Thanks!!
Hopefully this week my own RDSP account will be available for me to make my first deposit to, and ideally I will make that before January 1st, so I think I should plan for that right away.
Question #13: Adult's Registered Disability Savings Plan- Determining AllocationsHandily, the government provides an example of someone very close to my age/situation:
http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/tpcs/rdsp-reei/pmnts/xmpl-eng.html-if I were younger, the formula would be very different, but I am starting this at age 43
-the RDSP receives government contributions for up to 20 years, but up to age 49 at the latest
-the latest I can make my own contributions to is age 59
-to get the most benefit, one must not touch it for 10 years after the government's final contribution (age 49), so I wouldn't touch it before age 59
-withdrawals must start at age 60
-so, in my unusual case, this account will have no withdrawals for only 17 years
-at age 60, a formula will determine an annual amount of withdrawal based on the account's fair market value at that point, so ideally the account is at its highest point then, but is at least at a helpful amount
-the payment is made annually til death
-if I die early, the government takes back all its contributions and the market value of the account is given to my kid
-there are other legal variables under which the government is permitted to close the account early, ditto above
-however, we still benefit by being able to "grow" the value from the government's contributions in the meantime
Okay.
-the data posted today indicates that the market can suck for up to 15 years, but in the past it has not sucked for longer than that
-based on data of the past 25 years, if I wanted to be very "safe" I would need a "safe allocation" in place by age 45
-for the first several years, optimal contribution is $3500
-I will have savings outside of the account to be able to make those
-if I were much younger, I could reasonably have up to 100% in stocks for the first number of years
-I'm not younger, so allocations need to reflect withdrawals starting in 17 years
Am I on track so far?