Meet Adele and Dave. New parents of baby Juliette. Adele is a self-described “aggressive investor” who took out an investment loan at the age of 18 and is now comfortable riding the ups and down of the market.

 

When it comes to saving for their daughter’s future education, this young couple agrees – a conservative investment strategy with slow and steady growth is the best approach for them.  “We pretty much know when Juliette will be starting university,” said Dave. “We know she’ll need the money 18 years from now. And we don’t want to lose any money and come up with less.” Adele added, “You can’t say…take a year off and go to school when the market comes back!”

RESP specialists with a personal touch
After attending a Toronto baby show, Adele and Dave met with a sales representative to discuss setting up an RESP. They had done their research – educated themselves about the types of plans available from different financial service companies and were fully aware of the importance of starting early. Adele particularly appreciated the personalized approach and being able to meet in their family home. “Most people who are looking at RESPs have young children, babies – and dragging them out for an appointment in a normally quiet environment is not easy. We much preferred having someone come to our home to talk about RESPs – it was a comfortable and convenient experience.”

 

“Our sales representative was open and up front. He went over everything and explained the fees and costs,” said Adele. “Learning about the future cost of education was invaluable. I was aware of the costs of my education and how they have gone up since I graduated in 2009, but it was enlightening to see how education will be even more expensive in the future,” said Adele.  “Our sales representative is a big part of our decision to work with Knowledge First Financial to get to our goal,” said Dave, “He instantly put us at ease, and made us want to do business with him.

Government grants are a motivator
Like many young families, taking advantage of government grants was another motivation for Adele and Dave to open an RESP. “We looked at how to work our RESP savings into our budget so we could take advantage of the Canada Education Savings Grant,” said Dave. “If you build your budget around not having that money, you’ll make better decisions about other expenses – like hockey or dance lessons – as they come up in the future.” added Adele. “We think of it like a mortgage – you know you have to have that money to put away and you deal with what you have left — it’s all about finding that balance”

Message for young families
Adele credits her parents for her smart attitude towards saving and wants to share the same message with other young families.

It’s really important to know that every little bit counts. you don’t have to put away a lot of money to see growth, you just have to start early and make it a priority.