A few weeks ago, we featured a general article about how to engineer a tax-cost-effective transfer of the family cottage to the next generation.

Some readers were curious as to how much it might cost to use life insurance -- either to pay the capital gains tax required down the road or to provide some liquidity to adult children who would never use the cottage.

There are two philosophies on consumerism during a recession.

The first is, Good God, save your money and hide … we’re all going to die! The other is, Hey, this might not be bad time to sneak out a deal or two.

About five months ago we wondered if, with dealers offering to damn near paint your house to get a vehicle off the lot, now might not be the best opportunity to buy a car.

In a class action lawsuit filed last week in California, disgruntled workers allege that United Parcel Service, the world's largest package delivery service, owes them as much as $100 million in unpaid overtime wages. And they’re not alone.

Short staffing, as well as problems recruiting and retaining good employees, are leading an increasing number of those who actually still have jobs to complain about excessive overtime and too many weekends being eaten up by work.

Huh. Maybe this is why Donald Trump’s so uptight.

In the words of Tony Montana, in this country, you gotta make the money first. Then when you get the money, you get the power. Then when you get the power, then you get the woman.

Grandiose, extravagant stereotyping? Definitely. Sound philosophical reasoning? Sure. Backwards thinking, though? Maybe.

You ever been in one of those new Wal-Mart super lines, the ones where – despite the stereotypes – you’re literally packed in next to a handful of screaming kids and at least two women that look like Aileen Wuornos?

Sure you have. And then you’ve likely wondered the following: "Why on earth, with all these cashiers, are they funnelling everyone in through one line-up instead of spreading us to each checkout? This is going to take forever."

Of course you thought that. Only, it never does. No matter how long that damn single line gets, the one-line queue always seems to rifle us through with remarkable efficiency.

Most family discussions about postsecondary education centre on finding the money to get there. But there are other issues parents need to worry about before Labour Day rolls around.

Like what happens if some light-handed thief walks off with all their stuff.

Whether the sun is shining or the snow is blowing, there’s always somebody grappling with the same question: Does it make sense to buy a vacation home?

On the cost side, property taxes, condo fees, and utilities, as well as maintenance and insurance on a property, can easily add up to 5 or 6% of the home's value every year. Expect a big insurance premium, for instance, because the very things that make a vacation home appealing — proximity to water or mountains, distant from civilization — also make it riskier to insure. And, of course, there's the cost of getting there.

You might ask a lot of things about smokers.

You might say, ‘Geez, how can these people continue to kill themselves like this?’ Or maybe you’ll question, ‘I wonder what smells worse, a smoker’s breath or a dutch oven from John Goodman.’

But there is one thing we know for sure about smokers, and that is none – and I mean none – of them enjoy paying the outrageous, tax-crazy and ever-climbing price for a pack of darts.

By Jason Buckland, Sympatico / MSN Finance

It’s been a tough, gritty fight to find the most depressing story of this recession.

Back in March, no one was having sex. Then April came, and abortions were on the rise. Just last month – in a kind of cruel, ironic circle of life – people couldn’t even afford their own damn funerals.

Rarely have stories come out showing just how the downturn has ravaged our psyche, though, having turned healthy consumers into frugal, paranoid and frightened shoppers.

By Jason Buckland, Sympatico / MSN Finance

After reading the above title in the Toronto Star, it’s very tough not to make jokes about buzz cuts, hiking boots and plaid vests.

But really, as a still-terribly chauvinistic society, what do we think of when we discuss women and cars? This comes to mind. So does this. And this.

Yet despite what that last example would have you believe, this ain’t 1991 anymore. Cultural ideals to women and cars have shifted, and maybe more than you think.