Milana asked:




Which event made the most impression in your life?  



MTV debuts

Grunge was fashionable

American Idol

Paris Hilton in jail



The answer depends on your age or which generation you relate to most. Each generation is shaped by events, developments and trends of its time. And the media plays a big part in transforming and shaping the perception of generations.

Generation X: the letter “X” originally suggested the ambiguous, misunderstood, disheartened generation. The ambiguity has since been clearly defined, so its alternative name Thirteenth Generation (we are the thirteenth generation since the founding of the country) should be more appropriately used. Gen X can be described as growing up with MTV, Pac Man and The Breakfast Club. Pressed between two large generations of the Baby Boomers and Gen Y, Gen X is also characterized with having the middle child syndrome - always being ignored and underappreciated. Like sibling rivalry, with Boomers as the self-righteous eldest and Millennials as the pampered baby with a sense of entitlement. The media has focused a lot of its attention on the Baby Boomers entering into retirement, social security problems, health issues and the rise of biotech. With even more spotlight, the media is fascinated with tabloids of today’s youth, their lifestyle, their relationships, and more of the same monotony. Gen X are feeling overlooked and invisible. So we have a generational chip on our shoulders, but how about coverage on success of a X turning 40, X icons, or X as a technologically influential generation? Is it too much to ask for more face time, more visibility, more recognition?

Generation Y: the offsprings of the Baby Boomers make up of today’s teens and twenty-somethings. They love fame, celebrities, technology, brand names, and six degrees of separation through social networks. Somewhat ironic, Millennials inherited and benefited from the creation of Gen X platforms such as Google, YouTube, MySpace, and Amazon which are largely responsible for classifying this generation as the Internet Generation. This is a large population of 76 million people who are technically savvy and can be powerful because of their ability to connect to each other. With their sense of empowerment, they demand “I want what I want when, where and how I want it.” Quick access to information, to communication equate to instant gratification. This generation’s easy access to a plethora of information can be an overload. This trend will continue to a great degree onto Generation Z. 

Generation Z: the future of our tomorrow who are predominantly the children of Gen X. This is a very young generation with the oldest at 12 years old. Despite their young age, the characteristics of this generation are quite apparent. They are exposed to technology very early in their lives and most already have an online identity. They are considered the most stressful generation for their involvement in too many extra-curricular activities – piano lesson, tap dancing, swimming, soccer practice, singing class, etc. With the rigid schedule of daily activities, they sometime forget to be children.

There is no doubt that each generational difference is marked uniquely. The previous generation lays the path for the next. Of course, conflicts between generations are commonplace as one generation expects conformity from the other generation. This would indubitably make our relationships less complicated, but that is not reality. The reality is that generational differences should be embraced, accepted and respected.

 

 

 

 



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Bei Mi. asked:




If you are looking for a way to get ride of an old vehicle, you may want to consider a car donation.  To donate a car, you simply have to contact a car donation services and they take care of everything else.  Thus, donating your car to charity rather than selling it is more convenient and fast.  Moreover, you help those who are in need of assistance when you donate your car and benefit from it through tax breaks in return. The IRS allows a deduction to your taxes payable equivalent to the proceeds from your car donation.

Before you donate your car to charity you will probably want to know how much will your car donation tax deduction be.  The amount of your car donation tax deduction is covered by the 2005 revised federal tax legislation on car donations.  This legislation describes two possible amounts for your car donation tax deduction- the gross sales amount and the fair market value of your car.

Gross Sales Amount

Before the tax legislation was revised in 2005, the fair market value of a car donation was the amount used for the donor’s tax deduction.  However, the IRS found out that donors were claiming fair market values of donated cars based on the make and the model without considering the car’s condition.  Since the fair market value is the amount agreed upon by the donor and the car donation services, the donors usually considered the book value of the car as the fair market value without taking account of depreciation and the needed refurbishing.

Car donation services usually either refurbish donated cars first or sell them as is at auctions where the true fair market values of the cars are considered.  So if the cars were donated to them at a bloated fair market value, the amount that the car was sold for did not match this bloated value.  The 2005 car donation tax legislation revision corrects this error by allowing only the gross sales amount of the donated cars as the donor’s tax deduction.  

Fair Market Value

The legislation however, still allows that the fair market value of the donated car be used as the donor’s tax deduction provided that they meet certain conditions and paperwork.  

Car donation services do not always sell donated cars.  They may either use the car for their charitable causes or assign the car to a needy family or individual.  If the donated car is used this way by the car donation services, the revised car donation tax legislation allows that the fair market value of the car is used as the donor’s tax deduction.

The necessary paperwork that the IRS needs for the fair market value tax deduction is an acknowledgment receipt issued by the car donation services.  This paper must state that the car is used directly for their charitable causes, the donor’s tax identification number or social security number and the car’s identification number.  Moreover, the IRS may also require that the document contain a phrase restricting the donated car to charitable uses only and not to any future sale.

Donating a car and reducing your taxes is very convenient and easy.  There are already numerous car donation services online.  All you have to do is: call their toll-free number, fill out the application form, and wait for your car to be picked up.  But before that, you may want to check for a 501(c) (3) charity organization classification.  This way you can be sure that your donation goes to charity and be assured that your car donation tax deduction is valid.



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