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Choosing between RESPs and TFSA for Education Savings

Canadian families have various choices when it comes to saving money for future use. Two of these are Registered Education Savings Plans (heritage education funds RESPs) and Tax-Free savings Accounts (TFSA).
When deciding where to use the money, parents invariably choose education for their children. Between RESPs and TFSA, which one can better satisfy this purpose?

Tax-Free Contribution Growth
The contributions to both RESPs and TFSAs grow tax-free since both of them use after-tax income. However, withdrawals are treated differently.
• You don’t generally have to pay any taxes on TFSA withdrawals.
• On the other hand, RESP withdrawals have student-rate taxes.
The second is often easy to manage since most students are in lower tax brackets as they are pursuing post-secondary education.

RESPs are better with government grants.
There’s an added opportunity to boost your savings with grants in the case of RESPs, which may be eligible for grants such as Canada Learning Bonds (CLBs) and Canada Education Savings Grants (CESG).

Canada Learning Bonds
These are grants given by the Canadian government on top of your contributions to the heritage RESP account . You can get as much as $2,000 without affecting other grants or funds. As long as your child is eligible for the grant, you can request for a CLB.

Canada Education Savings Grants
Just like CLBs, these are grants given by the government. Here are the key points to CESGs:
• The government can give you up to $500 (per child, you have a family RESP account), which you can invest for compounding growth.
• A CESG is an automatic 20% match of your RESP contribution.
• You can receive $500 per year, or $7,200 lifetime.

Important Reminder:
Bear in mind that if your child decides he or she doesn’t want to pursue a post-secondary education and you decide to break the account, you have to surrender the grants to the government.

This is where TFSAs take the win.
Since the funds accumulated in TFSAs are not dedicated to educational expense, meaning you can use them for any type of savings, the money can still be given to the child, who can spend it for something aside from education.

TFSAs may trigger overspending.
TFSAs are simple and easy to set up, unlike RESPs. They’re also more flexible when it comes to taxation. Banks, online trading platforms, financial institutions, and credit unions almost always offer TFSAs as well.
But this simplicity can be a disadvantage too. Because they’re easy to access, a person may be tempted to spend it on things other than education and other important matter. RESP funds are generally dedicated to educational expenses.

Investing in both RESPs and TFSAs
There isn’t an annual contribution limit for an heritage RESP. However, there is a current lifetime contribution ($50,000 max per child). Given the current rate of expenses, this amount may not tide your child over until he graduates.

If it all comes down to cases, the biggest factor you’ll have to consider is your family’s financial situation and goals. If you think you have enough money to save with both RESPs and TFSAs, go for it.

Business

5 Common Mistakes Made With Business Implementation

If your company is bogged down by repetitive, time-consuming and laborious tasks, you need to implement business process management (BPM). When properly implemented, BPM helps in simplifying and minimizing repetitive tasks, clarifies tasks and responsibilities, and defines performance metrics.

The objective of implementing a business process management is to improve operational efficiency, which is aided with the help and expertise of an implementation consultant.

Improved efficiency, in turn, leads to an increase in productivity and profitability. When tasks are simplified and clarified, those responsible for performing them are able to work with clarity and precision since they know exactly what they are supposed to do. They also understand fully how their productivity or performance is measured since there are clear performance metrics.

A number of common process management mistakes occur during implementation. Below are five that I consider quite grievous.

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Business

6 Tricks to Create the Perfect Wedding Guest List

The guest list can be one of the most difficult aspects of planning your wedding. You will be navigating everything from family politics to workplace gossip. You will need to be on your A-game if you are to avoid any missteps.

The most important thing is to never let yourselves get lost in any of the stress that comes with planning your wedding, whether it is deciding the venue or ordering the party rentals. After all, it is going to be the happiest day of your life so you need to make it as stress-free as possible.

So, how do you curate a guest list that makes everyone happy, including you? Read on for some great tips to help you out.

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Business

5 Restaurant Items You Must Clean After Cooking Each Meal

If you’re a restaurant owner, you know just how much work it takes to stay in business. From having the right amount of food in stock to hiring employees to assist you there is a lot to do. However, one of the most critical tasks is sure to be keeping your restaurant clean.

While this will take the right amount of time and effort, it’s by far the best way to have a successful business. Knowing the best things to do after every meal you’ve prepared can be the key to having a clean restaurant.

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Business

5 Ways to Lose Weight and Gain Digestive Health

For millions of people, losing weight is not easy. It might surprise those that are struggling with weight loss to know that part of their issue could be an unhealthy digestive system.

When your digestive organs are not working properly, your body is not getting the vital nutrients it needs to perform all the functions including burn calories, increase metabolism, build muscle, circulate oxygen and nutrient rich blood to the body systems, and break down the foods properly. If you want to lose the unwanted pounds a healthy gut is part of the complete well-balanced lifestyle choices you need to fulfill your goals.

Bloating, gas, heartburn, indigestion, irregular bowl functions, and nausea are some of the more common signs of a poorly functioning digestive tract.

If your food processing organs are not functioning at their optimal best, there are things you can do to restore a healthy system. These tips will help you improve your gut health.

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Business

5 Condo Buying Tips for Urban Dwellers

If you’re thinking of buying a property in a metropolitan city like Toronto, and you like high-rise living, then a condo makes perfect sense. You have access to many facilities, the price is lower than a detached or semi-detached house and of course, your snow-shovelling days are in the past.

However, you want to make the best possible choice for you and the family while getting a good deal. Here are some tips as well as the steps you need to take to make the right decisions when buying a condo.

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Business

6 Oil Change Guidelines for Driving Newbies

Through proper maintenance and care of any vehicle, you can dramatically extend the number of years that it will remain running. As I’m sure that you’re aware, vehicles and engines are complicated pieces of machinery with many moving parts.

Your engine needs oil to keep all of these components working together smoothly. If you don’t change the oil on a regular basis you may find that you end up with much more costly expenses further down the line.

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Business

5 Rookie Mistakes When Filing for Disability Claims

Being unable to work can have a very negative impact on your financial well-being. You will be unable to pay your bills, and this is certain to create a lot of stress. However, many things can occur during your life that may translate into an injury.

It’s in your best interest to work with the social security department in your area to obtain disability if this has happened to you. The first thing you’ll want to do is avoid making the wrong moves to make this possible.

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Business

4 Legal Advice to Get Your Criminal Charges Dropped

Unlike a civil offense, a criminal offense is seen as an act that is punishable by the law or another established authority. At a fundamental level, these rules exist as an attempt to abolish human conduct that is considered, broadly speaking, to be dangerous to human life. Being charged of, and facing trial for, a criminal offense is obviously an extremely challenging endeavor, stressful both emotionally and physically.

In order to get through the process and walk away with the best possible outcome, it is absolutely critical to have a great criminal lawyer by your side. This person will take case of drafting the necessary papers, gathering and analyzing information, finding and questioning witnesses, negotiations, attending the court hearing, and, of course, speaking in your defense.

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Business

5 Guaranteed Ways to Avoid Locking Yourself Out of Your Home

It will happen to all of us at one point in our lives, but that doesn’t make it any better. Locking yourself out of your home can be really embarrassing, annoying and even dangerous. The stress that is caused by locking yourself out of your home is compounded by the fact that you will now have to wait for a locksmith to come to your home and let you in.

Even with emergency locksmith services available that can come to your door at any time of the day or night, you will still have to change your plans with almost no notice. If you want to avoid being locked out of your home, follow the tips below!

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