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The Rural Voice, 1990-04, Page 18PORTABLE SEED CLEANING BOOK EARLY PORTABLE SEED CLEANING&TREATING s.w.c,..a.I4519371.0606 ro-ssmu Save time, trucking and money Clean & Treat Your Own Grain Two machines available Call Now COOK PORTABLE SEED CLEANING R.R. 8, Owen Sound 519-371-0605 NEW VIC DUMP WAGONS... Hundreds of uses • 5-7 TON • Hauling wood • Hauling & spreading gravel • Moving grain, corn, silage, bales, bulk fertilizer, vegetables • Stone removal NEW VIC MANUFACTURING LTD. LOUISA ST., BOX 33, AYTON, ONT. NOG 1C0 519-665-7562 14 THE RURAL VOICE WISE MOVES Financial Strategies for Farmers -b Watkins "Wise Moves" is a series of articles provided by Watkins, Daugherty & Associates. Taking as a case study the farm of "Martin Wise," financial experts Richard Daugherty and Bob Watkins outline various ways that farmers can enhance their financial planning and security. Your questions and comments are wel- come: telephone Bob in Lucknow 528-3514, Richard in Listowel 291-5040, or Kitchener (Imperial Life regional office) 744-5281.0 Richard Daugherty EDUCATION PLANS FOR CHILDREN Mary and I have always thought that we would like our son Bradley to take over the farm when we retire. He already has thoughts of going to the Ontario Agricultural College. We decided to ask our insurance representative about setting money aside for both Brad and Cynthia. We had noticed various education plan brochures in offices around town and wanted to know more about them. Our representative told us that, in general, these sorts of plans are called "Registered Education Savings Plans" (RESPs). They are simply education- al trust funds run by an organization. The money put in is not tax-deductible but the interest earned by the money in the plan is sheltered from tax. When the child goes to college or university, the fund is used for educa- tion fees and expenses and counts as income for the child. If the child earns too much money in one year while going to college, he may have to pay a small amount of income tax on the money he receives. However, he can claim income-tax credits to offset some of his education costs. Frequently, the plans will not pay for second -year expenses unless the child completes the first year success- fully. And to get full value from these plans, your child has to go to college. If he doesn't, in many cases the par- ents can get back only the money they put into the plan, without interest. We asked our representative how much money would be needed to pay for a university education. He said that today a minimum required would be about $6,000 a year per child. So, for a four-year program, $24,000 would be needed. Bradley is now ten. If he goes to college at 18 and inflation runs at 5 per cent a year, we will need $35,500. If we could find an investment that gave us 10 per cent interest, we would need to put $235 a month into the plan for eight years. Our total payments would be $22,560 and the interest earned would be $12,940. Our representative suggested that he set up a plan that is not registered. We would not be able to deduct the earned interest, but if neither Cynthia nor Bradley went to college we would have the full $35,500 to use for our retirement or anything else we wanted. One further possibility would be to set up a self-directed education trust and name Bradley and Cynthia as beneficiaries. We would have to pay fees to have the trust set up and registered legally. The interest would be tax-sheltered. But if the kids did not go to college, we could nominate our grandchildren or our nephews and nieces to receive the funds — or I could go to college myself! Note: the February 1990 federal budget proposed to limit contributions to any RESP to $1,500 a year, and these plans will not be allowed to exist for more than 21 years.0