When we advise about or help set up tax-saving mechanisms for clients to deliver their philanthropy and giving (outside of normal tax deductions), there’s plenty of discussion about the benefits of the gift for the recipient.
But what about for the giver? Here are some things to consider, as you contemplate giving.
- When you give, your emotions change.
Studies show (https://www.livescience.com/health/080320-happiness-money.html ) that when individuals spend money on gifts for friends or charitable organizations, their happiness increases — while those who spend on themselves get no such boost. Even Scrooge can agree that everyone wins.
- You might just spend it on something irrelevant, anyway.
As pious as you are, there’s still extra money in your budget somewhere. Create a budget for charity donations, then take some of your extra money (each month or each year) and donate it to charity. Use your spending money to make a difference instead of spending it on Brookstone junk you’ll use once. And if you think you don’t have enough, take that extra 2% you’ll be earning next year and put that toward a charity fund. For someone making $100,000, that’s $2,000.00.
- It’s probably now or never.
Don’t pretend that instead of giving money, you’re going to donate time. When was the last time you volunteered at a soup kitchen? Don’t let your mind fall for this trick. Send the money now or you’ll end up giving nothing.
- Get ahead of your heart.
This is the biggie, in my opinion. There’s something that occurs in your psyche when you cut a big (or relatively big) check to someone in need, or to a charity organization. You feel more powerful — more dynamic. You signal to your own soul: “Money doesn’t rule me. I have more than enough, so much more than enough that I’m giving it away.”
Then, of course, something special sometimes actually happens: more money seems to find itself in your hands.
I’m not advocating a mystical pay-it-forward scheme; I’m simply making this observation over years of being a student of how money “works”. Frankly, it just seems to regularly find itself in the hands of those who give it away.
So, aside from the tax benefits … consider these as well.
“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey
