My teenaged daughter often complains about being unlucky, but her registered education savings plan (RESP) suggests anything but: It has grown steadily over the past 17 years, thanks partly to good fortune.

All right, I’ll take a little credit here. I steered steady contributions into low-cost, diversified funds with a few sound stock picks on the side.

But let’s be honest. My daughter was born in November, 2008, when the financial crisis was battering stocks into cheap, unwanted pulp.

The recovery from those lows has been spectacular: The S&P 500 has gained 1,137 per cent, including reinvested dividends. Canada’s S&P/TSX Composite Index is up 555 per cent, also including dividends.

My daughter’s RESP – tax-sheltered savings that can be put toward the cost of postsecondary education – benefited immensely from this prolonged bull market. Each year’s contribution caught the next wave of the equity rally.

She got lucky with high interest rates, too.

When I wanted to take some risk off the table over the past couple of years – as university approached and our timeframe grew shorter – guaranteed investment certificates and money market funds delivered enticing yields as high as 5 per cent.

But parents with young children face a very different investing climate today.

Stocks aren’t cheap. Some observers are voicing concerns about a possible equity bubble, which could lead to a prolonged downturn if the it bursts. And recent interest rate cuts are eroding the allure of safe GICs and money market funds.

But do not despair, because RESPs have a couple of built-in features that should help even if the broader market fails to deliver stellar returns in the years ahead.

For starters, parents get a 20-per-cent booster.

That’s because for every annual contribution up to $2,500, the government adds 20-per-cent as a grant. So that $2,500 becomes $3,000.

These annual grants can add up to as much as $7,200 over the life of the plan – turning total contributions of $36,000 into $43,200 without risking a penny in the market.

Another advantage of RESPs: Since the grants reward parents for spreading out contributions over many years, the plans can deliver the benefits of dollar-cost averaging.

This slow-and-steady approach to investing tends to smooth out market volatility from year to year and lowers concerns about buying stocks at a bubbly peak.

If there’s a selloff, you can benefit from cheaper stocks when you make your next contribution.

Okay, you are allowed to make far bigger contributions – up to a lifetime maximum of $50,000 – if you are willing to forgo most government grants. And yeah, you can produce some dazzling returns using this approach if markets co-operate.

But that’s a big “if.”

Making one investment and forgoing most government grants brings a lot of risk, especially when markets look frothy. Steady contributions, on the other hand, should deliver a smoother ride.

The takeaway? If you’re just starting out on this journey for your child’s future education, and you’re worried about the current heights of the stock market, breathe easy. Luck certainly helps, but it’s not essential.

How are you contributing to your RESP? Let me know at dberman@globeandmail.com.