Mom. Wife. CEO. The best peanut-butter-cookie-maker in the world (at least your six-year-old thinks so). Women are no strangers to making it look easy as they play many roles both personally and professionally, and in honour of International Women’s Day, we’re here to applaud you.

What about when it comes to women and money? While the stereotypes might have women tapping their credit cards, spending on shoes and being unsure about investing, these outdated ideas are far from the truth. We know better!

According to a recent paper about how women can change the world with their money choices, women are likely to take more than 90% of their assets and earnings, and reinvest them back into their families. Specifically, they put the money towards important areas such as nutrition, education and healthcare. Compare that to men, who tend to reinvest just 44% of what they earn back into their families. What do these findings tell us? Well according to one of the paper’s authors, “these findings suggest that women recognize that reinvesting back into the family creates more sustainability not only within the family unit, but within the community and society at large.”

When women work, economies grow. And when women have financial independence, they unleash that wealth back to their families, which, in turn, positively impacts the community where they live. The Fraser Institute found that the more economic freedom a woman has (i.e. the ability to work, open a bank account, etc.), the better her well-being, which translates to a better overall society. How cool is that?

Financial independence and empowerment starts with knowledge, which is why educating girls and young women about money is so important. Start at home with simple financial lessons for your children. This could be as easy as playing a money-minded board game with your eight-year-old (how about Monopoly or Pay Day?), or helping your tween open up a savings account.

And when it comes to your children’s education, let's not forget about being smart by investing in their futures with a Registered Education Savings Plan (RESP), which helps you pay for university, trade school, college and more. What makes the RESP such an amazing planning tool is that it gives you access to thousands of dollars in grant money. The Canadian government will match 20% of your RESP contributions (up to $500 a year, to a maximum of $7,200 per child). Your contributions and grants are then invested, and you won’t be taxed on your gains while the money is in the plan. Pretty smart, eh?

Whether you’re a mom, dad, aunt, grandpa, or whoever else to a special child in your life, we make it easy to open an RESP. In as little as five minutes and with as little as $10 a month, you can get your RESP going, in your bathrobe. Plus, we know RESPs inside and out (they’re all we do), and we make sure you apply for all the grants available. We then invest your RESP money with one goal in mind: to help your child pay for post-secondary school. We rely on an age-based rebalancing strategy, where we invest with the goal of maximizing growth early and preserving your gains closer to your child’s high school graduation.

It’s International Women’s Day, and that makes it the perfect time to start saving for your future CEO, teacher, or whatever she’s dreaming of—the sky’s the limit.

Want to learn more about what an RESP can do for your fearless girl or boy who’s chock-full of potential? We’d be happy to answer your questions, 6 days a week, over the phone or live chat.

CST Spark Education Portfolios is only sold by Prospectus.