Charity

How to Use a Donor-Advised Fund with a Financial Advisor

February 19, 2020 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview John Putnam on how to use a donor-advised fund (DAF) with a financial advisor. John gives us three insightful reasons to seek your financial advisor concerning your DAF. First, your financial advisor can help you explore the DAF space. It is helpful to ask your financial advisor if the DAF fits with your overall plan. Second, you may want to ask your financial advisor about investment options concerning your DAF. John notes that, as always, investment is a risk. However, there is a potential to grow your investment overtime. Third, discussing your DAF with your financial advisor could help with record-keeping from a tax standpoint. Annually, tax receipts from multiple charities could be simplified into one receipt from a DAF sponsor. Noted is the possibility of a donor approaching their DAF aggressively, desiring a moderate approach to their outside assets. At Intelligent Investing, we can help you create a donor advised fund and even manage the assets within the donor advised fund differently than your retirement funds…perhaps dialing up the donor advised fund’s risk up or down. If you are interested in having a 15 minute complimentary call to discuss this or retirement planning, click here.

More From John

We’ll be interviewing John Putnam on future podcasts on creative ways to give charitably, how to use a donor-advised fund, and charitable giving with Young Children, so be sure to subscribe.

John Putnam Bio

John is an author, speaker, Kingdom entrepreneur and non-profit leader of NCF Carolinas. He grew up on a cattle farm in Cherryville, NC (that’s ‘Churvul’ for you locals ☺), and attended college at N.C. State. Above all, John is married to his wife Anne and the father of three children. John led a thriving financial services practice for over 20 years. Following his passion for stewardship, he launched a Charlotte, NC affiliate of National Christian Foundation. On January 1, 2018, the office merged with NCF Raleigh to become NCF Carolinas. To His glory alone, God has used the NCF Carolinas team to help mobilize hundreds of millions of dollars for Kingdom impact. John’s professional background is as a former Certified Financial Planner, a trained Life Planner through The Paterson Center and a graduate of Charlotte Leadership Forum. He has worked alongside the Halftime organization, a two-time graduate of The Masters Program and a past Strategic Coach participant. He enjoys sharing through media, workshops and his website at JohnPutnam.com.

What is a Donor-Advised Fund?

January 8, 2020 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview John Putnam on what is a donor-advised fund. John begins by giving us a simple definition. A donor-advised fund is a low-cost flexible account for charitable giving. Due to some of the similarities, you can think of a donor-advised fund as a “charitable checking account.” Rather than giving directly or creating a private foundation, a donor can choose to open a donor-advised fund instead. The 501(c)(3) public charity is the holder of the account instead of a bank. Unlike a checking account, however, the donor makes “irrevocable gifts” than cannot be retracted. John recommends a donor-advised fund for a donor giving to a greater number of charities. A note-worthy advantage of a donor-advised fund is the ability of the donor to remain anonymous. A donor-advised fund is a wonderful opportunity for the donor seeking to keep things simple. At Intelligent Investing, we can help you know whether a donor advised fund makes sense, and can help you with creating one. If you are interested in having a 15 minute complimentary call to discuss this or other financial topics, click here.

More From John

We’ll be interviewing John Putnam on future podcasts on creative ways to give charitably, how to use a donor-advised fund, and charitable giving with Young Children, so be sure to subscribe.

John Putnam Bio

How to Integrate Charitable Giving

December 11, 2019 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview John Putnam on how to integrate charitable giving. John discusses ideas on how to encourage charitable giving within your family. First, John states that communication is key for families deciding on how to give. He encourages families to talk about their passions and concerns. Specifically, he encourages family members to talk among themselves. For example, a husband and wife or mom and dad communicating about charitable giving is a great start. These conversations can be the light to shine on a passion or a concern another family member may find important. Second, John discusses charitable projects. Giving an example, he suggests a group effort from individual family members. Each family member may contribute to what he or she has discovered about an organization. We’d love to help your family explore different charitable options. we’ve included resources and a link to the National Christian Foundation which you can check out by going here.

More From John

We’ll be interviewing John Putnam on future podcasts on creative ways to give charitably, how to use a donor-advised fund, and charitable giving with Young Children, so be sure to subscribe.

John Putnam Bio

What the National Christian Foundation Can Do for Families?

October 30, 2019 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

What the National Christian Foundation Can Do for Families?

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview John Putnam on what NCF can do for families. John states initially that NCF can help families create a giving plan. NCF helps families think about their giving legacy, along with their passions and impact. One way NCF guides families is to show them how to engage all of their resources. Ultimately, the desire is for families to experience more joy. More specifically, John states that NCF will first help the family simplify their giving with a donor-advised fund. Families are advised with strategic giving using complex asset, i.e. land, real estate, etc. NCF also desires to include the family’s advisors. Finally, bringing family around generosity is encouraged. You can find a link to more resources from NCF here. We’d love to help your family explore different charitable options. we’ve included resources and a link to the National Christian Foundation which you can check out by going here.

More From John

We’ll be interviewing John Putnam on future podcasts on creative ways to give charitably, how to use a donor-advised fund, and charitable giving with Young Children, so be sure to subscribe.

John Putnam Bio

An Overview of the National Christian Foundation

September 25, 2019 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Reading Time: 2 minutes On today’s Intelligent Money Minute, we’ll interview John Putnam on an overview of the National Christian Foundation (NCF). John Putnam is the president of the National Christian Foundation Carolinas. Beginning today’s episode, John gives the background of NCF. Larry Burkett, Ron Blue, and Terry Parker found NCF in 1982. Their goal was, and still is, to assist families and encourage them to have an impact with what they have. NCF comes alongside families, their advisors, and the organizations they love. Using innovative and creative ways, NCF helps donors give more wisely to these organizations. The founder’s initial desire was for one billion dollars of giving to flow through their doors. Today, however, over ten billion dollars have been granted by NCF and families locally and around the world. The National Christian Foundation (NCF) is a U.S. non-profit organization that helps donors give more wisely and tax-efficiently to support their favorite charitable causes. In 2018, NCF ranked as the 8th largest non-profit organization in the U.S. At Intelligent Investing, we strive to align your charitable gifts with your strategic, philanthropic and financial goals. Whether you need to develop gift-giving strategies, create a foundation or endowment, or receive overall philanthropic guidance, we deliver the right level of expertise with a focus on maximizing your tax efficiencies and protecting your wealth while you generously share it with those you love.

More From John

We’ll be interviewing John Putnam on future podcasts on creative ways to give charitably, how to use a donor-advised fund, and charitable giving with young children, so be sure to subscribe.

John Putnam Bio

How to Have an End-of-Life Family Meeting

June 7, 2018 by Hans Blake, CFA, CPA

Reading Time: 4 minutes

Over the next several decades, the biggest and wealthiest generation in U.S. history will transfer roughly $30 trillion in assets to their Gen X and millennial children. At Intelligent Investing, one of our four unique factors is to improve financial communication between families. We do that by being a communication bridge between generations. Every generation thinks differently than other generations. Knowing how to communicate with multiple generations is vital. Many families do not want to discuss this topic because of blended families or past bad experiences. However, here are some helpful considerations for creating a family meeting that will allow you to talk to your heirs about your end-of-life decisions.

Discuss your Family Legacy

One of Intelligent Investing’s Core Values is Legacy. We believe it is more important to pass on family values than it is to pass on valuables. The head of the family should take some time in recounting stories of your family history. Perhaps you can share what values are important to you, and a time in your life when those values were challenged. By sharing your values with your children and grandchildren, you are setting them up to be better managers of the resources you may be entrusting to them. What better time to impart nuggets of wisdom you have attained over the years. Perhaps you want to instill a sense of hard work, persistence, patience, or other virtues into the younger generations. Perhaps you could write down, “Five lessons I’ve learned over the years related to money.”

We believe it is more important to pass on family values than it is to pass on valuables. Share on X

Create Proper Expectations.

The key to any communication is to set proper and transparent expectations. It is important to address preconceived expectations as well. Once you have found a neutral private location for the meeting, you may want to begin with two questions:

The family head answers, “Why are we doing this?”
He asks the family members, “What would you like to get out of this meeting?”

By setting the right expectations for the meeting and allowing time to listen to everyone’s responses, you will set the right tone.

Answer Heirs’ Questions

As the family head learns what the others would like to get out of the meeting, he can address them specifically. Many times family members will have been contemplating questions or issues but will not have addressed them in the past. Perhaps they have addressed them with other heirs or siblings, but not with the family head. This is a great time to get the questions on the table to hear the family head answer them directly.

Wealth Transfer Process and Plans

A primary goal of the family meeting should be to clearly communicate the family head’s intentions regarding his or her estate plan. Be sure to clarify important details, such as who is the executor (personal representative) of your estate, where your will and important information is stored, and, of course, who will get what. You don’t want families to split and siblings not speak to each other after mom and dad pass away due to missed expectations. Explain the process you have gone through in order to arrive at the decisions you are sharing. Explaining the “Why’s” behind the decisions can be valuable as sharing the “What’s” and “How’s.” How do you hope the estate resources will provide new opportunities for the family members?

If there are some financial complexities, such as trusts, insurance policies, beneficiary IRAs, or other accounts that have tax ramifications, we can bridge the gap and explain how these various accounts affect the next generation and ways to mitigate potential traps.

Healthcare

This meeting may be a time for the patriarch or matriarch to share his or her end-of-life desires. Perhaps he wants family members to know that he has a do not resuscitate (DNR) clause. A DNR also known as no code or allow natural death, is a legal order written either in the hospital or on a legal form to withhold cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) or advanced cardiac life support (ACLS), in respect of the wishes of a patient in case his heart was to stop or he was to stop breathing. The DNR request is usually made by the patient or health care power of attorney and allows the medical teams taking care of them to respect his or her wishes. The head of the family may want to discuss his or her long-term care insurance policies, whom he has appointed as health care power of attorney, or his nursing home preferences and wishes.

Lifetime (Current) Giving

There is nothing wrong with making inter vivos (Latin, “between the living”- a legal term referring to a transfer or gift made during one’s lifetime) gifts. In fact, it can be very satisfying seeing your children and grandchildren using the resources you have given them to make financial decisions where you see the fruit of those decisions. Some families make giving a family affair, choosing the charities collectively. If your children are involved in the decision making, they will gain firsthand exposure to your generosity, and may be more apt to continue the generosity you have established. At Intelligent Investing, we can setup a Donor Advised Fund or Foundation and let all family members participate in choosing which charities and non-profit ministries are important.

Next Steps

Our clients can host a multi-generational family meeting in which Intelligent Investing bridges the potential awkwardness while addressing specific financial questions and emotional topics. We can assist the family head in creating an agenda for the meeting but may take a back seat when the discussions begin. We think this is a vital meeting to have before a family crisis forces the conversation at a more awkward time with higher emotions present.

We work predominantly with high net worth individuals and institutions who have between $500k to $5M of investable assets. If you’d like to learn more about becoming an Intelligent Investor, click here to call or set an appointment.