Education Trends

4 Ways to Contribute More Money to Your Child’s RESP

Posted on October 9, 2018November 5, 2019

An RESP can help you save for your child’s education. Here are some ways to get more funds that you can pump into the heritage education funds RESP -Registered Education Savings Plan.

1. Keep Track of Your Budget
Do you live pay cheque to pay cheque and struggle to save? You’re not alone. More than half the population in Canada live this way. To make things worse, the world has transitioned into a cashless economy. As each year passes by, spending becomes a lot easier. For instance, you can make payment for any product or service using your smartphone and pick them up at designated locations while other businesses offer home delivery service for convenience.
By keeping track of your spending, you can control it. Start by creating a budget. This in itself can be an eye-opening exercise. While budgeting is a great idea, it is more important to keep track of your expenses. Some of the resources you can use include Excel spreadsheets, programs offered by your bank, or smartphone apps. With a budget in place, you’ll have more money for your child’s RESP.

2. Pay Yourself First
Many people don’t have the habit of savings. You work hard, but there’s nothing to show for it. Each time you check your bank account balance at the end of the month, you feel devastated. Stop treating savings as a low priority. It should be at the top of your priority list. The best way to build your savings is by paying yourself first. Determine how much money you’d like to contribute to your child’s Registered Education Savings Plan. If you can’t save the money yourself, ask your bank to automatically deduct a certain percentage of your pay cheque and contribute to your child’s heritage RESP. If the money is automatically deposited into your personal savings account, you have no choice but to save it.

3. Ask Your Love Ones to Contribute
Perhaps you think it’s embarrassing or inappropriate to ask your loved ones to contribute to your child’s Registered Education Savings Plan, but in reality, it’s not. Instead of using the funds on toys, they can help secure the future of your child’s education. This is a gift that will last for years to come. Don’t forget to write down all these contributions and show it to your child as he or she decides to continue with college. It can offer the motivation and support to continue with school while helping them show appreciation to their loved ones.

4. Teach Your Kids to Save
You can help improve your child’s money-saving habit by encouraging them to contribute to their Registered Education Savings Plan. As soon as they come of age, explain to them in clear terms that you are saving for a better and brighter future. This way, your child may picture what’s in the future and work towards actualizing that dream. Each time you give your child an allowance, encourage them to save in their heritage RESP, no matter how little.

With these four tips, you’ll be able to save more towards your child’s education.

7 Money Myths That Are Common in College

Posted on August 19, 2018

Haven’t you ever found it odd why most college kids buy cars that they simply can’t afford? Or why is it that college students keep abusing their credit cards almost all the time? Why is it that almost all the students are driven by this impulse to spend more rather than work on saving for retirement or investing the money? Why all this false perception about what to do with money?

Well, the answer lies more on the people’s attitudes and belief systems towards money which is, at the moment, deeply flawed. This article has compiled a list of seven money myths that are more common in college.

1. Your loan isn’t just yours, but also your parents’

Okay, to some extent, this may be true. But still, the Lendgreen loan you get is still completely and entirely your responsibility. And that’s why you need to be responsible with how you use it. By the time you graduate, the full amount of the student loan will be under your name. All the more reason to be frugal with how you use it. There are no undo buttons or bailouts here.

2. You always need to eat out with your friends

Who said that you had to do that? And if you have a meal plan, then eating out can be an unnecessary expense altogether. Then comes those times when you get the pressure to eat out with friends especially when everyone else is for it. But that doesn’t necessarily mean that you have to be the one catering for everyone’s bill.

3. Buying a car is vital for your social survival

If you managed to live all your life without a car, then suddenly, for your social survival, it seems you must have one. Then you end up parking it most of the time. If you feel this impulse to want to buy a car simply because your friends have, then you don’t really need one. At least not at the moment. You have no solid reason for buying one.

4. No one starts saving until after graduation

A very false statement which has gotten many graduates wallowing in a financial crisis before they get work. Saving should start right from the time you receive your first income. And keep saving right up to the time you retire. Start saving now and see your savings grow into something concrete that you can use to invest or start a business.

5. It’s not as important to file your FASFA on time

The money that the government provides to students who request for financial aid isn’t always unlimited. So, if you choose to file for a FASFA request late, then chances are there that you may find that the funds have run out and get stuck in a financial nightmare.

6. You must have a credit card in college

Credit cards can be pretty useful tools. But if you still don’t trust yourself with one, then don’t get one. You can opt for a debit card instead which can keep you from tangling yourself in unnecessary financial troubles. And you can do virtually the same things with the same cards. So, you won’t be at a disadvantage using a debit card instead.

7. An emergency fund isn’t so important

Most college students have trouble adjusting to the real life where anything can happen and stick to living in fantasies. Where their student loans and other finances provide all the luxuries they need. But what happens when you have used all your student loan funds and an emergency occurs? What will you do then? You won’t have any financial freedom for one. Be smart and start putting money in your emergency funds now.

4 Principles Of Psychology You Can Use To Improve Your Predictive Index

Posted on August 13, 2018

The predictive index is a tool used by employers all over the world to assess the behavior of potential employees. It is used to gain insight on their personality and to help employees see if they would be able to properly adapt to the work place and fully apply themselves. This is done because it is difficult to understand personalities and behavior by simply reading a resume. If you are looking for work and you have to take the predictive index test, here are four principles of psychology that you can use to improve your predictive index.

1. Repetition

Whenever you are filling out answers on a predictive index test, it is important to remember that you should not give out repetitive answers. Far from the psychological implications that this has on your abilities at the workplace, the machines that carry out these tests are made to clear out patterns of repetition. Ensure therefore that your answers are not repetitions.

2. The biological perspective

Psychologists believe that the mind and body are one with each other which is why behaviors such as anger can be interpreted as being related with a physical injury that you may have suffered in the past. With that it is important not to show that you may have suffered any physical injuries before as the biological perspective indicates that it would bring out a behavior out of you that will most likely be negative.

3. The cognitive principle

This principle states that human behavior is a direct result of a mental process. Essentially what this means is that if you have violent behavior, your mind perceives different situations in ways that seem to promote or to be conducive to violence. Understand that a predictive index exam is going to make this very clear as it gives the employer insight on your personality. With this knowledge, even if that is truly a part of your behavior and personality or how you process things, answer it in a way that shows you perceive situations in a way that is amicable.

4. Sociocultural perspective

The predictive index will at some level have questions that help them understand the kind of environment that you come from. The sociocultural perspective states shows that whether regardless of your personality, you will pick up both positive and negative behaviors if you stay in an environment where these behaviors are normalized. What this means is that you can be a violent person if violence is normalized in your environment. Ensure that your answers give them the feel of you coming from a healthy environment as it is their understanding that that largely affects your personality.

The Relationship Between Diabetes Mellitus and Dental Implants

Posted on July 31, 2018

Diabetes Mellitus has become a chronic diseases that has reached epidemic proportions. It estimated that over 350 million people worldwide are suffering from this condition. This condition has been linked as a relative contraindication form dental implant surgery. Most diabetes patients require the use of dental implants as a restorative method to replace the missing teeth. This is because these patients have increased frequency of periodontitis and tooth loss which will require implants in most cases. This article will show the scientific relationship between diabetes mellitus and dental implants clearing the air on this issue.

1. Diabetes and Osseointegration

Osseointegration is the process of the formation of the direct interface between the implant and the bone without intervening the soft tissue. This process is important for the dental implant stability and the inflammation-free survival. Diabetic patients have lower stability at the first two to six weeks. After this period, the stability reaches the baseline again but the process takes twice as much time it would for the normal people.

2. Diabetes and Implant Survival

Implant survival is basically the defined endpoint for the dental implant therapy. According to scientific research, people with diabetes have a much lower survival rate compared to healthy individuals.

3. Influence of Supportive Therapy

After the dental implants have been inserted, the wounds will require some time to heal and it normally requires the use of antibiotics. Diabetic people normally have an impaired immune system that will, in most cases, lead to wound infections and healing complications. This entails an increase in the percentage of failures in the implant treatment of diabetic patients.

4. Bone Healing and Diabetes

The success of the dental implants is much dependent on the direct bone-to-implant contact. The formation of the bone on and around the dental implants is normally attained by the normal mechanisms of bone repair. However, bone and mineral metabolism is normally altered in diabetes. Diabetes normally decrease the rate of bone formation and hence changes remodeling. This leads to reduced rate of bone formation, immature bone and reduced amount of the bone-to-implant contact.

This means that there should be some precautionary measures that must be taken in treating dental implants in diabetic patients. One of these is to get the comprehensive health history of the patient before the implant procedure. With this information, the doctor can therefore offer the best possible advice and solution to the patient. This includes the importance of taking all diabetic medications even during the surgery and healing period. Though the risks are higher, diabetics can still get dental implants.

Proof That Teaching Is More Of A Talent Than A Career

Posted on May 14, 2018

Proof That Teaching Is More Of A Talent Than A Career

There is no denying the amount of effort and dedication that teachers put in everyday to ensure that their students get the best possible education to reach their full potential. Most if not all teachers are driven by the desire to see the lives of their students change for the better. They want to motivate. Some of them have got very deep personal reasons for why they become teachers. After looking at some qualities of teachers, it is becoming quite clear that teaching is more of a talent than a career. Below are some of the facts supporting teacher additional qualifications required.

Quality

The difference between a good school and a bad school is not the equipment or material that the kids get to use. The difference is in the qualities of the teacher. There are students that would have never passed a single exam who have managed to do so just because they have a teacher who chose not to give up on them and to show them the best way out. If that is not a talent then I don’t know what is.

Not just knowledge

If teaching was just a career then the only thing that teachers would have to do is give students material to retain so that they can later regurgitate it in an exam. If you however look at schools today you will find that students have different learning abilities. Some generally grasp material better than others. Teachers get to develop an understanding of the needs of each and every child and how to make sure they get to improve in their studies. Sounds like a simple thing but it isn’t. This has enabled children who would have otherwise been considered low achievers to achieve so much.

Dialogue

It is not ingrained in everyone to have the ability to properly relate with students in a way that motivates them to do better. One thing that teachers get to do that we rarely appreciate is that they find a way to test the learning abilities of their students and they do this without necessarily getting them to sit for an exam. They achieve this through meaningful discussions in class and proper dialogue that helps them understand what to do to make sure everyone succeeds. That sounds like way more than a career. It takes a special kind of skill to pull that off.

Identities

Most teachers have the ability to understand their own negative traits and acknowledge them in a way that helps their students learn. They do so by accepting their own biases and making sure that they do not treat any of their students different. They treat all of them equally. This is unlike any other work situation that involves favoritism and bias.