A couple of weeks ago, Sarita and I were at a conference for major donors sponsored by one of the charities we support.
Henry Doorn, president of the Barnabas Foundation, noted there are only three places your money can go when you die: to your heirs (family, friends), to charity, or to the government. He didn’t quite put it this way, but my mind put his follow-through question in the form of Evangelism Explosion’s standard opening. As I remember it, he asked, “If you were to die tonight, do you know for sure where your money would go?”
Sarita and I spent a lot of money back in 1998-99 getting an estate plan put together. But when Doorn asked the question, I realized, in my heart of hearts, that I didn’t know the answer!
I knew we had done everything possible to minimize taxes and maximize transfer to our heirs, our children. But we had done nothing to ensure anything goes to any of the charities we care about. And, worse, Read the rest of this entry »