Smart Year-End Investing Moves
From the November 2010 newsletter:
As you feast on turkey and Black Friday sales this weekend, you may wonder what investing tasks you need to take care of before year-end. Okay, that’s not going to happen, but here’s a list anyway. Happy Thanksgiving!
Tips for Giving to Charity
It’s getting close to the end of the year, so you are probably considering donating to charity. Here are some quick tips for giving to charity.
Check your charity’s financials. All nonprofit organizations, except for churches, are required to file basic financial forms with the government. The two data points I always look at are executive compensation and percentage of expenses that go to programs. You can find this data for free on GuideStar, which stores Form 990s for all major charities. Charity Navigator also rates charities according to their own criteria.
Donate appreciated investments. If you plan on donating money, consider donating appreciated investments in taxable accounts instead. If you donate investments such as stocks, mutual funds, and ETFs, you avoid paying capital gains tax on the donated shares. Further, your income tax deduction will be based on the full market value of the donation, not the cost basis.
