Tips for opening a registered disability savings plan

BY TERRY MCBRIDE, THE STARPHOENIX

Are you disabled? If you are under age 60 and reside in Canada, you should consider opening a Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP).

Think of your RDSP as a way to provide you with financial independence. Your RDSP can help to make sure that you can take care of your own cost of living if you outlive your parents.

Note that your special RDSP nest egg will not interfere with your entitlement to any other government assistance plans such as Saskatchewan Assistance Program (SAP), the Saskatchewan Assured Income for Disability (SAID) and Guaranteed Income Supplement (GIS).

Disability Tax Credit

To qualify to open an RDSP you need to have the Disability Tax Credit (DTC). Ask your doctor to fill in application form T2201. Mail the completed form to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA). You'll have to wait several months to receive the confirmation letter from CRA.

$1,000 bond

What if you and your parents don't have any money to make any contributions to your RDSP? Don't let that deter you from starting an RDSP. If you are under age 49 and you make less than $25,356 a year, you can qualify for $1,000 of government assistance per year. Once you apply, you would see the

Canada Disability Savings Bond (CDSB) deposited to your RDSP account.

Simply by opening an RDSP account, the government will keep giving you the $1,000 CDSB each year for up to 20 years. That's free money that most people don't know about.

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In this BLOG we will look at pensions and their impact on what are called Public Private Partnerships or P3’s.  IT will also deal with other pension matters, such as Defined Contribution Plans (DC) vs Defined Benefit (DB) PLANS, the weakness in private plans, the need for pension reform in public pensions to have shareholder rights, directorships and ethical investment directives and policies.