Event ID: 1447918
Event Started: 11/10/2009 3:00:00 PM
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Please stand by for realtime captions. Hi, Brandon. Hi, Captioner. 
>> Good morning, Carin. 
>> Good morning. I was worried I was in the wrong room. 
>> No, you were not. 
>> I just got registered last night. 
>> Are we expecting a big [Indiscernible]? 
>> Sorry, what did you say? 
>> I was asking if we are expecting a big group? 
>> We had about three or four other people registered. You would not have been on that list because you only registered last night. I checked the list yesterday morning. 
>> Yes. I looked at your website and decided I wanted to see this seminar. 
>> I quickly have to step away from the computer and then I will be back. 
>> Carin, can you see your screen? 
>> I think so. What is wrong? 
>> I want to see if I can get level a louder. Can you look at the right-hand bottom of the screen and see if your bar next to the microphone is all the way to the right. If it is not, you can't drag it to the right with your mouse. 
>> You can go under file, microphone settings and pitcher microphone level up to 100%. Brendon, are you with us? 
>> Yes, I am here. Pat, I just don't have the slide on my screen. 
>> No, you won't. We need you to go and get them. Could you click on the IT ministration menu, then click on document Center, managed documents and look for the name of your presentation. It was left exactly as you had named it and the date is there. You want to load that. 
>> I think it is coming through. 
>> Carin, no. Tell me, Brendon, when you have the numbers of your screen. 
>> It is still saying please wait for me. Maybe I did not instruct it to load. I will try it again. 
>> Okay. Sometimes it takes a little time. Captioner, thank you for your understanding and patience. How is the file doing, Brendon? 
>> In the menu bar, I can see it has the extension with the filename, but the screen still says please wait. 
>> What I would say is to exit out of that and get back to the welcome screen of the room. Then go into it again. 
>> I am in Firefox so I'm going to read into the room and Internet explorer and that should take care of it. 
>> You bet it will, thanks. 
>> Okay, I've seen numbers at the bottom of my screen. 
>> Brendon, can you repeat what to just said? I also have a text message. 
>> I just said I can now see numbers at the bottom of my screen. 
>> Okay. Now you want to click on the administration may again. Then you want to click on, follow me. Then if you go to various members on your slide and - there, we have got it. 
>> To complicate things here, I am really sorry, I loaded the wrong presentation. 
>> Not a problem. At least we have the technical things working okay. You can either unload that one, what you would need to do is click on administration and again, then let that one go, click on administration and the be correct presentation. If you are having difficulty with that, you can't go out of the room and read enter. 
>> Can you see the new presentation? 
>> Yes. 
>> Great, just let me know when you want to start. 
>> If you could get yourself to slide number one, I will start to recording the then I will come back in introduce you. 
>> Okay, the title slide should be on slide number one. 
>> Good morning, everyone, and welcome to our weapon our of the registered disability savings plan. It is really a good way to plan for your future and for your family. We have with us this morning Brendon Pooran who knows everything there is to know about this and has also done a previous webinar on this subject when the plant first started coming out last year. We are have happy to have him back again. Brendon, you can start with your slide presentation right away and thank you so much for doing this for CWDO. 
>> Thank you, Pat. Thank you for having me back. I've got a bit of a comprehensive presentation. I will plan to try to get through the slides fairly quickly so there is enough time for questions. If there's anything you are unclear about as I go along, make a note and feel free to ask me questions at the end. I am now going to move on to slide number two. As Pat mentioned, I am a lawyer in Toronto. I focus on issues relating to people with disabilities and their families and primarily helping them walk through their estate and financial plans. Everything from the drafting of wills and trusts to advising them on government benefits, like the RDSP. A couple of weeks ago we did a session on Wilson and states which I think is archived on the CWDO Web site. Today we are going to talk about RDSP which is another tool to use when thinking about estate and financial plans. I will give you an overview of the plan, which will talk about the eligibility, we will talk about the elements of RDSP, opening and RDSP, loss of eligibility, death of a beneficiary and an action plan for opening a RDSP. 
>> I have skipped over to slide number four. What is the RDSP? It is a long-term savings vehicle designed for people with disabilities. It is set up in a similar where to the registered Education savings plan. But it is tailored to people with disabilities. I will expand more on that on slide number pie. 
>> Here are a couple of things that the RDSP will do. It will increase financial security by helping that a nest egg of funds are in place for the person later on in life. It will provide a new tool for financial and estate planning. Many people with disabilities and their families, there have been in limited number of tools that are place for people with disabilities. The most, up to now is probably the Hanson trust. RDSP provides a new tool for Financial and Estate Planning and it also recognizes family contributions and I will explain that a little more in the later slight. 
>> Before we get into the nuts and bolts of RDSP, here is what it will not do. It will replace requirements for income supports. If a person is on the Ontario disability support program or has other kinds of income support a place, RDSP will not replace the need for those types of programs. RDSP will not assure a good life or future security with out of their planning. Just because one signs up for RDSP, it doesn't need other kinds of financial planning are not needed anymore. It is just as important if not more important to ensure all of your other documents are in place. 
>> Here is to try chart to try to illustrate the similarities between RDSP and other plants in Canada. I have highlighted RESP and RDSP to show similarities in these programs. They offer grant and bonds for both programs. With RESP, the grand I believe is up to 20% of contribution to a maximum of $500 per year. As we move on, the government contributions associated with RDSP are more generous. In terms of the treatment of income, contributions both in [Indiscernible] no part of the income earned on the income are taxable until they withdraw money from the plan. In terms of withdrawals, withdrawals from both RESP and RDSP are partly taxable with respect to the RDSP, I will touch on taxation of little bit later. 
>> Let's first talk about eligibility for RDSP. In order to be eligible, an individual must qualify for the disability tax credit. I think most people are familiar and the government has made it fairly simple in terms of qualifying for RDSP. The person automatically qualifies for RDSP. The DTC is a federal tax credit received by someone with a severe and prolonged impairment. We could get into another webinar on the disability tax credit and we are not going to go into detail right now. I just wanted to hit the high points. A person must complete form T2201 or the disability tax credit certificates to see if they qualify for the benefit. Other than to eligibility " requirements, they must be a Canadian resident and under the age of 60. Anyone under the age of 60 is eligible to open RDSP as long as that person qualifies for the disability tax credit. 
>> There are none too elements with respect with RDSP. Personal and government contributions. We will first talk about personal contributions. Anyone may contribute to the plan with the authorization of the plan holder. Contributor Jews are not limited to parents, siblings or grandparents, anybody can contribute to the plan. There is a $200,000 lifetime contribution limit with no annual contribution limit. Over the lifetime of the plan, the plan allows for $200,000 worth of personal contributions. Anybody can contribute, but the total amount of contributions cannot exceed $200,000. Contributions can be made into the plant until the end of the year until the person turned age 59. 
>> Were now going to talk about federal contributions. There are two elements. The disability savings grant and the disability savings bond. For both of these, I have outlined the requirements. First, the beneficiary must file a tax return for two years prior to the current year. [Audio Cutting In/Out] [Captioner has lost audio]
>> Can everybody hear me on the presentation? 
>> I can hear you. 
>> Great, I will continue talking. Now I will move on to the disability savings bond. The bond differs from the Grand in that no contributions are necessary in order for a beneficiary to receive a bond. What that translates into in Ontario is that on tarriance who's sold this ability is o de SP, if their income was less than $21,816 in 2007, just by opening a RDSP, the beneficiary would receive $1000 in grants per year up to a maximum of $20,000 over the lifetime of the plan. That means an individual could receive $1000 a year each year for 20 years. If income is between $21,816.38332 thousand, the $1000 is reduced on a pro rata basis. If income is over the 38,008 and a $32, the person does not qualify for the bond. I'm going to move on to slide number 14. 
>> I kept on making references to income level. Income level was based on net family income. Where the beneficiary is a minor or under the age 18 in Ontario, the income is based on the family's income. With the beneficiaries and adults, the net family income is based on the beneficiaries in come or if the beneficiary is married on a family net adjusted income. Again, if the beneficiary is an adult in Ontario and if that beneficiaries incumbent is ODSP, which is well under the two income threshold, that beneficiary would qualify for the grant and the maximum grant and the maximum bond from the government. 
>> Here we are quick to talk about how a person goes about opening a RDSP. Four minor children, anyone under the age of 18, parents or guardians can set up the plant and the remaining holders of the plan until the person against an adult. For adults, a beneficiary can be a holder of the plan if contractually competent or if they have an appointed power of attorney. The attorney appointed to open the plan on the individual's behalf. A person but not contractually piquant competent can have a representative set up by a bigger representative or a public guardian and trustee. 
>> Here are the four financial institutions in Ontario offering the plan. The Bank of Montreal which was first out the gate. They started offering the plant last December. The Royal Bank of Canada, CIBC and TD started offering RDSP as well. 
>> We are now going to talk about payments or withdrawals from the plan. There are two types of payments from the plan, one is the lifetime disability assistance payments and the second is the disability assistance payments. With respect to LDAP, they are periodic payments that once started to continue on recon a basis. The amount is determined by formula stipulated in legislation. These payments may begin at any time, but must begin by the end of year the beneficiary turns 60. Payments must begin by the time the individual turns 60. The second type is a disability Assistant payment. This differs from the previous is these may be one time lump-sum payments. They may be requested by the plant holder or the beneficiary. 
>> Any withdrawals or payments taken out of the plan are subject to the 10 year rule or the government hold back on that. The holdback amount is equal to the total amount of grant and bond recede in the last 10 years. If a payment is made within 10 years of receiving the last grant or bond, the government will back and that must be repaid. Every contribution from the previous 10 years must be repaid. Income earned on the grant of the bond can be retained in the plan. The income earned does not have to be repaid. Slide 19 is taxation of payments. It illustrates that personal contributions made into the plan - I will start by saying every dollar withdrawn from the plan is deemed to be made up of personal contributions, grants and bonds, and in come or growth erred in the plant. That is assuming the government contributions have been made to the plan. Any dollar that comes out is composed of these three factors. The proportion of that dollar buildup of personal contributions is not taxable when it comes out. The proportion of that dollar that consists of any government contribution or growth on the plan is taxable. If $10 were in the plan, $5 were personal contributions, $4 for government attributions and $1 was growth or interest. If a person withdrew $1 from the plan, 50% of that plan would be taxable and 50 percent would not be taxable. 
>> Slight 20 speaks it implications of RDSP and other government programs. The RDSP and payments from the RDSP will not impact the following payments:  Old Age Security, guaranteed income supplements, Canada Pension Plan, goods and service tax benefit, and the Ontario disability support program. RDSP is exempt cover an asset under ODSP and in income received from the RDSP is exempt for ODSP purposes. 
>> If a person loses eligibility for the disability tax credit, that person would also lose eligibility for continuing on with RDSP. If this happens, the plan has collapsed and becomes an asset of the beneficiary. Any critter Bonn received within the last 10 years must be repaid to the government. 
>> When the beneficiary passes away, at the plan has collapsed, the proceeds passed to the estate of the beneficiary, private contributions are not refunded. Any grants are bonds received within the last 10 years must be repaid. Funds in the beneficiary's estate, it there is a will in place will be distributed according to the will. It there is no will in place, the funds will be distributed according to provincial a state laws, which will are less distributes money to next of kin. 
>> The final slide, here is an action plan for opening RDSP. First apply for social and surge number it the beneficiary does not have one. Apply for the disability tax credit certificate. Filed a 2007 and 2008 tax return. If the beneficiary is a child, apply for the can of the child tax benefit. Open a RDSP by December 31st, 2009 in order to qualify for the 2000I grant and on. You have to make contributions before December 31st to apply for the grant. And update your estate planning documents. It is very important to consider other documents and vehicles in your estate plan such as your wills, trusts, powers of attorney, etc.. That is all I have today. I hope that wasn't too fast. Please feel free to ask me any questions and I'll try my best to answer them. 
>> Hi, that was a lot of information. I thought there was an $1500 cap per year. What is the magic number of $1500? I have opened a RDSP and and try to make sure I am doing everything right. 
>> That is a great question. There is no annual contribution limit. There is a lifetime limit of $200,000. If you had that lying around, you could put it in RDSP tomorrow. The magic of the $1500 number, in order to achieve the maximum grant and Bonn that year, a person would have to contribute $1500 into the plan. Assuming you met the requisite income threshold, the government would provide you with the grant of $3500 the bond of $1000. A $1500 contribution would turn into $6000 that year. If your personal contribution exceeds $1500, the government contribution will not grow beyond that $4500 total grant and bond. Does that make sense? 
>> Thank you for explaining it. I always feel when I'm talking to somebody, I am under pressure to get as much information as I can in some of that slips through my fingers. That makes sense. 
>> Great. 
>> My second question is, I have it set up so every month is a little bit of money goes into RDSP because I knew if I waited to the end of the year I would not know what to do. I set it up to come out automatically. I think the one that called me on the phone said I had to phone in every time the money came to the RDSP and tell them how to invest everything which scares me because I don't know much about investments. Where can I read about funds and stuff? I try to find their book and when I downloaded it was a huge PDF which U.S. a list of funds which meant nothing to me. I was wondering where I could go to read up on that? 
>> I understand your frustration. I can't really speak to the products and services offered by different banks. What I would suggest is to get somebody on the phone you can talk to about the different investment vehicles that have been somebody that can explain them in a comprehensive manner to you so that you can make your own decisions when it comes to investing the money. Depending on the financial institution, I think there are a variety of products and services available to you, some that preserve your capital. If you are conservative when it comes to investing, where some that you can allocate your funds to riskier, say mutual funds. I would go to the branch if you can and speak to an investment adviser in the branch about the different options available to you. 
>> I am with [Indiscernible]. I spoke to an adviser and it seemed like she was pushing to go with medium risk. I don't know if I may be too worried. I just don't want to lose my principal. I think that would be foolish, but she seemed to wanted me to go for medium risk. I did not know if it was a good idea. 
>> Make sure whoever you are speaking to provides you with enough information about all of your options. It is up to you to make the choice and go with ever you are most comfortable doing. If you are a low risk investor, I would personally suggest you stick to your own choice. Gather all the information but at the end of the day, the choice is up to you as the plan holder. 
>> I haven't been calling in and telling them what to do with it. When ever I try to look up the stock I have trouble and did not want to make stupid decisions. When I calling, they can take the money into with it what I said? I haven't missed any opportunities by waiting, have I? 
>> I can't speak to the financial side of things about what happens in the bank. My inclination is to say that other than the markets are going up and down, if you invest in mutual funds, I would not think he would have missed out on an opportunity to invest. Again, I would definitely go in and talk to the investor again or another adviser on what you should do with those funds. They are there to help you. They are there to provide you with all of your options and to guide you in making the decision. But again, the decision comes down to you. 
>> The investment adviser that would be with a bank, a person would not have to pay extra salaries or anything like that for that person's advice, what they? And then the other thing you just a new to, an investment adviser who would not be with the bank, but would be separate. I was wondering if that person - what would the cost for that person the and also Wednesday look over a wider overview of everything you are doing? 
>> People have a variety of options. Typically, again, I can't speak because I don't work in the banking industry. When you speak to an investment adviser in the bank, they are not charging any direct these to you. Where they may make their money, it is probably tied to conditions of whatever mutual-fund or investment vehicle you purchase. But in terms of taking money at your pocket and paying for it the it buys, typically that is not help works when you speak with someone at the bank. An individual could also choose to go out and see an investment adviser separate and apart from the bank. The bank would hold the RDSP and provide the plan holder with all of the information about the products and services that can be invested or used to invest the funds. The plan holder could then take it to a site investment adviser if they felt more comfortable doing that. I can't really speak to how much investment advisers charge. Again, I am not in that business. I would assume you could find investment advisers that charge hourly rates or session rates. I don't know. I am hesitant to say what kind of range of their rights would be. What I would say is to call a few of them. Google them on the Web or open up the yellow pages or something and look for investment advisers and chat with him a little bit to see who you feel comfortable with. That is if you want to talk to an investment adviser and pay out of pocket to do that. Again, the ones at the bank would not generally charge for advising you when it comes to which Product or service to invest in. 
>> I know mine certainly didn't. Maybe when I spoke to her, it may be at the end of the day and maybe that was my fault. It was right on the deadline for 2008. Maybe I was part of my own problem. I did hear of direct line which I thought was pretty cool. I was really impressed with the [Indiscernible] investor line people. They gave me her direct line. I had never heard that anywhere else. 
>> That is great. I've heard great things about the [Indiscernible] Investment advisors. I would suggest you give her a call and have her walk through the options with you. 
>> Sometimes when a person is disabled and they are going to look for investments or start a plan, particularly if they have a scene disability. Have you found in your dealings, which would probably be after the fact, that is better to have someone go with you than it is to go on your own? 
>> Pat, you're talking in terms of having some of go with you to a bank or an investment adviser? 
>> That is correct. 
>> I can't really speak to how accessible the banks materials are for people who have a visual impairment. Often it helps to seek growth charts to help visualize how well a particular product or investment vehicle has done over a period of time and if those graphs or numbers aren't presented in an accessible format, it may be a good idea for someone to accompany the plan holder to the bank. That person may be able to provide a little more context to the individual and maybe a little more sensitive to the individual's needs. Again, I can't really speak to how accessible customer service is in various banks. Or how accessible the formats are of the materials. I would just say if you find your bank is on the the lesser side of be accessible when it comes to Customer Service, it may be a good idea to take someone with you. 
>> I wasn't sure if they would that you have someone in there with you. They're all about confidentiality and privacy. I was not sure how that would work. I wish I could look things over. When I am in the office, I know they tell me I have all the time in the world and they are reading it off to me. I'm having to memorize or write it down. I just wish I could read it over and think it out before I make any decisions. 
>> One of the things I have found, if you bring a letter with you and it says that you agreed to have so and so and you name the person with you in this discussion and both of you sign it, then is definitely an okay for that person to be there and for that person to take notes for you or what ever the case might be. I am not really familiar with what would happen this year, but I know that next year in January, the accessibility for Ontario's with disabilities Act is starting to implement their customer service standards. This would be for the public sector. I would think that private sector would also be looking at the goodness with proper customer service because it is only by that goodmans that they will be able to get more business, if you will. One of the things I do know is when you do go to an institution, you need to make your needs known. If you want statements in braille. If you want a book in large print. I don't know if they have audio format or not. If you want different things like that, then you need to actually specify what those things are, talk about what is available from the particular place you're going to. Then take it from there. I think someone was saying that CRSCD also has some information on RDSP and I would imagine that anyone dealing with an office specializes in different disability things would try to do what they could to be able to assist you in give you the format you need. You do need to specify those needs. 
>> I have asked [Indiscernible] for burial statements and the Senate was not possible. I was told to down load it in PDF. Maybe I will take another leap at it to see what happens. 
>> I know for fact that Braille statements or accounts are definitely available. If you contact me after, I will try and put both institutions together and see if I can have our branch appear to give them the information they may not be aware of. 
>> Where is your e-mail address so I can contact you? 
>> It is on the CWDO website. It is PatSeed@Tbaytel.net. 
>> All right. You don't happen to know about the information [Indiscernible] is in braille? 
>> I also put my e-mail address up in the chat area. If you cut and paste, you might be able to get it from there. 
>> Brendon, is there anything. [Captioner has been disconnected from audio] 
>> If you have any questions, feel free to send me a note. 
>> Do you want to type that into the chat area, Brendon? 
>> There you go. 
>> Thank you. I know there's some people who had registered today who were not able to make it. We could be very well looking at another session and Carin, he would be most welcome to attend that session as well. 
>> Brendon, I would like to thank you for doing the presentation and having all of this information. You are a pro at this system now. I really appreciate the fact that we me able to do another evening session, although having talked about January, I am wondering because the information has to be in by the end of the year, maybe that is something that can be discussed to see where we can go from there. I would like to definitely thank you for doing this presentation. This presentation is very concise and a very well organized. I think it could be used again as well. Captioner, I would like to thank you for being here and for captioning for us. We will put that up with our archive of the program. Carin, do take advantage of the e-mail addresses you have received today. We will try to get you the information that you need. 
>> I sure will. If anything is, I thought I would find more resources. 
>> Thanks again, Pat, for inviting me to speak today. Let's definitely discuss a follow-up session in order for individuals to qualify for the 2009 grant or bond. The plan must be opened and contributions made by the end of the year. We will try and squeeze something in in December. If not, we will be back in January. Take care. 
>> Thank you, and Brendon. Much appreciated. Carin, thanks so much for coming. If you like to get involved in the planning of these webinars, that would be great. I see it acted on many of the lists. Think about it and let me know. 
>> All right. What a small world. We are always running into each other one way or another. I was intimidated for a while because I have been busy doing other stuff. Maybe I will. I need to come back to your site more often. 
>> There is no problem at all. When you write to me, if you send me your phone number, I will keep you a call and help you with whenever I can. 
>> I already sent you in e-mail, but I was in another one with my phone number. 
>> Thank you for coming and thank you Captioner very much for your assistance. Everybody have a wonderful day. [Event Concluded]