The Benefits of Giving Appreciated Stock to Your Church

Most people give money to their church by dropping an envelope in the collection plate each week as it passes them. Bless you for your generosity.

But there may be an even better way of giving that allows you to give even more without costing you more: giving appreciated stock. Appreciated stock is stock that has gone up in value from the time you bought it.

Here is an example of how this works to everyone’s benefit:

Supposed you wanted to give your church $2500. You have stock in the XYZ Company that’s worth $2500 today, but you only paid $500 for it years ago. If you sold those shares today the federal government is owed $300 in taxes ($2000 gain X 15% = $300).   After you pay the tax, the church would only get $2200 ($2500 – $300 = $2200). But if you gave the stock directly to the church, the church could sell it and – because the church is tax exempt – the church would get the entire $2500.

In this example, the cost of your gift is $500, the church gets $2500, and you get a $2500 charitable deduction.

This is especially useful if you have stock whose original cost you don’t know, such as gifts from parents, or shares that you bought many years ago without keeping a record.   Giving the stock to the church solves the tax cost problem and may allow you to give more than giving cash.

It’s easy to do. Just ask the church for the name of the investment firm they use and the account number. Then instruct your custodian to send shares from your account to the church account. It’s that simple.

Finally, be sure to tell your pastor what stock you are gifting and the number of shares. Without this information your church will not know who made the gift and can’t provide you with a confirming letter you can use to take a tax deduction.

For more information, call Arie Korving or Stephen Korving at Korving & Company.

Phone (757)-638-5490 or go to our website: www.korvingco.com

Digital Assets and Your Estate Plan

 

The Hook Law Center talks about what happens to your “digital” records and social media accounts when their owner dies.  The era is social media is new enough that most people have not given it much thought.  But a lot of people who use it are either aging or elderly.  The article is worth reading and provides guidance about what to do.

In addition to utilizing your Will and Power of Attorney to permit others to manage your digital assets, we strongly recommend that you create a master list of your accounts, log-in information and passwords, to make it easier for the people you have named to take control of those assets.

We also recommend that you get a copy of our book Before I Go and the accompanying workbook.  It is designed to provide a guide to those who are left behind.

Bond investing today

Bond investing in today’s ultra-low rate environment has many investors frustrated and many professionals worried. Why? Because once interest rates start going up, the value of existing bonds goes down.

Here are some comments from the manager of a bond fund we use in our mutual fund portfolios … the Loomis Sayles Bond Fund:

Dan Fuss, known as the Warren Buffett of bonds, said his $23 billion Loomis Sayles Bond Fund is sitting on more than 20 percent of cash and cash equivalents, its highest level ever, because he sees scant opportunities in the bond market.

“If we saw a lot of value, we wouldn’t have those reserves,” Fuss told Reuters in an interview.

Fuss, vice chairman and portfolio manager at Loomis Sayles, which oversaw $199.8 billion as of December 31, said the Loomis Sayles Bond portfolio has been building cash since early 2013 and has boosted levels as fixed-income securities have become increasingly pricey.

Despite his high cash position, the fund has done very well.

In 2014, the Loomis Sayles Bond Fund has posted a return of 3.42 percent, outperforming 85 percent of its peers, according to Morningstar data. Over the past 10 years, on an annualized basis it has returned 8.37 percent, surpassing 94 percent of its peers for the same period, according to Morningstar data.

For its five-year record, the Loomis Sayles Bond Fund has posted returns of 14.61 percent, ahead of 85 percent of its peers.

Name(required)

Email(required)

Comment(required)

Submit

Δ