Get All The Benefits That You Qualify For

When we enter the various stages of our lives, we are often so busy adjusting to the changes that we don't look into benefits that we should be getting. Since you must apply for many of the benefits available, a lot of us miss out on those benefits for some time while we sort out our lives. Some of the significant events that can qualify you for benefits that you were not previously collecting are:

• Marriage
• The birth of a child
• Change in income or employment status
  
• Health changes and deaths in the family
  
• Retirement

For instance, with the birth of a child, here are some of the things you can do:

• Set up an RESP for the child's education
• Collect the Universal Child Care Benefit
• Collect the Canada Child Tax Benefit

It is hard to keep track of all the programs that are available, both from the federal government as well as from your province, but the government has set up a handy web site to help you find all the benefits that you qualify for at CanadaBenefits.gc.ca. Tell it your province of residence, and head over to the Benefits Finder. You'll be asked a few questions and then be given a nice list of applicable benefits. Each benefit is marked as either federal or provincial.

Using this site, you can make sure that you are getting all the benefits for your current situation, and you can also use it see what you may be qualified to receive in hypothetical situations. Use the tool to plan ahead for events like the birth of a child so that when that event happens and you're busy waking up at 3am to change diapers, you won't need to also scramble to learn about and apply for (or put off for a few years) the benefits that you are entitled to.