From Our Readers

Ship Shape
Thank you for “51 Smart Money Tips” (Spring 2006). One suggestion: Tip No. 34 should have emphasized shopping around online more than just hunting for free shipping.

It’s very easy for online retailers to connect to shippers’ databases to calculate shipping costs—and then add that cost to the base price of the merchandise. Shopping around for a fair price, even if it means paying for actual shipping costs, can sometimes turn out to be a better deal than so-called “free shipping.”

Tom Taylor
Madison, Wisconsin

Praise for ‘Bread’
In the 15 to 20 years I have been a member of Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, the Rev. Ted Schroeder’s “The Legacy” (Spring 2006) is the most inspiring thing I have ever read.

With humor and poignancy, the Rev. Schroeder honors human imagination and unites values of family, spirituality and the natural world to remind us what we often forget in our materialistic daily lives: The Creator is within creation. By honoring creation, we honor, learn from and deepen our connection to the Creator.

Linda Huhn
Minneapolis, Minnesota

More Smart Tax Tips
I would like to challenge one of the “3 Tax Refund Tips” (Spring 2006). For those tithing based on their gross income, any tax refunds they receive from the government have already been tithed on. It certainly would be valid to give 10 percent of any refund as a gift or offering to a charity, but I would be cautious to use the word “tithe” there.

An additional tip: stop using the IRS as an interest-free, forced savings account, and examine the W-4 filed with your employer. By properly stating the number of deductions, you can substantially decrease your tax refund and have a little bit more in each paycheck. That extra money could be placed into an investment account and earn interest with no impact to your monthly budget.

David Brown
Charlotte, North Carolina

Kudos
Thanks for the very practical articles in your Spring issue: “51 Smart Money Tips,” “Get Organized” and the articles on community service. They were very beneficial to many faith-based church families. Thank you.

Jack N. Wismer
Davenport, Iowa

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