Recently, on the Saving and Gifting thread, I listed the organizations I support: “a reading service for the blind, the local hospice, Planned Parenthood, public radio and TV, and the [retirement] community’s benevolent fund”, to which I should have added Royal Oak, the US affiliate of the National Trust. I added that “having grown up in what some Americans no doubt consider a Socialist country [UK], I consider charity to be the job of the government,

I’m curious how folks have balanced considerations of financial security and charitable giving, particularly (but not only) those who share the Christian faith.
I’m in my early 40s. I have a wife (like me, a public employee) and two young children, and I have the opportunity to take a higher-paying job within my organization in the coming months.  I don’t anticipate increasing my spending with increasing income, at least not to any substantial degree. Rather, I’d either increase my savings,

Another great link from Mike Piper’s Oblivious Investor newsletter is this interview on the Bogleheads Podcast:
https://bogleheads.podbean.com/e/episode-82-jonathan-clements-jason-zweig-and-christine-benz-are-special-guests-on-this-podcast-host-rick-ferri/

Want to help a young person get started on a lifetime of investing? Hear all about the Jonathan Clements Getting Going on Savings Initiative on this podcast hosted by Rick Ferri. My fellow guests on the podcast were Morningstar’s Christine Benz and The Wall Street Journal’s Jason Zweig. Please give a listen—and please consider donating. One way to donate: Buy copies of  The Best of Jonathan Clements, a collection of my Wall Street Journal columns.

IT’S TIME TO PAY IT forward.
That’s a phrase I often use when talking about helping the next generation. But my efforts have been mostly focused on my children and grandchildren. What about others in future generations, especially those from less affluent families?
Welcome to the Jonathan Clements Getting Going on Savings Initiative and the accompanying book, The Best of Jonathan Clements: Classic Columns on Money and Life.
The savings initiative aims to get young adults started in the financial markets with $1,000 contributions to Roth IRAs,

Today’s WSJ has a Jason Zweig article about the the Jonathan Clements Initiative.
This will be paywalled. https://www.wsj.com/finance/investing/the-wsjs-jonathan-clements-wants-to-leave-a-living-legacy-19f1738d
Intrepid readers can also find a link or two about how to donate if you are not buying the excellent new book.

I was just reading through the responses to a Forum post on charitable giving. And, as often happens to me, my brain has these thoughts that seek to escape. This morning, they are all about the futility of using/expecting our giving to charity to make things fundamentally better. I usually make our annual gifts to food banks, figuring that this is a safer way to avoid charity frauds and expense issues. But, I know, that even if we gave all of our funds to the food banks,

DRIVING CROSSTOWN, my brother and I stopped at an onramp, where a man held a cardboard sign.
“Does anyone give these people money?” my brother asked, then immediately answered his own question by mentioning a friend who hands out bottles of water instead. “Anything helps,” read the man’s sign.
“Sure,” I said. “I’ve seen people pass $5 bills out the window.” A single dollar used to be enough for a panhandler to end his shift and shuffle off to the nearest mini-market.

In our 55+ community my husband and I see signs of food insecurity on a regular basis. The line of cars picking up food boxes at a local church frequently fills the parking lot. 
Earlier this year, two of the three local grocery stores started selling pork, beef and chicken sausages–made with scraps of meat trimmed away from higher end cuts–for 25 cents each. 
After Thanksgiving, many residents began setting out their leftover food on the tables outside one of the recreation centers.

As someone who has never done a QCD, this article by CPA Mike Piper (www.OpenSocialSecurity.com, Bogleheads speaker, etc.) was very helpful. Anyone with experience on making QCDs, IRS inquiries about QCDs, etc., have any wisdom or personal experience to add to this?

Connie and I just had our annual financial meeting- how best to give money away. 
Every since I discovered QCDs – you know what that is, right, I enjoy avoiding taxes on a RMD. 
As long as I have to take the money out of my IRA, I like putting it to good use – tax-free if possible.
Where does it go? A chunk goes to church and several religious organizations- Connie’s call. 
We give to a food pantry on Cape Cod and one local.

FOR MY BIRTHDAY this year, my wife gave me a card that declares, “Not Dead Yet.” That might sound morbid, but I laughed. The reason: My wife had misinterpreted something I used to say to colleagues at my final job.
When they saw me at the coffee machine, they’d often ask, “How are you doing, Dave?”
Instead of saying “fine,” I used to say, “I’m still breathing. Count your blessings. Blessing No. 1: I’m still breathing.”
In many cases,

MANY FOLKS DELAY financial gifts to family and charity until their death. But I advocate a different approach: giving generously during our lifetime, or what I like to call “giving with a warm heart, not a cold hand.”
This not only transforms the lives of the recipients, but also enriches those who give, making their lives more meaningful and fulfilling.
One of the most compelling reasons to give during your lifetime: You get to see the impact of your generosity.

AS ALWAYS, DR. SEUSS said it best: “Oh, the places you’ll go and the people you’ll meet.”
In making this statement, the good doctor could have been talking about the benefits of volunteering. Since inheriting some money in 2011, I haven’t had to work multiple jobs, as I did in graduate school and during the three years that followed. From 2012 on, I’ve had mostly full-time work, leaving me with time to volunteer for causes I care about.

SOME 90% OF TAXPAYERS claim the standard deduction on their tax return. Thanks to 2017’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, today’s standard deduction is larger than the itemized deductions of most taxpayers, including those who previously itemized.
But my wife and I are among the 10% of taxpayers who have continued to itemize, including each of the five years since I retired in 2018. Despite the much higher standard deduction for married couples over age 65,