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  1. #1
    Starting to feel at home...
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    Employment Insurance Special Benefits for Self Employed People

    I had NO idea about this until I recently sharing my stress and worries to a friend about how we would plan our 3rd baby and how we would ever make it work with no EI/mat leave and what I would do with trying to run the daycare with a newborn because I could never afford to just be off without pay....well here is my saving grace and I feel SO much better now!! Did anyone else not know about this?! Perhaps I am behind haha. Haven't read the whole thing yet but you pay into it for 1 year and then are entitled to EI benefits the same as if you were employed. You pay $1.88 on every $100 you make to qualify!


    http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eng/e...ublication.pdf

  2. #2
    Euphoric !
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    Before you get too elated look up some of the other posts on this as it isn't as great as it sounds. Your income is so minor (remember it is taxable income not gross income this is based on) that to get EI on $10,000 worth of income is not much at all and there is a trap of having to continue to pay into the program. You would do better to start squirreling away money into a TSFA or similar interest earning account.

    Also it is possible to do daycare with a newborn so check out some of those threads too - I started daycare when my own kids were 4 m and 22 m and my last two kids were born into the daycare. Your biggest obstacles will be needing time off for the end of the pregnancy depending on how you feel and then decide how many months you need to recover physically which could be only 2-3. I found it was a lot nicer having the daycare kids to keep my older kids entertained and parents were great knowing that we weren't doing a lot of programming for the first little while.

  3. #3
    Expansive...
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    Yes, as playfelt says, this is not as great a windfall as you think. I opted to suck it up and have my time off unpaid when I had my second. Once you start paying in, you have to keep paying. You can't just take a year off collecting benefits and forget about paying again. The premiums are small for a reason....payout is small too. In my opinion,it is much easier to just save for time off. Please research carefully.

  4. #4
    Euphoric !
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    yup you would be better off putting a portion away in a savings account and having hubby take mat leave for the first few weeks/months to help with the daycare and newborn. use your holidays for when you are due (hopefully baby will makes its entrance on time) and then have dad be home to pinch hit. most daycare providers only close for a short period so they don't lose their families in care.....but the key thing is to have a plan in place before you announce to the families that you are expecting and that helps them to feel reassured.

  5. #5
    Euphoric !
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    Yes don't forget that the time off can be shared between maternity/paternity leave. In some cases the dad takes the year off or at least several months to help run the daycare - mostly to be the one awake while mom naps/feeds baby and heals as needed.

    Be prepare that the longer you take off the likelihood of your families returning to your daycare when you reopen is reduced meaning once they are settled at the new daycare they may choose to stay there and you will be needing to budget to look for new families.

  6. #6
    Starting to feel at home...
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    Wow, thanks so much everyone!! I was defiantly getting all caught up in this before reading it totally...I appreciate you pointing these things out!

  7. #7
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    Sep 2012
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    I registered for this program a year ago and am due to have my baby in October. Because of the stress and high demands, and physical labour involved in our jobs my dr has put me on sick leave effective immediately. This means that I will (hopefully) get 15 weeks of sick leave and then 52 weeks of maternity/parental leave to be with my family.
    I paid around $500 in EI premiums on my taxes and I will receive more than $17000 in benefits. The math makes sense to me as I would have to pay into the program for over 30 years at my current income rate in order to break even. Now, I have just filed my application for benefits so will update with any news as my application is processed. So, far though, this program is a no-brainer for those who woudl like to have a baby and be able to take a maternity leave.

  8. #8
    Euphoric !
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    I think it is a great program. I don't plan on having another baby but I do pay into it just for the security that if something happens to me and I can't work then I still get the sick benefits.

  9. #9
    Euphoric !
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    I signed up for it to have mat leave and if I ever needed sick or disability leave. Reading this now makes me wonder if I made the right choice!

  10. #10
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    I think it's a great program and when you weigh the cost versus the benefits you will receive it makes sense if you plan on having a baby. I wanted to and will post a follow up when my benefits arrive because I really think more home daycare providers should take advantage of this program. Mind you, it doesn't make a lot of sense if your children are older and you don't plan on having more.
    Don't stress 5 little monkeys - I think you did the right thing!
    Last edited by gravy_train; 06-06-2014 at 03:20 PM.

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