Out of Control Spending On Gifts and Holidays
August 20, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving, Spending and Saving
I love to give. One of my favorite ways to show appreciation, affection, or just simply make someone happy is to give them a gift. I honestly don’t do it, because I am obsessed with materialism. I just know that receiving an unexpected, thoughtful gift brings can really brighten up someone’s life. The keyword in that sentence is “thoughtful”. Just as much as I enjoy giving gifts, I hate giving gifts just for the sake of giving something. I like putting thought into gifts, and I am not a big fan of receiving a gift with no thought put into it. Before you jump on me, let me explain myself.
What Do You Think About Obama’s Plan To Reduce Charitable Giving Tax Deductions?
March 11, 2009 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Economic Policy, Giving, Politics
When President Obama announced his budget plan, one of his tax proposals was glossed over by the media, and I wanted to get your opinion about it.
Starting in 2011, President Obama plans to reduce the charitable giving tax deduction from 100% to 28% of your charitable contribution for families who earn over $250,000 in adjusted gross income. Right now, if you give $100 to your local charity, you can deduct $100 from your adjusted gross income, which determines how much tax you owe on your annual federal taxes. Obama has coined families making more than $250,000 per year as “wealthy”, so he is imposing a reduction in this tax deduction to 28 percent. For families that this applies to, they will only be able to deduct $28 per $100 they give to charity on their taxes.
My Favorite Story About Giving
December 29, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving
Coincidentally, my favorite story about giving involves a gift I gave to someone, but don’t take this as a self-serving story to build myself. The summer before my senior year of high school, I went on a mission’s trip to Cuenca, Ecuador with my church’s youth group. Cuenca is a quaint town nestled in a valley of the Andes Mountains, and it is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. The mission was to bring a small bit of medical supplies relief to the physically handicapped in Cuenca. In order to be a part of the trip, each high school student was required to bring a wheelchair with them. We also brought dozens of canes and walkers along with us. As you can imagine, checking 42 wheelchairs on an airplane was no easy task, and the airlines wasn’t even prepared for us to be bringing them despite the fact that we warned them weeks in advance.
How To Check A Charity For Legitimacy
December 8, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving
The Christmas season is all about giving back to others in response to the blessings you’ve received throughout the year. At Money Crashers, we believe that the purpose for accumulating wealth is to become financially independent, leave a legacy for your family, and give back to others. I encourage all of you to give abundantly this season, because giving is one of the most fun and rewarding acititivies you will do in your lifetime.
Unfortunately, there are charities out there that say they are charities, but don’t do a great jobs at using the money donated to them. Here are some tips I got from Kiplinger’s Magazine to help you check out a charity before you give money to it.
The Money Crasher’s Guide to Tipping
September 15, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving
We live in a society where service industries thrive by performing superior customer service. Because we live in a capitalistic economic system, a custom of rewarding superior customer service has developed through the use of tipping. Tipping is a controversial subject, because many people disagree about who to tip, when to tip, and how much to tip. There are no set laws about who you should tip, when you should tip, or how much you should tip. There are not any laws about tipping at all. If you go to a sit-down restaurant, eat a meal, and leave without tipping, you won’t be breaking the law. The market correction for people who do not tip at restaurants is that they will build a reputation of not being tippers, and the servers of the restaurant will not give them good customer service. You don’t tip when you should, and you don’t receive good service. It’s as simple as that. Here are some ideas about who you should tip, when you should tip, and how much you should tip.
How To Find Free Money Today
September 4, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Deals, Giving
Do you need some extra cash? You may be entitled to some, but never knew it. There is such a thing as free money, well it’s not free, but it feels like it’s free because you never knew it was there waiting for you to claim it. Each state should have a bureau for unclaimed property, and many of them allow you to search by your name to see if you have unclaimed money to recover.
Who Is Your Favorite Charity?
July 25, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving
Sometimes, I have a hard time thinking of a good charity to donate money. I know there are plenty good ones out there, but I also know there are plenty out there that don’t use the money the way that they should. I’m opening up the floor to you all to enlighten me with your favorite charities?
Money Lessons Learned From Our Founding Fathers
February 19, 2008 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving, Investing
I meant to do this post yesterday during the designated President’s Day, but I didn’t get to it, so I thought I would share it with you a day late. I think one of the biggest tragedies of our modern culture is that we do not follow the guidance and wisdom laid out by the people that shaped this country into the greatest nation the world has ever seen. We are the hallmark for freedom and liberty. People flock here every year to have the opportunity to change their financial lives. We learn that George Washington and Abraham were great Presidents, but we seldom go beyond that. We seldom analyze their philosophy for the direction of the country. Here are some quotes from Washington and Lincoln that we can learn from about personal and financial development.
The Low Down On Holiday Tipping
December 21, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving, Spending and Saving
The season of Christmas brings generosity out in us that we may not have throughout the rest of the year. We usually tip based on a certain percentage like 10% to 20% to various people who work off of tips. But, something about the holidays makes uf throw out the rule book of tipping, and we even find ourselves wanting to tip those who might not usually think about tipping.
Check out this article on MSN Money for everything you need to know about tipping on the holidays.
How I Would Pay Forward $1,000 On The Holidays
December 19, 2007 by Erik Folgate
Filed under Giving
The first thing that I would do with $1,000 to pay forward is I would find a homeless person, take them out for dinner to the restaurant of their choice. Then, I would take them and buy them nice outfit. Then, I would offer to drive them to the nearest shelter or rehabilitation center. Are there any rehab centers for homeless people these days? I know that many of them are mentally handicapped, but some of them just need a second chance and someone to motivate them to pick up their life again.
