"If I could boil down everything I have learned into one sentence or thought, it would be this: Generosity and financial freedom are inextricably linked. If you want to replace fear, guilt and frustration with freedom, confidence and joy, you have to hold your treasures―your money, your possessions, your time and talents―with an open hand.”

This quote by Ron Blue underscores a key aspect of the Cooke approach to biblical wealth management: giving generously, as stewards of God’s wealth. The Bible teaches us that wealth generation is not an end in itself.  The wealth you earn helps you to live a fulfilling life. But, just as importantly, it provides you with the opportunity to give back, further the kingdom of God and to help those in need. 

Corinthians encourages us, not just to give, but to give cheerfully in accordance with our abilities. Cooke incorporates this advice into your comprehensive wealth management plan. Every client is unique - no two people share the same life story or have the exact same financial goals. With this in mind, we strive to help you identify ways to incorporate your giving into your overall financial strategy, in a way that maximizes good without compromising your unique financial goals.

From leveraging Donor-Advised Funds (DAF) and the value realized from appreciated assets, to tax reduction strategies and time-based giving, we help each client discover their own way to give. In this blog post, we’ll be taking a look at a few “giving stories,” of the unique ways that Cooke helped clients increase giving, while aligning with their long-term financial goals and expectations. 

As financial advisors, we believe every family has a unique set of competing priorities or goals that makes up financial “success”. Invariably it contains some aspects of lifestyle, giving, retirement, leisure, confidence, contentment and legacy. 

Well, it’s often those unique priorities and goals that help you define what financial success is for you and your family.  They identify what matters most and when translated into goals they can be broken down into the steps needed for accomplishment and a framework for making wise financial decisions.

For some the idea of success is not just about achieving that goal, but if that goal brings some version of excess than it includes what we do with it when we get there. To the Christian, success should include how we use (or steward) the resources we have been given, whether those resources come in the form of talents, time, or money.  But let’s not get ahead of ourselves…

Giving Strategically: helping a grandmother navigate SECURE

This long-term Cooke client was a grandmother with two adult children and grandkids on their way to college. After her husband passed, we had a discussion around what her future financial goals looked like, as well as revisiting personal finances, her investments and a wealth transfer strategy. Sound, long-term investments meant that she had a considerable amount of savings in her IRA (Individual Retirement Account) and trust.

The SECURE Act, passed last year, raised specific questions around inheritance planning. Under the new 10-year payout rule, non-spousal beneficiaries like her two children would need to fully deplete the funds in her IRA within 10 years. 

One of the aspects of wealth transfer is considering the tax implications, while also focused on the potential impact it may have on one's heirs. If her children were to deplete her IRA in ten years, they would both be pushed into a higher tax bracket, and their taxable income would increase substantially, reducing the after-tax value of their inheritance. Moreover, two out of her three grandchildren would soon be going off to college. This meant that, in terms of family giving, when was just as important as how much. 

Cooke worked with this client to design a family giving plan that would balance maximizing the utility of her legacy with tax consequences, and her need to live out a comfortable life. Annually, we help her identify strategic amounts to gift her children and college-age grandchildren. With this information, she is empowered to:

• Do some of this giving while she’s living

• Meet her family’s needs in the here and now

• Mitigate some of the long-term tax implications of liquidating her IRA under the provisions of the SECURE act

“I have more than enough”: helping a busy executive increase his charitable giving

This Cooke client is a senior business executive with young adult children. Over the past several years, we’ve worked to help him build and implement a broad-based plan for retirement and his children's college expenses. Apart from savings, he had investment accounts that had appreciated considerably over the past several years. Overall, this client was in a position where he could maximize his family's charitable giving without compromising their long-term goals for retirement and their children's future. 

Cooke helped him do just that while minimizing future tax implications, by leveraging a DAF (donor-advised fund).  Donor-advised funds are special, tax-efficient instruments, designed to empower giving through non-cash assets like securities. The client’s DAF helped him increase Christian charity without incurring capital gains tax on appreciated investments. 

When his taxable income increased, we were able to utilize the DAF to offset tax implications by channeling funds into his DAF and towards the charities they support. Over the past few years, this client has increased their charitable giving substantially, as the DAF grows on its own. And this was made possible without compromising on their long-term personal and family financial goals. 

The Gift of Time: helping an engineer answer to God’s calling

Sometimes, the greatest gift of all is the gift of time. This Cooke client was an engineer who, as time went on, realized that he was being called to mission work. To make this a reality, he needed to adjust and plan out a strong early retirement plan that would enable him to carry out mission work overseas while continuing to provide financial assistance to his extended family. 

This client participated in Cooke’s financial planning and coaching program. We helped him build a viable early retirement fund by emphasizing savings, debt avoidance, building a portfolio with multiple asset classes, and saving and investing in his employer 401K account. We’re helping him follow through on a vision plan to build sustainable assets by the time he’s 60 years old. This will allow him to potentially invest years of active effort into mission work while ensuring his family’s long-term needs remain met. 

Giving as a better way of meeting RMD requirements

This long-term Cooke client was a retired physician, who had an opportunity to better manage the tax implications of their IRA account. We’d helped him build a considerable IRA fund, but this came with its own challenges. He was over the age of 72, which meant that RMD (Required Minimum Distribution) was mandatory. However, with income coming in from pensions his RMD amount brought increased taxes and provided more income than what was needed to maintain his current lifestyle. 

This client contributed regularly to church and mission work: they were open to giving more as part of their financial strategy. Cooke helped him utilize QCDs (Qualified Charitable Distributions) to give in a potentially more tax-efficient manner and bridge the gap between the RMD amount and what they actually needed. The QCDs helped him ensure that the RMD amount was withdrawn, but allowed for this portion to be non-taxable, helping him save on tax, live sustainably, and give to the causes he believed in. 

The here and now: coaching a family to increase their current giving

During the Cooke financial planning and coaching process, we help clients form a clear picture of their income and spending on a month-to-month basis. In some cases, this leads to clients identifying that there’s more they can do right now, in terms of giving. 

This particular client was a family of three, with both parents working lucrative corporate jobs. We helped this family identify that, based on their current income, expenses, and goals, they had the flexibility to be giving more, without compromising on their long-term financial security. 

1 Corinthians 16:2 calls on Christians to give regularly and proportionally. By helping them better understand their current financial situation, Cooke empowered this family to increase their giving on a month-to-month basis. This aligned their charitable work with their spiritual values, within the framework of their overall financial strategy. 

Conclusion

Do not neglect to do good and to share what you have, for such sacrifices are pleasing to God. Hebrews 13:16

Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  2 Corinthians 9:7

Time and again, the Bible makes it clear that giving is an important way of enacting God’s will. But how do you give, and when? As Orange County wealth managers, Cooke takes the New Testament’s practical advice about regular, proportional, and cheerful giving, to help each client build giving into their financial plans. Amounts, timeframes, and instruments may vary, but there is one constant. We empower every client to give in the ways that they can, to realize the spiritual dividends. Reach out to us today. Let’s talk about incorporating giving into your Christian financial plan. 

Learn more about how we can help …