Archive | May, 2014

Disability Savings Benefits For Low-Income Families With Special Needs

By on May 30, 2014 in Special Needs

Canada Disability Savings Bonds

khunaspix

The Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) is a wonderful savings vehicle for people with prolonged disability. It may attract two key benefits from the government. One is the Canada Disability Savings Grants, a very helpful matching grant to enhance the savings for the person with special needs. However, I’m often being asked the question: “If a low-income family could not afford to make any contribution now, how could they get benefited from having a RDSP account?” This is when the Canada Disability Savings Bonds (CDSB) comes into play.

 

The CDSB is designed to provide extra funding for low-income families with disability. Unlike the matching grants, the CDSB does not require the family with disability to make any contribution. The government will solely look at the net family income, and decide how much disability savings bond will be deposited into the disabled person’s RDSP account. The maximum lifetime CDSB one may receive from the government is $20,000.

According to the Canada Revenue Agency’s Website:

“The amount of the bond is based on the beneficiary’s family income. The beneficiary family income thresholds are indexed each year to inflation. The income thresholds for 2013 are as follows:

  • $25,356 or less (or if the holder is a public institution), the bond is $1,000;
  • between $25,356 and $43,561, part of the $1,000 is based on the formula in the Canada Disability Savings Act;
  • more than $43,561, no bond is paid.”

* Note that for minor beneficiary, the family net income is that of his or her parents, while beneficiary over the age of majority, the family net income is that of the beneficiary and his or her spouse, if applicable.

Another very appealing rule is that unclaimed CDSBs may be carried forwarded. One may claim back the amount up to 2008 or the year the beneficiary is eligible for the disability tax credit, whichever comes the later. The maximum carried forward period can last for 10 years.

 

Let me show you a real life example:

Awhile ago, I met a single mother where the child is diagnosed with autism. In our conservation, she revealed that she was unemployed for a long time, and did not have much savings to make any contribution into the RDSP account. Knowing that the child was already approved with the disability tax credit before 2008, I advised her to setup the RDSP account.

Given that her net family income has always been below the first threshold of $25,356, the child is entitled to $1000 of bonds since 2008. (Note that the income thresholds are indexed each year to inflation). After we setup the RDSP, the government has deposited $6000 into the account. (This is the 6 years of disability savings bonds from 2008 to 2013)

The $6000 is now growing within the investment portfolio that is suitable for this family. The best thing is this family did not even contribute a single dollar into the RDSP to make this happen.

 

Disclaimer:
This article is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific personalized advice including, without limitation, investment, financial, legal, accounting or tax advice. Please consult an appropriate professional regarding your particular circumstances. This article does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. References in this article to third party goods or services should not be regarded as an endorsement of these goods or services. This article is intended for Ontario, Canadian residents only and the information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The owner of this article is not liable for any inaccuracies in the information provided. Image Courtesy khunaspix/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Have any questions about the Registered Disability Savings Plan? Feel free to connect with me!

 

Samuel Li
Investment Fund Advisor | Investia Financial Services Inc.
Sales Manager & Financial Consultant | Excel Insurance Agency Inc.
Mobile: 647-294-0702
Email: [email protected]
Website: http//SamuelConsultant.com
80 Acadia Ave., Suite 205, Markham, Ontario. L3R9V1

 

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Dear news media, this is how you fail the autism community so badly

By on May 24, 2014 in General

The autism community’s biggest enemy, by far, is the news media. How so? Well, first of all they report the “terror” of autism, the “suffering” of autism. Secondly, they take any report that says “We put X and Y in a room together and found a Z% correlation” and create sensationally outrageous headlines such as “Z is caused by X!!!! Your children are doomed!!”

If you are not a part of the autism community, I can understand how this must appear to be an over exaggeration. If you are in the autism community, thank you for recognizing that it is, in fact, not an over exaggeration.

To give you two prime examples of how the news media agencies fail us, we only need look at what is happening this week.

“Significant” Link

“Study: ‘Significant’ statistical link between mass murder and autism, brain injury” – http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2014/05/21/study-finds-significant-portion-of-mass-murderers-and-serial-killers-had-neurological-disorders-including-autism/

This article names all sorts of serial killers that you either hate or will hate after reading about them, names like Adam Lanza, Seung Hui Cho, Jared Loughner and Jeffrey Dahmer. Having just come off the headline of “significant statistical link between mass murder and autism”… can’t you just feel that emotion taking over? 

Oh wait, we skipped this one minor paragraph tucked away in the middle somewhere that has little importance… it’s this one:

The researchers stressed the study is “clearly limited” by the “anecdotal and speculative” nature of some of the published accounts. Lead researcher Clare Allely, of the University of Glasgow, emphasized the study did not suggest those with autism or Asperger’s are more likely to commit murder. “We’re not saying people with autism will be serial killers,” Allely said, adding “it’s way too early to make any statement like that.”

Hey wait, that does seem important, doesn’t it?

To me, a more appropriate headline would have been “Anecdotal and speculative information researched on autism and mass murder finds it’s way too early to say people with autism will be serial killers”.

Well, maybe not, it’s a little long and granted, it doesn’t pull in the readership that “significant link!!!” will.

Now, in my own research, I discovered that the number of homicides in the US between 2000 – 2010 was 165,068. 

This week, one person with autism plans a murder and suddenly we’re having studies about there being a potential link? Where are the studies that say “hey, 165,000 murders were by people that had no disorder. Could be a significant link!”?

Bullying Autistics Leads to Murder

This second bit of news also bothers me on another level.

“Santa Barbara Shooting Suspect Calls Loneliness ‘Darkest Hell’” – http://abcnews.go.com/US/santa-barbara-shooting-suspect-calls-loneliness-darkest-hell/story?id=23855994

In this article, they write

“Schifman said Rodger was diagnosed as being a high-functioning patient with Asperger syndrome and had faced bullying through much of his life as he had trouble making friends.”

Now, I talk to autistic children every single day and at least 2-5 of them each week that feel like committing suicide due to the amount of bullying they are subjected to.

There are literally hundreds of autistic children dying each year due to bullying.

Why?!!? Why are there 100’s of children committing suicide due to bullying each year and no one cares?

But 1 child plans to commit murder due to bullying and suddenly this is national coverage? And autism is a big part of the story?

This is heartless and devastating to those of us with autism, those of us in the autism community and to your audience in general.

Stop Hurting Us

Stop Hurting Us

You Are Hurting Us

Listen, I understand that you need to get enough ratings, you need enough of an audience to “rate” against your competition. But please stop!!

I am begging you, I’m am pleading with you and I am insisting that you stop making autism out to the bad guy.

We are not mass murderers any more than non-autistics. We are not suffering any more than anyone else with depression or bullying. We are not this evil force that you paint us out to be.

We are children, adults, parents, friends, neighbors… we are your brothers and sisters.

You need to understand, you are hurting us. You are causing the suffering that you report about by reporting the way you do. You have become the bullies and you are bullying us.

Stop the sensationalist headlines. Stop burying important facts. Stop singling us out of a crowd of thousands and saying we all must be like that one in the crowd. Stop making us that thing to be feared.

Stop hurting us. Please just stop hurting us.

If you can’t find it in your hearts to start helping us, at least, please, stop hurting us.

Comments { 17 }

PETA STFU ASAP – signed, the autism community

By on May 23, 2014 in Autism

PETA has unveiled a new ad campaign that aims to turn people to the vegan side. Now, there’s nothing wrong with deciding to become a vegan. But creating an ad campaign to scare people with the dreaded “autism disease” to do it?

That’s beyond disgusting.

Their article, along with a billboard image that they’ll be using, is shown below:

http://www.peta.org/features/got-autism-learn-link-dairy-products-disease/got-autism-billboard

 

 

 

 

 

Allow me to respond to various points in this “article”, point by point.

1. “Got Autism?”

Really?!?!? I mean, sure, it’s clever… “Got Milk?” turned to “Got Autism?” as if one leads to the other. But it’s not clever. It’s rude, dehumanizing, insulting and just plain evil of you. Clearly you’ve never met an autistic. Plus there’s also that minor detail about it being wrong, or very likely wrong, as we’ll cover again in a moment.

2. disease???

Have you ever even heard of autism before writing this? Did you do any research at all before writing this or are you just spouting points you found on the internet somewhere? Are you aware there even is a difference between a disorder and a disease?

3. “More research is needed”

Well hell, start stringing up your “Got Autism?” billboards before that happens!!! Spend money before someone proves you wrong!

4. “The reason why dairy foods may worsen or even cause autism is being debated.”

So write about your stance on it immediately!! Don’t waste time on who’s right and who’s wrong when there’s vegans to be had.

5. “The Internet contains numerous heart-wrenching stories”

Well, I’ll give you this one. It’s true, anecdotes are proof enough for most people. Just ask Jenny McCarthy’s anti-vaccine fans.

6. “Anyone who wants to alleviate or avoid the devastating effects of autism should give cow’s milk the boot and switch to healthy vegan alternatives instead.”

Oh thank you!! Let me get my check book! Thank you so much for solving all of the world’s problems!!

 

Go home PETA, you’re drunk.

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Up To $90,000 Disability Savings Benefit From The Government

By on May 13, 2014 in Special Needs

Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP)

benefits

Whenever I talk to clients who have disabled family member, they usually show huge concern whether there will be enough financial resources for the disabled dependent. It is not hard to understand that people with special needs and their loved ones could face a distinct set of financial challenges throughout their lives. To help address these challenges, the Government of Canada introduced the Registered Disability Savings Plan (RDSP) back in 2008. This is a wonderful saving tool designed to help building long-term savings for disabled persons. The RDSP makes it easier to accumulate funds by providing assisted savings and tax-deferred investment growth.

 

How Does It Work?

There are two key benefits within the RDSP, they are the Canada Disability Savings Grants (CDSGs) and Canada Disability Savings Grants (CDSBs).

The Canada Disability Savings Grants (CDSGs) is a matching grant where the government will deposit the funding into your RDSP account based on your family income and your contribution. The maximum lifetime benefit per beneficiary is up to $70,000. Although it varies from each individual case, many families that I’m working with did receive up to 300% of the matching grants on a portion of their contribution.

To provide even more assistance for low income families with disabilities, there is the Canada Disability Savings Bonds (CDSBs). Unlike the matching grant, the disability savings bonds do not require any contribution. The government will review solely on the family income. If the income is not beyond the program’s limit, up to $1000/year will be deposited into the RDSP account. The maximum lifetime benefit per beneficiary is up to $20,000.

 

Who is Eligible for RDSP?
A Canadian resident with SIN, contributions to the RDSP can be made until the end of the year in which the beneficiary turns 59, and one must be eligible for the Disability Tax Credit (DTC).

However, the government grants and bonds will only be paid until December 31 of the year the beneficiary turns 49. The DTC is available to individuals who have mental or physical impairments that markedly restrict their ability to perform one or more of the basic activities of living (i.e., speaking, hearing or walking). The impairment must be expected to last a period of one or more years, and a physician must certify the extent of the disability. Individuals can apply to the Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) for the DTC using form T2201.

 

Disclaimer:
This article is for general information only and is not intended to provide specific personalized advice including, without limitation, investment, financial, legal, accounting or tax advice. Please consult an appropriate professional regarding your particular circumstances. This article does not constitute an offer or solicitation in any jurisdiction in which such offer or solicitation is not authorized or to any person to whom it is unlawful to make such offer or solicitation. References in this article to third party goods or services should not be regarded as an endorsement of these goods or services. This article is intended for Ontario, Canadian residents only and the information contained herein is subject to change without notice. The owner of this article is not liable for any inaccuracies in the information provided.Image Courtesy Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net

 

Samuel Li,
Investment Fund Advisor | Investia Financial Services Inc.
Sales Manager & Financial Consultant | Excel Insurance Agency Inc.
Mobile: 647-294-0702
Email: [email protected]
Website: http//SamuelConsultant.com
80 Acadia Ave., Suite 205, Markham, Ontario. L3R9V1

Comments { 1 }

To the autism moms for Mother’s Day 2014

By on May 11, 2014 in Autism

When the “experts” say “some children just talk later than others”, you are the one that insists there’s more and gets it right.

When other people see something “strange” in your child, you see something special.

When the “know it all” posse questions your every decision, you stand strong.

When your child falls down, you teach them how to get back up.

When your child struggles to learn, you find new ways to teach.

When others call it a temper tantrum, you know your child is actually in pain.

When others say your child needs a firm hand, you offer a calm voice.

When bullies try to knock your child down, you are the one to lift them up.

When depression tries to steal your child’s self esteem, you reinforce it.

When the school tries to force your child into a standard mold, you shatter that mold.

When your child’s heart is broken, you are the glue that puts it back together.

When your child moves out to be on their own, you are the one that prepares them.

When your child has a set back, you get behind them and push them forward.

When your child needs you, you drop everything to be there.

When others see the rain, you see the rainbow.

To the single fathers, the legal guardians, the kind souls that see all children equally and of course, to the mothers… Happy Mother’s Day.

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