Why would anyone ever want to open an RDSP and not accept any free bonds or matching grants?
One reason is because any grant or bond received means the RDSP cannot see any withdrawals made for the following ten years without a penalty on the grant and bond.
Perhaps somebody has opened an RDSP and wants to use the money in, say, five years’ time. There would be little reason to receive any grants or bonds if they all would need to be paid back (except maybe to receive some interest growth on them in the meantime?).
Because the RDSP is an account where a person may contribute and save up to $200,000—all without it affecting their provincial or territorial disability income and benefits programs—there could be a number of situations where he or she would want to simply store savings in the plan, but not want to tie up his or her assets.
Discretionary or Henson Trusts are other possible vehicles to save money without the asset affecting provincial benefits, but Trusts can take a lot of time and money to manage. For some people the RDSP is a better option.
Let us know if you have another reason to not accept any government contributions in your RDSP.
Meantime, here is the form you would need to fill out to cancel any request for grants and bonds: http://www.servicecanada.gc.ca/eforms/forms/esdc-emp5490(2011-06-014)e.pdf