When your child begins school, the EAPs will be taxed at their income level.
- Professionally managed with low management fees. CST Spark, a subsidiary of the Canadian Scholarship Trust Foundation (CST), is the distributor and investment fund manager of CST Bright Plan™. Blackrock, RBC Investor Services Trust and CST Spark take care of your plan, which has an annual management fee of 1.5% + tax.
Start saving!
Kickstart your child’s future and set up your CST Bright Plan™ today. Learn more and start saving at cstspark.ca
This is a sponsored post in partnership with CST Spark. C.S.T. Spark Inc. is the exclusive distributor of CST Bright Plan™, which is only sold by prospectus.
