Maye some of you missed this, first time around, and might find it useful. And ... would you call this go-round ... "regifting"?? ole joyful

As I offer an occasional newsletter on personal financial management issues to clients and others interested, I was checking back through some old threads for matters that I might work on for a future message. When I got to page 8, I was quite surprised to find 5 of my threads in sequence. I have the opinion, rightly or wrongly, that I do not originate a lot of threads, so when, later on the same page, I found four more, I thought that very unusual. The first one on page 9 was one of mine, as well, so that made 2 sequences of five - most originally written at different times. There might be some egotism mixed in there somewhere - who knows? Maybe I just like the look of my name in print. And, as I often deal with rather serious issues, maybe I was just being frivolous. Is that allowed? Don't you get the feeling that life is just too darned serious, at times?? I hope that you have a happy and interesting start on your New Year. ole joyful

Greetings, everyone. I'd had no indication prior to that trip that something was wrong with the rad. I had a '90 Dodge "Colt" (also standard tranny) from about '97 to about '04 or '05. I used it to travel the 12 miles or so to Uncle's farm nearly daily after his death, to make it look lived in, until the farm was sold, and, as I was usually travelling at midnight or 2 a.m or so, when there was little traffic, found that I could coast over 16 of the 20 km. trip ... and if anyone had told me that they could coast 80% of the time, I'd have thought them to be lying. Didn't have any clutch or transmission troubles with it. When the mechanic said that, at about 200K miles, it was risky to put it on the road, donated it to a charitable agency for a charitable receipt. When I initiated a discussion here about coasting some time ago, some said that such is illegal in their state. I've asked several police people and have been told that it's my responsibility to be in charge of my vehicle, and to drive in a safe manner. I don't usually do it if someone is following me rather closely, as it is not fair to interfere with his/her progress. _____________________________ The lady in question called me the next evening, to ask whether I'd got home O.K., and I told her that I had, and of the issues that I'd had to deal with ... and asked her how she knew that I'd had any problems. She said that she hadn't seen me at the commital, or afterward at the luncheon, and that she had been pretty sure that I'd have been there, so thought that something probably went wrong. And, yes ... I've seen her again ... why not? Last evening, as a matter of fact ... for a short visit before coming to the library ... but hadn't time to make this post, then. Any other questions/comments/(advisories)? ole joyful

Just spent part of the afternoon arranging with stockbroker to make a gift of stocks that have gone up in value to a major charity, to distribute to a number of others. When I cash the stock, put the proceeds in the bank and write cheques to the charities, come tax time I have to deduct the purchase price from the sale price and pay income tax at regular rate on half of the difference. But when I donate them to a charity, I avoid paying income tax on the capital gain. For the past couple of years I've been able to avoid federal income tax ... largely by gifts to charities, churches and making political contributions. We had both federal and provincial elections last year, so larger political contributions, and larger charitable contributions, helped avoid tax on an increase in income, last year. I like them apples better! ole joyful.