A gift by definition is irrevocable (and that is what the IRS says, too). If there are any strings attached, it is not a gift. The Forbes article explains how this works:
“Let’s assume that you give roughly $5,000 per year to various charities. With a donor-advised fund, you might contribute $25,000 once every five years, thus maintaining the same rate of annual giving. Because a contribution to a donor-advised fund is immediately tax deductible, you would contribute enough to enjoy the tax benefit of a gift in year one, and then distribute $5,000 to charity annually (while taking the standard deduction) over the next five years.”
So if you set up such a fund with $25k in it in 2018, you can deduct the ENTIRE $25k in 2018 even though you direct the fund manager to distribute only $5k to your church. Yes, it has to be irrevocable to qualify as a charitable gift.
Let’s say H and W have mortgage and taxes of $18k. If they make a gift of $5k, their itemized deductions will be $23k, so they are better off taking the standard deduction. With a gift of $25k, they will have a $43k to itemize. Much better than taking the standard deduction.
Had a great time with our kids over Thanksgiving. They told ShawWife that they were thankful that they had parents who not only took care of their kids but took VP care of themselves. I think they are now seeing some friends with parents who are not totally functional (e.g., bad decision-maker, health, etc.).
“A gift by definition is irrevocable (and that is what the IRS says, too)” - Yes, and I agree it’s the right rules for DAF. I just get stressed making multi-year decisions.
I had an account with Fidelity Charitable Gift Fund for years. It was very convenient, and fun. It lets you separate the taxable event of making a tax deductible charitable donation from the gift giving to your favorite charity. The fun part was you could feel like a bigshot bequeathing a gift from the “Mr and Mrs NJres Charitable Foundation” or something like that. Now I don’t itemize and don’t take a charitable tax deduction so for a very few charities I donate appreciated stock and write small checks to a few others.
I’ve never even heard of most of these. The SEC is investigating fraud in this area and has starting levying penalties, the Justice Department is investigating price manipulations.
I read a great column in the WSJ which basically ended with, ‘what is crypto good for, except drug dealers and other illicit activities?’ You can’t spend it at Starbucks or the local grocery store. You can’t pay your mortgage or property taxes with crypto… In other words, it has no chance of becoming a ‘common currency’.
yeah, I saw that pats mom. But if you read the article, it makes clear that the state is only accepting payment in US dollars. They have just approved accepting the Wallet service that transfers dollars, not bitcoin. (Not much different than accepting a bank debit card, I’d imagine.)
IMO, the article headline is extremely misleading. But still, a great way for drug dealers to pay income taxes on their deals, right?
At this point I’m not worried about crypto but worried about overall market performance in 2018. I keep “staying the course,” and I have a “sleep well at night” allocation (too risk averse according to some), but I feel like I’m watching my time until retirement expand.
I’m staying the course - though also feeling anxious. We have a defined benefit pension that does not adjust for inflation. We are planning to live off the pensions and leave the ROTHs for when inflation eats away at the pension value. That should be 10 years away - so we’ll leave most of our ROTH in equities. (We’ll see how I feel about this in a year or two!)
We have had a significant cash allocation for the last year or so, which hasn’t been great until recently. This could be a time for a private equity-like allocation, where they invest after the market declines. I did very well with an investment like that in 2007. I’m investing a bit in a new venture that I’m co-founding. Was described briefly in a local paper.
I’m so excited. My SS benefit isn’t very big because I am subject to the offset and windfall provisions…so my SS is reduced based on a formula that uses my pension.
Anyway…in 2017, I actually didn’t even have enough SS to cover my Medicare costs plus my RX…and the IRMMA for each. So…every month I had to write a $13 check to cover.
In 2018, until September, I got a rousing $3 deposited into my checking account each month…but that was a $16 change from the -$13 from the previous year!
I just got a letter from SS. Beginning January 1, my benefit is increasing…again. I will be getting a $30 deposit into my checking account! Woohoo.
And I worked September and October of this year, contributing more per pay period than my monthly benefit…so I believe this will be recalculated…again…probably in June.
Every time I do a 2-3 month position, my contributions to SS are roughly twice the amount per month than my benefit! Guess I am seeing that now in my benefit.
Now I don’t itemize and don’t take a charitable tax deduction so for a very few charities I donate appreciated stock and write small checks to a few others.