Sunday, January 27, 2008

Quebec Registered Education Savings Plan

Last year in February 2007, Quebec residents got a gift from the current government. in 2007 budget Quebec finance minister announced that, to encourage Quebec residents to save for their children's education, Quebec government will pay 50% of the Canada grant parents receive (on top of what they will get from Canada) grant as a tax credit directly into their RESP accounts.

If you need more information you can visit following web sites
  1. Introduction of a refundable tax credit to support education savings
  2. Article on Montreal Gazette
So far so good. Its been almost 1 year this was announced.

Last year i.e in June 2007, I deposited $4000.00 for 2 of my sons. In one month I received 800$ from Canadian government, and was expecting another $400.00 (i.e 50% of Canadian Federal Grant), but I never received that, so I thought it could be since its new its taking time for CIBC to get the grant, but I never did, finally I called the bank and they said no we are not going to get that, I will have to call revenue Quebec directly to get that, which sounded very strange, then I called the government and after explaining and referring them to their own web site, I was told I should get the money in my resp account as long as bank has done the paper work.

I called the bank again explaining to them what I was told, but CIBC told me no. Then I went to TD bank, their mutual fund specialist which deals in RESP was not even aware of this and told me to wait till she does the inquiry in the bank for this. After she did the inquiry she told me bank is not ready yet as they have not done the paper work for any one as it is a lot of work for the bank. This was not the answer I was expecting.

Then I sent an email to Royal bank thinking if any of the bank offer me in writing that they have done all the back office work and have set them selves up with the Quebec government, I will switch my account to them, so I asked a question from RBC web site, here it is

Question asked to RBC
--------------------------------
Hi,

I would like to know how Quebec residents could get the education savings grants which were introduced in last years budget (i.e. year 2007)

Currently I have an RESP (Registered education Savings Plan), where I contribute on yearly basis for my children's, last year I contributed and received 20% grant from federal government. I was also expecting 10% (of the amount I contributed) from Quebec government but nothing was received, and I called the bank they told me to contact the Quebec government directly. I called the revenue Quebec and I was told that payments are a grant and should be submitted directly in my RESP account.

I also went to other banks to inquire if any one really getting these grants, but no one is aware of this.

Can you please advise how we can receive these grants for our children's RESP?

Thanks
Reference - http://www.revenu.gouv.qc.ca/eng/ministere/centre_information/nf/nf2007/in-136_76/credit_epargne_etudes.asp


Their response to my question via Email

Dear Mr.

I appreciate the opportunity you have given me to respond to your question about the Quebec refundable tax credit to an RESP.

Indeed, for a taxation year, the tax credit corresponds to 50% of the Canada Education Savings Grant (CESG) for the year. It applies as of the 2007 taxation year to a CESG attributable to a contribution paid into an RESP after February 20, 2007, for a calendar year subsequent to 2006.

In other words, if you have received CESG payments within your RESP after February 2007, half of the amount received should be added to your RESP funds through that refundable tax credit. However, our procedures are not yet updated to request that refundable tax credit to Revenue Quebec. This should be available shortly for RESP accounts held with RBC Royal Bank.

Thank you for using RBC E-messaging Service. Please do not hesitate to contact us again through this message centre or by phone at 1-800-463-3863, if we may be of further assistance. We are at your service weekdays from 7 a.m. to 1 a.m., Saturdays from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. and on Sundays from 8 a.m. to 11 p.m. (Eastern Time, North America).

Sincerely,
Royal Bank of Canada
------------------------------

I am surprised and actually not happy at all, none of the banks (as far as I know) have done the work to set them selves up and Quebec residents are not receiving these grants.

Another surprise I got when I was doing this research was, that most of the residents are not even aware of this, which is really bad. If any one out their knows any institution offering this and you are receiving these grants please comment are share the information.

Sunday, November 18, 2007

Western Financial Bank

Very interesting article recently got published on Macleans about Wester Financial
I own about 1700 shares in this company. I plan to hold for a long term. This article gives good inside on the people running the bank and its share holders.

Here is the link
http://www.macleans.ca/article.jsp?content=20071115_2242_2242&source=srch

Friday, June 1, 2007

Stock Portfolio Value on May 31, 2007 and Monthly return

My equity portfolio value stands at $232,799.23 . This amount includes $1883.00 cash in.

So here is math for portfolio return

Value on April 30 : $ 223,279.62
Value on May 31: $ 232,799.23

Net Gain (minus cashin) = $ 7636.49

Return (%) = 3.42%

Thursday, May 17, 2007

My Trades for yesterday

Yesterday I bought Target and Verizon Medical. Both stocks are off their highs and are very strong companies. I think buying these companies when they are down will pay off in medium to long term.