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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, increase my charitable giving, or both. Whether or not I take the job, this opportunity has got me thinking (as I continually do) about my savings and giving rates.
In general, it’s incredibly hard for me to know how much to save for retirement or potential future financial hardship — with or without a salary increase. What if I lose my job and have a hard time finding comparable pay at a job I don’t hate? What if one of my kids ends up needing a great deal of financial help? What if future returns are very far below historical averages? What if my Social Security benefits are considerably less than projected? What if I or my wife need considerable long-term care? And on and on. All such questions suggest that its a good idea to save more now (as do many verses of the book of Proverbs — e.g. “A good person leaves an inheritance for their children’s children, but a sinner’s wealth is stored up for the righteous”).
On the other hand, I’m certain that have more savings and opportunity than most people in the world, and various retirement calculators suggest that I’m on the right track. Moreover, and more importantly to me, the author and perfecter of my faith commands us not to worry and not to store up treasure on earth and to give to anyone who asks. He proclaims, “You cannot serve both God and money,” and he ever emphasizes care for the poor.
I tend to obsess over moral issues. At the same time, it is human nature to err on the side of hoarding and self-protection. Also, for what it’s worth my understanding of my faith is not that we give to others in order to earn God’s favor, but rather as an act of faith in and thankfulness for God’s provision and an act of care for others.
What do folks think about balancing saving and giving?
p.s. I currently have only sporadic Internet access — please don’t be offended if I don’t respond to others’ comments.
I relate to many of the comments made. Early in our marriage, my wife and i wanted to give 10% to our church, but the cost of living with two small children made that seem impossible. So we decided that, whenever we got a raise in pay, we would give 20-40% of the new money to our church. We still got more take-home pay than before, so there was little pain in reducing slightly the amount of new money.
We noticed that our giving level of around 2% of income slowly rose each year because of the new money being allocated at a higher level. In short, it took us a little over 20 years to reach our 10% goal, but we kept using the same process. It was good to note that we were able to contribute over 25% of our income last year to religious and charitable causes, and every year for over 50 years we have had more take-home pay than the year before while giving away more money than we did the year before.
Baby steps can add up.
How much and when you give, for most of us, somewhat depends on what stage of life you are in. In our family’s early (working) years, saving for retirement was the paramount goal. We contributed a reasonable amount to charities, but securing our retirement came first.
We have been very fortunate, and have (like many Humble Dollar readers) arrived at a point that we have far more than we need (or want to spend on ourselves and family), and now, in retirement, we are “making up for lost time” in our charitable giving. We give at least 20% of our annual gross income to charities through Qualified Charitable Distributions from traditional IRAs, and plan on giving at least 20% of our estate to charity (again, through bequests from a sizable traditional IRA).
We firmly believe that those of us that have been blessed with good fortune have an obligation to contribute to the betterment of society – and, it makes good sense, tax-wise!
Time, talent and treasure are the basis of our charitable giving as a family. There have been times in our life when we made heavy time investments in specific charities we believed in. Some religious, some not. Our financial gifts are channeled through our Fidelity Charity Fund. We’ve been able to fund it with appreciated stock and it works for us.
To me religious or not, we all should contribute to the well being of our brethren who are poor. And not necessarily to one organization, but many that are close to our hearts. Giving back is for all of us to ponder.
A number of years ago we left our church, mostly because of money. The long time founder and pastor, a great preacher, retired and the first three sermons by the new pastor, as I recall, were about tithing. He wanted written giving pledges for the next year so he could better plan and also because, as we all know, those providing a written promise are more likely to keep it. I looked at the staffing. 55 staff members, 7 admin assistants. You need a great deal of money to pay all those salaries. I often received emails from the admin assistants because I presumed the associate pastors were simply too busy? The straw that broke my back was when the new pastor started a sermon by telling us how, during the previous week, the staff was placing nice, affirming yellow sticky notes on each others desks. I’d love to have a job doing that. I concluded these were not serious people. The church we attend now is financially sound, paid off their mortgage, and puts their positive free cash flow to good use planting new churches. They rarely grub for money. When I left the above church, I resolved to give more to charities that do tangible good for children. If you have similar sentiments, I suggest you examine Danita’s Children, an orphanage in Haiti that does incredible work for discarded children. In addition to full time care for orphans, they have a feeding center and school which feeds and educates a whole bunch of kids every day, a clinic with neonatal care, and a church.
When I came to faith as an adult I was convicted in my heart that we needed to give significantly, with a goal of tithing. Money was very tight, and we had been giving zero, so we started on a plan to increase a little bit each year.
i was early in my career so I got some significant salary increases in those early years. We tried not to increase our lifestyle spending, and extra money went to giving and saving. My wife would tell people I never got a raise 😇
it wasn’t that bad, but the percentage of our income dedicated to consumption continued to go down. But the time I retired we were spending less than 70% of what I made.
we were big supporters of the local church, where I was on the board, but also supported many other religious and secular organizations.
one unexpected (to me) benefit of this charitable inclination was an ability to resist jealousy and covetousness over what others had. If a neighbor had a nicer car (or vacation) I could look at that and realize we had made a different decision with our finances. I wasn’t failing to provide for my family, we just had different priorities.
i don’t feel that giving has cost me anything over the years. It is a spiritual discipline that has made my life richer for many years.
In my 40s, I started tithing, e.g. 10% of my gross income to charities every year. I had a toddler at the time. I wrote about the decision and practice for a few magazines, including my college alumni magazine. I even made speeches about it. And did a couple of workshops for children and taught them the word eleemosynary. I would ask them to draw a picture of a heart and then fill it with words describing things they cared about. I taught them how to research the charities that helped the things they cared about. And had them take this home to their parents for a dinner conversation!
I even calculated—for the region in which I lived—how much good the local non-profits and religious institutions could do—if every one made that choice. For those that couldn’t afford it, I’d advocate giving 10% of your TIME as a volunteer. I granted my employees 4 hours a week for volunteering somewhere.
Just like a 401k or a savings account or college savings, it was easier if it came “off the top,” or as a regular bill. I used Network for Good to set up monthly donations to a handful of 501c3s that aligned with my values.
Now that I’m retired, I still do the 10% but at a lower amount as my income is about half of what it was during my peak earning years. I now use a donor advised fund and, when I take RMDs, will dissolve that and used QCDs instead.
Taking care of our species matters to me. Whether by giving money or time, it matters.
I’m a Christian. We tithe on our gross income and always have; that wasn’t easy back in the grad school/young kids years. But that doesn’t mean the funds go directly to our church, though I’ve heard pastors preach that the tithe should go to your church and if you want to give other charitable donations, it should be above and beyond the tithe. I disagree with that interpretation and find it frankly self-serving on the part of the preacher.
We do donate to our church because we’re members and feel that we have a responsibility to support the organization we’re part of. But we also give to a range of other charitable organizations, some religious and some not. For example, we give to our local food bank, to two campus organizations that support needy students, and to two dog-related charities (that also serve people). And we always keep some funds available in case something comes up that we want to support (disaster relief, GoFundMe, etc.).
Giving is not unique to Christians nor does that matter.
Many Jews give big time and Muslims are expected to give to charity based on their net worth.
And has been mentioned in the discussion giving is not just cash. It’s also time and goods produced.
The third of the Five Pillars of the Muslim faith is almsgiving. As Dick says, it’s based on wealth, not income (looks like 2.5%). However, there is no reason to assume that only the religious, of whatever faith, are charitable, although “nones” will no doubt prefer non-religious charities.
“balancing saving and giving?” this question mirrors the debate about “effective altruism”, a recent movement inspired by philosophers and embraced by the tech bros to take a data-driven approach to life and giving. It asks the potential giver to answer tough ethical questions: are all the world poor deserve equal attention, or your known neighbors come first; what do we owe to the poor olds and the helpless young; is nature a resource for human consumption or our only living treasure to be protected; must givers demand proof of good use of charity giving, and how do we measure “good”?
The answer depends on the world one lives in at the present. By “the world”, I mean the subjective existence of each individual, shaped by the story we tell ourselves. Very few humans could escape from the story of our time, unless one risks being labeled as “outsider” or crazy. From the beginning of human existence, there always exist many who struggle to satisfy our bodily needs, hence individual needs come before giving. Even with that insistent and urgent bodily demand, as a social animal, human depends on support from the community with a natural leader. They lived with the story that their suffering and short lives were to serve the Almighty, the King, the Church, the Shaman in order to have any meaning. If the leader is a high priest / king, then palaces, temples, pyramids, cathedrals would be built, even when the mass lived in huts or caves. In the era of personal wealth worship, private opulent mansions would be common. Anyone who fails to recognize that people are living in different “worlds” would ask “why this pyramid, that cathedral, that gold plated temple, those Gold Coast Mansions in the middle of desperately poor communities?”
What world do you live in?
One personal answer to the author, Eric: material giving may be easy and its effect may be visible, but it can never be comparable to the immeasurable and nontangible benefits to the soul / life of the giver and the recipients by our ethical existence. Fifty years ago, when I was a poor and hungry 18 yo boat people refugee, and though I am not a Christian, I came to the First Methodist Church of La Mesa, California to pay respect to those who sponsored us to assimilate into the community, and for a free lunch after Sunday service. A congregation member befriended me and urged me to give up my job as a night shift dishwasher at a local Denny’s restaurant to pursue my college dream. He was the community college vice president. He and his wife took good care of me, but they passed too early to know that their benevolence produced a US citizen serving the country for 10 years as a rocket scientist, and 20 more years as a community primary care physician. Even beyond their effect on my career, there is no way for me to imagine the lives my work touched via the GPS satellites I helped sending to orbit, changes I made in the lives of my patients and their families or influences I had in the careers of my medical students and residents. The world we live in creates who we are, and we in turn change the world in ways none can imagine, and money is only for a tiny artificial transaction.
” …serving the country for 10 years as a rocket scientist, and 20 more years as a community primary care physician…my work touched via the GPS satellites I helped sending to orbit, changes I made in the lives of my patients and their families or influences I had in the careers of my medical students and residents….”
Obviously, Mr. Quan, you can thank your lucky stars that you came from good stock and were given the opportunities and means including abilities to do what you did, not to mention that you got paid well enough to be able to invest and to retire early and very comfortably. All is luck, no more, no less. The believers, including Christians, will say you are very blessed meaning you are special.
Back to Mr. Eric’s question of saving and giving. 1. Do know harm (do no harm is impossible and futile), and one will know when saving/giving is helpful or harmful. 2.The goal of giving and saving is to alleviate and reduce suffering for oneself and/or others while alive and upon one’s exit. 3. Charity begins at home. Giving to make a difference (preferably immediately) and to reduce the suffering of others while being mindful of #1. 4. life insurance policies – easiest and surest way to save and give to others provided one is qualified to purchase these polices.
Partial disclosure. Helping (financially) relatives still left behind when I left Viet-Nam 50 years ago (at 13 on a damaged boat with a family of 11 plus an uncle and 2 cousins), and the last 10 years by paying for a first cousin’s daughter’s education and living expenses (in VN) who will be the first in her family to get a college degree (actually 2 degrees – at 35: BS – Physical Therapy and BA – English) this summer after 7 years of working and studying and continue on to get her Master and eventual Doctorate of Physical Therapy (with our continual financial support) as well as helping her nieces and nephews’ tuition expenses. Last year’s financial giving to VN alone amounted to 35% of our gross income without the benefits of tax deduction. On the other hand, we were lucky to be given the knowledge and ability to not reproduce and to live frugally in order to help others. In the end, we are all custodians of what we have been entrusted only to be distributed accordingly.
To whom much is given, much is expected. Grateful to be given much. Thank you, HD.
thanks for a thought-provoking comment. You present some profound questions. As you suggest, the evolutionary forces are difficult to overcome.
The only entity that will support me if I run out of money is my retirement community (plus Medicaid if I’m in skilled nursing and it’s still around). It is in both our interests that that not happen. There are organizations that will benefit if I still have money when I die. Meanwhile, I donate only modest amounts.
Tithing is a relic of Medieval and Early Modern Britain and Europe, where it was enforced by law. Finland still has a church tax, although it’s possible to get an exemption. Even during my spiritual but not religious phase, when I belonged to a Unitarian-Universalist fellowship, I didn’t tithe, although I did contribute.
The organizations I currently support – a reading service for the blind, the local hospice, Planned Parenthood, public radio and TV, and the community’s benevolent fund – are non-religious. I don’t trust religious organizations not to mix proselytizing with the charity. In fact, having grown up in what some Americans no doubt consider a Socialist country, I consider charity to be the job of the government, for which I am willing to pay taxes.
No doubt I will now get more automatic down votes, but I thought this thread needed some balance. Plus, for once I seem to be in some agreement with Dick, which I should acknowledge.
I’m American, capitalist, and think this is pretty on target.
To be fair I’m not particularly wild about the govt taking on too much, but I prefer things like Social Security to the notion that some other group is going to step in.
I wish that govt was better at stopping failed programs then I’d be more behind them (rent control/stabilization is a good example).
Thank you for providing balance.
I understand and strongly support the intent of statements along the line of “not contributing to the purchase of bronze doors”. I believe that God expects good efforts at responsible stewardship from each of us and I give to assist in relieving the suffering of my fellow man.
Likewise, can you imagine how much poorer our world would be if the religious institutions of all varieties had not utilized the God given talents of the artists and tradespeople who created religious monuments. From the cathedrals and monasteries of Europe, temples in Asia, labyrinths in the southwest, prayer houses and youth camps throughout the US – we benefit. They hold treasures above and beyond the “gold” they cost to create.
As with all things, balance
The second country I visited in Asia was Thailand, because I wanted to see how a Buddhist country operated. The temples were indeed magnificent, with statues covered in tiny squares of gold leaf contributed by the faithful. They were also surrounded by what looked like poverty. It occurred to me that medieval cathedrals in Europe were likewise magnificent structures built on the contributions of the poor. Much as I admire the buildings, I hold that the money could be better spent on improving people’s lives. Plenty of other things for artists and artisans to do with their talents.
It’s a difficult balance. As a giver the last thing you want to end up being is a charity case.
I think the task for the faithful is the give with a good heart and trust God. Not always easy. And if we end up receiving charity at least we’ll know we were one of the good people who (previously) funded such efforts.
Besides our Church, we donate to local and regional Food Banks and Homeless Shelters.
We are both retired and in our early 70s.
Given HD readers are prone to detailed planning and budgeting I wonder if those who favor tithing 10% or any percent to their religious organization ever look to see what portion of the money goes as a direct benefit to people in need as opposed to the care and maintenance of buildings and business type support services and costs.
I think you’d find many of the HD readers who see managing money as stewardship are in fact keenly interested in how the organizations they support manage their funds. Your previous post’s statement I don’t see tithing 10% to any religious organization as a productive use of the funds is rather sweeping. Do you feel giving to all educational institutions, the arts, or museums is a similar waste of largess? I’m not interested in subsidizing bronze doors or a televangelist’s new airplane, but there are lots of resources available to evaluate how religious charities use their funds. Plenty of them do use a high percentage of income to actually help people. Additionally, my church publishes a detailed budget so I have a good idea how that portion of our giving is used.
I did not mean to imply religious charities, i was thinking more of individual churches. We give to several religions charities with a specific focus.
For me, the major issue when doing charitable giving is administrative cost. Many heads of relatively small organizations have salaries in the $200-250,000 range. That seems a lot for a local operation. I always check Charity Navigator. My husband and I do feel an obligation to give, but we’re not willing to throw money away.
We used to give via payroll deduction to the UnitedWay. There was pressure at work to do so. One day my wife was talking to someone she knew at a charity and found out barely half of what we gave ever reached them. I canceled the payroll thing and gave directly to the charity.
Same for me – once I found out the CEO’s salary, private jet flights, and saw their fancy main office building in the best part of town, I left as well. The payroll deduction program encourages more giving than otherwise would likely happen. But I wish corporations would partner with a more efficient organization.
10% tithing has an ancient religious background often in the form of a percentage of one’s production or the spoils of war.
individuals also have a responsibility to care for themselves and family and not to become a burden on others or society. If that can be accomplished and also tithe then fine.
But tithing first and then putting a burden on the other goals is not in my opinion.
I also believe charitable giving should be targeted for a purpose well defined. We donate to soup kitchens, to St Jude’s Hospital, shelters for women and other similar causes. We also donate to our church, regularly but that is not our priority.
I don’t see tithing 10% to any religious organization as a productive use of the funds. I recall attending a church for several weeks in Florida and each Sunday the pastor made a plea for donations for a new bronze front door. The current door was fine but not brass or ornate. I see that type of thing as a misuse of charity when the money could go to better causes.
Good point on the latter. One only has to wander around the gilded cathedrals of Italy (gold casketed popes & cardinals et al) to see that not all religious giving results in good works.
Just listened to a really interesting series on the Medicis and let’s just say Renaissance popes were not always paragons of virtue.
That’s what Martin Luther figured out.
Great question and I am sure a dilemma for many Christians while raising their families. I too am a Christian. In our early years we did not tithe, but certainly for the last 28 years and probably longer we have given at least 10% to the Lord. We have also given our time and talents to ministries and church related activities.
I routinely worked 60 hour weeks in my job, and often did not give back much in the way of time and talents. But God got my attention, and I got much more active in our church and its ministries and have continued doing that ever since.
I feel blessed that I made enough to cover all of our expenses and Christian tithing/donations. I am sure it is difficult for those who do not have that privilege. I think they need to listen to the Lord and do the best that they can.
I share the same values as those below, but have not chosen to donate as much as 10% of our gross income. However, I freely volunteer my time to various charitable organizations including my church, the local children’s swim league, and a non-profit that teaches underprivileged kids how to swim. Additionally, I give time to my neighborhood association and the local police department. I have found that most organizations need hands as much, if not more, than dollars.
During our early years, when our net worth was minimal, we engaged in spontaneous charity. Although the amounts were small, the dividends were significant in the people we met and the relationships we developed. However, we always set aside a small amount of funds for our giving goals later in life, but retirement savings were our top priority.
As the years passed, we received some unexpected stock compensation. We seized this opportunity to establish a donor-advised fund (DAF) with appreciated equity holdings. Now, we use this vehicle to create a yearly ritual that brings our family together. During this gathering, we agree on the charities we want to support for the coming year and plan to use this fund to invite extended family members to contribute and participate.
As I posted in a previous comment, a pastor at our church in PA used to talk about using your time, talent, and treasure. It made an impression on me, and is one of the reasons I volunteered to do free tax returns. It’s something I have a bit of talent for, I have the time, and it provides a needed service. It often helps others retain a bit more of their treasure. And occasionally I’m able to provide guidance that helps someone more than if I wrote them a check.
that being said, there are many worthy charities that need our treasure.
I am not religious but have long valued the role of philanthropy. My charitable giving follows self-established, simple guidelines consistent with my finances. As a student, I gave in amounts equal to my annual spending on holiday gifts to friends and family. In my working years, I gave ten percent of my annual income. Now retired and financially well able, about a third of my annual budget is for charity. Also with time to be thoughtful, I can enjoy being intentional about donations, apportioning them across broad categories in a multi-year plan. The dispensation of my estate is likewise planned, set with percentages to go to the various causes I support.
I am of similar faith and give 10% as tithe to our local church. We make additional contributions to other charities, but the bulk is through tithes. I have 3 children two will graduate college this year and a daughter in the last year of high school. There is serious competition for every dollar that comes in.
Regarding retirement readiness, all one can make is an assumption of a future state. With that in mind it’s a matter of how likely is the retirement income to meet the projected expense? Chances are because you are actually planning…you will have enough. What is that number, grab a crystal ball. Without the ball we don’t know for sure. I at aged 54 have stopped the hand wringing. We have built up a decent portfolio that should provide more than enough to live and give without being a burden to my kids.
We believe that God owns it all and we are just the stewards. We have tithed for most of our 43 year marriage. We have always been taken care of. Agree with LH that sometimes we have no idea how things worked out, but they did. God has always been faithful to us. Chris
As a married couple who know that all we have has been provided by the the Lord. We have over the 48 years of our marriage made choices that on paper, financially didn’t make sense but our faith and seeking the Lord’s will led us to do them.
We have never earned even $80,000 a year as a school lunch lady and a route salesman selling Hostess Cakes. But now being retired we have two SS incomes and three pensions which earn us over $90,000 per year.
We give our tithe of 10% of our gross income and thirty dollars each month to charities we believe in such as KLove/Air 1 radio stations, a Christian run family camp that we attend as a family every other year, another local Christian radio station, and Tunnels 2 Towers.
Above that we financially bless families in need, our children as well, and fund our Roth account with earnings from a part time summer job working for the Parks Department.
We are now and have always been content and thankful with what we’ve had, I think contentment and appreciation are totally underated
Eric, you have a lot of “what ifs” running through your brain. I get it-I did too when I was in my 40s. Still, you stated what your objective is: Moreover, and more importantly to me, the author and perfecter of my faith commands us not to worry and not to store up treasure on earth and to give to anyone who asks. He proclaims, “You cannot serve both God and money,” and he ever emphasizes care for the poor.
Here are links to a couple of my old articles that touch a bit on the issues you raised:
https://humbledollar.com/2024/02/prophet-motive/
https://humbledollar.com/2023/09/all-my-children/
Hope they are helpful.