Scott and Lynda* worked their whole lives with the critical question in the back of their minds, “Do we have enough to retire?” It was their constant goal to be financially secure and prepared for retirement. While raising their kids. While sending kids off to college. While planning for family vacations and purchases. While enjoying the wonderment of grandkids. They constantly asked themselves, “Do we have enough?”
In 2017, Scott and Lynda’s financial planner told them, “Yes, you have enough.”
“Ok,” Scott proclaimed, “We can now set money aside for charities when we die.” It felt safer to Scott and Lynda to have the money sitting there just in case the market dropped or they had an unexpected and expensive emergency. But after searching their hearts, talking through their values and learning more about charitable giving options, they decided to start giving larger amounts of money away.
It took a big leap of faith for Scott and Lynda to set up a donor advised fund. This change of giving strategy allows them to witness the effects of their gifts firsthand. Donor advised funds allow donors to disperse funds as they see needs arise in their community. “It feels good to see the results of a gift as opposed to just having it dispersed when we pass away.” Since 2017, Scott and Lynda have made a number of disbursements to nonprofits through their donor advised fund. “It’s really liberating and fun to see the results. The money does not do any good in the bank if we are not going to use it.”
The generous couple also listed lnterfaith as the beneficiary of a life insurance policy in their will. To this day, Scott and Lynda give financially and give time as volunteers in our community. We could not be more grateful.
*Names changed for donor privacy