Plans for Little Bun’s Education and Future (Money-Wise)

So this is the plan for Little Bun (in my head) at the moment. Nothing is set in stone, I am going with the flow of what he seems to be able to understand and so on.

Today, I showed him his RESP account, how much we invested, and how much he has “earned” so far. He was impressed (LOL)…. I showed him quickly where he could buy the ETFs and stocks, and next year when it is time to buy more, I will teach him how to buy the items (it’s a quick division problem), and then we are done.

Here are my ideas:

MONEY LESSONS

AGE 7-8

• I want to show him a basic budget, talk about categories, what goes into them, percentages.
• I showed him his RESP account, and explained what each column was and looked like.

AGE 9-13

• He will start reading money books, and I will introduce him to investing – buying and balancing his portfolio of ETFs.

AGE 16

• I want him to get a part-time job. It isn’t for the money, it’s for the lessons they teach you on what it takes in terms of work to make that kind of money to live on, how much money you have leftover (nothing…) once I take him through a budget and show him what it would be after taxes, as if he worked this job full-time, and how he could possibly live on it if he cut on various areas.

AGE 18

• I will give him at the max (currently $6K a year) in his TFSA to max it out for him. By this time he should have RRSPs as well from working so maybe between the two – my gifts and his working, he will have both maxed early on.

AGE 20+

• If he takes student loans (if he is even eligible), I will let him experience paying back those loans for a year or so, and see how he is doing. If I see he is diligent (no push from me, etc), and good at being smart with his money, I will likely clear his loans in full to give him a fresh start. Clearing my debt taught me a lot of strong lessons.
• Home purchases: I am considering giving him ac down payment as well. We will see what it costs, but I would love to help him, or depending on the situation of where we are at, buy it for him.

MONEY MOVES

CUSTODIAL ACCOUNT

• The day he was born, I opened a custodial RESP account in Questrade, which means I am the guardian or custodian of the account (the official adult), and he is the beneficiary or owner of the account once he turns 18 or so. You have to do this, there is no other option.
• Even if I wanted to open an investing account for him, it would have to be a custodial one, and I would have to be in charge of it for him. I may still do this actually, now that I think about it. Until they turn 18, they need a guardian on the account.
• All the rest of his money is in cash coming up for next January’s $2500 drop-in. I just do it all at once in January (hence why 2020 wasn’t great, things only crashed in March!!!)
• WHERE DO I PUT THE MONEY? I use Questrade for EVERYTHING investing. My RRSP, TFSA, Margin and RESP accounts are all here.

[ o0soehds ]

My referral gives you $50 in free trades and I get $50.

ANNUAL INVESTING (EVERY JANUARY)

• Every year I drop $2500 of his money from family, friends and the government into the his RESP
• Any extra left over, I invest on the side for him, and I move it into his RESP by transferring the funds in-like
• We are following this RESP investing plan, and getting at least $3250 invested each year with the government contributions:

This chart above doesn’t even take into account that in Québec we have the QESI grant as well which is 10% of the amount invested, or $250/year as well, up to a maximum of of $3600 (lifetime).

$3600 / $250 = 14.4 years

So he will max out his QESI grant of 10% when he is 15, same time as the Canadian RESP one.

Update 2021:

I recently put in the maximum in his RESP because “time in the market” mattered more than the 20% government contribution each year. I will gain an extra $28,477 in his portfolio by maxing it out a decade before.

Read about: Maxing out the RESP from Day One: Calculations and comparisons

OTHER FUNDS

We also have other funds on the side in cash, to pay for things like his secondary school education (we plan on going private, which is about $2000 – $5000 a year, which is not the price of a PRIVATE-private school, but just another one that is more specialized than public school) for about 5-ish years, or $10K.

Whatever is left as cash, will be given to him to decide to do with as he wishes. I am going to give him cash and he can decide to do with it what he wants, with my STRONG SUGGESTION THAT HE MAXES OUT HIS RRSP ROOM! I do plan on giving him TFSA maxing out money each year once he turns 18, to give him a head start, at a minimum.

But I want him to take control and make decisions about his money, as it won’t be mine and he might as well make mistakes now with a few thousand dollars than with hundreds of thousands of dollars or more.

Thoughts? Suggestions?