On New Year's Day each year it was customary for the English of all walks of life to exchange personal gifts.

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Exorbitant or personal gifts can send the wrong message--and you don't want your superior to think the present is a bribe or a hint.

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Lastly, no more than 30% of your take-home pay should go toward your Lifestyle Choices , which covers the fun you can have today: shopping, entertainment, personal care, the gym, gifts and more.

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You also won't want to insult or bore him or her, so stay away from clothing (which requires you to guess your boss' size), politically oriented or religious gifts, money, personal care products or "adult" items.

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In addition to the philanthropic and other, more personal, reasons that drive such monumental gifts as this one, the Schwarzman endowment highlights how important China is to leading financiers in the coming decades.

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On a more personal note, promotions such as sending promotional gifts, birthday cards, or staying in touch over the holidays with business Christmas cards are additional ways to express appreciation and potentially increase customer retention.

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In all this Mr Papandreou's gifts, including the use of his personal authority to break the foreign-policy mould, will be tested to the limit.

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The main benefit of working from a list is that you can track gifts that are given prior to the death of the testator, as many people begin dispersing personal items as they age and, especially in the case of high net worth people, give financial gifts prior to their death.

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Where the Trustee has personal access to the Trust access, the implication is that transfers to the Trusts were really just gifts to the Trustee.

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