I just finished reading The RESP Book: The Complete Guide to Registered Education Savings Plans for Canadians, written by Mike Holman of Money Smarts Blog.
I enjoyed the book, and I’ll get to that in a minute. But first: Wow, these things are a deal! They’re the Canadian equivalent of a 529 plan with a 20% government match for every dollar contributed (up to a limit) in addition to the tax-free growth. And, depending on where you live, your provincial government might give an additional match on top of that.
The RESP Book
The book is short (115 pages), but because it focuses on such a narrow topic, it does a thorough job of covering all the important points. For example:
- How do RESPs work? (Who is eligible to open one or be named as the beneficiary of one? Who is eligible for RESP grants? How much can you contribute each year?)
- How much should you contribute? (Including a good discussion of why many studies regarding future university costs may overstate how bad things are.)
- Are there any reasons for not contributing to an RESP?
- How should an investor go about choosing investments within their RESP? (Like me, Mike is a big fan of minimizing investment costs.)
If a yank with no prior knowledge of RESP accounts can understand the information in the book, I imagine it’ll be thoroughly understandable for Canadian investors. If RESPs are a topic you’re looking to learn more about, go check out the book.
And now, my favorite blog posts from this week:
Investing Articles
- 4 Ways to Handle a Retirement Savings Shortfall from The Street (written by Jim of Financial Ducks in a Row)
- No-Penalty Traditional IRA Withdrawals from JoeTaxpayer
- Cost Basis Tracking after Converting to Admiral Shares from The Finance Buff
- 5 Money Moves to Make for Your Newborn Baby from PT Money
- Should You Name Your Spouse as Your IRA Beneficiary? from Wealth Pilgrim
- Vanguard: The Cheapest Funds for British Investors? from Monevator
Other Money-Related Articles
- Depositing Checks with the iPhone Paypal App from Five Cent Nickel
- How to Suck at Launching a Product from Man vs. Debt
- No Social Security COLA for 2011 from Bad Money Advice
- Debt to Income Ratio: Why Does It Matter? from The Military Wallet
- Stay-at-Home-Mom Math Analysis from Money Help for Christians
- What is a Reverse Mortgage Loan? from Free From Broke
- Who Won the 2010 Nobel Prize in Economics? from Weakonomics
Oblivious Investor on Tour
- Earning Extra Income with a (Small) Blog hosted by Get Rich Slowly
Blog Carnivals
- Wealth Builder Carnival hosted by My Wealth Builder
- Carnival of Wealth hosted by Personal Dividends
- Best of Money Carnival hosted by The Intelligent Speculator
- Carnival of Personal Finance hosted by Canadian Finance Blog
- Carnival of Financial Planning hosted by Consumer Boomer
- Financial Independence Compilation hosted by Ditch the Boss
Hi. I'm Mike Piper, the author of this blog. I'm a CPA and the author of several personal finance books. The point of this blog is to show that investing doesn't have to be complicated. 
Thanks a lot for the review!
Mike
Wow…20% match from the Government. I wonder what the participation rate is on that.
Hi there.
First time reader (through Money Smarts) but I just wanted to say that I thought your review of Mike’s book was very interesting and encouraging. I am a Canadian living in Japan, so my copy is still on the way, but it’s great to hear that someone unfamiliar with the system was able to follow it easily and is a fan of the book.
I am very financially aware, but as a soon-to-be-father, I have realized that
I know almost nothing about our RESP system (aside from the basics, as well as some specifics pertaining to Canadians living abroad). It’s great to have a book like this.
I’ll be sure to check back on your site. It’s always great to follow the links from other sites