donor advised fund

Your Money Never Retires 

For many people we know, money represents work. It’s the sweat and the time and everything else that goes into one’s livelihood.

It may have started decades ago, perhaps with a job for a local farmer, walking beans or baling hay. (Does that reference date us?) It’s all the jobs that followed, too. No matter where those paychecks came from, the work behind them can become a source of pride—one that can also fund our retirement years.

We’re fortunate to know many people who end their careers with resources beyond their needs. It’s a nice problem to have: what happens when the excess outlives us? What’s the next “life” for what you’ve earned and accumulated?

We’ve been hearing from some of you about these big financial legacy questions, and there are many possible answers. In no particular order, here are a few ideas that you have been sharing with us.

Spend it on shared memories. For many, the pace of retirement includes more travel and experiences that weren’t possible during the working years. And while you’re at it, you might think about including those closest to you. Some might take their children or grandchildren with them on the big adventures. If you don’t want to leave behind wealth well beyond your beneficiaries’ needs, spend well now, with them: create the memories while you have the opportunity to do so. Bonus? They have another shared memory to enjoy, long after the experience is over.

Consider making gifts where they would make a difference now. There’s no rule saying you have to wait until you’re gone to get the excess to your beneficiaries. An inheritance can be life-changing, but who’s to say that a well-timed gift couldn’t make a big impact? It could be that splashing around a little cash now might make more difference in the long run. Maybe a loved is working toward a down payment on their first house, or some seed funding for their business expansion, or some other worthwhile project that you’d like to support. Why not now?

Direct it to the causes you care about. You can turn some of your charitable intentions into plans now, too. Your legacy planning may already involve leaving behind some assets to charity, and there are other strategies that might fit your goals. For example, a Donor Advised Fund (DAF) can be set up to benefit organizations of your choice after you’re gone, but it can also be left to a successor: a person you trust to direct charitable distributions of your gifts. They could carry on the work you start now.

Making these kinds of choices truly is a great problem to have. Generational wealth is a powerful tool and privilege. It also highlights the tensions we feel around money: what is the utility of money in our lives—and beyond? We don’t have to know all the answers, but there might be a chance to unlock some exciting opportunities for the generations ahead, if only we get a little more intentional or organized now.

Clients, may your wealth bring you only the best of dilemmas. We’ll be here to try to help you along your way.

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Your Money Never Retires – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

Spend Well, for Impact 

The object of our work can be distilled into four words: Invest wisely, spend well.

You’ll notice that half those words have nothing to do with saving more, investing more, or putting off pleasure today in order to have more wealth tomorrow. They are a call to action for the present moment: spend well.

But who gets to do the spending? And for whose benefit?

(To put it more bluntly, as one of you has told us before, “I’m not living my life to make my kids rich.”)

We each have to decide what it means to spend well. Our spending habits have a chance to make an impression on the next generation. In fact, what we give away today might inspire even more generous habits in our offspring, or our neighbors, or our students.

It can be downright fun to spend today rather than waiting to leave our mark. Bequeathments, retirement gifts, and other forms of legacy planning can be fitting vehicles for our generosity, but for some people, it might also be prudent to consider what it is we’re waiting for.

If “enough is as good as a feast”—another gem one of you taught us!—then the excess might be spent in a specific direction, today.

A Donor Advised Fund (DAF) is one vehicle for committing to a charitable intent, whether or not the exact destination of the gift is known right now. Spending well might actually mean investing for someone else’s long haul: an organization or cause near and dear to us, a community effort that’s bigger than what any one of us could achieve alone.

This is what we do at 228 Main: help connect the resources we manage to their sources of meaning. We’re not accumulating wealth for the sake of having it. It’s what those resources might mean, what they might do.

But if you can “invest wisely,” you may end up with even more to “spend well”—both now and in the future. No guarantees, but this is what we strive toward: Invest wisely, spend well.

Clients, if you would like to talk about this or anything else, email us or call.

Investing involves risk including the potential loss of principal. No investment strategy can guarantee a profit or protect against loss. Past performance is not a guarantee of future results.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

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Play the audio version of this post below:

Spend Well, for Impact – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.

Don’t Be DAFfy: Planning Your Impact 

“I have enough, and enough is as good as a feast.” — Granny, as told to us by one of you

For many folks, giving and community are important pillars of their financial plans and planning. After all, once we discover that we have enough to get by on, we’ve got some important decisions to make about our resources.

What will our excesses and gains mean for the community around us? Or the next generation? Or causes and organizations we care about?

In 2025, Leibman Financial Services added a new type of account, a tool that may be an option for those with charitable intentions and a desire for a little organization.

Here is what we are talking about: a Donor Advised Fund, or DAF. A DAF is an account that we can open and manage for you here in-house. Money or securities that you send to the DAF are considered tax-deductible charitable contributions, even if they came from existing accounts here. (Consult your tax advisor about what this means for you in particular.)

The funds can be invested for long-term growth or disbursed more quickly; you may donate as much or as little as you choose, on your schedule. You request distributions, or “grants,” from your DAF to be sent to the nonprofits of your choosing.

A DAF would become part of our regular conversations about your portfolio, your goals, and your financial plans and planning.

Why consider a DAF? A DAF could be used…

  • As an alternative to creating a family foundation or other organizational structure on your own
  • As a way to simplify philanthropic activities, having a single destination for gift dollars and a single vehicle for sending out donations
  • As a way to organize tax deductions and tax planning
  • As a way to direct high-flying holdings toward charitable intentions (by gifting appreciated assets to a DAF, you pay no tax on the gains, and the DAF pays no tax on the gains)

We work with iGift, a registered 501(c)(3), to administer these accounts. iGift requires a minimum of $25,000 to open a DAF, though only a $1,000 minimum balance needs to maintained thereafter. You may send out gifts as small as $100 to approved nonprofits year-round.

Fees and rationales can be found in our disclosure documents where we discuss more about the terms of our services.

If the DAF still has funds at your passing, your designated successor—an heir or heirs—may direct future donations until the fund is exhausted, or you can elect to provide instructions for how to distribute the remainder among nonprofits.

Our money has a chance not only to outlast us—but to continue making ripples in the world.

The Donor Advised Fund concept has been used by people here at Leibman Financial as part of their tax planning and to organize charitable intentions. Not all account types are appropriate for everyone, though there’s a lot to like here.

Could it be a good time to learn more?

Reach out, anytime.

Content in this material is for general information only and not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual.

To determine which strategies or investments may be suitable for you, consult the appropriate qualified professional prior to making a decision.

This information is not intended to be a substitute for specific individualized tax advice. We suggest that you discuss your specific tax issues with a qualified tax advisor.

Want content like this in your inbox each week? Leave your email here.

Play the audio version of this post below:

Don’t Be DAFfy: Planning Your Impact – 228Main.com Presents: The Best of Leibman Financial Services

This text is available at https://www.228Main.com/.