Your children's future lies in a good education. The first step towards that is establishing an education fund. This, however, can be fraught with more uncertainties than many may imagine.

What if…

• The treatment for a major illness of a family member costs you your entire savings?
• Your business goes downhill and you are forced to use all your personal assets to settle your business loans?
• There is a stock market crash just when you need to pay for your child's university tuition fee?

If any of these happens who would pay for your child's university education?

The Students Trust International Plan is a long term savings plan for children's university education. The investment and income you set aside for your child's education are placed under the control of an independent trustee, HSBC International Trustee (BVI) Limited, a registered Trust Company approved by the Financial Services Commission in the British Virgin Islands and the Bermuda Monetary Authority in Bermuda.

When your child goes to university, the trustee will distribute the proceeds in four installments. Whatever happens, the education fund will always be there for your child.

The chart below shows the annual cost in 2010 of attending university in some of the most popular countries for international students



While many people consider these costs unattainable, education savings plans have proven over time that a disciplined savings approach with prudent and conservative investment strategy can make the dream of an international education a reality.

With the Students Trust International Plan, your child has a wide variety of institutions around the world to attend. Even though the Trust is denominated in Canadian or US dollars, all income earned in the Trust will be distributed to your child who is qualified around the world. The plan structure is similar to Registered Education Savings Plans (RESPs) that are offered to Canadians in Canada for over 40 years.

The plan is managed by O'Shaughnessy Education Foundation Limited and classified as a Collective Investment Scheme and is registered with and regulated by the Bermuda Monetary Authority. It is also registered and regulated by the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a Restricted Collective Investment Scheme.

Secure Investment and Solid Return

Preservation of principal*

• The plan is available in two hard currencies – US$ and Canadian$
• The Principal* is computed by deducting the relevant Enrolment Fee and Regional fee from your total deposit amount that is paid.
• You have the right to receive your principal* invested at any time upon notice to the Plan.

The reason the Plan can provide this guarantee is that investments made on behalf of you offer the guarantee of government that issues the bond:

• For the Canadian $ Plan, the principal* invested are guaranteed by the government of Canada and provinces;
• For the US $ Plan, the principal* invested are guaranteed by the US federal and state governments, and in some cases the government of Canada and its provinces.

The Plan does not trade in these securities but purchases them and holds them to maturity to ensure no loss of capital occurs.

The principal and accumulated growth will be invested according to established investment guidelines agreed to by the Trustee and the Plan Management

Solid Returns

The investment strategy of the trust is to maximize the Accumulated Growth within the classes of investment while preserving the full value of your Principal*.

The strategy is not considered highly volatile or risky, nor is it expected to generate extremely high return. The objective is to allow you to realize a return on investment that is much higher than you would have if you had invested in the same relatively safe investment instruments on your own. And all investments are tax efficient.

Investment Managers

The Investment Manager and Custodian that purchase and hold the investments is

• HSBC Private Bank (Bermuda)
• Additional Investment Purchases and account management provided by:
• ScotiaMcLeod (A division of Scotiabank)
• BMO Nesbitt Burns (A division of Bank of Montreal)

Audit performed by Deloitte

Plan Structure
You can sponsor a child age 0 to 12 by making deposits to the plan either annually, 5 year annually or as a lump sum. The principal* you contribute to the plan is always returned to you and the income earned on investment of the principal* accumulates for the benefit of the child when the plan matures and your child enters university, usually at the age of 18-19.

All earned income in the trust will be distributed to your child in four education payments for the first, second, third and fourth years of university program.

Alternatively, your child can take:

• A three year university program followed by one year of graduate studies or;
• A two year college program followed by another two year program or;
• Four consecutive one year college programs and still receive all four education payments he/she is entitled to under the plan.

The above projection is based on an annual return of 6.5%

You will receive annually an individual statement of account and an Annual Report which includes audited financial statements of the plan. The statement of account will give you an update projection of the 4 Education Payments based on the previous year's payments made.