Folks,
Don’t be too tough on yourself if you still have one or two “grand slam sticks” with $0 cost basis. It’s a great opportunity to fund your Donor Advised Fund (DAF) earlier in life. “Try it. I think you’ll like it.” Also, you can offset some of those IRA dollars converted to Roth IRA with a contribution to your DAF. And if you’re concerned about the taxes with your RMD from your IRA, you have too much money. Plan to “gift” some of those dollars to your church or favorite local non-profits. Remember, “You can’t take it with you.”
As a retired couple, like many of Humble Dollar readers, we’re in a pretty secure financial position. With much of negative world events, I took off a month from looking my accounts. I enjoyed not being fixated with watching my various accounts and stocks. I finally realized that I can’t fix the problems in Washington, Israel, Ukraine and Iran…. Any suggestions on how to get into pre-IPO offering of SpaceX, or is the hype just that? I’d like to put in a good chunk into SpaceX and let it roll. It would be nice to tell grandkids in 10 years that I invested in IPO for SpaceX and leave them some life changing money.
I recently read Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I didn’t agree with all of his thoughts, but Chspter #5 What about the kids? suggests that we periodically gift monies to our kids and charities when we’re living and the kids and charities need the money to better their lives. ie Do you want to be gifted $200K when you’re 60-65 years old, or would you have preferred to receive the gifts when you were 35 and your family is young and looking to buy a bigger home or remodel your old kitchen? And don’t be guilted into thinking the kids NEED/DESERVE it all!! Hopefully, you/spouse have meaningful non-profits that would appreciate your financial generosity now!
Now that we are retired, at the direction of our financial planner (Thank you for guiding us for the last 15 years), we’ve started Roth conversions in coordination with funding our DAF. We’re planning to closely manage the benefits of Roth Conversions, funding our Donor Advised Fund - every other year to maximize the benefits of Itemized Deductions vs Standard Deduction and enjoy our grandkids! As others have shared, QCDs will be used to cover part of our RMDs when that time arrives. How you prioritize your legacy and future gifting may influence how aggressive you may want to convert to Roths.
Comments
Folks, Don’t be too tough on yourself if you still have one or two “grand slam sticks” with $0 cost basis. It’s a great opportunity to fund your Donor Advised Fund (DAF) earlier in life. “Try it. I think you’ll like it.” Also, you can offset some of those IRA dollars converted to Roth IRA with a contribution to your DAF. And if you’re concerned about the taxes with your RMD from your IRA, you have too much money. Plan to “gift” some of those dollars to your church or favorite local non-profits. Remember, “You can’t take it with you.”
Post: Independence Day
Link to comment from July 4, 2026
As a retired couple, like many of Humble Dollar readers, we’re in a pretty secure financial position. With much of negative world events, I took off a month from looking my accounts. I enjoyed not being fixated with watching my various accounts and stocks. I finally realized that I can’t fix the problems in Washington, Israel, Ukraine and Iran…. Any suggestions on how to get into pre-IPO offering of SpaceX, or is the hype just that? I’d like to put in a good chunk into SpaceX and let it roll. It would be nice to tell grandkids in 10 years that I invested in IPO for SpaceX and leave them some life changing money.
Post: Any concern?
Link to comment from April 4, 2026
I recently read Die with Zero by Bill Perkins. I didn’t agree with all of his thoughts, but Chspter #5 What about the kids? suggests that we periodically gift monies to our kids and charities when we’re living and the kids and charities need the money to better their lives. ie Do you want to be gifted $200K when you’re 60-65 years old, or would you have preferred to receive the gifts when you were 35 and your family is young and looking to buy a bigger home or remodel your old kitchen? And don’t be guilted into thinking the kids NEED/DESERVE it all!! Hopefully, you/spouse have meaningful non-profits that would appreciate your financial generosity now!
Post: Giving Advice
Link to comment from April 5, 2025
Now that we are retired, at the direction of our financial planner (Thank you for guiding us for the last 15 years), we’ve started Roth conversions in coordination with funding our DAF. We’re planning to closely manage the benefits of Roth Conversions, funding our Donor Advised Fund - every other year to maximize the benefits of Itemized Deductions vs Standard Deduction and enjoy our grandkids! As others have shared, QCDs will be used to cover part of our RMDs when that time arrives. How you prioritize your legacy and future gifting may influence how aggressive you may want to convert to Roths.
Post: To Roth Convert or Not
Link to comment from March 8, 2025