How much are you giving this year?

Suppose your long lost uncle shows up on your doorstep promising to give you $1,000,000 if you would just give half of it to charity. Since you are a Christian and believe that God owns it all, you would accept the money and gladly give away $500,000 – in fact you are excited about this opportunity to give and you look forward to the process of finding deserving and effective ministries.

Now let’s change it a bit. Imagine again that this same uncle passes away and you inherit $1,000,000 from his estate. Two weeks go by and the suggestion comes to you to give half of the inheritance away. How easy is that decision? Granted some individuals have a gift for radical generosity, but if most of us are honest, we would have to confess it would be quite the struggle to part with so much of “our” new windfall.

These two scenarios illustrate the value of pre-planning your charitable giving. We recommend that every individual/family go through the process of praying about how much they should give for the coming year. By putting your giving plans in place, you can then focus on the joy and blessing of the process of making your gifts versus having to wrestle with how much to give. Consider planning your 2006 giving now and if you are married, make sure to involve your spouse. If you have older children consider involving them as well.

For some, giving is a routine tithe to the church – a really good habit - and you know the answer to the question. Our earlier examples dealt with unexpected funds, and as you are planning your 2006 “normal” giving, think about what you would do with differing amounts of unexpected windfalls. Who knows, maybe one will land on your doorstep this year!

If you want to explore how you might experience God more deeply in the area of giving, we recommend Randy Alcorn’s book The Treasure Principle.

“I do not believe one can settle how much we ought to give. I am afraid the only safe rule is to give more than we can spare. In other words, if our expenditure on comforts, luxuries, amusements, etc., is up to the standard common among those with the same income as our own, we are probably giving away too little. If our charities do not at all pinch or hamper us, I should say they are too small. There ought to be things we should like to do and cannot do because our charitable expenditures exclude them.” — C.S. Lewis (1898-1963), English author and scholar

Toward the Tithe and Beyond – An article by John Piper that affirms the tithe and challenges one to consider giving over and above the tithe – all from a biblical perspective.

Giving Appreciated Assets – If you have assets (stocks, mutual funds, etc.) that have appreciation you may find that you are better off gifting these funds in lieu of your cash giving and then using your cash to replenish and/or diversify your portfolio. To learn more you can click here to read a previous article.

In the news - current issues that affect our personal finances

A financial news item catching the attention of many people is the current yield of 6.73% yield on I Bond Savings Bonds! Not a bad deal for an investment that has almost been forgotten. An I Bond is different from other savings bonds because its interest rate has two components. The first changes twice a year to adjust for inflation and the second is fixed for the life of the bond. I Bonds cannot be redeemed for 12 months and if they are redeemed within the first 5 years there is a 3% interest penalty. To learn more you can visit savingsbonds.gov.

Who We Are and How We Can Help You

The Everyday Steward division of Ronald Blue & Co. (RB&Co.) is a unique part of RB&Co. Our vision is to serve a wide range of Christian individuals and couples who have a desire to be better stewards of their God-given assets. Our group provides an affordable option for those desiring professional financial counsel, or to have their investment assets professionally managed. Learn more...

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