I’m a mean mom, just ask my kids, or “How I taught my kids to save for post-secondary education”

My husband Brook wanted to be an electrical engineer.  We met as he was heading off to Ottawa University.  Unfortunately with little money saved and parents unable to help, he had to leave at Christmas time due to lack of funds.  He ended up going on to college and graduated an engineer technologist.

Fast forward 10 years, our first child was born.  We both agreed that we wanted to be able to help our children go to whatever post-secondary school they wanted.  We started saving small amounts in an RESP.  When the boys were old enough for their first jobs, paper routes, we sat down and talked to them about saving and that a portion of their monthly earnings would need to be put away for school  Thus the “mommy tax” was born.  First it was $25 per month from their paper route, and then 50% of net pay from their part-time jobs.  It is amazing how much it grew, and how much they were able to contribute to their education.  Both boys took time off between high school and university and put away almost all of their pay cheques.

All this saving has paid off.  Brett will graduate this fall from Ryerson with a Bachelor of Fine Arts and NO student debt.  Kevan is heading off to Queen’s in September and has enough saved to cover 65% of his 4 Year program.  With some hard work and savings in his summer breaks, he should graduate with No student debt as well.