RESP? | General financial discussion | Discussion forum

How about earlier discussion RESP recommendations pls?

The discussion also refers to two earlier discussions Global RESP and RESP with "Knowledge First Financial".

Dean said
In the past, I heard some real horror stories about Group RESP's.

Do they still exist now?  

I assume you mean the scholarship plans, Dean, as opposed to a "group RESP" (which I'm not sure exists, but assume would be similar to an employer-sponsored group RRSP). I don't think they're all bad necessarily in terms of performance, but they do tend to have higher than average management fees, ancillary fees, and, crucially, lock-ins with penalties for early withdrawals.

They definitely still exist and you can look up their plan documents on SEDAR (KnowledgeFirst is one; Heritage is another).

Best bet would be to go with a robo-advisor as they often have no minimum account balance for new RESPs and will even waive management fees until you have up to $5,000 in your account. Beyond that, go with a discount brokerage.

Also, anyone can start an RESP for someone, but you have to be a certain type of relative to start a "family RESP" that can be transferred to another beneficiary. So, for example, if my sister had decided to have a baby with her partner, I could start an RESP (if I had the baby's SIN) for her hypothetical baby; however, as a hypothetical uncle, I could not start a family RESP for multiple hypothetical babies.

Grandparents, on the other hand, are one of the familial relation types that can start a "family RESP" as I understand it.

As a courtesy, it's recommended that you discuss beforehand with the baby's parents who will be claiming the government grants as each child is only eligible for one set of grants.

Cheers,
Doug