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RESP recommendations pls
August 1, 2018
4:55 am
Loonie
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August 1, 2018
7:34 am
Londonguy
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Loonie said
'Bad news' story.
https://www.thestar.com/news/investigations/2018/07/31/they-thought-they-were-saving-for-their-kids-education-but-were-shocked-to-learn-their-money-was-gone.html  

Yet another example of how we need stronger securities laws in this country -- if I was king I'd be putting people in jail for pulling this kind of stuff

February 22, 2023
6:20 am
hwyc
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Few threads about RESP savings accounts, not much selections mentioned either.

Meridian CU (Ontario) RESP ? Currently 4.45%

February 22, 2023
7:05 am
Save2Retire@55
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My kids RESP is in Aggressive Growth Questwealth plan. It moves up and down but we won't need the money for another 7 years min so should be alright.

February 22, 2023
7:16 am
mordko
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Save2Retire@55 said
Honestly, best is to open a trading account (mine is with Questrade) and buy ETFs. Easy and Cheap.

Whatever you do, stay away from group RESPs. I opened mine with KFF 4 years ago and that was a tragedic mistake. On $5K contribution, the fees were about $1k. Basically 20%.

+1. A discount brokerage RESP is the way to go. Read a book on basics and buy something like VBAL.

The issue with group RESPs isn’t just the fee. Their investments are extremely conservative so low expected return. And conditions are stringent; step left or right from their standard expectations and you get screwed. And it can be in unexpected ways; for example if your kid goes to uni a year earlier they won’t release the funds until year 2 and thats not even the worst scenario. A brokerage RESP account is far more flexible.

February 22, 2023
7:55 am
AltaRed
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Recognizing this was an old thread (until today), another example of a terrible RESP is CST (Canadian Scholarship Trust) which is front end loaded with salesperson commissions. Not only that, but to buy additional units for additional contributions requires yet another commission to buy more units. This is egregious and insulting.

The performance of the fund is not terrible in itself but these kinds of products should be readily available online like Term life insurance without the salesperson middleman.

As Mordko suggested, a simple self-directed RESP with a simple product like an Asset Allocation ETF has more flexibility than anyone can imagine. It can even be done at zero commissions at some brokerages and the brokerages will do the legwork to apply for the CESG. It can be as aggressive or as conservative as one wishes, moving a portion of it to GICs as the child approaches post-secondary age to be certain the capital is not at risk.

February 22, 2023
8:31 am
hwyc
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To be fair, CST.org once served its purpose. The RESP program only started in 1998. I didn't have the same choice in 1990 as I do today. But frankly, given today's education cost, these plans help ... just a little.

... I was a CST plan unit holder in the 90s

February 22, 2023
8:44 am
AltaRed
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hwyc said
To be fair, CST.org once served its purpose. The RESP program only started in 1998. I didn't have the same choice in 1990 as I do today. But frankly, given today's education cost, these plans help ... just a little.  

The CST fund works for those that are not DIYers but it is time to eliminate the commissioned middleman. They serve no useful purpose.

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