I recently went to an investor education day that a financial advisor in our business network put on. The administrative update was specifically educational because it opened up my eyes to the delays in 1099 reporting. If you have a brokerage account with a decent amount of activity (including mutual funds, stock sales, wash sales, etc…), then you may not get your 1099 until March 15th. That means a real tax season crunch for not just our firm, but any firm/CPA that has clients who have investment accounts. I sure don’t feel positive about that, as I don’t think putting MORE pressure on the American taxpayer is very helpful.
That said, today’s blog post focuses on another piece of that program – being a generous member of your community. The speaker, Virgil Dugan, is probably one of the smartest individuals I’ve met in my life and he really boiled down charitable giving into something far more than just writing checks and a warm and fuzzy.
Virgil challenged the crowd to implement a personal giving strategy. This isn’t something that needed to be developed with a high priced consultant. He suggested “10 – 1″ – 10% of giving from your annual income and 1% of your invested assets. He even said that if you don’t like the 10 – 1, try “x – y” where “x” could be 3% and “y” could be “0.50%”, but have a number you can shoot for and eventually grow. Maybe you do “3% of income; 0.25% in assets” for 2012; then move it to “3.5% of income; 0.50% of assets” in 2013. You’ll find the joy of helping others may encourage you to increase those figures more and more!
Charitable giving has a major impact in our communities. Nonprofits can take a small dollar amount and some time and dramatically change lives in a positive way. I think that many people think that donating to a charity is some sort of privilege reserved for the wealthy – “Oh, I don’t give because I don’t have tons of money in the bank.” or “I don’t give because I don’t itemize deductions, so I don’t get a tax benefit for it.” Even if you give $20 a year, that’s $20 that is going to help your community.
Giving is not about tax write offs – in fact, that’s the least important aspect of the gift itself. The gift should represent your desire to help others and in a way that reflects what is important to you. For example, I have a client who really enjoys video gaming…he has been a gamer the whole time I’ve know him. He found a great charity called Child’s Play, who helps kids in hospitals by providing video games for them to play with. Video games + helping kids = positive impact. If you’re going to give, give to an organization that shares your passions. You’d be surprised how many organizations exist that aren’t huge household names and do huge work in your community.
If you are interested in talking more about giving and ways you can do it in a smart way, give us a call – we’d love to help you help your community!
Thanks,
Jason Deshayes, CPA
