Most of us at some point throughout 2009, have been affected by the global economic downturn in a negative way. But being the optimist that I am, I like to focus on the positive outcomes of the Global Economic Crisis such as the overall reduction of waste, people using less of what they don't need. Recognising that we have, as a nation, and globally, overindulged and wasted resources to the possible detriment of our children and grandchildren. Also, people thinking twice about their future and possible ways to protect their future income and investments.

Over the past 12 months, I tried not to watch too much main stream news, as I was sick of being bombarded with doom and gloom stories. 'We are in a crisis', 'you are suffering financially', 'save your pennies', etc, etc. Sure we were in the middle of the one of the biggest global downturns, but in Australia, it is not as bad as elsewhere, and I believe the negative media coverage convinced us all to slow down, whether we needed to or not. A lot of this I believe was typical scare tactics and media sensationalism. However, I did enjoy the little stories that popped up about budgeting and ways to save. I realised, or rather was reminded of the waste in my life, and how I could invest small amounts of money each month into something that actual makes me money over time. Investments such as managed funds and share portfolios that invest in your future. For as little as what I would save by making my lunch each day instead of buying it, I can grow a very decent share portfolio through a managed fund. Click here for Louise's report earlier this year on the in's and out's of managed funds.

One entity feeling the effect of the GFC is charitable organisations, with donations down considerably this year.We all know it's particularly hard to find the extra cash for our family Christmas celebrations this year, but we should try to include Charities in our Christmas stockings. There are so many worthy causes these days, and the tug on the heart strings can be excessive, and very expensive if you were to give to all. Personally, the charities that involve underprivileged children and teens are my choice, but we all have our reasons for giving or not giving to charities, and of course this is a personal choice.

There are many reasons who a person chooses to donate to, and if you are having trouble deciding who to help out with your donation, ask yourself some questions - What do you feel most strongly about? What is the problem you feel you would like to help fix - or who are the people you want to help the most? What are you passionate about? Do you want to give to an area which you are familiar with, or maybe a community in which you grew up in?

Charitable acts need not be in the form of just money, volunteering to help out your charity of choice is often overlooked by people wanting to help. If you can spare the time and want to feel good about physically doing some good, click here to review the volunteering website of Australia, or contact your favourite charity.

Donating is one of the most common forms of charitable acts in Australia. It really is a very simple process, choose a charity, make the donation and receive the receipt. An added bonus is TAX DEDUCTIONS for gifts, claimed by the person or organisation that makes the gift (the donor). A donor can be an individual, company, trust or other type of taxpayer.

For you to claim a tax deduction for a gift, it must:

• be made to a deductible gift recipient (DGR)
• truly be a gift
• be a gift of money or property that is covered by one of the gift types
• comply with any relevant gift conditions.

When claiming tax deductions for gifts, you need to know:

• how much to claim, and
• when to claim the deduction

Some worthy Charity organisations you may not have heard of:

January - Ivan began the year with a review of the 07-08 tumultuous financial year so far, with discussions and expectations on the shape of the recovery to come being 'U' shaped or 'V' shaped. Phil was focused on shares and reviewed what happened and what to do now.

February - Quarterly Economic Update with Stephen, plus Michal discussed the growing trend of redundancies, and Hamish reviewed the government financial bonuses and falling interest rates.

In the department of gift giving, I certainly don't begrudge giving great presents to our children. We all know that some of the 'great' presents have 'great' price tags attached, but when I read about the extravagant and ridiculous amounts of money being spent on children of the very wealth at Christmas, I couldn't help but feel sad and disappointed at how far some parents go to please their kids, when all they probably want is more time with them.

Dance-on-Piano $250,000 - Child's psychiatrist bills in teenage life >> priceless

SOURCE | Google search