How I came to devote my life to building a legacy of charitable giving and helping others build theirs.
In this post, I thought I would take a moment to tell you a bit about myself – specifically, about my charitable giving journey. I wanted to share this with you, because while everyone’s journey is unique, my guess is that many of you reading this will see aspects of your own journey reflected in mine, and hopefully it will provide you with some of the support you need to face the challenges you may come up against.
How It Began
Many years ago, I felt a clear calling to devote my life to building wealth for the purpose of funneling as much of it as possible into the ministries and charities I felt passionately about. When I first caught this vision, I was fresh out of college, and since I came from a family of limited means, I worked and took out student loans to pay for college. All that to say, this vision came to me as I was drowning in student loan debt with no idea what this was going to look like or where it would take me. However, I decided to just step out in faith and let the vision guide me.
Perhaps you also have limited means but feel strongly about leaving a charitable giving legacy. Maybe you’ve spent decades accumulating assets and as you’ve begun to consider your legacy, you’ve realized you would like to make charitable giving part of that legacy. Either way, you’ve made a conscious decision to make charitable giving a priority, and this is something that I and many others can relate to.
My Financial Education
I carried my dream of charitable giving in my heart throughout business school and then through countless hours studying for the Chartered Financial Analyst® and CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ certifications. All the while, I would find myself daydreaming about the charitable impact I could have and spending my free time researching strategies to maximize that impact.
This research was necessary, because even with all the time I spent studying finance while in school and while working to earn my certifications, I struggled to find resources that could help me in my charitable giving journey. So often, charitable giving was an afterthought, as opposed to the priority. I understood that not everyone might have the same financial goals that I did, but I knew there must be others out there, which is why I created Charis Legacy Partners.
If you have goals similar to mine, you may have come to a similar conclusion as I did – while there are plenty of great financial advisors out there, and plenty of great financial advice, so little of it seems tailored for those looking to maximize their charitable impact.
The Creation of Charis Legacy Partners
I created Charis Legacy Partners in order to take what I have learned on my journey and share it with others who carry a similar dream in their hearts.
Charis (pronounced KAIR-iss) is the Greek word used in the Bible for grace, or unmerited favor, and it connotes something given freely without expectation of anything in return; it’s the root word from which the English word charity is derived. The name “Charis Legacy” encapsulates this dream of leaving a legacy of giving back, and it is my aspiration to give back to my tribe of philanthropy-minded individuals.
My hope with Charis Legacy Partners is to push beyond the inherently limited charitable impact I can have on my own and broaden that impact through helping others harness their wealth to achieve their legacy goals, both charitable and inheritance, because even though our firm has a particular focus on charitable giving, we understand that most legacy-minded individuals also want to leave a legacy for their heirs.
The Charis Legacy eBook
As I mentioned before, along my journey, I struggled mightily to find expert guidance to help me implement the vision I carried, so I decided to create a resource for others to help fill that void. I wrote The Charis Legacy: A Legacy Planning Guide to Maximizing Your Giving Impact to serve a niche that is growing but has been grossly underserved.
It seems like the right moment in our cultural climate for content like this, when we see billionaires across the world making commitments to give away their wealth for the broader good and younger generations taking more of an interest in purposefully using their wealth to have a positive impact on society.
I wrote the book for legacy-minded folks of all ages, and I structured it in a chronological format, spanning the lifetime of a legacy builder. My intent was to keep the book short and sweet – with little fluff and relatively high level. So, if you’re enjoying this blog, but interested in a more high-level charitable legacy planning resource, you may want to check out my book.
The Creation of the Legacy Builder Blog
As I mentioned, I purposefully kept the book short and sweet. I wanted to cover the high-level basics and avoid getting too bogged down in the details. At the same time, I wanted to share the full depth of my legacy planning knowledge with those interested in a deeper dive into some of the specifics, which is why I created The Legacy Builder blog.
I’ve divided this blog into five sections to help you more easily find blog posts with content you’re interested in:
• Cashflow planning
• Tax planning
• Estate planning
• Insurance planning
• Investment management.
Depending on your age, goals, and current financial circumstances, different charitable legacy planning strategies may be more relevant than others and I’ve created blogs that cover a wide range of topics – from private foundations for high-net-worth individuals to debt management for charitably minded folks.
What Will Your Charitable Giving Journey Look Like?
Everyone’s charitable giving journey is different. Whether yours looks similar to mine or completely different, I would love to hear from you and learn what aspects of my experience you related to. If you want to talk through any of these topics further, feel free to schedule a free consultation with me using the button in the navigation menu above.