Services
Charitable planning
Aspirean Wealth plans charitable giving for individuals and families from our offices in Mill Valley, St. Joseph, and Chesterton. Giving sits under the same team as investment management, tax strategy, and estate coordination, so what you give, and when, is decided alongside the rest of the plan rather than in the last week of December.
Where we offer it
Charitable Planning in three offices.
Charitable planning in Marin County, CA
6 Knoll Lane, Suite BMill Valley, CA 94941
(415) 383-8404
Marin County, CA · Mill Valley, CA · San Francisco Bay Area, CA
Charitable planning in St. Joseph, MI
505 Pleasant St, Suite 401St. Joseph, MI 49085
(844) 687-5342
St. Joseph, MI · Benton Harbor, MI · Southwest Michigan
Charitable planning in Chesterton, IN
160 Rail Rd, Suite 4Chesterton, IN 46304
(844) 687-5342
Chesterton, IN · Valparaiso, IN · Northwest Indiana
The giving side of the plan
What charitable planning covers
Giving well is mostly a question of what you give and when. These are the decisions a giving plan most often has to settle.
Meet with usAppreciated securities instead of cash
A gift of shares you have held for years can carry a gain you would otherwise pay tax on when you sell. Giving the shares themselves, rather than selling them and giving the cash, may let the charity receive the full value without you realizing the gain, depending on how long you have held them and how much of a deduction you can use that year. We choose which lots to give from the positions the portfolio is already trying to reduce, so a gift and a rebalance can be the same decision.
Donor-advised funds and IRA gifts
A donor-advised fund lets you make the contribution in the year it does the most for your return and choose the charities later. Where it fits, we use one around a year when income runs unusually high — a large vest, an option exercise, the sale of a business — or to bunch several years of giving into one, so itemizing may be worth more than it would be in an ordinary year. After the eligible age, a qualified charitable distribution sends money straight from an IRA to a charity, which can matter more than a deduction for a household that no longer itemizes.
Trusts, foundations and the estate plan
For larger or longer-lived giving, a charitable remainder trust, a charitable lead trust, or a private foundation may fit. These are structures your attorney drafts and your CPA reports on, not ones we set up. What we do is model whether one fits the plan, coordinate how it is funded, and keep the estate plan, the beneficiary designations, and the family’s conversation about giving pointed in the same direction.
Frequently asked questions
The things you’re probably wondering.
Do you have a minimum asset level?
Yes. We best serve individuals with at least $1 million in investable assets, including 401(k) plan assets, or more complex financial situations. Our minimum annual fee is $7,500 for clients below that threshold.
How are you compensated?
We are a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor and a fiduciary, paid via a percentage of the assets we manage.
Do you set up charitable trusts or private foundations?
No. We are a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor, and we do not practice law or prepare tax returns. Your attorney drafts any trust or foundation documents, and your CPA handles the filings that come with them. We model whether a structure fits the plan, work with both of them on how and when it is funded, and keep the rest of the plan consistent with it once it is in place.
Meet with us
Let’s talk.
If you’d like to talk about how giving fits your plan, we’d like to hear from you.
Meet with us