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![]() Professional Partnerships: Hospice Philanthropy Group L.L.C. Use your Smart phone camera and put our consulting at your fingertips.
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Quotes for today: I honestly think it is better to be a failure at something you love than to be a success at something you hate. ---George Burns Quickie quiz:.....How much do you need today to fund a retiement payment stream of $100,000 annually so that it will last 30 years? Answer below Senior Spirit.....Click the Senior Spirit link (below left) for a copy of the latest articles from Certified Senior Advisors Past issues of the Newsletter are available in the Newsletter Archives To subscribe to this newsletter E-mail and put Subscribe in the subject line _____________________________________________________________________________ Leaders who truly embrace planned giving weave it into the fabric of their organization's everyday development activities. Constant attention inspires results. If you do not sew, you won't reap. (Edddie Thompson) _____________________________________________________________________________ |
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Ethical issues Part 2 - Intra Family Issues One of the increasingly most common ethical issues for seniors or at least one of the “sticky” issues in planned gift strategies for seniors is the second marriage or blended family issue. It is common for high net worth seniors or at least those who think they have significant asset issues to have some form of pre-nuptial agreement. This agreement may be formal or informal and it may or may not impact their giving or ability to make an estate pledge.
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These so called “Entitlement children” may exert subtle but continuing influence over their parent putting up a barriers to significant spouse support or charitable estate giving. Perhaps they will even try forcing late in life changes to their parent’s estate plans. In the PG discussion with probable donors it is important to get a sense of the nature of the relationship with their children. This relationship may cut both ways for a potential gift, it may promote or quench a gift. Parents must first decide the common questions of “if, when and how much” their children deserve to receive and implement the appropriate tools to finalize the estate plan. As the primary charitable contact with donors the PG officer must always be mindful of undue influence and how they deal with confidential information about donor’s estate plans. This is especially true if you are working with late in life seniors who may be in a weaken condition. Be especially mindful if you uncover a person (staff or care giver) who is using confidential information for their personal gain. Moving Forward Charitable strategy suggestion: One strategy I have used successfully with blended marriages is the Lifetime Partnership Annuity. This annuity is a Flexible Deferred Gift Annuity where one spouse is significantly older than the other spouse. The spouse wishes to provide continuing income to the surviving spouse but have the assets go to their charitable interests. The FDCGA is established in the name of and will make payment to the younger spouse. The donor will receive an immediate charitable deduction and the knowledge that the annuity payments will begin when the older spouse dies. Allowing the annuitant the flexibility of turning on the payments either upon death or perhaps sooner should illness or need dictate is a powerful planning strategy. Next issue: Ethics involved in the appropriateness of the gift for the donor. (adapted from presentation by Brian Black, J.D., “Gift Planning for Seniors” to Susquehanna Planned Giving Council, Harrisburg Pennsylvania) |
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There is a new book available now with tips on you can bring in Big Gifts with Less Effort. Written by Wayne Olson, a nationally-known speaker and writer on Donor Relations and Planned Giving, "Big Gifts Small Effort" is a practical approach to Planned Giving and offers ways any nonprofit fundraiser can benefit from this type of giving. Olson says when he made the career switch from being a trial attorney to nonprofit fundraiser there were not many practical guides to fundraising. He wrote this book for people like him, who want to know how to fundraise better, especially when it comes to the big gifts in planned giving. The book is easy-to-read, written in conversational style. It includes topics such as what gifts should you accept and a few you should never accept (but many charities do without knowing the risks). More than anything, though, Olson wrote the book so no one would be left out of planned giving. Planned giving is the way the big nonprofits became big and it is the lifeblood of successful nonprofits. For readers of this newsletter, Olson has offered a special discount to make it even easier to purchase the book. Order through www.biggiftssmalleffort and pay the full price of $24 but mention in the comments section that you want the newsletter discount and the publisher will rebate $4 to you through PayPal. The book will be shipped to you right away for $20 – postage included. This discount is valid through for two weeks from date of publication. ______________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Technical Tips: Driving web site traffic.....Carolyn DeFrancesco, J.D., Director of Planned Giving, Elon University as part of her Email signature has the following phrase, "Discover the Benefits of Giving Wisely" followed by the website link elon.plannedgiving.org which takes interested prospects to their externally hosted website of the same title. _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Quickie Quiz Answer.....LUMP-SUM NEEDED - A present value (PV) amount of $1.96 million in a pre-tax retirement account is required today to fund a future payment stream of 30 years of $100,000 annually (with a 2.5% increase for maintenance of purchasing power) assuming that a 6% rate of return (ROR) can be maintained into the future. If the ROR falls to 5%, the PV amount rises 13% to $2.21 million. If the ROR rises to 7%, the PV amount falls 11% to $1.75 million. These calculations do not account for the payment of federal income taxes which would be due as a result of withdrawals from any pre-tax retirement funds (source: BTN Research). ___________________________________________________________________________________________ Laminated
Gift Annuity Rate Charts.....The
American Council on Gift Annuities announced new If you would like a laminated rate chart for the most recent rates simply request one using the following E-mail request and put Laminated Chart in the subject line. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________ IRA Rollover Samples..... Once again the IRA rollover option for 2014 is in a state of suspended animation. For some samples of past promotions follow this E-mail link and request IRA Rollover in subject line. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ IRS Tax Tables for 2015.....(courtesy of Crescendo Interactive) In Rev. Proc. 2014-61, the IRS released 44 inflation-adjusted amounts for 2015. The increased amounts affect tax tables, exemptions, exclusions and benefit phase outs. 1. Standard Deduction – The standard deduction for 2015 will be $6,300 for a single person and $12,600 for a married couple. 2. Personal Exemption – The exemption increases from $3,950 this year to $4,000 in 2015. The exemption phases out for single persons between $258,250 and $380,750. The married couple phaseout is from $309,900 to $432,400. 3. Top 39.6% Tax Rate – For single persons the top rate affects those with income over $413,200. Married couples face the top rate with income over $457,600. 4. Itemized Phase Out – The reduced itemized deductions limit is applicable for single persons with income over $258,250. For married couples, the itemized phaseout starts at $309,900. 5. Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT) Exemption – For single persons the AMT exemption will be $53,600. The married couple exemption is $83,400. 6. Earned Income Tax Credit – The maximum earned income tax credit will increase from $6,143 to $6,242 for a couple filing jointly with three children. 7. Basic Exclusion Amount – Estates may have a value of $5,430,000 and avoid taxation. 8. Annual Gift Exclusions – The present interest annual exclusion amount remains at $14,000. 9. Gifts to a Non-Citizen Spouse – The 2015 gift limit for a non-citizen spouse increases from $145,000 to $147,000. 10. Flexible Spending Account (FSA) – The $2,500 FSA limit is increased to $2,550. 11. Token Gifts – Donors who give $52.50 or more may receive a token gift with logo or other identification by the charitable organization with a value up to $10.50. Larger gift donors may receive a token value up to 2% of the gift with a limit of $105. ___________________________________________________________________________________________ News and Notes....SKEWED DISTRIBUTION - The wealthiest 5% of American households owned 63% of all assets in the country as of 2013, up from 54% in 1989 (source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances). JUST A SINGLE PERCENT - The bottom 50% of American households owned just 1% of all assets in the country as of 2013, down from 3% in 1989 (source: Federal Reserve Survey of Consumer Finances). ONLY SOCIAL SECURITY - More than 1 in 3 American seniors (35%) aged 65 and up have no other source of retirement income other than Social Security. The maximum benefit paid by Social Security to a worker retiring at “full retirement age” in 2014 is $2,642 per month or $31,704 per year (source: US Census Bureau). END OF LIFE - 28% of Medicare expenditures are generated by Americans in the final 6 months of their lives. 80% of deaths in the United States are Medicare beneficiaries (source: Medicare). HEALTH INSURANCE - When Medicare began in 1965 (50 years ago next year) it provided health care coverage to 19 million elderly Americans. Today Medicare covers 52 million American seniors (source: Medicare). MURPHY’S LAW – Only 39% of Americans have a 3-month “rainy day fund” set aside in the event of a financial emergency (source: Federal Reserve). LONGER LIFE - The life expectancy at birth of an average American was 61.7 years in 1935, the year that Social Security was created. Life expectancy at birth is 78.8 years today (source: Center for Disease Control). WHO GIVES WHAT - The 3 most generous states (measured by charitable gifts as a percentage of adjusted gross income) are Utah, Mississippi and Alabama. The 3 least generous states are New Hampshire, Maine and Vermont (source: The Chronicle of Philanthropy). __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ |
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Kudos Corner - Celebrating gifts of all types and sizes In this section I periodically highlight some recent gift expectancies and gift program elements I think will be helpful and informative, not all gifts are included. Check back next issue for a sampling of gifts generated by clients
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James E. Connell and Associates is a national consulting service devoted to increasing resources for charities using the power of charitable estate and gift planning techniques. Pinehurst
office: PO Box 3335, Pinehurst, NC 28374 |
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