I think this is a great question. This year I have transitioned to having more of our living expenses covered by my wife's SS and pension than my own income. So I have been asking the same question the last couple years as I look to the future.
Using AGI is not a good option for us. Only 85% of the SS income will be taxable. In addition to my wife's SS and pension, we have real estate which earns income. Of the two rental properties we own, one has a significant negative cash flow, yet has an equally significant taxable income.
At this point I have been giving a percentage of our income, SS income, pension, and real estate cash flows. Those are easy to predict so it makes coming up with an estimate of giving to my church pretty easy. I haven't come up with how to handle RMDs when they start in another 6 years. Likely I'll just view them as income and lump those in with the other income and take a percentage of it all.
In my religious tradition, there aren't any "rules" for giving just some encouraging suggestions. In my case there isn't a "correct" amount to give, or some mystical magic number that will get me a ticket to hand to St. Peter at the gate. It really isn't any different than anyone making philanthropic decisions other than what the motivation is for making those decisions. Being a bit of a geek, I need to put in a percentage in the spreadsheet that will be applied to some value. Currently that is 10%, but any percentage could be used. It ultimately comes down to how much my wife and I feel led to give. How we arrive at that number is almost irrelevant.
Using AGI is not a good option for us. Only 85% of the SS income will be taxable. In addition to my wife's SS and pension, we have real estate which earns income. Of the two rental properties we own, one has a significant negative cash flow, yet has an equally significant taxable income.
At this point I have been giving a percentage of our income, SS income, pension, and real estate cash flows. Those are easy to predict so it makes coming up with an estimate of giving to my church pretty easy. I haven't come up with how to handle RMDs when they start in another 6 years. Likely I'll just view them as income and lump those in with the other income and take a percentage of it all.
In my religious tradition, there aren't any "rules" for giving just some encouraging suggestions. In my case there isn't a "correct" amount to give, or some mystical magic number that will get me a ticket to hand to St. Peter at the gate. It really isn't any different than anyone making philanthropic decisions other than what the motivation is for making those decisions. Being a bit of a geek, I need to put in a percentage in the spreadsheet that will be applied to some value. Currently that is 10%, but any percentage could be used. It ultimately comes down to how much my wife and I feel led to give. How we arrive at that number is almost irrelevant.
Statistics: Posted by WeakOldGuy — Mon Nov 04, 2024 1:15 am — Replies 21 — Views 1502