Speaker 1: Welcome to How the Money. I'm Joel and I am Matt,
Speaker 1: and today we're asking the question how much should I
Speaker 1: be giving away to charity? That's right, man, how much indeed? Uh?
Speaker 1: And we're gonna talk about ways to effectively give your
Speaker 1: money to charity. And you know, we're talking about this
Speaker 1: topic today for a couple of reasons. One, it's just important,
Speaker 1: right like, this is something that we believe in, it's
Speaker 1: something that we do. But secondly, tomorrow is Thanksgiving and
Speaker 1: as many folks are taking the day, hopefully they are
Speaker 1: spending some time reflecting upon the different blessings and the
Speaker 1: just the gratitude that should overcome us when we think
Speaker 1: about where we are in our lives. I think a
Speaker 1: natural outcome, like a natural outpouring from that would be
Speaker 1: to sort of pay it forward, right, like basically finding
Speaker 1: ways to share your gratitude, share your your blessings with
Speaker 1: those around you, whether it's actual individuals or whether it's
Speaker 1: with other nonprofits. So that's why we're gonna talk about
Speaker 1: this day, man. Yeah, We're gonna discuss just the different
Speaker 1: folks who should be giving their money away, the best
Speaker 1: ways to go about it, and and also maybe some
Speaker 1: of the reasons why it is important for us to
Speaker 1: do this as well. Yeah, for sure, we'll hit it
Speaker 1: all on on this episode, but I agree it's sometimes
Speaker 1: the timing matters of when you talk about something and
Speaker 1: giving away money. One's close to the end of the year,
Speaker 1: so it matters more from attacks perspective, but it also
Speaker 1: matters because we're, like you said, we're in that kind
Speaker 1: of spirit, that zone of reflection. Maybe right now we're
Speaker 1: experiencing more gratitude, more thankfulness this week, and that should,
Speaker 1: like you said, overflow Matt into I think our ability
Speaker 1: to give money away and give possessions why But let's
Speaker 1: before we get to that topic matter. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to mention listener Chelsea reached out. I have talked about
Speaker 1: I don't know, maybe a month and a half ago,
Speaker 1: or maybe it was even longer, talked about having hiring
Speaker 1: a pet sitter to watch our cats while we were
Speaker 1: gone at the beach, and so I paid I think
Speaker 1: we paid like fifteen dollars a day to have someone
Speaker 1: coming and check on the cats. Pretty good, and my
Speaker 1: goal would be ideally, but we just moved into this house,
Speaker 1: so I didn't we didn't have any neighbor kids or
Speaker 1: anything who would do it for even less, that would
Speaker 1: be ideal. But if she mentioned a great thing to
Speaker 1: consider would be to join a site like Trusted House Sitters,
Speaker 1: which I have heard of and I know people that
Speaker 1: have used it, but I've never tried it myself. One
Speaker 1: of those sites that's popular among those who in particular
Speaker 1: have retired early, like travel the World. Perhaps the digital
Speaker 1: the digital nomad types, right, they love sites like Trusted
Speaker 1: because you join and then you kind of have access
Speaker 1: to swap with people across the world. Really, and this
Speaker 1: is one of those things where someone would watch my
Speaker 1: kiddies in all likelihood for zero dollars. But the thing is,
Speaker 1: I have to be okay with letting them stay in
Speaker 1: my house. So it's it's a different if it's it's
Speaker 1: a different ballgame, Like we're talking about something that's a
Speaker 1: little different than just hiring someone to come and feed
Speaker 1: and clean the litter box. But I think it's cool
Speaker 1: and I think it's worth considering. It's something that's now
Speaker 1: on my radar. I'm gonna consider using the site in
Speaker 1: the future for for times we get away. There is
Speaker 1: like an annual membership, so you gotta pay. I think
Speaker 1: it's I think it's a hundred twenty nine bucks a year.
Speaker 1: I'm not hundred percent sure, but yeah, this is one
Speaker 1: of those things where you gotta pay a membership fee.
Speaker 1: But for some folks, if you're if you're gone enough,
Speaker 1: or if you want to use this to stay other
Speaker 1: places for free. To me, that's one of the coolest
Speaker 1: parts of trusting house sitters, little travel hack. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and I see the fee, the membership as a as
Speaker 1: a nice barrier to entry as well, right, because you
Speaker 1: don't want the site flooded with folks who are just
Speaker 1: looking for a free place to Oh yeah, I'll take
Speaker 1: your dog, trust me, like you want there to be
Speaker 1: some barriers. You want there, you do. You don't want
Speaker 1: anybody and everybody to be on there. You want folks
Speaker 1: to take it seriously. And so I see that seeing
Speaker 1: that as a homeowner, I want somebody to essentially be
Speaker 1: vetted and somebody who has some buy in. So I
Speaker 1: see that being a good thing. But yeah, and often
Speaker 1: times I think why they call him trusted how sers
Speaker 1: and not just any old house annual individual taking care
Speaker 1: of your place. Yeah, but and generally speaking to I mean,
Speaker 1: that's one of the things that Chelsea said, She's like,
Speaker 1: you know, the downside is that you do have somebody
Speaker 1: saying in your house. But again, I think most folks
Speaker 1: would be more than happy to not have all of
Speaker 1: their stuff in the exact same position as it was
Speaker 1: when they left, right, or maybe for things to not
Speaker 1: be in the exact same condition when you get back,
Speaker 1: because most folks I think, care about their dog, you know,
Speaker 1: their pets a little bit more than maybe not like
Speaker 1: their home, but maybe some of the stuff in their
Speaker 1: home that would get used. And generally speaking, like if
Speaker 1: in particularly if you have a dog, kennels suck, I
Speaker 1: mean back when like if we had Stella, our old
Speaker 1: great Dane, she hated kennels specifically, and so having somebody
Speaker 1: to come to the house and to take care of
Speaker 1: it there would would have been much more successful than
Speaker 1: the mini kennels that we tried that she hate well.
Speaker 1: And a lot of those kennels, aren't she right, Those
Speaker 1: are pretty too, And so if this is cheaper, actually,
Speaker 1: if they have any sort of like daycare in the
Speaker 1: name of it, and it's not just a kennel, it's
Speaker 1: like doggie hotel plus grooming and paper and it's like,
Speaker 1: oh no, that's gonna be really expensive, gonna you're gonna
Speaker 1: pay a premium. Yeah, but if you can, if you
Speaker 1: can get someone to come to your house, your dogs
Speaker 1: more comfortable there, your your animals don't have to get uprooted,
Speaker 1: maybe this is like the best option for a lot
Speaker 1: of folks. I know I'm gonna consider it for sure.
Speaker 1: So thanks to Chelsea for the recommendation, and for anyone
Speaker 1: out there listening. If you're like trying to figure out
Speaker 1: what you do when you leave, when you go on vacation,
Speaker 1: what are you gonna do with your animal? This is
Speaker 1: definitely something worth at least considering totally. Let's move on, Matt.
Speaker 1: Let's mention the beer we're having on this episode. This
Speaker 1: is Peach Cobbler American style sour by Shades brewing our
Speaker 1: last beer from listener Andy. Andy sent us a hall
Speaker 1: so thank you Andy, he did. We'll give our thoughts
Speaker 1: on this one at the end of the episode. Absolutely
Speaker 1: looking forward to it, all right, But let's get to
Speaker 1: that question, Matt, how much money should we be giving
Speaker 1: away to charity? And we let's go ahead and put
Speaker 1: it out there too. We promised this isn't a clickbait headline.
Speaker 1: We will answer this question most definitely during this episode
Speaker 1: with a lot of other context, a lot of other
Speaker 1: information to go along with it, because a lot of
Speaker 1: people they do wonder this question, like should I be
Speaker 1: and how much should I be giving away? And so yeah,
Speaker 1: we're gonna talk about that in detail. But you and
Speaker 1: I'm at we're not farmers by trade, right you You
Speaker 1: had a garden in your back for a little while,
Speaker 1: a little miniature, a few chickens, like that's about that's
Speaker 1: about the extent of our farming knowledge. But from what
Speaker 1: we do know about growing food, it's important to let
Speaker 1: your fields go fallow for a certain period of time. Traditionally,
Speaker 1: if you're a real farmer, that's like real real farmer
Speaker 1: talk right there. Let your fields what you say, grow fallow,
Speaker 1: gro fallow, so it let's go fallow. That's probably it.
Speaker 1: I don't know, I honestly don't know. But like traditionally,
Speaker 1: what you want is like one out of every seven
Speaker 1: years for those fields to not be producing, because this
Speaker 1: allows the soil a chance to restore some nutrient balance.
Speaker 1: And a farmer might even plant something that doesn't earn
Speaker 1: them any money, like a bunch of clover. Let's say,
Speaker 1: amount I know you've done this in the yard totally
Speaker 1: something we've done to restore nitrogen. It's it's a nitrogen
Speaker 1: fixing plant. Yes, so some farmer might say, you know what,
Speaker 1: not only am I not going to produce on the field,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna plant something. Clover is pretty cheap, but you
Speaker 1: might plant something in an attempt just to hopefully not
Speaker 1: overwork the soil and maximize the yield in years to come.
Speaker 1: And if you don't do this right, the the effects
Speaker 1: can be endness. You can actually destroy the effectiveness of
Speaker 1: the soil. And it's kind of counterintuitive, right. It certainly
Speaker 1: feels like taking time off from growing crops is going
Speaker 1: to be a harmful thing, right, that it's gonna hurt
Speaker 1: your bottom line. But the truth is that taking the
Speaker 1: opposite approach, by constantly farming and over using those fields,
Speaker 1: that it's gonna it's gonna be more cash trophic in
Speaker 1: the long run. And so we think the same is
Speaker 1: true when it comes to giving away your money. It
Speaker 1: sure doesn't sound like a vital ingredient in the wealth
Speaker 1: building formula. Like in fact, it sounds like the opposite.
Speaker 1: What seems like you could you could maybe should leave
Speaker 1: that one out in order to be using your money
Speaker 1: most effectively. But we think that it actually is an
Speaker 1: important part of the wealth building formulas. That's why we're
Speaker 1: gonna discuss that today. It's similar to letting your fields
Speaker 1: not grow follow but go fellow. Yeah, And I mean
Speaker 1: in fact is yeah, we're not farmers, but it's not
Speaker 1: reason Wendell Berry right, like this is literally the majority
Speaker 1: of what he talked about in the Unsettling of America,
Speaker 1: but just talking about the farming practices that large agriculture
Speaker 1: is implementing today and how it is the short term
Speaker 1: it seems like it's productive, but in the long term,
Speaker 1: long term negative effects have quite consequential effects on the
Speaker 1: land over time. But yeah, we like, we like one
Speaker 1: of the reasons we're talking about this today is because
Speaker 1: like here on the show, where like this is how
Speaker 1: the money, not how to farm, But we constantly talk
Speaker 1: about the different ways that you can work to have
Speaker 1: more money, right, Like, whether that's through spending less money
Speaker 1: on stuff in your life, or through like keeping costs
Speaker 1: down on your investments, or it's through the different ways
Speaker 1: that you can increase your earnings. But either way. It
Speaker 1: can be easy to develop a hoarding mentality right where
Speaker 1: there's only one direction that money flows and that's in,
Speaker 1: not out. But we believe that that is an unhealthy
Speaker 1: view in so many different ways. And we truly do
Speaker 1: believe that by giving money away, even by by starting
Speaker 1: out with with small amounts, that you are going to
Speaker 1: end up better off in the end. Now, we're also
Speaker 1: not here to we're not going to preach the prosperity
Speaker 1: gospel by any means, but there's even a chance that
Speaker 1: you're gonna end up with more money down the line.
Speaker 1: But at the very least, we do believe that you're
Speaker 1: going to end up living a happier and a more
Speaker 1: fulfilled life. Um there's research that points to the fact
Speaker 1: that when you give money away, when you spend money
Speaker 1: on other people, it go It activates the same neural
Speaker 1: pathways and the dopamine release and similar to to when
Speaker 1: you have like a good meal or a nice drink,
Speaker 1: and so you're rewarding yourself here in the the immediate
Speaker 1: Sernam granted that shouldn't be the only reason that you're
Speaker 1: giving money away is to just feel good about yourself,
Speaker 1: but it is nice to know that at least in
Speaker 1: the immediate short term, there are some positives. You don't
Speaker 1: have to wait years for this to end up being
Speaker 1: something that you see having a positive impact on your finances.
Speaker 1: I agree. I think that is important to mention that
Speaker 1: it can. We don't want it to be purely self serving,
Speaker 1: but the fact that it is something that's beneficial to
Speaker 1: your psyche, yeah, for sure is. And the reality is
Speaker 1: that giving giving money away has been on the decline
Speaker 1: in America right for for the first time in a
Speaker 1: long time, fewer than half of households gave even a
Speaker 1: dollar of their money away last year. That's down close
Speaker 1: to from twenty years ago, where something like seventy families
Speaker 1: or individuals used to give at least some of their
Speaker 1: money away. So fewer households feel like they have the
Speaker 1: ability to give away anything, or they just believe that
Speaker 1: it shouldn't be a priority in their life. And at
Speaker 1: least part of the reason for this is a decline
Speaker 1: in religious affiliation. Right a commonplace where folks used to
Speaker 1: give their money was to their local house of worship.
Speaker 1: But even with the rise of what's known as the nuns,
Speaker 1: who claim no affiliation with any religion, that might explain
Speaker 1: at least some of the giving drop off, But even still,
Speaker 1: it's not like faith based folks have a corner on
Speaker 1: doing good in the world or that they're the only
Speaker 1: people giving their money away. That would be far fetched
Speaker 1: as well. So let's say you're someone who does fall
Speaker 1: into that nun group, that's okay, but there are still
Speaker 1: plenty of organizations that have no religious ties that could
Speaker 1: meaningfully use your dollars. So yeah, whether you are keen
Speaker 1: to give to faith based organizations, whether you belong to
Speaker 1: one or not, Like even even those faith based organizations
Speaker 1: matter seeing fewer dollar inflows. So I just hate to
Speaker 1: see that fewer people are participating and giving money away
Speaker 1: to their fellow American or two causes that that need them. Yeah,
Speaker 1: when you say nuns, you mean n O n e S,
Speaker 1: not the other nuns, in which case you would think,
Speaker 1: wait a minute, they should be giving lots of their
Speaker 1: money away. The nuns they're very religious now, they're completely
Speaker 1: dedicated to the faith. No nuns means no religious affiliations. Yeah, uh. Well,
Speaker 1: what's interesting too is that this trend of folks giving
Speaker 1: away less other money it seems to be getting worse
Speaker 1: you're talking about how fewer than half of households gave
Speaker 1: even a dollar. Well fewer than one third of households
Speaker 1: headed by someone under the age of forty gave any
Speaker 1: money to charity. So the leading indicator shows that this
Speaker 1: this downward giving trend that is likely to continue. Can
Speaker 1: considering that future generations are are giving less money as well.
Speaker 1: One bright spot though contrary by the way those eight
Speaker 1: year olds giving it a two per second. So no,
Speaker 1: there is there is some some good news here. There
Speaker 1: are actually more dollars than ever before that is being
Speaker 1: funneled towards nonprofit organizations. But those donations, unfortunately are coming
Speaker 1: from fewer wealthier folks. And I'm not mad at billionaire
Speaker 1: philanthropists out there, but you can't expect government agencies and
Speaker 1: a few incredibly rich elites to do all the giving force,
Speaker 1: right like with the downsides of having the majority of
Speaker 1: charitable dollars coming from these individuals is they typically are
Speaker 1: going to give to the organizations that they care about,
Speaker 1: that billionaires care about and simply aren't going to be
Speaker 1: the most effective ones in your neighborhood. It may exactly,
Speaker 1: it may not be, it may not have your best
Speaker 1: interests in mind as well, and so be the bigger,
Speaker 1: more recognizable organizations that are doing work on a national level.
Speaker 1: But that means the one that's like tutoring kids in
Speaker 1: your neighborhood probably isn't gonna cut Yes, yeah, I mean
Speaker 1: like I love what Bill and Melinda Gates, what they've
Speaker 1: been up to, Mackenzie Scott her as well. But there
Speaker 1: is still plenty of room for all of us, all
Speaker 1: the rest of us out there to participate, like you said, will,
Speaker 1: particularly when it comes to supporting smaller nonprofits that are
Speaker 1: targeting specific problems, in particular with where it is that
Speaker 1: you live. And by the way, it is our contention
Speaker 1: that everyone should be giving their money away. So we're
Speaker 1: the question we're asking in this episodes, how much should
Speaker 1: he be giving away? Well we'll get to that, but
Speaker 1: it really should be everyone should be listening to this
Speaker 1: thinking not about what other people can do to meet
Speaker 1: the mission or to give their money away, but but
Speaker 1: you think about yourself in this scenario, how can I
Speaker 1: be giving the money my money away? And we we
Speaker 1: think that all of us have something that's worth donating
Speaker 1: that could be even just something as small as used
Speaker 1: goods in our house that we don't need any longer.
Speaker 1: Out of the church we've been going to, they're giving
Speaker 1: taking used code donations for a local ministry there. So
Speaker 1: that's like one of those things that almost everybody has
Speaker 1: a used coat they can give right that that's not
Speaker 1: necessarily too stressful on your finances to meet that need.
Speaker 1: You probably got a couple of jackets that you're like,
Speaker 1: you keep around, but you're like, I never wear these,
Speaker 1: don't those jackets exactly? And you know that could be
Speaker 1: volunteering our time to spend helping out youth after school,
Speaker 1: and and yes, it can and likely should mean giving
Speaker 1: away some of your money to maybe not just items
Speaker 1: that you have that you don't use any longer, although
Speaker 1: that's one effective way to give. And regardless of where
Speaker 1: you stand with your finances, if you're listening to this,
Speaker 1: you're trying to make improvements, and we think there's room
Speaker 1: in everyone's budget to prioritize giving, albeit to differing degrees.
Speaker 1: We we don't want you to wait until you've quote
Speaker 1: unquote made it to start making giving a priority, because
Speaker 1: the truth is, no one ever truly feels like they've
Speaker 1: made And if you continue to push this off further
Speaker 1: down the road if you kick the can, the likelihood
Speaker 1: as you'll never actually feel like you're you're in the
Speaker 1: financial position to give money away. It reminds me a
Speaker 1: matter of kind of like having kids. That's one of
Speaker 1: those things where it's like, I'm gonna wait until financially
Speaker 1: prepared to have kids, and you can continue pushing that
Speaker 1: off for forever. I think both having kids and giving
Speaker 1: money away, they both feel like things were never prepared for.
Speaker 1: We almost have to start before we feel prepared totally. Yeah,
Speaker 1: do Like Kate and I didn't just put it on
Speaker 1: the calendar, like start having babies this year. It's literally
Speaker 1: something we did when we were younger. Your whole life
Speaker 1: revolves around that calendar, doesn't it. I'm a planner, That's all.
Speaker 1: That's all I gotta say. But for those out there,
Speaker 1: maybe that's literally what it takes, and we'll get to
Speaker 1: like maybe some some more practical steps that we can
Speaker 1: all take in order to actually implement giving within our lives.
Speaker 1: And by the way, I don't I don't mean that
Speaker 1: money on a credit like give money on a credit
Speaker 1: card that you don't actually have, Like that's I don't
Speaker 1: want to get to give away money. But I think
Speaker 1: it's easy to say, like, I don't have years worth
Speaker 1: the savings, I've only got six months in the bank,
Speaker 1: and you can always have a retort to not being
Speaker 1: financially prepared. It's those are easy to make, right And
Speaker 1: by the way, also we like we don't want to
Speaker 1: shame any anyone either. If you're a newbie here at
Speaker 1: how the money, maybe you are behind on your bills, well,
Speaker 1: we would want you to get your financial house in
Speaker 1: order before guilting yourself into a recurring monthly donation, you know,
Speaker 1: to your favorite nonprofit. And actually, uh, no, matter what,
Speaker 1: we don't want you to guilt your way into giving
Speaker 1: money away. We want that to be something that you
Speaker 1: do intentionally. But it is also important to mention that
Speaker 1: even if you can't give much, developing the practice of
Speaker 1: giving at least a small small portion of what it
Speaker 1: is that you bring in we think is going to
Speaker 1: pay dividends in the future. Like you are building the
Speaker 1: muscle of being generous now, so that you have the
Speaker 1: discipline to continue giving as you get older, as presumably
Speaker 1: you get wealthy, and it's probably going to be more difficult.
Speaker 1: You think it's difficult to give ten percent of your income. Now,
Speaker 1: when you're making fifty dollars, you're like, oh, I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna get give away five dollars. Well, what happens when
Speaker 1: you make two dollars or three dollars and it ain't
Speaker 1: gonna get easier. The dollar amounts might increase, but I
Speaker 1: think developed again, developing that discipline is what we're talking
Speaker 1: about here. We're talking about building these good habits, and
Speaker 1: plus there's just something amazing about these these positive good
Speaker 1: habits and how it is that they can radiate out
Speaker 1: into other areas of our lives that we think that
Speaker 1: that's I feel like that's something that I hope sort
Speaker 1: of sets our listeners apart maybe than other listeners of
Speaker 1: other official podcasts, that they're able to not just look
Speaker 1: at money as something like we talked about earlier, that
Speaker 1: they are hoarding and gathering for themselves, but to see
Speaker 1: the positive impacts that they're able to make with that money. Hopefully,
Speaker 1: how the money listeners are characterized by being generous, agreed man,
Speaker 1: I think are there's like a different vibe about our
Speaker 1: show hopefully, and and I think even in the the
Speaker 1: engagement we get from listeners when they respond to our newsletter,
Speaker 1: or when they comment on Facebook, or the way they
Speaker 1: treat one another is like, it's so different than most
Speaker 1: of the rest of the Internet. Our Facebook group is
Speaker 1: actually like a place where people are nice to one another,
Speaker 1: which most groups on the Internet or most comment sections
Speaker 1: are just horrid sesspiables of negativity. I think it has
Speaker 1: a lot to do with downplaying money right. Like again,
Speaker 1: it is it literally, quite literally in the name of
Speaker 1: our podcast, How to Money. But oftentimes I feel like
Speaker 1: what we're doing is downplaying the importance of money and
Speaker 1: elevating humanity, whether that's others or other organizations or those
Speaker 1: in need, just the different ways that we can bring
Speaker 1: value not only to our lives but to everyone around us.
Speaker 1: And the truth is that if you want to give
Speaker 1: your money away, there are ways to do it more
Speaker 1: effectively and less effectively. And so we want to talk
Speaker 1: about the nuts and bolts of the practical steps to
Speaker 1: giving away money, and then how to vet charities. We'll
Speaker 1: get to that later on too, but they're all. There
Speaker 1: are also certain things, some excuses maybe that pop up
Speaker 1: that prevent us from giving money away. We're gonna debunk
Speaker 1: a few of those. We'll get to that first right
Speaker 1: after this. All right, we are back from the break,
Speaker 1: and we will answer how much money it is that
Speaker 1: you should be giving away. But Joel ut is to
Speaker 1: this right before the break, Let's talk through some of
Speaker 1: the different reasons that uh, we're tempted to not give
Speaker 1: away our money, and oftentimes that's because of fear and uncertainty. Right,
Speaker 1: A ton of folks out there have developed what we
Speaker 1: would call an unhealthy emotional attachment to their money that
Speaker 1: prevents them from from feeling comfortable enough to give any
Speaker 1: of it away, no matter how much progress that they've
Speaker 1: made within their own their own wealth building journey, and
Speaker 1: it takes real work to move past some of those insecurities.
Speaker 1: Much of the time, I think those feelings are rooted
Speaker 1: in what folks have heard, what they have learned, what
Speaker 1: they've experienced in childhood. Uh. And so, for instance, of
Speaker 1: money was a constant source of contention in your house,
Speaker 1: you might have adopted some of those those same feelings,
Speaker 1: you know, without even realizing that those feelings have you
Speaker 1: come from years of the different conversations maybe that your
Speaker 1: parents were having, where it has subtly fluence your thoughts
Speaker 1: like subliminal almost yea kind of biosmosis you absorbed it.
Speaker 1: It's just kind of like this, it's like this counter currents,
Speaker 1: you know, like like regardless of what's going on the service,
Speaker 1: there's a very clear attitude towards money, Uh, that oftentimes
Speaker 1: does impact And most of the times we don't even
Speaker 1: realize that it's happened because it was so it just
Speaker 1: was the water we swimming. Yes, it was the way
Speaker 1: money was talked about, and so we just assumed that
Speaker 1: this was how it should be and that this is
Speaker 1: the stance on money that we should take. This is
Speaker 1: and it carries into adulthood, and we we often failed
Speaker 1: to even reconsider maybe whether we should change the way
Speaker 1: we think about money in all of its aspects. But yeah,
Speaker 1: most of us are are still predominantly relating to money
Speaker 1: based on the way our parents related to money, based
Speaker 1: on the way we encountered it as a child. I think.
Speaker 1: So I think we we learn more from our parents
Speaker 1: than we probably give them credit for that then we
Speaker 1: even give ourselves credit for having learned within that period
Speaker 1: of And sometimes it's not credit, right, Sometimes it's it's
Speaker 1: not a healthy approach. Like I would say, lots of
Speaker 1: times because we don't talk about money well families historically,
Speaker 1: and so it is a problem that we often have
Speaker 1: to overcome because money wasn't handled well in our household,
Speaker 1: It wasn't talked about well in our household, and so
Speaker 1: it's it's something that we're we have to actually actively
Speaker 1: combat against. Yeah, definitely, And credit doesn't necessarily mean positive,
Speaker 1: Like sometimes it can be a way that you say blame,
Speaker 1: but I agree, you know, if if you do want
Speaker 1: to make progress and to to not make any future
Speaker 1: money decisions that we're faced with based largely on some
Speaker 1: of these subtle different money scripts that we've developed, I
Speaker 1: think we have to first recognize that these these scripts exist, right,
Speaker 1: Like we have to understand that, man, there is more
Speaker 1: like there, there's more to this, there's more to the
Speaker 1: way I was raised than I realized, more going on
Speaker 1: under the surface, exactly. And then once you recognize that,
Speaker 1: you've got to push back against some of those emotions,
Speaker 1: some of those feelings with data. Um. And we're going
Speaker 1: to get to some of this I probably here in
Speaker 1: a second as we kind of dive into some of
Speaker 1: the more practical steps. Um. But you have to look
Speaker 1: at the actual facts, the actual figures and numbers and
Speaker 1: intentionally push yourself to do something that's going to you'll
Speaker 1: initially uncomfortable. Over time, as you get better at it
Speaker 1: at it, it's going to be something where you will
Speaker 1: be able to develop some healthy habits. So one excuse
Speaker 1: or one reason people give to not give their money
Speaker 1: away is fear and uncertainty. Another one is is passing
Speaker 1: the buck, because folks often declined to give an ether
Speaker 1: money away based on a belief that someone else is
Speaker 1: going to do it. And like you mentioned earlier, Matt,
Speaker 1: like the billionaires, they're doing it. But that doesn't mean
Speaker 1: that all nonprofits are being served equally. And so in
Speaker 1: our culture, childhood and adolescens, I think this is a
Speaker 1: part of the problem gets extended not just into college,
Speaker 1: but well into your twenties. And the best example I
Speaker 1: can give of this is that federal law demands that
Speaker 1: young adults be allowed to stay on their parents health
Speaker 1: insurance plans until age six, right, And I feel like
Speaker 1: that's telling because because of that reluctance. Part of that
Speaker 1: is is reluctance to feel like we're actually adults. And
Speaker 1: so the natural outcome of that, it might be when
Speaker 1: it comes to charitable giving at least that we think
Speaker 1: that the quote unquote adults are on the case that
Speaker 1: they're going to sort it out. But the reality is
Speaker 1: nobody actually has everything figured out, and there aren't these
Speaker 1: fictionalized adults out there who are coming to save the day.
Speaker 1: If you're listening to this podcast, no matter how old
Speaker 1: you are, you are the adult, and it's important to
Speaker 1: be the change that we want to see. I do
Speaker 1: think that that period of prolonged adolescens set refusal to
Speaker 1: grow up to believe that we are the adults who
Speaker 1: have the ability to make impacts on the things that
Speaker 1: matter most, on the problems that our society faces. That
Speaker 1: in and in and of itself, is a problem that
Speaker 1: prevents us from tackling the problems that's right. Yeah, as
Speaker 1: we're talking about this, it makes me think about how
Speaker 1: it almost feels like this giant group project that we're
Speaker 1: all apart of, and you think, oh, somebody else, this
Speaker 1: is gonna be somebody else, smarter that's gonna take care
Speaker 1: of this. It's like no, no no, no, no no, You're You're
Speaker 1: a part of the group. You are a valued member,
Speaker 1: and you need to have in put. You also need
Speaker 1: to participate and give your money away. Emily's and grad school.
Speaker 1: She just did a group project and just brought me
Speaker 1: back to those days when you're like trying to pick
Speaker 1: the smart kid in the room who's going to take
Speaker 1: on most of the trying to figure out how like okay,
Speaker 1: and then you might be like, wait a second, and
Speaker 1: the smart one in this group, do I have to
Speaker 1: do all the work? And oftentimes like that. Guess that's
Speaker 1: what we're trying to push folks into realizing, is that
Speaker 1: we are truly the adults here and we basically that
Speaker 1: that we need to sort of step up. Um. I
Speaker 1: think one of the other things too, like one of
Speaker 1: the interesting things things that happened is that there's this
Speaker 1: way like when we do participate, when we when we
Speaker 1: choose not to pass the buck, and when we do
Speaker 1: step up, uh and give some of our money away,
Speaker 1: it has this way of forming us. Right, And so
Speaker 1: they're like, what I'm saying is that like, for instance,
Speaker 1: you've got somebody who says they love animals, Well, you
Speaker 1: can feel that way about loving animals, but until you
Speaker 1: give to like the like Wildlife Federation whatever I forget
Speaker 1: the name that, or until you come sit my cats
Speaker 1: for free while on DNA vacation, or like you might
Speaker 1: say that like that you care about homelessness, but until
Speaker 1: you go and volunteer at the homeless shelter, until you
Speaker 1: actually give some of your money away to that organization, well,
Speaker 1: it kind of feels like empty words, right, And so
Speaker 1: it has this way. There is a lot there are
Speaker 1: a lot of empty words, and particularly a lot on
Speaker 1: on Twitter. Right, there's a lot of saying that you
Speaker 1: believe something, and there's a there's a lot less backing
Speaker 1: it up with how you act exactly. Yeah, And so
Speaker 1: it's it's it's just a way to kind of reinforce
Speaker 1: the values that you say you live by, and it
Speaker 1: puts some action behind the words that maybe you have
Speaker 1: stated before. Joe. Another reason that some folks don't give
Speaker 1: is because they don't have the money, They don't have
Speaker 1: the funds. There might be some folks out there and
Speaker 1: they're just trying to stay above the water, like they
Speaker 1: for instance, they just want to save just a little
Speaker 1: bit of money. They want to start paying off some debt,
Speaker 1: which I totally get. Uh. And so again, like we
Speaker 1: don't want folks who are you know, saying money gear
Speaker 1: number one or two feeling compelled to write big checks.
Speaker 1: But it is also true that there are a lot
Speaker 1: of folks who do have the means to start giving
Speaker 1: away something right, like, they just haven't thought creatively. They
Speaker 1: just don't think that they can do it because they're
Speaker 1: maybe they're not tracking where their money is going. Uh,
Speaker 1: and so you might feel like you don't have the money,
Speaker 1: But is that actually the case? Is that actually true?
Speaker 1: Like what like, examine your life, examine your expenses and
Speaker 1: ask yourself, what are the other expenses, what are the
Speaker 1: other things that you're prioritizing in your budget that might
Speaker 1: be worth forsaking. Again, not to o trip you, but
Speaker 1: sometimes stats and data can be sobering. For instance, all
Speaker 1: we looked this up and sixty one of children in
Speaker 1: low income homes they don't own a single book, which
Speaker 1: is crazy. It definitely makes me think differently about what
Speaker 1: it is I have, kind of going back to the
Speaker 1: gratitude and thankfulness portion that we're talking about earlier, but
Speaker 1: also how much more it is that we can give
Speaker 1: away if we just opted to to make it a priority.
Speaker 1: When you're faced with the facts, whether it's what it
Speaker 1: is that you are spending your own money on or
Speaker 1: whether it's being faced with the realities of what others
Speaker 1: are living in their own lives. Yeah, I think about
Speaker 1: how many books you have on the shelf in your
Speaker 1: house and put that in juxtaposition to a large percentage
Speaker 1: of these kids who live in homes. They don't have
Speaker 1: the financial means, they don't have any they don't have
Speaker 1: any books. Like I know we have dozens and dozens
Speaker 1: and dozens. Yes, we have an overloaded books. So can
Speaker 1: we give some of those away? Yes? And we should.
Speaker 1: And reading that staff Matt made me want to do that, Like,
Speaker 1: where can I channel these books and give away physical
Speaker 1: items that I own to benefit someone else? And I
Speaker 1: think perspective and gratitude are massive parts of the equation
Speaker 1: that help us feel more energized to give and then
Speaker 1: more comfortable parting with our money. We often we don't
Speaker 1: think much about the massive levels of wealth that we
Speaker 1: have as a society, and I think it's a it
Speaker 1: is an important thing to focus on, especially right now
Speaker 1: this week, the insane progress that has made us all
Speaker 1: incredibly rich, at least from a historical perspective over the
Speaker 1: past couple hundred years. For instance, in eighteen thirty, the
Speaker 1: average worker put in seventy hours a week and guess
Speaker 1: what those jobs were A whole lot harder. It wasn't
Speaker 1: easy work, you know, forty hours a week is is
Speaker 1: pretty standard these days. And a lot more folks work
Speaker 1: on a computer in an air conditioned space, on a laptop,
Speaker 1: maybe from their bed, like who knows. And again, I
Speaker 1: don't say this to try to guilt you, but to
Speaker 1: help us all realize just how good we have it,
Speaker 1: even if there's room for improvement. It's currently somewhat popular
Speaker 1: to talk about all the ways in which things are
Speaker 1: becoming worse. And it's not that there aren't problems that
Speaker 1: our society faces, but the when you look at recent data,
Speaker 1: especially you over the last hundred years, just how much
Speaker 1: wealth we have accumulated as as a society, and how
Speaker 1: many more gadgets and gizmos and cheap food and all
Speaker 1: that stuff we have at our fingertips. We have fewer
Speaker 1: reasons for despair than we think. That's right. But now
Speaker 1: let's get practical. Let's discuss how it is that you
Speaker 1: can get started giving money away. And we want folks
Speaker 1: to know that it is okay to start small. You
Speaker 1: don't have to to go from from zero to one
Speaker 1: hundred as fast as a Tesla Model less. That would
Speaker 1: be McKenzie Scott going from zero to billions. It's like, wait,
Speaker 1: uh in one year? Uh. And by starting small, I
Speaker 1: don't mean just giving a few bucks like at the
Speaker 1: grocery store checkout counter, you know, like on the random
Speaker 1: occasion that you're asked. That's not necessarily a bad thing.
Speaker 1: It's just that we would rather you pick out which
Speaker 1: charities you want to give to to to kind of
Speaker 1: feel more of a personal connection to where your money
Speaker 1: is going. We'll talk a little bit more about how
Speaker 1: to vet charities in a little bit like you alluded
Speaker 1: to earlier, Joel. But in the same way that you
Speaker 1: can get started with investing with just like one dollar
Speaker 1: on apps like m one or when you open account
Speaker 1: with Fidelity, it is okay to give small amounts of
Speaker 1: money away as well. Oftentimes I think even just giving
Speaker 1: any money at all, like just even starting with a dollar,
Speaker 1: is like half the battle, right, just getting the ball rollings,
Speaker 1: just starting in and of itself is maybe half the battle.
Speaker 1: Going from that majority of people who don't give to
Speaker 1: the minority of people who do so, all of a
Speaker 1: sudden being a giver. That is a pendulum metas one.
Speaker 1: It's a minor move, but it's a major move based
Speaker 1: on like when it comes to your psyche exactly. Yeah,
Speaker 1: you don't have to be rich to begin your investing
Speaker 1: journey or to start giving your money away. Uh. And
Speaker 1: so let's go ahead, Joel and answer the question how
Speaker 1: much money should you give away? We're not going to
Speaker 1: give a blanket statement or like a blanket dollar amount
Speaker 1: or even a percentage, because it's like we talked about,
Speaker 1: everything is contextualized for the individual and their personal financial situation.
Speaker 1: And so let's say someone this is their first episode
Speaker 1: listening at how the money and they are in tons
Speaker 1: of debt up to their eyeballs. They might not be
Speaker 1: ready to give away any money right at this point
Speaker 1: in time, but hopefully if we want to chaw on
Speaker 1: you too, though, and we want you to get to that,
Speaker 1: that's not an excuse like um. But that being said,
Speaker 1: so Joel, you and I, like both of our families,
Speaker 1: we give away at least ten percent of our income.
Speaker 1: That's kind of our floor exactly. Again, that's not to
Speaker 1: say that that should be your floor or that should
Speaker 1: even be your goal, but as you and I were
Speaker 1: talking through this. We were we were thinking through Man,
Speaker 1: I think it would be totally possible for folks to
Speaker 1: start challenging themselves to give it away at least one
Speaker 1: percent of their income. Granted, I know it is a
Speaker 1: lot hard harder to do at the end of the
Speaker 1: year when maybe you haven't necessarily planned for it, right,
Speaker 1: Because again, when we give money away, it's we do
Speaker 1: this a little bit month by month, you know, paycheck
Speaker 1: by check paycheck. Basically, this is not like something that
Speaker 1: at the end of the year all of a sudden
Speaker 1: we're just like and we we just crap on it,
Speaker 1: like ten plus percent of you know, your annual income.
Speaker 1: Preparation and planning for it, I mean that truly is
Speaker 1: really important. But I think what's key here is identifying
Speaker 1: a percentage, even if it's a really really small percentage,
Speaker 1: because just like with as you're saving for retirement. Right,
Speaker 1: So for all those out there who have four one
Speaker 1: case you, right, you know, you choose a percentage of
Speaker 1: your paycheck that is going to go towards your four
Speaker 1: own king hopefully enough that gets the full company match, right. Yeah,
Speaker 1: But what that does is it allows you to stick
Speaker 1: to something that you've agreed to do. It's a mechanism, right,
Speaker 1: It's a tool, and it allows you, even as you
Speaker 1: continue to make more money, to still give according to
Speaker 1: the same principles and the same values that you've previously identified.
Speaker 1: And so in that way, I think it's something that
Speaker 1: you can not that you're trying to put it on
Speaker 1: autopilot from the standpoint that you don't think about it,
Speaker 1: but that you are able to put it on autopilot
Speaker 1: from the standpoint of like, no, I have identified that
Speaker 1: this is something that is important to me, and I'm
Speaker 1: going to live by it. It's in that way, it's
Speaker 1: like a form of accountability. Yeah, I mean, I like
Speaker 1: that you mentioned planning it, because budgeting for your giving
Speaker 1: and then doing it with regularity is a really important
Speaker 1: practical step to making it kind of this normal routine
Speaker 1: behavior in your life. And I don't mean routine as
Speaker 1: in boring. You set it and forget it, because part
Speaker 1: of the good thing about giving your money away is
Speaker 1: that you can have a connection to the work that's
Speaker 1: being done. But budgeting for it takes some of the
Speaker 1: fear out of giving your money away. You don't, like Matt,
Speaker 1: when you go to the grocery store. When you're at
Speaker 1: all the buying new groceries, you're not freaking out about
Speaker 1: the money you're spending every time. You're not like just
Speaker 1: nervous whether or not you're gonna actually be able to
Speaker 1: afford those groceries at the end of the month, because
Speaker 1: you've planned for it in advance. Right, you know what
Speaker 1: your grocery line it and budget is. I think we
Speaker 1: shared it in uh how the Money newsletter recently. But
Speaker 1: there's the reality that when you have a line item
Speaker 1: in your budget, there is money there to cover that expense.
Speaker 1: And the truth is you can do the same when
Speaker 1: it comes to money you want to give away, making
Speaker 1: it a line item in your budget, giving on a
Speaker 1: recurring basis to organizations that you care about. We kind
Speaker 1: of want you to treat your giving like any other
Speaker 1: subscription you might have in your life, right, just one
Speaker 1: that's better for the world and better for your heart,
Speaker 1: Like it's doing more good than whatever you're paying to Hbo,
Speaker 1: Go or or whatever they're what you know, whatever streaming
Speaker 1: services your favorite. You're giving money should be allocated in
Speaker 1: a very similar way. We say that's right, and it's
Speaker 1: it's worth mentioning to we share how much it is
Speaker 1: or the percentage that we give away, not not to
Speaker 1: toot our own horn, but I think there's a contagious
Speaker 1: element when it comes to how it has folks spend
Speaker 1: their money. Right Like, think about your friends around you
Speaker 1: in your life, and as they start talking about things
Speaker 1: that they're spending money on, you start thinking about ways
Speaker 1: that you can spend your money that aligns in those
Speaker 1: ways as well. Right Like, you've got a friend, he's
Speaker 1: talking about this vacation that they that they just booked
Speaker 1: or something like that, and you're thinking, oh, man, I
Speaker 1: want to go on a vacation, or you see your
Speaker 1: coping on Airbnb trying to find exactly, or you've got
Speaker 1: a friend and maybe they bought a new car or
Speaker 1: something like that. Hopefully I wasn't financed or anything, but
Speaker 1: you start thinking, man, my car is kind of feeling
Speaker 1: kind of shabby. And so in the same way, I
Speaker 1: think giving it appeals to that same sort of natural tendency,
Speaker 1: that same behavior, And so we share this as well
Speaker 1: because we want more folks out there to be givers.
Speaker 1: And it's even probably worth sacrificing in order to be
Speaker 1: able to give Uh, and that the truth is, if
Speaker 1: you're listening to this episode and you're starting to think
Speaker 1: that maybe you'd like to start giving, but maybe you're
Speaker 1: just not sure. If you have the legal room in
Speaker 1: your budget as it's currently constructed, you you might need
Speaker 1: to make some adjustments to your spending. And I know
Speaker 1: that's easier said than done, especially with inflation doing it's
Speaker 1: something currently, but we always find time. We always fund
Speaker 1: the money for the things that are actually important to us.
Speaker 1: We just have to take the time and identify those
Speaker 1: things that aren't necessarily providing us the value and instead
Speaker 1: finding ways to funnel those dollars to some of these
Speaker 1: different charities, some of these different organizations and nonprofits that
Speaker 1: will move the needle. But we want you to at
Speaker 1: least consider spending less in order to to make giving
Speaker 1: a possibility. And one other thing worth mentioning when we
Speaker 1: touched on this earlier, I think, but you don't necessarily
Speaker 1: have to just give money. You can give of your time.
Speaker 1: And so volunteering to help your favorite nonprofit out was
Speaker 1: some Melbow grease. Uh, it was some of your time.
Speaker 1: That can be a perfect place to begin if you
Speaker 1: are feeling a bit constrained when it comes to your budget.
Speaker 1: Because let's say one of our listeners, Matt like out there,
Speaker 1: they're saying, listen, I've got fifteen thousand dollars with the
Speaker 1: credit card debt I until trying to pay off, and
Speaker 1: I have this plan because we've talked about paying off debt.
Speaker 1: I went to on debt dot it, and I am
Speaker 1: ready to pay that sucker off in the next fourteen months.
Speaker 1: We would say, awesome. And you know what, if you
Speaker 1: want to wait until you can actually start giving money,
Speaker 1: until you're completely done with credit card, that's fine, we
Speaker 1: get that. But at least in the interim over these
Speaker 1: next fourteen months, can you find other ways to give
Speaker 1: And whether that is, like you just said, your time,
Speaker 1: or whether that is old jackets you got in the
Speaker 1: house or something like that, or old books you've got
Speaker 1: lying around, there are other ways to at least start giving,
Speaker 1: to exercise that muscle before you're ready to start writing
Speaker 1: a check or writing no one writes checks, but like
Speaker 1: to start making a recurring payment every single month. But simultaneously,
Speaker 1: I think it's worth challenging yourself to not necessarily pro
Speaker 1: like to put like we touched on this earlier, but
Speaker 1: pushing off that giving because I think it can be
Speaker 1: a slippery slope, because any sort of financial goal could
Speaker 1: be like a noble cause where you're like, oh, I
Speaker 1: got a ton of debt I gotta pay off. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: now I gotta I wanna make sure I'm getting that match,
Speaker 1: you know, with my four O one K. Like these
Speaker 1: are all great goals, and then I want to max
Speaker 1: out the four O one K. And then where you're
Speaker 1: gonna draw the line because you continue to push these
Speaker 1: goal posts out further and ultimately what you're doing is
Speaker 1: you you are still focusing on yourself rather than others,
Speaker 1: even though that they are good goals to have. Uh,
Speaker 1: it is worth I think challenging yourself to say, Okay,
Speaker 1: even though I'm in a tough financial situation, but I
Speaker 1: know my power is not going to get cut off tomorrow. Uh.
Speaker 1: It might feel like you've got bills, but like, again,
Speaker 1: are these bills related to entertainments? And maybe those are
Speaker 1: bills that you can begin to remove from your life
Speaker 1: and instead spend some of the money towards others. And
Speaker 1: again it can be small. You're right, and and you
Speaker 1: know what, it's okay, we would say to push your
Speaker 1: financial goals. Uh, make if it takes just a little
Speaker 1: bit longer to reach some of them because you're prioritizing giving.
Speaker 1: We think that's still a good thing because it's helping
Speaker 1: you have that better relationship with money, a healthier attachment
Speaker 1: or detachment from it. Right. Even though money is an
Speaker 1: important tool, it's not the end all, be all, and
Speaker 1: giving helps us realize that. Giving regularly helps us realize that.
Speaker 1: But now we've got more to get to. Specifically, want
Speaker 1: to talk about how you give, where you give your dollars,
Speaker 1: and then knowing which charities are going to make the
Speaker 1: best use of the money you're giving away. We'll talk
Speaker 1: about that and more right off for this so we're
Speaker 1: back from the break. We're talking through some of these
Speaker 1: practical stuffs when it comes to the best ways to
Speaker 1: effectively give your money away. And one of the things
Speaker 1: that Joel, we would recommend for folks to do is
Speaker 1: to follow the impact of your dollars. And what we
Speaker 1: mean by that, Uh, none of us wants to give
Speaker 1: money away just out into the ether, like out into
Speaker 1: blank space, right. Uh. And the truth is, especially this
Speaker 1: time of year, board at like nonprofits and be like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I guess I'll give there this year, Like you wanted
Speaker 1: to have a connection to something you can write, but
Speaker 1: that's assuming there's a dartboard even there, Like like the
Speaker 1: way a picture is just like you're just throwing it
Speaker 1: out there and it's like, where's it gonna land? I
Speaker 1: don't even know. Hopefully there's something that you're giving to.
Speaker 1: But what I'll saying though, is like this time of year,
Speaker 1: we're constantly being asked for money, uh, sort of these
Speaker 1: these year end gifts, and a lot of folks I
Speaker 1: think they feel overwhelmed and they either shut down completely
Speaker 1: or they might give small amounts of money maybe kind
Speaker 1: of small amounts along the way. But the difficult thing
Speaker 1: about I think taking that tactic is that we often
Speaker 1: feel removed from where our dollars are going and what
Speaker 1: they're doing. We might even forget which organizations we've given to,
Speaker 1: you know, when we sort of piece meal these donations out.
Speaker 1: And again that's not the worst thing in the world,
Speaker 1: but it is so much better for us when we
Speaker 1: proactively decide where to give our money, you know, not
Speaker 1: just giving spur of the moment, uh, And it just
Speaker 1: allows us to gauge the impact more clearly, and what
Speaker 1: I think by doing that enough, we can oftentimes make
Speaker 1: sort of a transition from feeling like that we're having
Speaker 1: to what feels like a sacrifice to being able to
Speaker 1: spend our money in a way that not only aligns
Speaker 1: with our values, but because it aligns with our values,
Speaker 1: that it's something that we look forward to. I think
Speaker 1: for some folks there might be a clear moment in
Speaker 1: time where it switches in their head and all of
Speaker 1: a sudden they're thinking, Oh, this used to be a chore,
Speaker 1: but now it feels like an opportunity for me to
Speaker 1: spend my money in a way that helps others but
Speaker 1: also kind of brings me some joy as well. But
Speaker 1: but for other folks, it might be a more of
Speaker 1: a process. Right, Like we're over a number of years,
Speaker 1: he might start to feel better about the money that
Speaker 1: they're giving. I think there's a lot of different folks
Speaker 1: out there, and it depends on who you are. But
Speaker 1: however it is that you can identify and ground yourself
Speaker 1: to some of these specific specific organizations. I think it's
Speaker 1: going to allow your dollars to to feel like that
Speaker 1: they're going further for you, which I think is going
Speaker 1: to lead to more success, more successful giving. It's going
Speaker 1: to be something that you're going to be able to
Speaker 1: maintain long term sustained ability to continue doing this. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I like what you said about following the impact
Speaker 1: of your dollars because dropping a few coins into a
Speaker 1: Santa ring, a bell bucket, right Salvation Army, asking for
Speaker 1: donations in front of a Walmart, or something like that.
Speaker 1: I'm not saying that's bad. Continue to do that if
Speaker 1: that's important to you, But I think sometimes we just
Speaker 1: feel guilty. We give out of guilt in a situation
Speaker 1: like that, or when someone comes straight up in our
Speaker 1: in our face when we're outing about asking for money.
Speaker 1: We're liable maybe to given that circumstance, as opposed to
Speaker 1: being thoughtful about the money we're giving ahead of time.
Speaker 1: And we would like to know that the dollars we
Speaker 1: released into the world where are actually doing good and
Speaker 1: we'd like to understand and see which way they're having
Speaker 1: an impact. So we would say, consider asking a favorite
Speaker 1: local nonprofit what it is they need and how you
Speaker 1: can help meet that need. You might be able to
Speaker 1: see the exact way in which those dollars are being spent.
Speaker 1: Also do something as simple as like signing up for
Speaker 1: the newsletter of that nonprofit to follow along with their progress.
Speaker 1: I'm sure they send something out weekly or monthly that
Speaker 1: it can help you stay abreast of of what they're
Speaker 1: doing and how they're having an impact where they exist
Speaker 1: and with what they're doing. It's a great way to
Speaker 1: connect the money you're giving away to good work being
Speaker 1: done that impacts the lives of others. Amount It makes
Speaker 1: me think of a some money I recently gave away
Speaker 1: to a nonprofit that we love that Emily and I
Speaker 1: are tied to, and they were able to tell me
Speaker 1: exactly how they were going to use the money that
Speaker 1: I was giving to them, which made me really excited
Speaker 1: to give. I was like, Oh, it's going to scholarships
Speaker 1: for these kids like that. That is really cool, And
Speaker 1: that got me just really even more excited to give
Speaker 1: that money away. And so it's it's not that some
Speaker 1: of the biggest nonprofits aren't worth supporting, that the Red
Speaker 1: Crosses of this world aren't doing great work or anything
Speaker 1: like that, but we would say giving locally often gives
Speaker 1: you the clearest window into the impact your money is
Speaker 1: having and can be powerful totally agree. Yeah, Like when
Speaker 1: we are able to connect our giving to the work
Speaker 1: being done, I think that's going to get us excited
Speaker 1: to give even more money down the road. But let's
Speaker 1: talk about giving to have the most impact, and a
Speaker 1: lot of this is going to have to do with,
Speaker 1: first of all, personal preferences right as to which issues
Speaker 1: that you see being the most important and some of
Speaker 1: the different organizations that are addressing some of those issues.
Speaker 1: But even when you hone in on the specific areas
Speaker 1: that you would like to impact, not every charity is
Speaker 1: created equal. There are often many, many, multiple different organizations
Speaker 1: doing very very similar things. For instance, if you wanted
Speaker 1: to support families of fallen soldiers, that's a great cause,
Speaker 1: but make sure that you vet the charities doing this
Speaker 1: work first, because there's someones out there that aren't so great.
Speaker 1: We would positively point people uh to some sites to
Speaker 1: research charities like charity navigator dot org, Charity wash dot org,
Speaker 1: and Great Nonprofits dot dot org. These are all awesome
Speaker 1: sites and ratings the analysis that these sites offer. They
Speaker 1: can help you to feel confident that the money that
Speaker 1: you're giving away that it's being used effectively and if
Speaker 1: you legit have no idea where to even consider giving
Speaker 1: your money away. These sites can help with that too,
Speaker 1: write Charity Navigator for instance. How some they've created some
Speaker 1: cool curated lists that are worth looking at based on
Speaker 1: different causes that might resonate with you, and you can
Speaker 1: you can even look for charities doing the best work
Speaker 1: in in basically whatever particular arena you care the most about,
Speaker 1: like protecting the environment or reducing homelessness, great nonprofits. That
Speaker 1: site does a good job helping you see solid organizations
Speaker 1: near where you live. And so yeah, a few minutes
Speaker 1: of research can help give you greater confidence that the
Speaker 1: charity you're giving to is using those funds in an
Speaker 1: effective manner. These sites basically have different rating systems for
Speaker 1: these charities and you can see, oh, are they spending
Speaker 1: a lot on overhead or are they giving a lot
Speaker 1: of money directly to the people that they serve? And
Speaker 1: and plus it helps you to avoid fake scam charities,
Speaker 1: which yes those exist, and it gives you the perfect
Speaker 1: retort if you prefer to not give your money away
Speaker 1: on a whim when asked. For instance, Matt, when someone
Speaker 1: knocks on my door asking for donations, I say, Hey,
Speaker 1: what's the name of your organization, I need to research
Speaker 1: it first, and so they know that I'm not going
Speaker 1: to give my money to them in that interaction. Maybe
Speaker 1: I will a later date, but I need to go
Speaker 1: check them out first to make sure one that it's
Speaker 1: an actual organization and two that I align with it,
Speaker 1: and then three that that they're going to use that
Speaker 1: money effectively. Totally. Yeah, I will say, the last time
Speaker 1: someone came to our door, they had their Charity Navigator
Speaker 1: rating ready, so helpful, ready to deploy. Well, that might
Speaker 1: disarm me a little bit. Yeah, But simultaneously, I think
Speaker 1: we also need to feel comfortable and politely declining, right
Speaker 1: because not to say that whatever, okay, great, I see
Speaker 1: that you get on Charity Navigator. That's awesome. Uh, and
Speaker 1: not to say that the work that you're doing isn't important,
Speaker 1: but it may not necessarily perfectly align with how it
Speaker 1: is that you want to spend your money. There's a
Speaker 1: lot of different organizations out there, and so you might
Speaker 1: already be hot committed with your You've budgeted it out
Speaker 1: and guess what you've got those donations they're recurring and sorry,
Speaker 1: there's not enough love over even Oh you're doing great work,
Speaker 1: but i'll consider you in the future, and so I
Speaker 1: think you also need to basically have the guts to
Speaker 1: let somebody down. Unfortunately, because that's every dollar that we
Speaker 1: are spending, whether on ourselves or on somebody else, is
Speaker 1: money that you're not going to be able to to
Speaker 1: give to a different organization. To just keep that in
Speaker 1: mind as well. But um, one other sort of technical
Speaker 1: thing that's worth touching on are the tax benefits that
Speaker 1: you get by giving your money away. Of course, not
Speaker 1: everyone is going to be eligible for a tax deduction
Speaker 1: based on the giving because when the Tax Cuts and
Speaker 1: Jobs Act, it you know, when it passed, it massively
Speaker 1: increased the standard deduction, meaning that far fewer folks are
Speaker 1: going to atomize your taxes, and a huge percentage of
Speaker 1: folks won't see a decrease in their taxes because of
Speaker 1: how much that they give away. But if you do
Speaker 1: itemize your deductions, make sure to keep track of the
Speaker 1: money that you're giving away so that you can snag
Speaker 1: that tax deduction on your gifts. And again, hopefully this
Speaker 1: is intentional giving, but you won't be surprised when you
Speaker 1: get a year in statement from from an organization. Hopefully
Speaker 1: you'll be looking forward to that, you'll be counting on
Speaker 1: it as opposed to it showing up because you maybe
Speaker 1: gave away some of your money in a non intentional way.
Speaker 1: But let's say that you aren't terribly far away from
Speaker 1: itemizing deductions, but you're not there yet, it might make
Speaker 1: sense for you to batch or to clump your giving.
Speaker 1: That can be a little easier seven done. But if
Speaker 1: you're keen to get at least a little bit of
Speaker 1: a break from Uncle Sam from the I R S.
Speaker 1: Being strategic with when it is that you give, that
Speaker 1: can give you a tax benefit that you might not
Speaker 1: otherwise receive. And so what we mean by that is,
Speaker 1: let's say that you're going to give away twenty thousand
Speaker 1: dollars this year, You're gonna give away twenty thou dollars
Speaker 1: likely next year. Well, if there's a way that you
Speaker 1: could either give a full forty thousand now automize your
Speaker 1: taxes this year, but the next year take the standard
Speaker 1: deduction or vice versa. Instead, take the standard deduction this year,
Speaker 1: uh commit that money at the beginning of next year,
Speaker 1: and then make your your final year and donation at
Speaker 1: the end of next year, and then you can automize
Speaker 1: next year, but finding a way to maximize that that
Speaker 1: tax break. It's definitely a nice little park that you
Speaker 1: want to make sure that you're aware of. Yeah, it
Speaker 1: can be a little bit of that cherry on top.
Speaker 1: But but you're right man. They that also Let's say
Speaker 1: you're you're planning on giving twenty dollars away this year
Speaker 1: next in your scenario, most people don't have that reservoir
Speaker 1: of for d K sitting there right now, So it
Speaker 1: can make sense for some people. Make sense for again,
Speaker 1: all those planners out there who are starting to take
Speaker 1: their they're giving a little more serious and mega savers,
Speaker 1: and so maybe they do they have all that cash
Speaker 1: on hand, they plan ahead, they give it all this
Speaker 1: year to get the additional tax benefit, and then they
Speaker 1: don't give anything next year, and they're building up their
Speaker 1: war chest to do the same thing in right. But
Speaker 1: and donor advice funds, by the way, we should mention those,
Speaker 1: those are worth considering for the high rollers out there,
Speaker 1: because this is a great way to be able to
Speaker 1: set aside money for giving in a single year in
Speaker 1: order to get that tax benefit, but to be able
Speaker 1: to disperse those funds over time and the cool thing
Speaker 1: about a donor advice fund is that you can invest
Speaker 1: those dollars that you plan to give away, allowing them
Speaker 1: to grow. So it's a way to feel like you're
Speaker 1: being even more effective with the dollars that you're planning
Speaker 1: to give away because you can grow them in the meantime,
Speaker 1: and you can open one through your favorite low cost
Speaker 1: investment firm like Fidelity. Another great option is a website
Speaker 1: called daffy dot Org. Will link to these sites in
Speaker 1: the show notes, but this is a nonprofit itself that
Speaker 1: keeps the cost incredibly low for normal folks who don't
Speaker 1: have millions of dollars to give away. We really like
Speaker 1: what they're doing in the space. And and so if
Speaker 1: you're an optimizer and you want to you want your
Speaker 1: giving dollars to be used the most effectively. You want
Speaker 1: them to be literally invested in the market, so that
Speaker 1: over time, as the market bounces back, you have more
Speaker 1: dollars to give away just because of the mechanics of
Speaker 1: how you're giving your money away. Donor vice funds are
Speaker 1: a really cool tool to be able to do just that.
Speaker 1: That's right, man, And so no matter where you are
Speaker 1: on your journey, towards some financial freedom. We hope that
Speaker 1: you are encouraged, right, Like, the last thing that we
Speaker 1: want is for anybody to hear this and feel laden
Speaker 1: with guilt. That is not what we're trying to accomplish here.
Speaker 1: But I think there there might be a lot of
Speaker 1: folks who have been so focused on optimizing their money
Speaker 1: over the past four or five years, and they're thinking, oh,
Speaker 1: my gosh, I have never considered giving some of my
Speaker 1: money away because it didn't make sense from a financial standpoint.
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to be able to get that tax deduction,
Speaker 1: so why would I even consider it. Well, we pointed
Speaker 1: to a lot of other reasons why we think you
Speaker 1: should consider giving your money away, And even if you
Speaker 1: feel like you're fairly cash strapped, we do think it's
Speaker 1: at least worth thinking about giving some of your money away.
Speaker 1: We think there are some different creative ways that you
Speaker 1: can pare back some of your spending, uh to funnel
Speaker 1: some of those dollars towards some the different organizations that
Speaker 1: you might find will have a positive impact not only
Speaker 1: on your community, but eventually the world. And it's it's
Speaker 1: fun to be able to give your money away and
Speaker 1: to be able to see it being used in an
Speaker 1: effective manner for causes that you care about. And and
Speaker 1: it makes me think, Matt, there there is. We think
Speaker 1: frugality is great. We praise frugality almost all the time,
Speaker 1: Like we think that coming back on expenses is a
Speaker 1: great thing to focus on. But it's possible to have
Speaker 1: too much of an emphasis on frugality to not think
Speaker 1: enough about how to grow your income, to not think
Speaker 1: enough about starting a business or multiple streams of income
Speaker 1: or investing for your future. Well, but I think the
Speaker 1: same thing can be true. It's it's a great thing
Speaker 1: to save more of your money, but can you put
Speaker 1: too much emphasis on that to the exclusion of giving
Speaker 1: money away? We think, yes, like, that's possible to and
Speaker 1: there is. Unfortually, charity can be a casualty of being
Speaker 1: overly frugal. Yeah, And the reality is that your relationship
Speaker 1: with money might not be as healthy as it otherwise
Speaker 1: could be if you were to part with your money
Speaker 1: more frequently by giving it away to nonprofits and need
Speaker 1: to organizations doing work in your community. So it is
Speaker 1: one of those things where yeah, to remember that money
Speaker 1: is not the ultimate goal, that is just a tool
Speaker 1: to be able to accomplish things that you care about
Speaker 1: in this life. Well, charity seems like it should be
Speaker 1: a part of that. Then it seems like it should
Speaker 1: be something that we are funneling more and more of
Speaker 1: our money towards as we get better with it, as
Speaker 1: we make more financial progress. That's right, man, All right,
Speaker 1: let's shift gears and get to the beer. You and
Speaker 1: I enjoyed a peach cobbler by Shades Brewing. What were
Speaker 1: your thoughts all this one, buddy? All right, so this
Speaker 1: one was a little mouth puckering and had some peach
Speaker 1: fuzz action going on for Georgia boys. Was right at
Speaker 1: my alley and had a little bit of Grandcrackers, a
Speaker 1: little bit of vanilla going on, but it was it
Speaker 1: was mostly to me. I got, I got peaches out
Speaker 1: the wazoo, and yeah, I enjoyed this because a peach
Speaker 1: hour that's money in my book. Yeah, it wasn't overly sweet,
Speaker 1: so it definitely kind of had the slightly underwrite peach
Speaker 1: kind of actually going on. But it completely gets me
Speaker 1: in the mood for the tomorrow, the Thanksgiving dinner that
Speaker 1: most of us are going to be able to partake in,
Speaker 1: which also gets me thinking peach cobbler. If what's your
Speaker 1: favorite of the different fruit pies or cobblers out there?
Speaker 1: Do you have a favorite? I mean I kind of
Speaker 1: like all of them, but yeah, Pete, peach collar, apple pie,
Speaker 1: apple Baby, Yeah, I was gonna say it, like you
Speaker 1: two the best. You can't beat apple. Do you do
Speaker 1: you like pumpkin pie? Not a huge pumpin po I
Speaker 1: like pecan pie though, yeah, Peak and she was some
Speaker 1: ice cream, he was, Oh yeah, based any pie with
Speaker 1: some people with some ice cream on top, totally the
Speaker 1: way to go. But we hope that everyone out there
Speaker 1: that you have a a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday tomorrow, uh,
Speaker 1: and do take some time aside and express some of
Speaker 1: the gratitude for the mini blessings that we have in
Speaker 1: our lives, and specifically to challenge yourself and to see
Speaker 1: if there's ways that you can share that with others.
Speaker 1: That was our goal for this episode. And we'll make
Speaker 1: sure to link to some of the different resources, uh,
Speaker 1: specifically some of those different charity research websites. We will
Speaker 1: link to them in our show notes at how to
Speaker 1: money dot com. No doubt, all right, buddy, that's gonna
Speaker 1: do it for this episode, until next time. Best friends out,
Speaker 1: best friends out