Business Innovators Radio - Episode #53 – Charitable Giving – The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcast-With Mark Triplett & Troy Westendorf

Episode Date: November 29, 2023

We believe that every dollar has a purpose and a timeline. When and how your retirement assets will be used should be understood before making important financial decisions.The Triplett-Westendorf Purpose and Timeline 5 Step Planning Process (PT5) begins with Discovery.Understanding where you are now, and then defining where you want to go (Your Purpose) and when you want to get there (Your Timeline), programs your financial GPS. Our Purpose and Timeline 5-step process (PT5) programs your financial GPS.Learn more: http://triplett-westendorf.com/ | https://mypt5.com/The 15 Minute Financial Feast Podcasthttps://businessinnovatorsradio.com/the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast/Source: https://businessinnovatorsradio.com/episode-53-charitable-giving-the-15-minute-financial-feast-podcast-with-mark-triplett-troy-westendorf

Welcome to the 15-minute financial feast podcast, bringing you 15-minute segments to help you retire with purpose on time. We're serving up food for thought and bread for the head. Are you hungry to learn? Here are your hosts, Mark Triplett and Troy Westendorf. Welcome to another episode of the 15-minute financial feast. Today, you are listening to the audio from a live television interview where one of our favorite local news station anchors asked us questions about a financial feast. topic on the minds of many hardworking folks in our community who are trying to make good decisions and get ahead.

Holiday season's here. It can be really hard to know how to make the biggest impact. If you're thinking about giving to charities, nonprofits, local financial professional Mark Triplett from Triplett-Wessendorf Financial Group is here with strategies. So first, let's talk inflation. It's put a strain on both individuals and organizations. How is it affecting charitable donations this year? Well, actually last year, we'll start there. Last year, charitable donations were down 10.5%, which is only the fourth time out of the last four decades where year-over-year charitable donations didn't go up. So definitely folks were feeling the pinch a year ago. Inflations peaked at 9%, now coming back down to 3.2% with the last reading. But despite

folks feeling stretched, those that were giving last year are still expecting to give as much or more this year. So I think we'll see maybe folks be able to give a little bit more. more this year than maybe they did last year. What else should we be keeping in mind when planning our donations, you know, strategically? Well, first of all, if you're a charitably minded, then that should be the first criteria. I want to give to charity. Then if you can do it in a tax-efficient way, why not, right? So we recommend doing things like bunching your donations. Most folks are going to claim a standard deduction, and unless your itemized deductions are more than the standard deduction, then you really don't get a tax benefit.

from that. So bunching your donations rather than making donations every year, maybe doing it every two years or three years and making larger donations, that's one way to take advantage of that. You can also gift highly appreciated securities. Let's say you own a stock. You bought it years ago. It's appreciated. If you sold it, you'd have to pay capital gains, but you can donate that directly to the charity. They can sell it immediately and use those funds. You get the donation. They don't pay any taxes. You don't pay any taxes. So that's a great way to give. I also like using qualified charitable distributions. If you're 70 and a half years of age today or older,

you can direct gift up to $100,000 out of your IRA directly to a charity. It satisfies your required minimum distributions. Most folks don't like those anyway. And you get the tax deduction on that. So that's a great way to give. And lastly, you can open up a donor advised fund. That's a place where you can donate your assets to today without knowing exactly which organizations you want to give to.

So let's pull this all together. I know of a couple that used bunching to donate highly appreciated securities into a donor advised fund, allowing them to exceed the standard deduction, get the deduction, lower their income for the year, which opened up the door to do some pretty significant Roth conversions, which I love to talk about too. So great ways to give and also do it in a tax-efficient manner. Yes, there's so many ways. I mean, you just rattle off something for everyone pretty much. What can we do to make the most of our giving before we go? Well, money means different things and different people, and if money feels tight to you,

just know that giving cash donations isn't the only way to give. If you really want to give back and you can maybe donate some lightly used clothes or give the food banks or just donate your time, there's all different kinds of ways to give to causes that you're passionate about. Find something that you're passionate about. Make sure that the donations that you're making are going to that cause and being used in the manner that you feel good about. And then if you are looking to take advantage financially with regard to some of these, tax deductions, work with the tax professional and a financial professional to help you make the most of those donations.

Mark Triplett, thank you so much for your time. Very helpful as we head into the holiday season. You've been listening to the 15-minute financial feast podcast. Remember, every dollar has a purpose and every dollar has a timeline. If you have questions about today's topic, schedule a call with a team member. Visit www.com.com. Until next time, be sure your team. taking steps to retire with purpose on time. Mark Triplett is an investment advisor representative of and advisory services offered through

Royal Fund Management LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor. Nothing contained in this program should be considered an offer to buy or sell securities. Different investments have different risks associated with them, and not all investments are appropriate for all investors.