Canadian Personal Finance Blog

A special Friday this week, given it is February 29th, the bissextile day, an extra day for our year, so enjoy this extra day. Have a Leap today!

• With this extra day you have today to finish up your 2007 RRSP purchases if you wish.  Given how down the markets have been, you might find some deals (or you might be buying tainted meat too, I can’t tell).
• Tomorrow is Saint David’s Day (the patron Saint of Wales). Buy a leek and watch a Rugby game.
• You are supposed to have received all of your relative tax forms by now as well (T-4’s and such) so you can now do your taxes. My employer waits until the very last day before sending my tax forms out.
• The Federal Budget passed a confidence motion yesterday, so TFSA’s are a step closer to coming into laws.
• CIBC took a massive write down from the Low Rate Mortgage scandal in the U.S., which means their stock is tanking even further. TD on the other hand announced a tidy profit and an increase in their dividends. A tale of two Banks?
• I am attempting to get back on the horse and STOP spending money at work again, due to another announcement this week.
• I continue to fill in my net income on financial aid questionnaire’s for various universities, which makes me wonder, what do THEY do with all this information? Once they tell me, “You are too stinking rich to deserve financial aid”, do they simply shred my information? I really hope so, because they ask some very SPECIFIC questions (values on specific lines of my tax forms).

Have some mushy peas and maybe some leek soup and enjoy your Saint David’s weekend.

For those of you without 17 year old in your house, January 9th is the deadline for them to apply to Universities using the OUAC system. I remember when I applied, it was a form with 8 carbon copies and if you were really keen you went to the Library and looked up the University’s programs, but now the whole thing is on line and my daughter has a chance to make a very informed decision, which is great.

Some of the things I need to figure out in the next few months due to this application?

• RESP and whether I should start drawing funds from it as soon as my daughter starts school, or should I try to find enough cash to keep the RESP in tact for as long as possible. Why would I do that? The CESG grants stop coming after your child starts drawing from the funds (at least that is my understanding of the system, if I am incorrect, please someone correct me).
• If my child is accepted at a school away from home, where shall she live? Residence? Off campus housing? Which is the best bang for the dollar?
• Should my daughter apply for OSAP (Ontario Scholastic Assistance Program)? Will she get anything but loans (my guess is NO, her Dad is evidently far too rich for any direct help).
• What scholarships and bursaries can she get? I think I need to get her looking at that, as every dollar saved is a good thing for me.

I’ll keep my trusty readers posted, luckily I have friends who have gone through this that I will be asking questions of as well.

Go Check Your Safety Deposit Box

Just a friendly piece of advice to start your new year. What is in the box? Does it need to be kept there? Last year I took out my Air Canada shares (from the Bankrupt version of the Airline), this year I think I may take out the 12 year old Will that is in there. I need to get one of those “do it yourself” will kits from Staples, as my current Will doesn’t even take into consideration my son, or that my daughters are mostly old enough to live on their own.

University Tuition Averages

After my own brush with tuition costs this week, University Costs Holy Crap, Stats Canada has come up with a more extensive survey of Post Secondary education Costs across Canada. Worth a read to see just how little folks in Quebec pay for their tuition fees. A more startling graphic is the following that shows just why the cost of Post Secondary education has sky rocketed.

Given that post secondary institutions have been allowed to increase their fee structures at such an alarming rate, it explains why it is so much more than when I went to school 25 years ago.

Oil Futures over $90 a Barrel

Interesting that the price has gone up another 28% in the past little while and no one has said too much? This is going to make for a very interesting winter if it is a cold one, that is for sure.

We Canadians are Debt Junkies

At least that is what the Certified General Accountants think, with their new report, Where does the Money Go: The Increasing Reliance on Household Debt in Canada, simply reinforces more of what you have read in other Money Blogs as well as here, get the heck out of debt however you can! Most any debt is a bad thing, and getting used to it, is not the answer. Get Rid Of It, is the answer.

This Week’s Postings

• Sunday a Day of Rest?
• Leading Indicators Still Good For Canada
• Tourism as Important as Agriculture
• Bank of Canada has no Interest (hikes)
• University Costs Holy Crap!
• Get off the Throne Will Ya?

As my oldest daughter gets closer to University, I am learning more and more about the relatively high cost of post secondary education in Ontario. Last night was an open house for the Ontario Universities and I attended with my daughter, and came away with a few interesting thoughts:

• There are a lot of Universities in Ontario, 21 were at this open house, and this does not include the community colleges.
• University of Western Ontario “Pitch Kid” was the best of the night, he was quick on his feet, polite, but funny and really hit the high points for the kids and the parents. This kid should go into sales, or should get a bonus for the job he is doing. Most of the other presenters were very bland and you could tell reading from a script.
• This is going to be EXPENSIVE, but the Universities are not trying to hide this fact they all mention the price of an education along with their minimum mark requirements, so it is useful for the parents to hear the actual numbers!

How expensive you might ask, well let’s go to my old Alma Mater and have them tell us how much a year at the University of Waterloo might be (Read Here for actual Waterloo Web Site):

• The cheapest first year that you can expect would be in Mathematics with a total cost of Academic costs (books, tuition) adding up to $5,700.00
• The most expensive degree program would be Optometry at $15,200 in Academic fees and books.

How much to actually live there if you don’t live in Kitchener/Waterloo?

• Somewhere from $5,900 to $8700 for the year depending on if you live on or off campus and what kind of meal plan you purchase.

Total costs estimated over 8 months?

• Domestic students : $14,300 to $26,600
• International students: $24,800 to $45,500

Every school talked about financial assistance and bursaries too, but for those of you reading this who have 2 year olds, start thinking about this NOW, NOW, NOW.

• Start an RESP today, and put something in it, anything, to get started (not one of those silly ones from the doctor’s office, go to a bank or an investment house and get a REAL RESP).
• Remember your child is going to be going to school at age 18, maybe do your savings calculations based on that. If your son is 3, you have 15 years or so to get to having somewhere near the $60K you might need to put them through school. No, wait, remember inflation, you are going to need more than that, so think about it.

Some parents out there saying, “My parents didn’t help me get through University”, ok, that is a a valid point, but, how much did University cost back then? Do you want your kids graduating with a student loan load of over $70K?

Other University Related Posts

• Should Parents Pay for University?
• The Costs of University
• University is Going to Cost How MUCH?