Speaker 1: Welcome to How to Money. I'm Joel and I'm Matt
Speaker 1: and today we're talking about how to give your money away. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's freight to day on the shore. We're gonna talk
Speaker 1: about why you should give your money away, why it's
Speaker 1: actually beneficial to you, and then how to give your
Speaker 1: money away, choosing where to give and making sure your
Speaker 1: money is actually going to charities that will use it. Well. Yeah, Joel,
Speaker 1: And that actually makes me think of a recent comment
Speaker 1: that we had on our site by Sarah, and she
Speaker 1: had mentioned how, you know, she liked how we have
Speaker 1: a good balance between living a frugal life but also
Speaker 1: enjoying life and you know, giving money away and being charitable.
Speaker 1: That kind of falls on the side of living that
Speaker 1: good life, right, because if we were only about being
Speaker 1: cheap and like living that frugal life, it's like, well,
Speaker 1: I don't really have money to give away to other people.
Speaker 1: A big part of what we try to, you know,
Speaker 1: what we strive towards is all aspects of enjoying life,
Speaker 1: and included in that, you know, is giving money away.
Speaker 1: So so if you've listened for a while, you know
Speaker 1: that's gonna sound familiar. That's the kind of what we
Speaker 1: talk about every week, right, We try to balance the two.
Speaker 1: But if you're a new listener and you're kind of
Speaker 1: wondering why it is that we're talking about giving money
Speaker 1: away when this is a podcast about money and beer, well,
Speaker 1: you know, that's why we try to enjoy life, but
Speaker 1: we're also striving to be why stewards of our money
Speaker 1: and and along with that is being frugal. So, Sarah,
Speaker 1: thanks so much for that comment. Yeah, we really appreciate that. Yeah, Matt.
Speaker 1: And sometimes people ask me like, hey, do I have
Speaker 1: to like beer in order to listen to your podcast? Yes,
Speaker 1: it would help, but but no, you really don't, don't.
Speaker 1: I Mean, I think the majority of the reason that
Speaker 1: we pour a beer on the on each episode, Matt,
Speaker 1: is it kind of represents something that we enjoy and
Speaker 1: somewhere that we put our money, that we that that
Speaker 1: matters to us. But then on top of that, I
Speaker 1: think it represents more than anything, this concept of balance, right,
Speaker 1: and exactly, that's something that means a lot to both
Speaker 1: of us. There are a lot of people out there
Speaker 1: that are trying to retire at age thirty four, but
Speaker 1: they're not living a life of balance. You know, on
Speaker 1: the way to that. And then there are also people
Speaker 1: who are completely out of whack in overspending and they're
Speaker 1: working way too much and they're you know, neglecting things
Speaker 1: that actually matter to them. Hopefully that comes out in
Speaker 1: our episodes. That balance is such a key, uh, and
Speaker 1: that's something that we strive for and definitely don't always
Speaker 1: do well. Balances at the heart of kind of the
Speaker 1: core of the mission of what we're up to here.
Speaker 1: That's right, it's our mission. So Matt onto the beer
Speaker 1: that we are drinking this evening. Oh man, that's not
Speaker 1: a loaded, nice pop. So you've got this beer. This
Speaker 1: is Russian River. This beer is called Consecration, which is
Speaker 1: a barrel edge sour beer and Russian River. They're out
Speaker 1: of California, right, that's up there, like kind of near
Speaker 1: wine country, Yeah, exactly. And this beer comes to us
Speaker 1: courtesy of our friend Carl, who runs the website hundred
Speaker 1: days dot com. Uh. He's an awesome writer, he's an
Speaker 1: awesome dude. He absolutely loves good beer, and so he
Speaker 1: was kind enough to send send us this beer, which
Speaker 1: is I think one of both of our all time
Speaker 1: favorite beers. And he's got a lot of wisdom to share.
Speaker 1: The hundred was in regards to he was set a
Speaker 1: goal to be able to be financially independent by you know,
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred days later, right from when he started the ball. Yep.
Speaker 1: So that was the whole that's the whole reason behind
Speaker 1: fifteen hundred days. Yeah, man, this beer was I mean, really,
Speaker 1: I think we've had sours before. I know I had
Speaker 1: a few hours before this, but this was the first
Speaker 1: sort of world class barrel age sour that kind of
Speaker 1: knocked my socks off, you know. Yeah. I distinctly remember
Speaker 1: another friend, because this brewery's out of California, the only
Speaker 1: shipped to a few states. Another West Coast friends sent
Speaker 1: us a bottle. We split it, and I just remember saying,
Speaker 1: if sours can taste like this, I want more, because
Speaker 1: we've had some kind of average to subpar one before that,
Speaker 1: and Consecration from Russian River just kind of took the
Speaker 1: cake and really still does to this day. It's such
Speaker 1: a delicious beer. Yeah man, So this pours, it's pouring
Speaker 1: like a nice kind of murky brown, but it's got
Speaker 1: a lot of bubbles to us, you know, it's definitely
Speaker 1: it's definitely gonna have a nice bit of carbonation. Ready
Speaker 1: to taste this, Yep, that's still awesome. Speaking of balance
Speaker 1: that we talked about earlier, this this beer is so
Speaker 1: well balanced. Some of the sours today are getting a
Speaker 1: little crazy, little out there. This just kind of toes
Speaker 1: the line that it's walking perfectly and I so dig
Speaker 1: this beer. Yeah, it's pretty aggressive, nice nice bit of
Speaker 1: tartness to it, but it's barely aged, so you know,
Speaker 1: just those oak notes just kind of really balance it
Speaker 1: out and kind of smooths it out, makes it real
Speaker 1: easy to drink. It's got some slightly more bitter notes
Speaker 1: to it than maybe some of the sours we've had recently. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of like that. Actually, it's it's kind of
Speaker 1: rare to find. It's usually super sweet and when it
Speaker 1: comes to sour and so that those kind of bitter
Speaker 1: notes balance it out. And it's definitely got rush and river.
Speaker 1: Being based in wine country obviously major access to wine
Speaker 1: barrels and this one's aged in Capernet saweignon barrels and
Speaker 1: so it's got a little bit of that wine quality
Speaker 1: to it as well. Uh, yeah, you know what I
Speaker 1: feel like, guess what I can feel sort of like
Speaker 1: the tannin sort of dryness, kind of coming out of
Speaker 1: the wood a little bit, maybe completely. And so if
Speaker 1: you're into wine not really terribly into beer, a beer
Speaker 1: like this would be kind of a good one to
Speaker 1: check out. And we're actually seeing more and more of
Speaker 1: that beer wine hybrid kind of thing happening. So all
Speaker 1: the lines are getting blared. Man, I know, right, have
Speaker 1: you guys ever been up to a wine country like
Speaker 1: Napa or Sooma? No, never done it. I think I've
Speaker 1: like southern Oregon has some wineries and I've that's up there.
Speaker 1: I've done that before, but never like the California wine region.
Speaker 1: So Kit and I went once and we decided, okay,
Speaker 1: we're gonna be over there. We've got to stop in,
Speaker 1: you know, and like Napa and Sonoma, thinking that we
Speaker 1: wouldn't really enjoy it, but no, we we loved it. Man.
Speaker 1: We had such a good time. And we're not even
Speaker 1: really into wine, but just seeing the grounds and the vineyards,
Speaker 1: you know, being able to like the couple that we
Speaker 1: went to had hiking trails like on the property as well. Wow. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so it's gorgeous and then you get to cap
Speaker 1: it off with going down into the you know, the
Speaker 1: cave or whatever where they where the age all the barrels.
Speaker 1: It's nice and cold down there after you've been sweating
Speaker 1: up in the California sun and get to tip back
Speaker 1: some delicious wines. And yeah, we had a great time
Speaker 1: for obvious reasons. I guess there is something about vineyards
Speaker 1: that's just beautiful. It's a little more romantic than than
Speaker 1: just a brewer, right right, Yeah, completely from that point
Speaker 1: of view, I can totally understand why you want to
Speaker 1: do it, you know, and I think especially getting into
Speaker 1: beers like this, you know, drinking some of those beers
Speaker 1: that have a little more wine like qualities. I can
Speaker 1: completely see why people dig wine, and I can see
Speaker 1: myself someday in the future maybe drinking more wine than
Speaker 1: I do now, but right now focused on beer. But yeah,
Speaker 1: that being said, I mean, if you are out there
Speaker 1: and you're a wine drinker and you know of like
Speaker 1: a bottle of wine that's like in the I don't know,
Speaker 1: sixteen eighteen dollar bottle, a bottle range that that you
Speaker 1: know as really good and that you could recommend to somebody,
Speaker 1: give us a shot. I mean, I would love to know, like,
Speaker 1: what's a really good bottle that you can get for
Speaker 1: you know, sixteen bucks anything of his Kirkland signature. My buddy,
Speaker 1: I don't know if that's true. However, I'm sure someone's
Speaker 1: gonna write it and say, oh, it's actually not that bad,
Speaker 1: you know, just like the Aldi beer. No, not terrible.
Speaker 1: So tip to the folks that do like wine. There's
Speaker 1: a website called Costco Wine blog dot com, and there's
Speaker 1: this dude who dedicates his uh at least free time.
Speaker 1: I don't know about his life, but he dedicates himself
Speaker 1: entire life to writing about and reviewing the Costco wines.
Speaker 1: And they're actually like just the Costco irons, just the
Speaker 1: Costco ones, and there are you know, Costco is actually
Speaker 1: I think the number one buyer and seller of wine
Speaker 1: in the country. Yeah, just like Walmart's the number one
Speaker 1: organic produce. Yeah. That's a good point. That's a good point.
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean that bean said, like, certainly Costco
Speaker 1: has got great wines. Though they do from what I've heard.
Speaker 1: I'm certainly not a connoisseur, and and I've I've tried
Speaker 1: a couple of them, and they've they've been a lot
Speaker 1: better than two buck Chuck in my opinion. But but yeah,
Speaker 1: that that blog is really cool if you're into wines
Speaker 1: and want to check it out. And another thing that
Speaker 1: Costco is great for, by the way, is getting bottles
Speaker 1: of liquor, oftentimes the Costco liquor. If you're particular Costco
Speaker 1: and you're not a member, Matt, We're going to fix
Speaker 1: that in the near future for you. It's too far away, man,
Speaker 1: That's that's my big thing. I just don't like driving,
Speaker 1: so I don't want to hear your excuses close the
Speaker 1: audia is our house. Now, that's true, I know. But
Speaker 1: so the liquor selection at Costco is really really good,
Speaker 1: and the prices are insanely good too, because usually a
Speaker 1: package store marks up a bottle of liquor between thirty
Speaker 1: and so. At Costco, the most mark up that Costco
Speaker 1: ever does is so typically you get a bottle of
Speaker 1: their Kirkland signature liquor for ten dollars cheaper on average
Speaker 1: ten to fifteen dollars cheaper than what you'd pay at
Speaker 1: a package store. They also have regular brands of booze
Speaker 1: as well. Stuff. Yeah, and it's cheaper too, like by
Speaker 1: good ten bucks, so you can at least pick me
Speaker 1: up a handler to you know, if you're going up there,
Speaker 1: I'll see what I can do. By the way, I
Speaker 1: just wrote an article it's up on the website now
Speaker 1: about where you should go to get beers when you're
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. Uh and so don't miss that. I also
Speaker 1: mentioned some of our antiquated beer laws in the article,
Speaker 1: So check that out if you're interested on knowing where
Speaker 1: we drink beer in in our town, and if you're visiting,
Speaker 1: definitely be sure to hit some of those places up Yeah.
Speaker 1: So Matt onto the topic at hand, how to give
Speaker 1: your money away. And I think ultimately you and I
Speaker 1: both think that there's a lot that we as human
Speaker 1: beings can learn by giving away our time and our money. Yeah. Man,
Speaker 1: that's right for both of us. You know. A big
Speaker 1: part of like some of our core values, you know,
Speaker 1: is being generous giving our money away, like in whatever
Speaker 1: sort of outlet that looks like for you. And and
Speaker 1: a big reason we want to talk about this too is,
Speaker 1: I mean, at least for me, the sort of angle
Speaker 1: I want to approach it from is giving your money
Speaker 1: sort of intentionally um and actively right, instead of it
Speaker 1: being sort of this passive thing that you're doing, or
Speaker 1: instead of it being a more like a reactionary thing,
Speaker 1: you know that being said, I'm not going to tell
Speaker 1: you not to like give money to somebody asking for
Speaker 1: a handout or or whatever it is, you know it
Speaker 1: is that someone approaches you. But there's ways that you
Speaker 1: can give that helps you to feel maybe more in
Speaker 1: charge of your money. It's where you're intentionally giving and
Speaker 1: that's more part of your plan and like your mission,
Speaker 1: you know, like your financial sort of game plan and
Speaker 1: mission versus it sort of being this thing that is
Speaker 1: more like an afterthought or only if someone approaches you
Speaker 1: and you know, asks for a donation, that kind of thing. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I think too. There's a place that people get caught
Speaker 1: up and they say, you know what, in the future, someday,
Speaker 1: I'm going to give my money away, you know, one
Speaker 1: of these days, you know, once I hit this certain
Speaker 1: point in my life, that's when I'm gonna actually start
Speaker 1: giving away some my money. But I just can't afford
Speaker 1: to do it right now. Uh, And I feel like
Speaker 1: I ultimately what that what it comes down to is
Speaker 1: that's kind of like an excuse. I hear the same
Speaker 1: thing with a lot with a lot of people who
Speaker 1: say I want to travel someday, and they never seem
Speaker 1: to prioritize it. They never seemed to buy a ticket
Speaker 1: to go somewhere and visit a really cool place. And
Speaker 1: so that's just kind of a common thing. They prioritize
Speaker 1: their money going to other places, and ultimately, it is
Speaker 1: a matter of prioritization. And if you say that you
Speaker 1: want to give some day but can't give in some
Speaker 1: capacity now, then I think, really you're just fooling yourself
Speaker 1: and you're checking yourself because it's something that you can
Speaker 1: do now if you would only prioritize it. Yeah, you're
Speaker 1: just giving the lip service. Basically, you're doing it to
Speaker 1: kind of make yourself feel a little bit better. And
Speaker 1: and granted maybe you're going through some terrible financial situation
Speaker 1: right now that you know where you just you do
Speaker 1: not have the space you do you don't have the
Speaker 1: bandwidth for that. And for for those people, we are
Speaker 1: not talking to you. But you know, if you've kind
Speaker 1: of been if you've got a steady job and you've
Speaker 1: you're living your life and you're enjoying yourself and in
Speaker 1: your drinking craft beer, the good stuff, we're talking to you.
Speaker 1: You know like, and I think too, we this isn't
Speaker 1: something we want to guilt trip you over. But no, no, no, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's not it's not this. Uh. We're not trying to
Speaker 1: make you feel bad for not giving. But hopefully by
Speaker 1: the end of this episode you will have seen how
Speaker 1: it's benefited Matt and I in our lives. It has
Speaker 1: given us a healthy detachment from our money, just kind
Speaker 1: of healthy understanding that money isn't everything and in so
Speaker 1: many ways that our goals right for our money and
Speaker 1: for our lives, are actually better served by giving away
Speaker 1: a portion of our income. And so we'll kind of
Speaker 1: tell you what that looks like in our lives. And
Speaker 1: I'll be honest too. You heard the last episode, uh,
Speaker 1: where my wife told a story about where I was
Speaker 1: charging my friends for coal. Still a terrible story that
Speaker 1: I can't live down. But I feel like my heart
Speaker 1: has changed a lot about giving over the years and generosity,
Speaker 1: and so hopefully you can see kind of how I've
Speaker 1: grown and honestly, being married, you know, being married to
Speaker 1: my wife, Emily has accelerated that change in my life
Speaker 1: where I prioritize it and it's been so meaningful to
Speaker 1: me to give away a portion of what we make.
Speaker 1: And uh so, I think in the end, if you
Speaker 1: want a healthy view towards money, learning to give away
Speaker 1: a portion of it, you know, and you can figure
Speaker 1: out what that means to you exactly percentage wise, but
Speaker 1: but learning to give away that portion can actually give
Speaker 1: you a more robust appreciation for what you do have. Yea, man,
Speaker 1: you know what this reminds me of two is the
Speaker 1: our episode on asking for a discount in a totally
Speaker 1: sort of twisted way. But but we talked about how
Speaker 1: asking for a discount it's sort of like a muscle,
Speaker 1: and like the more you do it, it it kind of
Speaker 1: makes you uncomfortable or it's just because it's just hard
Speaker 1: to do, right, um, But the more you do it,
Speaker 1: the easier it becomes. It's a behavioral thing, you know.
Speaker 1: It's it's like a muscle. I feel like giving your
Speaker 1: money away. It's it's real similar, you know, it's it's
Speaker 1: a muscle. It's sort of like this cognitive pathway where
Speaker 1: the more you do it, the better at it you get,
Speaker 1: the more you're sort of able to recognize it and
Speaker 1: see it in your life kind of just as you
Speaker 1: go throughout the day and throughout your life and you
Speaker 1: can respond to that. Yeah, And I think in a
Speaker 1: lot of ways, like giving our money away is like
Speaker 1: a recognition of the fact that we aren't completely self
Speaker 1: made people. We are influenced and made up in so
Speaker 1: many ways of the contributions of parents, teachers, are community,
Speaker 1: and the country that we live in. Uh, hard work
Speaker 1: is certainly rutual to success, but being generous is that
Speaker 1: kind of recognition of the benefits that we've received from
Speaker 1: other people that have played major roles in our lives.
Speaker 1: And and and in a sense, it's sort of paying
Speaker 1: it forward, right Like you you're you have that recognition,
Speaker 1: you see that, and then you're also doing that for
Speaker 1: for other people. And whether that be through your finances,
Speaker 1: right through your money directly, or just through your time
Speaker 1: and the attention the knowledge that you're able to share
Speaker 1: with others and kind of pour into other people's lives.
Speaker 1: All that is a part of recognizing all that went
Speaker 1: into you and sort of doing that for others around
Speaker 1: you as well. So obviously, like the number one benefit
Speaker 1: of giving your money away is helping people, right, It's
Speaker 1: it's you trying to better the people around you, trying
Speaker 1: to better the world around you trying to make the
Speaker 1: world a better place. I mean it's obvious, right, But
Speaker 1: if you think of like, Okay, how does how's giving
Speaker 1: my money away you gonna make things better? I think
Speaker 1: a lot of times folks can immediately just only focus on, well,
Speaker 1: how's this going to be good for me? Like, you know,
Speaker 1: what are the benefits? Like what how's this going to
Speaker 1: affect my bottom line? When that shouldn't be your primary
Speaker 1: goal at all, Like it should be because you see
Speaker 1: a need or you really believe in this effort or
Speaker 1: this cause, and and that's something that you're gonna, you know,
Speaker 1: put put your money behind, yeah, because you truly believe it. Yeah.
Speaker 1: And I think ultimately the easiest way to see the
Speaker 1: need and then to see the benefit of where your
Speaker 1: money is going is to give locally, right to give
Speaker 1: to an organization that exists in your neighborhood or in
Speaker 1: your town. And so you know, for for me, there
Speaker 1: are are a couple of organizations that are extremely local
Speaker 1: that I can quantify what they do. You know, I
Speaker 1: get the newsletter updates, I run into the people that
Speaker 1: work there. I know what is happening and the sorts
Speaker 1: of success stories that come out of that nonprofit. So
Speaker 1: it's really exciting to see something happening in my own neighborhood,
Speaker 1: whether it's helping kids or helping you know, older people
Speaker 1: whose homes are in disrepair and they can't afford the
Speaker 1: repairs on their home. Giving the causes that are local
Speaker 1: where you can kind of see the tangible work is
Speaker 1: to me a really great benefit that you can actually
Speaker 1: kind of watch the progress of your money right before
Speaker 1: your eyes. I mean that makes me actually think this
Speaker 1: article I saw that I read where they're talking about
Speaker 1: how even though like the total number uh of dollars
Speaker 1: that have been donated has increased over the years, the
Speaker 1: number of people who have been contributing has decreased um
Speaker 1: And like the whole article is talking about like the
Speaker 1: pooling of money to the you know, the rich, and
Speaker 1: how they're kind of deciding where the money goes, and
Speaker 1: how that affects policy, you know, tax policy, just all
Speaker 1: these different things. But what that means though as well,
Speaker 1: is that these nonprofits and sort of charities are marketing
Speaker 1: themselves to people because they're trying to get these big donors,
Speaker 1: and they're trying to appeal to sort of like the
Speaker 1: mass appeal the mass, you know, the whole country, and
Speaker 1: when that's sort of right in front of you as
Speaker 1: as somebody that's looking to give your money away, you
Speaker 1: don't see the immediate need, like you don't see like
Speaker 1: you said, like the local charity, um, something that is
Speaker 1: right in front of you if you were just to
Speaker 1: you know, literally like open your eyes or ask around
Speaker 1: and see what your local needs are. Yeah, So be
Speaker 1: mindful of that because it definitely is trending to where
Speaker 1: these bigger organizations are sort of siphoning and getting all
Speaker 1: the funding, all the donations, where you know, the smaller
Speaker 1: local organization has kind of been suffering over the past
Speaker 1: few years. Yeah, and so I think a benefit to
Speaker 1: Matt is that giving your money away changes you just
Speaker 1: as much, if not more than the people or organization
Speaker 1: that you're giving to. It's really cool if you give
Speaker 1: to a local organization to see your money at work
Speaker 1: and to maybe see people's lives that are changed. Someone
Speaker 1: like I mentioned, you know, a house and disrepair for
Speaker 1: a senior citizen that is able to stay in their
Speaker 1: home because otherwise they would have had to move, they
Speaker 1: would they wouldn't been able to fix up their house
Speaker 1: or they just have to live in a home with
Speaker 1: you know, a messed up roof or something like that.
Speaker 1: That's something that's tangible and you can see. Yeah, I
Speaker 1: mean if you were like, you know, just give the
Speaker 1: Red Cross, Like I don't want to knock Red Cross,
Speaker 1: but like they're great. However, it's hard to see the
Speaker 1: efects of that. And so yeah, if you see the
Speaker 1: physical effect that your money is having, how encouraging is that?
Speaker 1: You know, I mean that if anything that would just
Speaker 1: kind of give someone, if anything that might encourage someone
Speaker 1: to give more, you know, like when you see the
Speaker 1: effects like that, it just has this positive sort of
Speaker 1: reinforcement that hopefully continues the cycle. Yeah, and I think
Speaker 1: ultimately then it has a great effect on you as
Speaker 1: a human giving your money away. So it's cool to
Speaker 1: see the progress, cool to see your money at work,
Speaker 1: where you live, or for a cause that you care
Speaker 1: about greatly. But then on top of that, there's something
Speaker 1: about living life with more of like an open hand
Speaker 1: where you're not holding onto your possessions too tightly or
Speaker 1: just like gripping your money right and not letting go
Speaker 1: of any of it. There is something that changes, like
Speaker 1: in your heart and in your demeanor almost when you
Speaker 1: are freed up to give. The way that you are
Speaker 1: generous with your money, I think actually translates to a
Speaker 1: generosity of spirit that's almost like a felt quality about
Speaker 1: a person too. Uh so, so giving your money away
Speaker 1: translates into the kind of person that you are in life,
Speaker 1: and it has such a freeing effect on your soul
Speaker 1: by deciding to give away a portion of your assets.
Speaker 1: It's hard to explain, right, like it's this this this
Speaker 1: weird and tangible thing. But I think we've all met
Speaker 1: people in our lives, whether it be at work or
Speaker 1: just anywhere where there's something that's just greedy and they're
Speaker 1: just stingy and they just don't they suck, you know.
Speaker 1: It's it's someone that you kind of don't want to
Speaker 1: be around. And that's the way you're what you're kind
Speaker 1: of talking about. It's sort of like that you can't
Speaker 1: put your finger on it, but it's just you can
Speaker 1: just tell that. It's just like, man, why you gotta
Speaker 1: be like that with your charcoal? Joel Well, And it's
Speaker 1: like this thing of like it fabled in books and
Speaker 1: fairy tales, right, I mean, the Grinch and every these
Speaker 1: are screwedge right there these characters that are there no workhouses,
Speaker 1: like I mean, all they're they're these great stories that
Speaker 1: encompass someone's heart that is hard to the plight of
Speaker 1: their fellow man, and then how how they can change.
Speaker 1: And I think some of those stories actually, while probably
Speaker 1: over exaggerated, do kind of give us a window into
Speaker 1: the human heart where if you do view your money
Speaker 1: and humanity in that way, you know you can change
Speaker 1: and you can go from essentially this mindset of scarcity
Speaker 1: where you have to hold on to every dollar that
Speaker 1: you have, to one of generosity, and that's going to
Speaker 1: have an impact on the world around you. But then
Speaker 1: you know, even more so, maybe your heart or girl
Speaker 1: like five sizes like the grunch too, so and and
Speaker 1: and that will have other benefits that are really hard
Speaker 1: to quantify but but are super important. Yeah, and you'll
Speaker 1: certainly see and and sort of the non tangible quality
Speaker 1: of life that you have. Yeah. Yeah, it changes your heart,
Speaker 1: but it also changes your mind. It's got like a
Speaker 1: psychological effect. There have been studies that have shown that
Speaker 1: giving money away leads to essentially like a happiness boost,
Speaker 1: that that giving away your money actually makes you happier.
Speaker 1: And then on top of that, it also oddly enough,
Speaker 1: makes you will richer. There's something psychologically about even if
Speaker 1: we give away like a small portion of what we have,
Speaker 1: it makes us feel like, were like, wow, I've got
Speaker 1: enough money to give to give to this charity or
Speaker 1: that charity, and it actually kind of reinforces the fact
Speaker 1: that we are wealthy. And and if you live in
Speaker 1: America and have a job, like compared to the rest
Speaker 1: of the world, you are wealthy. Man, when I found
Speaker 1: super fascinating about So it's specifically like that about the
Speaker 1: happiness boost, right. The reason we buy things is to
Speaker 1: kind of make us happy. Right, Like you buy a
Speaker 1: shirt and because of that shirt, you're happy, at least
Speaker 1: for a little bit, you're happy. Right then, That's how
Speaker 1: it is with a lot of possessions, a lot of
Speaker 1: stuff that we buy. When you give your money away,
Speaker 1: that also makes you happy, but at a rate much
Speaker 1: higher than where you to just buy this trinket. And
Speaker 1: so in a sort of self serving way, you can
Speaker 1: make yourself happy by giving money away because it's just
Speaker 1: more effective. It's like a more efficient way to make
Speaker 1: your heart glad. And we would argue that it makes
Speaker 1: you better happy, not sort of this superficial on the
Speaker 1: surface I bought this gadget happy, but this sort of
Speaker 1: deep happy that resonates with humanity and with like your
Speaker 1: fellow man, something that's more real than just this thing
Speaker 1: that you bought. And at the same time, you're you're
Speaker 1: spending less to you because like the amount of money
Speaker 1: that you'd have to spend in order to make yourself
Speaker 1: a certain amount of happy, you can spend like five
Speaker 1: times less than that by giving your money away and
Speaker 1: achieving the same happy by making someone's life better. And
Speaker 1: that crazy. It is crazy. And I'll tell you, I
Speaker 1: see this like in my own self, in my own heart,
Speaker 1: and I see it in like the hearts and lives
Speaker 1: of my kids. So there's something about when you receive
Speaker 1: a gift, I feel like you are thankful for it,
Speaker 1: but it's always or when you buy something for yourself,
Speaker 1: there's always like a certain level of disappointment. It never
Speaker 1: seems to kind of hit what you're aiming for, uh.
Speaker 1: And I totally see it in my kids when they
Speaker 1: get gifts. They sometimes end up playing with, you know,
Speaker 1: the box that it came in or classic yeah, or
Speaker 1: discarding it in favor of something that they've had for
Speaker 1: a long time. It's not that they're not appreciative, and
Speaker 1: they they say thank you and they enjoy the gift
Speaker 1: for a while sometimes, But I completely see their hearts
Speaker 1: being totally different when they give something away or when
Speaker 1: they help someone else that doesn't have what they have.
Speaker 1: There there's something long lasting. And it's the same for me.
Speaker 1: When I buy myself something new that I think I want,
Speaker 1: you know, it really only satisfies for a small period
Speaker 1: of time, and that happiness is like tainted with bits
Speaker 1: of guilt, and it really doesn't have the satisfaction that
Speaker 1: I think it's going to when I, you know, click
Speaker 1: to buy online. But then when I do serve someone else,
Speaker 1: when I, you know, spend my time to help a
Speaker 1: fellow human or actually ride a check to an organization
Speaker 1: in my neighborhood, that means a lot to me. Uh.
Speaker 1: There's something that is a lot more long lasting about
Speaker 1: that happiness, uh than just consuming more so, another way
Speaker 1: that it's a benefit man to your wallet is that
Speaker 1: you know, contributions and donations to like nonprofits are tax deductible.
Speaker 1: I don't know a ton about this, I'll be honest,
Speaker 1: because I actually have a c p A. Since I'm
Speaker 1: a small business owner, that's one aspect of the business
Speaker 1: that I've decided to outsource. Can you feel me in then?
Speaker 1: On like the because you've got the new standard deduction, right, yeah,
Speaker 1: So essentially the standard deduction for single individuals and for
Speaker 1: couples was raised, and so there are a lot fewer
Speaker 1: people that will be itemizing on their taxes. And so,
Speaker 1: for instance, right when the tax law got passed, I
Speaker 1: decided to give my contributions to a couple of organizations
Speaker 1: in as opposed to doing it on a monthly basis
Speaker 1: throughout the next year, just so that I would be
Speaker 1: able to claim a higher deduction on that year's taxes.
Speaker 1: And so for some people, the way to combat this
Speaker 1: is to give bigger chunks like every other year. Ultimately,
Speaker 1: this is advice to help you on your taxes, but uh,
Speaker 1: tax strategy, right, yeah, I mean the most important thing
Speaker 1: is to be giving your money away, But if you
Speaker 1: want to do it and reap the most tax savings,
Speaker 1: then consider alternating years in which you give. Just make
Speaker 1: sure it's a part of your budget and that you're
Speaker 1: thinking about it. I know that can kind of almost
Speaker 1: be another excuse not to give so, so don't let
Speaker 1: it be that in your life. But if you do
Speaker 1: want to get the most tax benefit from your gifts, yeah,
Speaker 1: consider doing it like alternating years that you can you know,
Speaker 1: one year take the standard deduction and then the next
Speaker 1: year exceeded based on essentially a higher gotcha, higher gift level.
Speaker 1: Gotcha cool man. So that was some of the benefits
Speaker 1: and hopefully too. When folks read the title of this
Speaker 1: podcast or you know, this episode, they weren't immediately like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is the episode for rich people that are just
Speaker 1: giving their money away to charities and foundations. This is
Speaker 1: a philanthropist episode. Uh, And I mean that's definitely not
Speaker 1: the case for you know, for either of us. We do,
Speaker 1: we know we do intentionally and regularly and actively give
Speaker 1: our money away, but I don't think the total amount
Speaker 1: would blow anyone out of the water. Oh really, Joe,
Speaker 1: you know I give away and twenty K last year. Wow. Uh,
Speaker 1: for surpasses anything that I can even conceive of. Just
Speaker 1: kidding um, But I think a lot of folks might
Speaker 1: be thinking this is all great to hear, but I
Speaker 1: am totally in debt. We're underwater, we're just scraping by
Speaker 1: living paycheck to paycheck, Like what like, we can't do this,
Speaker 1: you know, like what am I supposed to do? And yeah,
Speaker 1: what would you say to folks uh in that situation? Sure,
Speaker 1: I mean I definitely understand that. And there are were
Speaker 1: times in my life where you know, rent was super
Speaker 1: high and I was just starting out in radio and
Speaker 1: I was making very little money. Uh, not that you
Speaker 1: really ever make lots of money in radio, but I
Speaker 1: would tell them to start by donating some of your time. Um,
Speaker 1: whether it is like your local after school kids club
Speaker 1: and you can tutor somebody, whether it is whether it
Speaker 1: is volunteering some time at an old folks home in
Speaker 1: your area and bringing your kids there to play bingo
Speaker 1: and you know, give them some some cheer, or spending time,
Speaker 1: you know, even with a neighbor that is homebound, you know,
Speaker 1: whatever it is. Maybe you're a good cook and you
Speaker 1: can make a meal that's killer for six dollars for
Speaker 1: someone in your church that just had a baby. There
Speaker 1: are so many ways that you can spend your time
Speaker 1: and your talents to help someone out that you know
Speaker 1: that's in need. And so yeah, I would say start
Speaker 1: by volunteering your time and maybe a gift that you have.
Speaker 1: It could be as simple as, you know, mowing someone's lawn. Uh,
Speaker 1: there are lots of ways that you can kind of
Speaker 1: get started in this and then just make sure that
Speaker 1: it's a goal that as your income does start to
Speaker 1: grow and your debts start to decrease, that you would
Speaker 1: prioritize this and um and make sure that it's on
Speaker 1: the front burner as a topic of conversation and as
Speaker 1: something that you're aiming for. And sometimes, you know, giving
Speaker 1: your time might even actually be more difficult, but it
Speaker 1: can definitely be more meaningful, especially if it's something that
Speaker 1: you kind of have a heart for that you care
Speaker 1: more about. So on the flip side of that, though, man,
Speaker 1: I mean, I would even encourage folks to consider even
Speaker 1: if you're not bringing home hardly anything right, like like
Speaker 1: you're living paycheck to paycheck and literally maybe you're only
Speaker 1: setting aside like fifty bucks a month, you know, tops
Speaker 1: or something like that. Instead of thinking, oh, well, I
Speaker 1: can't even fifty bucks is hardly anything, and I need
Speaker 1: that to start paying off my debt or something like that,
Speaker 1: consider a percentage. You know, it might be difficult to say, well,
Speaker 1: five bucks. I mean that's nothing like, like, where is
Speaker 1: that going to get me? If I if I give
Speaker 1: somebody five bucks, Well, just know that it's it's less
Speaker 1: about the five dollars that you're setting aside to give
Speaker 1: to an organization, and instead, what you're working on is
Speaker 1: that is building that muscle. Right, Like, so if you're
Speaker 1: sitting aside five bucks out of your fifty, you know,
Speaker 1: you're sitting aside ten percent, and that's a lot of money.
Speaker 1: You know, if you're stocking away five thousand dollars a month,
Speaker 1: like in a couple of years when you're you know,
Speaker 1: making bank, that's five bucks a month, and that's a
Speaker 1: big amount of money. Like, that's a lot of money
Speaker 1: if you're still sticking with the percentage. And so for
Speaker 1: a lot of folks that maybe are in that situation,
Speaker 1: I would, I mean, I would challenge folks to look
Speaker 1: at a percentage that makes sense for you. And if
Speaker 1: you're making hardly anything at all, that's gonna seem silly
Speaker 1: because it's such a small amount, but that should also
Speaker 1: mean that that's totally doable. And what you're doing then
Speaker 1: is kind of locking into like a rate. You know,
Speaker 1: just like we talked about previously about a savings rate
Speaker 1: and trying to up the amount that you set aside
Speaker 1: for retirement. If you can just stick with a percentage
Speaker 1: and maintain that percentage, then you're gonna be much better,
Speaker 1: you know, at giving your money away down the road
Speaker 1: when you've got a lot more of it because you've
Speaker 1: again you've worked that muscle, and you know you're gonna
Speaker 1: be a pro. Yeah. Completely, There's something about forming a
Speaker 1: habit and sticking to it. It's almost like jumping on
Speaker 1: the bike for the first time. I mean, I remember
Speaker 1: before I bike to work for the first time, I
Speaker 1: had it all built up in my head, like it
Speaker 1: was this scary thing that oh man, it's gonna take
Speaker 1: forever and I'm gonna be all sweaty and it's just
Speaker 1: not gonna be worth it and it's gonna be big pain.
Speaker 1: And bike org has been one of the great joys
Speaker 1: of my life now at this point, and so starting
Speaker 1: there's something to be said for starting getting it rolling. Yeah,
Speaker 1: And so build that habit in your life, whether it
Speaker 1: is yeah, two dollars a week, whatever it is, make
Speaker 1: it something. And I think there too, too, there is
Speaker 1: something about giving to where it impedes your lifestyle to
Speaker 1: a certain degree. There is something meaningful about that and
Speaker 1: saying you know what, it's going to cause me to
Speaker 1: miss out on this, and it makes the giving really
Speaker 1: meaningful and helps you to understand, you know, how important
Speaker 1: it is as a priority in your life. Awesome. So
Speaker 1: we've talked about now why you should be giving. We've
Speaker 1: talked about some of the different benefits that occur when
Speaker 1: you do give your money, and so now we're gonna
Speaker 1: talk about some more practical stuff. Man, how to give,
Speaker 1: How to actually give your money away. So first of all,
Speaker 1: find a cause or charity you know, like we just
Speaker 1: talked about that you really believe in that you can
Speaker 1: kind of get behind something that resonates with sort of
Speaker 1: your life goals, you like, your core values. Because when
Speaker 1: you can give your money to an organization like that,
Speaker 1: you're gonna find it to be so much more fulfilling, right,
Speaker 1: And so the dollar amount doesn't change age Like, you
Speaker 1: can give to any old organization and sure they're gonna
Speaker 1: use your money and it'll be great. Or you can
Speaker 1: give to somebody that you believe in and that you're behind,
Speaker 1: and that's gonna affect you as well. Obviously, and that
Speaker 1: has a big impact on additional giving and the people
Speaker 1: around you and just the sort of person that you are.
Speaker 1: That's definitely something that you want to consider. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: also consider giving of your time and yourself. And we
Speaker 1: mentioned this a little bit, but actually, Matt, what you said,
Speaker 1: I think sometimes it's harder to give your time, it's
Speaker 1: harder to give away bits of yourself in service to
Speaker 1: other people. But I think sometimes that's one of the
Speaker 1: absolute best ways to give, coming into contact with people
Speaker 1: that have a need and caring for them with the
Speaker 1: things that you've been given. That's one of the most
Speaker 1: beautiful ways that you can give. And sometimes, yeah, the
Speaker 1: most difficult, especially for people who do have, you know,
Speaker 1: large amounts of money. It it can be really easy
Speaker 1: to write a check and hard to feel it. And
Speaker 1: so if you feel like that's the case for you, say,
Speaker 1: you know what, I'm giving a lot and ultimately it
Speaker 1: doesn't seem to be resonating moving the needle with me, Well,
Speaker 1: then you're the perfect candidate to spend some time locally
Speaker 1: with the charity, volunteering to keep the books or meeting
Speaker 1: with someone who has a specific need, or tutoring the
Speaker 1: kids right at your local kids club. There are lots
Speaker 1: of places where you know your time could be really useful,
Speaker 1: and that should totally be part of the equation when
Speaker 1: it comes to how you think about giving. Yeah, and
Speaker 1: not to make light of of what you just said,
Speaker 1: but you know, like volunteer, your time doesn't have to
Speaker 1: kind of be this drudgery. It doesn't have to be
Speaker 1: this pain you and I recently volunteered at our local
Speaker 1: beer festival and it's a ton of fun. I mean,
Speaker 1: we have a great time because to hang out with
Speaker 1: a lot of our friends, meet tons of new people,
Speaker 1: and specifically, all the money that the beer fest makes
Speaker 1: goes into the Neighborhood Foundation, which gives tons and tons
Speaker 1: of money away to local neighborhood organizations that that need funding.
Speaker 1: They literally make tens of thousands of dollars, you know,
Speaker 1: every year through that beer fest, and our neighborhood has
Speaker 1: made better because of it, exactly. And so you know,
Speaker 1: I just wanted to mention that too, because it's it
Speaker 1: can be fun. It doesn't have to be this thing
Speaker 1: where you feel like you have to like flagellate yourself
Speaker 1: and like okay, I gotta go like earn my you know,
Speaker 1: earn my time because I'm not donating any money. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: obviously you can give money, but you can donate of
Speaker 1: your time and it can be it can be a
Speaker 1: lot of fun too, And even if it is something
Speaker 1: that's more work, you know, it's something that may not
Speaker 1: seem as glamorous. It kind of comes down to how
Speaker 1: you view it yourself and and sort of the value
Speaker 1: that you place on it. Yeah, and a great place
Speaker 1: to start could be asking, like a good friend, hey,
Speaker 1: where do you volunteer or give your money? Maybe what
Speaker 1: they partake in will resonate with you. I know that
Speaker 1: first step can kind of be daunting sometimes, but that
Speaker 1: might be a good way kind of to get the
Speaker 1: ball rolling. Find out where people that you care about
Speaker 1: and are close to give their time and their money. However,
Speaker 1: don't let that be an excuse to not give, right.
Speaker 1: I mean, I would encourage everyone, even if you're hardly
Speaker 1: not making anything at all, to try to set a
Speaker 1: percentage right and hopefully everyone by then of this podcast yes,
Speaker 1: will be challenged, you know, feel challenged to be giving.
Speaker 1: You know, if not a dollar amount of way a
Speaker 1: percentage a percentage of your income because you know that
Speaker 1: might be a an easier way for you to part
Speaker 1: with your with your money, Yeah, and be picky about
Speaker 1: the charities you choose. There's a great website called charity
Speaker 1: navigator dot com and they do an amazing job of
Speaker 1: helping you understand the transparency and the financial choices of
Speaker 1: the nonprofit before you actually give to them. So, for
Speaker 1: an example, Yeah, if you look up Habitat for Humanity, uh,
Speaker 1: you can see like the exact percentage of the money
Speaker 1: you give that actually kind of goes towards the work
Speaker 1: as opposed to you know, back office and things like that. Uh.
Speaker 1: And there was I assume it's a lot, and it's
Speaker 1: a lot. Yeah, they're great, Yeah for good things about habitats. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love Habitat and uh. But then there was there
Speaker 1: were a lot of articles, you know a few years
Speaker 1: ago about this uh nonprofit called Wounded Warriors, and it
Speaker 1: was an organization that raised money for veterans that had
Speaker 1: been disabled or wounded in combat. And it turns out
Speaker 1: that a lot of the money that you were giving
Speaker 1: was actually going towards higher up people in the organization,
Speaker 1: staying at fancy hotels, you know, eating fancy dinners, going
Speaker 1: to fancy parties things like that, and so just all
Speaker 1: the fancy stuff stuff. Yeah, and so checking that that
Speaker 1: charity out that you're considering giving to out on a
Speaker 1: website like charity Navigator can kind of really actually help
Speaker 1: you feel good about the transparency level of the organization
Speaker 1: that you're giving to. And especially in times in the
Speaker 1: immediate aftermath of a natural disaster like a hurricane, there
Speaker 1: are all sorts of fake charities that pop up. You'll
Speaker 1: see Facebook ads are getting email to donate and sometimes
Speaker 1: there's you know, one word off in the name of
Speaker 1: the charity, and so checking them out on a site
Speaker 1: like charity Navigator can help you know too that you're
Speaker 1: not giving to a scammy organization. Yeah, and you know
Speaker 1: we're cheap, like we don't. I don't like to pay
Speaker 1: fees when it comes, you know, to someone to manage
Speaker 1: my money. I don't like to pay more than I
Speaker 1: need to for pretty much anything. And so when I'm
Speaker 1: giving my money to a charity, I wanted to be
Speaker 1: the exact same thing, and you want it to be effective. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I wanted to be effective giving effective use of those funds,
Speaker 1: and so I want to donate to the Vanguard of
Speaker 1: charities exactly until like a charity like Habitat pretty much
Speaker 1: is that. And there are other organizations that very much
Speaker 1: fall into that vein. But then there are other ones
Speaker 1: where you know, there's a lot of overheads, a little
Speaker 1: more expensive and not nearly as much money of yours
Speaker 1: is going to help the people that are actually in
Speaker 1: need as you would hope would be edi. That's a
Speaker 1: good tip. And something else too is to put it
Speaker 1: in your budget. Right, So, if you're going to start
Speaker 1: giving your money away, put it in your budget and
Speaker 1: stick to it. If you're not used to giving, it's
Speaker 1: probably not going to come natural to you to give
Speaker 1: a portion of your paycheck away every month or every
Speaker 1: two weeks. So what you need to do then is
Speaker 1: the plan for it. And don't let giving be an
Speaker 1: excuse to why you're you know, now overspending and blowing
Speaker 1: your budget. It's now needs to be a part of
Speaker 1: your budget. And this is also a way that kind
Speaker 1: of eases some guilt. And if you are actively give
Speaker 1: your money away, right, like, if you have every month
Speaker 1: you know that you're going to set aside, you know,
Speaker 1: X number of dollars or a percentage of your income
Speaker 1: to go towards a charity, whether that's predecided or if
Speaker 1: you kind of like to wing it right, if if
Speaker 1: you kind of are waiting for opportunities to come up.
Speaker 1: This is the perfect way for you to know that
Speaker 1: you are helping people, right, that you are giving money away, um,
Speaker 1: while at the same time not feeling like you're being
Speaker 1: guilted into it. And I'll tell you too from personal experience,
Speaker 1: like setting a line item for giving money away is
Speaker 1: that it's just fun. The way Kitt and I view
Speaker 1: our budget is that once we've decided that that's what
Speaker 1: that line item is, like, we almost have to force
Speaker 1: ourselves to to reach that amount. Right. For some things
Speaker 1: that's not difficult, right, like going out to eat, we
Speaker 1: almost always hit that budgeted amount um. But the same
Speaker 1: thing sort of applies for giving your money away if
Speaker 1: you've decided on a certain dollar amount. So if you've
Speaker 1: underspent or you know, under gifted that category, if you're
Speaker 1: getting towards the end of the month, man, you can
Speaker 1: really look for ways to give that money away, which
Speaker 1: is kind of crazy, Like that's just sort of this
Speaker 1: weird position that it kind of puts you in, and
Speaker 1: I think that should for most folks give you a
Speaker 1: lot of joy. We found joy in that definitely in
Speaker 1: the past. At this point, we're kind of like always
Speaker 1: hitting the max. We're all we're like almost always almost
Speaker 1: going over our budgeted amount. But and obviously you don't
Speaker 1: have to spend all that if if you're if you've
Speaker 1: got some left over for that month, just roll that
Speaker 1: over into next month, because there might be another opportunity
Speaker 1: that that shows up and it might be over your
Speaker 1: typical amount, and so you know, be wise with your money.
Speaker 1: But yeah, that's so important for us, is to actually
Speaker 1: set a dollar amount that is our goal that we're
Speaker 1: trying to hit every month to give our money away. Yeah.
Speaker 1: I love your approach, Matt. I mean, I love how
Speaker 1: that's sort of thinking about putting it into your budget
Speaker 1: and then the fact that your budget ultimately reflects, you know,
Speaker 1: the things that you care about, the things that that
Speaker 1: bring you joy, and then being a part of those
Speaker 1: nonprofits you know, where you give your money actually seems
Speaker 1: to in my mind, with that mindset, bring you more joy.
Speaker 1: And I personally love getting emails, you know, hearing back
Speaker 1: from people that I know the work for those nonprofits
Speaker 1: that we give money to, and being involved in them
Speaker 1: and hearing the stories of what's actually happening. There's so
Speaker 1: much joy that's brought to my life based on, you know,
Speaker 1: the amount of money I'm able to give every month. Uh,
Speaker 1: and then and then hearing what's actually happening with those funds.
Speaker 1: There's something really cool about that. And if and if
Speaker 1: it wasn't budgeted, if it wasn't set, if it wasn't
Speaker 1: baked into the cake every month of what I'm giving away, Uh,
Speaker 1: it would be really easy for me to decide, Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna give this month, I'm not going to
Speaker 1: give next month, and and just kind of continue on
Speaker 1: in the pattern. Um and and so, Yeah, putting it
Speaker 1: in the budget, you know, has this double effect of
Speaker 1: kind of ensuring that you actually do it and then
Speaker 1: you know, reflecting those places that you do prioritize. I mean,
Speaker 1: it's actually becomes like a joyous thing when you do that. Yeah. Well,
Speaker 1: and even like a third prong then too, is that
Speaker 1: it allows you to do those things and to have
Speaker 1: that joy while at the same time not wrecking your
Speaker 1: goal your financial goals, right, Like, it's not like this
Speaker 1: budget buster that just showed up because you didn't plan
Speaker 1: for it. I think a lot of people will think
Speaker 1: that this feels a little too stiff, if you know,
Speaker 1: to say, oh, you need to set a line item
Speaker 1: every month, like you must give this amount of money away.
Speaker 1: You know, it doesn't feel natural and giving and and
Speaker 1: and from the heart. I mean, our lives are complicated
Speaker 1: in our finances. There's just a lot of moving pieces.
Speaker 1: And if something were to come along and if you
Speaker 1: didn't have that money set aside, well, if you were
Speaker 1: to respond to that, you know, out of the kindness
Speaker 1: of your heart, you know, out of generosity, like from
Speaker 1: a place of of of trueness, then it might blow
Speaker 1: your budget for that month, you know. And then there's
Speaker 1: other financial goals that you're not able to achieve that
Speaker 1: you know, you also want to achieve. It's just kind
Speaker 1: of going into it with a plan and being prepared
Speaker 1: for it too, you know, yeah, completely, And I wanted
Speaker 1: to quickly mention also another how to give is you
Speaker 1: can give through something called a donor advised funds. So
Speaker 1: that's that'll be more on the philanthropy episode, right Well, yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean it actually in a lot of ways, it
Speaker 1: is kind of more people with big bucks doing things,
Speaker 1: but there's actually a lot of benefit that you can
Speaker 1: get as a small giver as well having a donor
Speaker 1: advice fund. And so actually the credit card that I
Speaker 1: think I mentioned that I use all the time in
Speaker 1: using credit cards like a pro is a fidelity credit
Speaker 1: card that gives me two percent cash back on everything
Speaker 1: I spend. And so over the years, you know, I'm
Speaker 1: racking up a fairly substantial amount of points that allows
Speaker 1: me to open up a fidelity account, of multiple different
Speaker 1: types of fidelity accounts that I can open, and one
Speaker 1: of those types is a donor advised fund. And so
Speaker 1: the cool thing about donor advised funds is that they
Speaker 1: allow the donor themselves to make a charitable contribution to
Speaker 1: receive that immediate tax benefit that year, but then actually
Speaker 1: disperse those funds in different amounts to different organizations over
Speaker 1: a variety of years. Yeah, so you can kind of
Speaker 1: watch it grow. Uh, you've kind of taken that initial deduction,
Speaker 1: but then you can watch it grow and decide how
Speaker 1: much you want to give away you know, this month,
Speaker 1: next month, you know, five years from now. So that
Speaker 1: kind of too could also help alleviate some of that,
Speaker 1: you know, budget busting. If you have like a donor
Speaker 1: advice fund, a small one set up, and you have
Speaker 1: this maybe monthly amount that you give, but then you
Speaker 1: ship away and kind of put a little bit here
Speaker 1: and there. Yeah, and then but then, but then, let's
Speaker 1: say you get like a bigger request from a charity
Speaker 1: and you see the need and you feel like you
Speaker 1: really do need to put your money to work for
Speaker 1: that charity. You know that donor advice fund can be
Speaker 1: that perfect opportunity for you to give of some additional
Speaker 1: dollars um that you kind of have in reserve. And
Speaker 1: so it's it's it's kind of a cool tool that
Speaker 1: you can use and and hopefully to you know, in
Speaker 1: donor advice funds, often in your money is invested and
Speaker 1: so hopefully it's also growing at a bigger clip than
Speaker 1: just the money that's sitting in your savings account. Yeah,
Speaker 1: which is definitely great. And something to keep in mind
Speaker 1: too with donor advised funds is that once you donate
Speaker 1: to those funds, it's gone right like, like, you can't
Speaker 1: you can't withdraw that money back into you know, your
Speaker 1: regular savings account or something like that. Oh wait, I
Speaker 1: need it, Nope, Nope, that money is then earmarked for giving.
Speaker 1: Exactly the way that the government sees that money is
Speaker 1: that once it goes into that fund, it is at
Speaker 1: that point charitable giving and it can't it can't go back,
Speaker 1: like it can grow in your account there, but at
Speaker 1: some point you're going to have to gladly hopefully donate that. Yeah,
Speaker 1: so if you're interested in opening one, look at the
Speaker 1: specific rules of the company where you might consider opening
Speaker 1: a donor advice fund. But they are definitely a good
Speaker 1: option for people looking for kind of outside of the
Speaker 1: box ways to give a little bit more. Here specifically too,
Speaker 1: it's it's a great way for big earners to offset
Speaker 1: their income, right so, like so it's definitely for doctors
Speaker 1: and and folks that have very high incomes. If you're
Speaker 1: looking for ways to minimize your tax burden, that's one
Speaker 1: of the strategies, you know. And this kind of it
Speaker 1: seems kind of cold hearted. I guess, like it's like, oh,
Speaker 1: this is one way that I can reduce how much
Speaker 1: I give the government is to give to charity, and
Speaker 1: it feels like the heart isn't in it. I guess
Speaker 1: as much. But like we said before, you want your
Speaker 1: money to go as far as you can get it
Speaker 1: to go, and so this is one of them are
Speaker 1: ways that you can reduce your tax burden while at
Speaker 1: the same time maximizing the amount of money that you
Speaker 1: can give to charities. Well, and speaking of doctors, our
Speaker 1: friend Physician on Fire has a great article about donor
Speaker 1: vice funds, and so we'll link to that in the
Speaker 1: show notes as well. Something I want to ask you
Speaker 1: is what are your thoughts on auto enrolling versus like
Speaker 1: manually having to give to like different charities or whatever
Speaker 1: it is that that you do every month. And before
Speaker 1: you answer, the reason I asked us is because I
Speaker 1: thought back to the episode we did on like ways
Speaker 1: to cut your monthly bills right, and you had specifically
Speaker 1: mentioned how you like to with some bills at least
Speaker 1: not put it on auto pay, so that you kind
Speaker 1: of had to manually go in and pay it every month,
Speaker 1: so that you would feel it right these here you
Speaker 1: feel where I'm going, No, I completely, I completely feel
Speaker 1: it where you're going. And honestly, when you ask the question,
Speaker 1: that's exactly where and so you know me too well, Doc,
Speaker 1: I think there's a huge benefit in doing something physical
Speaker 1: right where you actually pay a bill and you kind
Speaker 1: of feel the money a little bit more than you
Speaker 1: auto pay, and you're you know, finally reconciling at the
Speaker 1: end of the month versus being like this data point
Speaker 1: that just shows up and yeah, okay, that's so like
Speaker 1: actually taking the time to even if it's not writing
Speaker 1: a physical check, right, but actually on the keyboard typing
Speaker 1: it in right. Yeah, there's something to that. I think
Speaker 1: the same is true forgiving, because I feel that in
Speaker 1: myself there are some elements of some of the charities
Speaker 1: that I give to that are kind of set up
Speaker 1: on automatic withdrawal, and I don't feel it in the
Speaker 1: same way. I guess, you know, I get the you know,
Speaker 1: an email or a newsletter or an update or something
Speaker 1: like that, and so that's kind of the time that
Speaker 1: I spend thinking about where my money is going, but
Speaker 1: I don't feel it when i'm actually, you know, specifically
Speaker 1: donating the money. And so I think that, again can
Speaker 1: be up to the individual, but I do see in
Speaker 1: my life how setting up some of those automatic withdrawals
Speaker 1: has actually led to me thinking less about it, and
Speaker 1: I do think there's a a huge benefit to actually
Speaker 1: thinking about it and being, you know, act an active
Speaker 1: participant in the actual, you know, physical tangible act of
Speaker 1: writing the check or or just typing in the credit
Speaker 1: card information online. Yeah, man, I mean I would totally agree, right.
Speaker 1: I do think though that the sort of the auto draft, right,
Speaker 1: and it's kind of setting it up on the recurring
Speaker 1: thing might be really helpful for folks who are looking
Speaker 1: to kind of get started and giving. So it's a tool,
Speaker 1: you know, I kind of see it that way, like
Speaker 1: it's it's a way for folks to kind of get
Speaker 1: you on a plan. It kind of signs you up
Speaker 1: and you're on it for the next you know, however long.
Speaker 1: But you know, like I think for a lot of folks,
Speaker 1: that might be if you're used to that, and if
Speaker 1: you've been on that sort of treadmill, like you're on
Speaker 1: that cycle for a while, and and like Joel said,
Speaker 1: if you're not feeling it as much, or you don't
Speaker 1: find yourself like thinking about it at all until you
Speaker 1: get like the tax document at the end of the year,
Speaker 1: if that's like the only time that you think about it,
Speaker 1: then maybe at that point it is a good time
Speaker 1: for you to take it off the auto draft and
Speaker 1: have it set up to where you have to manually
Speaker 1: do it yourself, because you know, like, yeah, you're gonna
Speaker 1: think about it more. If you're sing it and you're
Speaker 1: thinking about it and it's in more of your day
Speaker 1: to day life, it's going to be something that has
Speaker 1: a larger impact on you personally. At the same time,
Speaker 1: while I say that, though, I don't want to discourage
Speaker 1: people from agreeing to uh support some cause and not
Speaker 1: doing auto draft, because if you know that that's how
Speaker 1: you're going to get on board and continue to pay
Speaker 1: for the next twelve months, well then do it. You know.
Speaker 1: It's almost like a gym membership, Like a lot of
Speaker 1: times people join the gym because they know that, well,
Speaker 1: if I don't do this, I'm not gonna go like
Speaker 1: if I don't join this program, if I don't sign up,
Speaker 1: if I don't do this, then I'm not gonna do it.
Speaker 1: And you definitely don't want that as well, because the
Speaker 1: ultimate goal here in the end is to give your
Speaker 1: money away, hey, and to actually help people, And so
Speaker 1: don't let that be a hindrance from you to actually
Speaker 1: helping people and making the world a better place. Yeah,
Speaker 1: sometimes for me, when it comes to that dilemma, the
Speaker 1: best way to do it is to set up a
Speaker 1: calendar reminder. It gives me that ability to think about
Speaker 1: where my money is going to quickly hop on and
Speaker 1: make the donation, you know, on that monthly basis, and
Speaker 1: that gives me kind of the best of both worlds
Speaker 1: where it is almost recurring, but it actually also takes
Speaker 1: a little bit of thoughts. So maybe a calendar reminder
Speaker 1: is that that happy medium for you as opposed to
Speaker 1: that direct a c H or direct bill pay you know,
Speaker 1: actually gives you that tangible time to think about where
Speaker 1: your money is going and reflect on it. Back to
Speaker 1: the beer real quick. I really enjoyed Russian River consecration. Man,
Speaker 1: it's a blast from the past that we brought back tonight.
Speaker 1: It's someunny that you mentioned blast in the past. I
Speaker 1: was actually listening to a beer podcast because I'm a
Speaker 1: nerd and they're talking about just all the new breweries
Speaker 1: and how the guy the host was asking another, you know,
Speaker 1: somewhat newer brewer what they thought about Russian River because
Speaker 1: there were someone like the original pioneers when it came
Speaker 1: to some of the new styles and definitely with sours
Speaker 1: and barrel aging, and he's just like, you know, do
Speaker 1: you think that people will forget about Russian River? And
Speaker 1: the guy that he was interviewing was just like, no way,
Speaker 1: Like they're they were just such pioneers, Like there's no
Speaker 1: way that that folks would forget about them. And I
Speaker 1: feel the same way, you know, at least for us suthenly,
Speaker 1: with it being one of the first amazing, world class
Speaker 1: like barrel aged hours that we'd had. Like when he
Speaker 1: when he said that, I was just like, WHOA what
Speaker 1: kind of world do we live in that he thinks
Speaker 1: that Russian River may not be relevant anyone. Yeah, I'm
Speaker 1: completely still pumped to see this show up, you know,
Speaker 1: in a package on my doorstep. And thanks again to
Speaker 1: Carl who runs the website days dot com and if
Speaker 1: you care about the topics we talk about, you're really
Speaker 1: like his site. But yeah, this is such a good
Speaker 1: beer and all the beers honestly that I've had from
Speaker 1: Russian River have been eight plus. Man, They're like super good.
Speaker 1: I would love Have you ever been out there? No?
Speaker 1: I would love to visit. Let's do it. We need
Speaker 1: to take a porn u poor trip out there. Yeah,
Speaker 1: we do alright, man, time for a recap? How to
Speaker 1: give your money away right now. You might feel like
Speaker 1: that you don't have the margin in your in your life.
Speaker 1: You may not feel like that you're in the financial
Speaker 1: position to where you can give your money away, to
Speaker 1: where you can give to charity, and to that we
Speaker 1: would say, no, you need to start giving now, because
Speaker 1: what it does is it starts creating that habit. It
Speaker 1: starts allowing you to build that muscle of giving money away.
Speaker 1: So when you have a lot of money, guess what,
Speaker 1: It's not going to be any easier to get that
Speaker 1: money away when it's a huge dollar amount. It's it's
Speaker 1: if anything, it's gonna be harder. And so you want
Speaker 1: to get into that habit of being generous and being charitable. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and giving your money away changes you. It lessens your
Speaker 1: attachment to money. And that's actually a good thing, I think,
Speaker 1: especially as people that are frugal want to say for
Speaker 1: the future, that think about you know where their money
Speaker 1: goes often, you know, and if you're listening to this podcast,
Speaker 1: you're probably one of those people. It can be hard
Speaker 1: to give your money away. And so I think it's
Speaker 1: really important because it changes your heart and it changes
Speaker 1: the way that you view money in a really positive way.
Speaker 1: That's right. And and for those folks out there to
Speaker 1: who really literally don't have any money that then give away,
Speaker 1: consider volunteering your time. There's a lot of organizations that
Speaker 1: need people more than they need money, And with our
Speaker 1: lives becoming more and more busy, time is becoming more
Speaker 1: and more valuable. So yeah, that might be something that
Speaker 1: you have that you can give away. Yeah, and be
Speaker 1: picky about the charities that you choose to give to.
Speaker 1: Charity Navigator is an awesome site. They do an amazing
Speaker 1: job of helping you understand where the money that you're
Speaker 1: giving is actually going. They kind of hold these nonprofits
Speaker 1: feet to the fire and will help you understand whether
Speaker 1: your money is going through overhead or actually going to
Speaker 1: the people and the places that you wire money to
Speaker 1: go to for maximum effect. Great tip, Joel. And then lastly, uh,
Speaker 1: be sure to budget the amount of money that you
Speaker 1: want to give away every month. It might seem stiff
Speaker 1: and you know, kind of overly formal to do that,
Speaker 1: but like you don't have to decide exactly where that
Speaker 1: money is going to go per se every month, just
Speaker 1: decide that you're going to give a certain amount at
Speaker 1: least every month, and you need a plan for it.
Speaker 1: You need to have a plan. You need to make
Speaker 1: that part of your life. Anything that's worth doing right,
Speaker 1: anything that you are trying to achieve or that's a
Speaker 1: goal for you, you plan for it. And so, uh,
Speaker 1: you know, giving your money away should be no different.
Speaker 1: If you want to do it, make sure you plan
Speaker 1: for it so it doesn't blow your budget and so
Speaker 1: that you can go into it with more intention and
Speaker 1: so that gives you the ability to give proactively versus
Speaker 1: reactively with guilt, no doubt. So thanks for listening everyone,
Speaker 1: or home on the web is how to money dot com.
Speaker 1: We'll have show notes up there for this episode, and
Speaker 1: if you like what you hear, let us know. You
Speaker 1: can review and subscribe on Apple Podcasts, which, by the way,
Speaker 1: we're almost hitting the three digit mark on the ratings
Speaker 1: and reviews, which is pretty sweet. Yeah, man, you're getting
Speaker 1: getting to be pretty legit. Thanks to everyone who writes
Speaker 1: a review for this podcast. We appreciate that, cool man.
Speaker 1: So that's it. Best friends out, Best Friends Out Man