There are no "i"s or "t"s in "Oscar", but we dot and cross them anyway.

[metawidget]

The dust has settled from Oscar's arrival to a point — he's looking around more, more expressive, and all his bodily functions seem to be up and running just fine! I can change a diaper, sometimes before Oscar objects too strongly, and he drowses long enough that Elizabeth and I managed to sit down for a sometimes-one-handed game of Dominion last night (a real squeaker with curse cards bouncing around a lot and unusual quantities of duchies bought up).

I'm starting to think about all those prudent technical things new parents are supposed to do. We've got QPIP's and my employer's parental benefits' application processes rolling, submitted the declaration of birth and the heel-prick samples (and have the urine sample day on the calendar), we seem to have enough clothes and gear and baby wipes cached in strategic places around the house. Now, what about wills, life insurance (on us), RESPs, and other prudent-but-abstract things new parents might want to do? Is there a sensible order of operations here? A particular professional that can help orchestrate things? Parents and professionals reading this who know about this sort of thing and want to share: what are your experiences or recommendations? What should be left for later or done soonish?

Comments

[felis_ultharus]

No advice to offer, just another congratulations. He's really sweet.

[metawidget]

I think we'll do the 'real thing' soon, but if (for example) details of insurance make the will-writing process easier, I just want to lay things down in the right order to avoid having to retrace steps.

[fuzzyila.livejournal.com]

but if (for example) details of insurance make the will-writing process easier

It makes absolutely no difference. A will is very general - it will be "all assets, moveable and immoveable property" and so forth. It does not name specific policies. In QC, you also don't have that many choices - all life insurance policies MUST go to the spouse and then children. You cannot change that.

[fuzzyila.livejournal.com]

those will kits from the pharmacy are not valid or sold in QC.

[asimplelife.livejournal.com]

I don't know about in QC but in Ontario you can register for a birth cert and SIN number all at once. When it came in I went into the bank and opened an RESP. Avoid third-party companies that do this for you! You will get screwed. Go to a bank or credit union.

However, the two most important points: a will and life insurance. STAT. If you both died in a car accident tomorrow Oscar's fate would be decided by the courts regardless of your preference. Even if you do a handwritten one it's better than nothing at all.

Insurance is simple: I got term through the alumni association for about $40 a month for the both of us for $250k (each, no medical). You may be able to do better through your union, I would call your rep to see. I can't give you the ins-and-outs of term vs. whole life anything is better than nothing.

[metawidget]

Yup, we ticked a few extra boxes and "signed here" a bunch of times when doing the declaration of birth, and now Oscar will have a health card, a SIN, a birth certificate and child benefits attributed to him.

I hadn't thought about the union for insurance — they do seem to have a long list of member deals, likely including life insurance. My thought had been to go to the same company we use for house insurance, but two quotes won't hurt.

[tocityguy.livejournal.com]

If you're thinking of insurance it's usually cheap for young children and in the case of one friend, who has MD, it turned out to be a real boon.

[fuzzyila.livejournal.com]

check to see if you have life insurance through work first - I presume so.

I'm surprised you didn't have a will before being married AND having a house (I rant every once and a while on my journal about the importance of wills). Anyway, you just need to sit down with a notary and have it written out. Also get a mandate/power of attorney/living will in the case of incapacity. It doesn't take very long (less than an hour) and you just need the full name(s) of an executor other than yourselves (should you both die at once, God forbid) and a guardian for your child(ren). Make sure you have it written as "any children" so that you don't have to keep updating it if you have more.
Expect it to cost somewhere between $750-$1000 for you and Elizabeth.

It's mine and my seestor's (she's a CFA) that an RESP can wait. They have a total shelf life of 37 years (though that changes now and then) so there's plenty of time to wait a bit before starting one. You can make a lump-sum deposit into one (and so can family members or anyone for that matter), so a good compromise is to just tuck away some money in a high-interest savings account (at say ING) until you're ready to open it. Of course then, you cannot get the government bonuses, but if you earn a certain amount of income, those bonuses may be not really all that exciting anyways.

I can send you a government document that describes all the pros and cons of investing with banks vs. group plans. The group plans are commission-sales driven and have more ifs/ands/buts about withdrawal, I found (including one that expired after 25 years or with special written permission. Sorry, but it's my money, I'm not going to ask you to use it!). I'd stick with a bank I trust, but shop around. They all have minimum monthly payment requirements. I can't remember what RBC's is, but Laurentian Bank requires $50/month to open. If ING had one, I would definitely invest it there.

Anyways, all this to say, I don't want to put pressure on my child to complete school within a certain amount of time when he's not even a year old. I also don't believe I need to pay for his whole education, so it's ok for us to wait. But you need to decide for yourselves what you think would work best for you. Keep in mind, it can be transferred to another child within the family or if your children decide not to use it, you or your spouse can. Finally, if no one wants to further their education, you may be able to transfer it to an RSP, but you have to pay back any government bonuses and you don't get the interest, just the principle.

About RESPs

[popelaksmi.livejournal.com]

Visit: www.canlearn.ca and read the brochures, especially this one:
http://www.canlearn.ca/eng/saving/resp/brochure/resp.shtml
Look at the checklist towards the end, it has sample questions you can ask companies to help you decide which company/ plan is best for YOU. The FAQ is good too.