No problem, maybee. If you don't want to read it - no one said that you had to. The reference to the high living related to students in Univ. that go to sleep at the beginning of the class that they paid expensive tuition to attend ... because they celebrated a bit too loud and long on the previous evening ... was that I would feel it necessary to help them get their money's worth! It was made substantially tongue-in-cheek, with regard to your situation. Anyway - what responsibility do I have to waken you ... you didn't pay any fees, here! Sorry if I offended you ... I do instigate some levity around here, at times. However - would you like to deal with the issue? Rather than shooting the messenger. I was checking my old copies of the financial magazine that I respect, this evening. I found a saying that I like. "Financial freedom is ... priceless! Pass it on!". Learning how money works is useful, and pays. And I've been offering my viewpoint regarding using money more effectiely for some time. To help people achieve financial freedom. Free ... here. Anyone who wishes to check it out is welcome, and if many choose not to, that's fine ... I wouldn't twist arms, even if I could. I don't appreciate others trying to live my life for me, though I take heed of their comments regarding it. I have felt for years as a counsellor that my task with others is to help them examine and deal with various aspects of their life that they invite me to do, in ways that will enable them to cope with living more effectively, on their own. It's not up to me to make others' decisions for them - they need to become increasingly capable to manage their own lives more effectively. I want individuals and families to learn how to run their own money. A local man who makes presentations about money management laments that there isn't more of it taught in schools, and I agree. Is it possible to buy a dollar's worth of value for 60 cents, as that mutual funds' manager said? Who knows. But I still think that it makes sense to do some buying, as time goes along. As many say ... trying to time the market is a fool's game. "What's the greatest risk in the investment market", asked one writer in the mag, "being in the market when it's going down?". "No - not being in it when it's going up!" was his advice. Good wishes for managing your income and assets with increasing skill. ole joyful P.S. I want to be able to fund what part of my future medical services which are not covered by the Canadian medical and hospital care system, for which I am mightily thankful, though I've made minimal use of it, thus far. Plus cover residential and nursing home care, as may be required. Plus pay for funeral and final income tax. I want to leave some assets for my offspring, for I feel that there may well be some troubled years ahead for our economy - and I'd like to leave as much extra cushion to enable them to cope with it as I can. And I want to support some charities at the end of my life, as I have during it. I lived for years where people had to scrounge what they could to build themselves a shack and wondered where the next meal was coming from. That has an effect. No way could I justify owning one home for year-round use, plus a second for a short stay in summer: millions have been able to (so far) ... I can't. Also - it takes a great deal of energy, which reduces the remaining supply, plus adds to both global warming and pollutants flying around the air and water, to build an automobile. It cost me more a few months ago to fix my 20 year old car than I paid for it less than a year previously, but I think that there's a good possibility that it will run for quite a few miles yet, so felt that it was the responsible thing to do to repair it. We should get on the backs of the builders of our appliances, requiring them to build appliances that will last for 40 years rather than 10, as it takes a lot of resources plus much heating and polluting energy to build a fridge. Soon after they began building fridges, 70 years ago, they were building ones that would last for 40 years. They won't do it now, for they want us to buy new, again ... soon. We can no longer afford such foolishness. They say that it'll take the resources of four planets like ours to serve the needs of our world with its present population, if most of them get to live higher on the hog, anywhere similar to what we've been used to. Further ... I grew up a few years after the Dirty Thirties, the Great Depression ... and during the six years of scarcity during World War II. o j

I have to take a Minimum Required Distribution every year from my retirement account since I turned 69-1/2. However, every year Congress allows an up to $100,000 non-taxable distribution from such retirement accounts to whichever IRS-sanctioned charity or charities you specify. Since we don't even approach using an itemized deduction on our income tax to take advantage of a non-taxable charitable contribution there, but rather have to use a standard deduction, this is a neat way to take advantage of the US tax laws & a win for the the charity I would annually select anyway.

It took your follow-up comment and reading back and forth a couple times to see what you were saying. At first it looked like you were saying spare me the friends that said they couldn't afford it and I was going WTH?? Can't be! And wasn't. Weddings. What more can I say about them. Opulence on par with the reality of a "reality show". The cost of a dress is silly. Tradition used to be that the groomsmen were expected to pick up the tab for the groom's tux. And instead of the bridesmaids buying the bride's dress, they buy dresses that'll never be worn in public again! Nowadays, it's rent 7 tuxes and the groom gets his for "free". Yeah, right, "free"! Give me a freakin break. And in exchange for this the groom gives each tux renter a keyring or some other useless, yet overpriced trinket that'll never be used. Maybe instead of spending $25 or $50 on each of the keyrings he could pay for his own tux! There was the other thread about how much to give. It occurred to me that maybe it should be based on how fiscally responsible the people are. If they have a wedding where the wedding party can wear attire that can be used again, kick in a bit more since they suggest they will be more responsible. If they go for the limos, ugly dresses & tuxes, can they handle my money? Maybe they should get less. LOL

Thank you for puting giving food in perspective. I to have wondered who eats much of the food donated. You cannot imagine how much donated food is tossed due to past due dates, and the particular product. After all, how many people who really need food, need a can of sardines, chili peppers, etc. Food banks are also given large amounts of donated foods from their main resourse and again much of that is outdated by months and even years.