Legacy Planning and Acts of Charitable Giving
Merry Christmas! Tis the Season of Giving!
Estate planning can be viewed in one of two ways. You could look at it as a basic effort to make sure that your assets are distributed in accordance with your wishes and leave it at that. On the other hand, you could take a more comprehensive viewpoint and engage in the process of legacy planning.
As you pass through the stages of your life, you have a profound impact on the people that you interact with on a day-to-day basis. This influence does not have to die when you do. If you take the right steps, you can leave behind a lasting legacy and cast a long shadow that will be profoundly felt after you are gone.
Charitable Giving
There are various different things that you can do to craft a meaningful legacy, and charitable giving is one of them. When you set aside resources for the benefit of worthy causes and institutions, you will always be remembered for your kind and generous nature.
Some people who want to provide for charitable causes create private foundations. Though you have undoubtedly heard of foundations that bear the names of some of the most wealthy billionaires in the country, you do not have to be a billionaire to start a foundation.
When you look into the subject, you find that most of the foundations in the country are funded with less than $1 million. Clearly, you are going to need to work with six figures, but you don’t necessarily have to be among the mega rich to start a foundation.
If a foundation is not for you, there are other options. Donor advised funds are very popular among people who want to provide for charitable causes. With a donor advised fund, you can make a single contribution, but you can advise the fund with regard to the way that you want the contribution to be spread among multiple charities.
As a result, your accounting is streamlined, because you are only dealing with one entity. Plus, the administrative costs are shared among all of the people who are participating in any respective fund, so more money gets into the coffers of the charities that you want to support.
Charitable trusts can also be useful for those who want to support charitable efforts.
Though giving is its own reward on an emotional and spiritual level, there are also tax benefits that can be realized through acts of charitable giving, and this is another thing to take into consideration when you are devising your legacy plan.
Learn More About Legacy Planning
If you would like to learn more about charitable giving and legacy planning, download our special report. The report is free, and you can visit this page to access your copy: Dallas TX Legacy Planning.