Being from another country, this idea may be out to lunch as far as the U.S. is concerned, but for those in Canada, they may need to keep a record of regular or occasional payouts made by mutual funds, which payouts must be considered income in the year received. If their mutual fund makes payouts in cash, those amounts are added to income in the year received, and taxed then, and that is the end of it. But with many mutual funds, they tell us of the amounts declared as income year by year - but those amounts are re-invested. When one sells an asset, one must account for the capital gain, i.e. deduct the cost of purchase from the amount realized on sale to learn the amount of the gain, on part of which one is taxable in the year of sale. When I bought a stock that pays dividends, usually they are paid in cash, so I must declare them as income in the year received and pay tax on them ... but the amounts paid out are not added to the asset. When I sell such a stock, the total amount invested is the amount that they cost me in the first place, so I deduct that amount from the amount realized when I sold them, to find the capital gain, on which I am taxed in the year of sale. Some stocks allow me to re-invest the dividends to purchase more stock (sometimes at a discounted price). When I choose to do that, when I sell the stocks, the amount that they cost me is not only the amount of the original purchase, but includes the various amounts reinvested over the years. Which means that I must have a record of all of those transactions, including each of the amounts renvested, in order to calculate the cost price(s) to deduct from the proceeds of sale, in order to calculate the capital gain. If I neglect to do so, and claim only the amount of the original purchase, I lose the credit for all of those amounts invested later, on which I paid tax at the time, so I need to pay tax on those reinvested payouts again, thus pay tax twice on those amounts. For example, I bought a stock 44 years ago, that has paid dividends for each one of those years ... which was received in cash, so I dealt with those amounts at the time, but they did not buy any more of that stock directly, so they have no effect on the amount that I paid for those stocks. If I had had some of those dividends reivested, I'd have needed to have kept track of all of those reinvested amounts, in order to calculate my actual total cost, thus my capital gain. As many mutual fund owners choose to have their payouts reinvested at the time, to buy more funds, they need to keep track of each of those amounts, to calculate their actual cost of the asset. Sometimes brokers or management companies keep track of those amounts, or order to calculate the average cost per share ... but it is risky to count on such records having been kept ... or being complete (especially if funds were merged with others, as often happens, especially with funds that have a bad growtth record). Lose those records ... and you may well pay tax twice of those reinvested amounts. ole joyful

I also agree. I thought that my 20 year-old, 7 SEER, Trane Weathertron heat pump died last week but it turned out that the compressor overload was tripped from a power interruption. The unit has given me zero trouble in the 5+ years that I have been in the house. However, this summer I will be buying 2 window a/c units and storing them in the shed as back-up, just in case. You are correct that your payback will be 10 to 12 years, and who says that your new unit won't require servicing during those years. Like Blacknumber1 says, save your money until you have to buy a new unit.

Thanks everyone for chiming in. So, this is what I decided. I will test self clean again once the technician gets it working again. Reasons include: 1) so far, even though Whirlpool does have an upgraded blower for my model, they have not authorized that for my oven. Knowing that I have a known-to-be inferior part bugs me. 2) I lived without an oven for years, and now having a wonderful cooktop and countertop toaster oven, I can survive a while if the oven stays out of order for a while. 3) I'll have more confidence in the oven if it does survive one or two self clean cycles. After that, I might just stop using the feature esp. if I'm approaching the end of the warranty. 4) If the oven dies after three repairs, the lemon law kicks in. I guess I'll get a refund then. But to be honest, I have no idea if there is another oven that's reliable out there that can fit in my cut out, not to mention match somewhat the microwave oven that was installed in the cutout above. I'll worry about it when it comes to it. Oh, some of you suggested: test the self clean when the tech is still around. He suggested I do not. Because if the oven dies again, it's considered part of the same repair, which will delay the onset of the lemon law. So, wait until he is gone and has closed the case, I can test again. Thought I should share that knowledge with others. I know (after started looking into the issue) that self clean puts a lot of stress on ovens, and many don't survive, but many do as some users testified in the thread. I honestly think that in general, the Ikea/Whirlpool models are inferior to others because so far, even after I asked the question explicitly on IkeaFans forum, I have not seen a single user coming forward and said that had success with the oven and its self clean feature.

Welcome to our great group! The nicest part is that we all do our own things and still love all of art. Everyone has given you great advice, so here is mine, hope it is as good. Depending on the size of the city where you live, thrift store are a great source for not only surfaces but books and patterns as well. I even found a Kolinski brush that I bought for a buck,a little cleaning and I now have a brush that would have cost me in excess of $50.00 One very good place to go dreaming is in any crafter's mall or shops. Not only can you find samples of finished projects, you can also get in touch with other artists in your area. Most are more than willing to share with you. I hope you come back often and don't be afraid to ask questions.....we all have questions!!!!! Belle