Tax Deductions When Needed Most (Chris Wheaton)
There're a number of challenges that we've been able to meet, with Schwab Charitable being the solution. The donor-advised fund is particularly appealing in a windfall or situation where someone has a large income year. I love the donor-advised fund concept because it decouples the act of giving to the charity from the actual act of getting the tax write-off and setting the money aside.
We've had a few situations were clients have sold a business and that year got a spike in their taxable income. Schwab Charitable fund is a natural solution; once the gift is made into that fund, they're getting the tax write-off then. They can then take their time and figure out when they want to give to charity, how much they want to give, and even look at what they've done in the past. To be able to see all that online is a huge benefit to them.
The biggest benefit of working with Schwab Charitable is it gives us an answer to clients who want to give to charity and do that in a way that is tax efficient and easy to administer. Most of our clients give to charities, so we're able to add a lot of value by just introducing the Schwab Charitable fund as a concept. I'm always surprised how few clients have actually heard of these before. I not only talk about it to clients, but I bring it up to friends and relatives and other people just because it's one of the best tax benefits you'll see out there. If you're already charitably inclined, it's almost a shame not to use it because you're leaving money on the table and it provides a lot of flexibility as to how you think about charitable giving.