On 6/5/03 11:22 PM, "Wei Dai" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> Suppose I have some money that I don't want to spend, and I'm sure I'll
> never want to spend it. Should I give it to charity now, or put it in an
> index fund and bequeath it to charity in my will?
>
> Here's my argument in favor of charitable procrastination. The typical
> recipient of charity does not have access to the kind of investment
> opportunites (e.g., low cost U.S. mutual funds) that I have, and his other
> investment opportunities usually have a lower (perhaps even negative) rate
> of return. Charitable organizations are legally forced to spend a certain
> percentage of their assets per year, so they can't invest the money
> indefinitely either. By holding on to my money, I'm actually increasing
> the present value of the gift from the perspective of the recipient.
>
> Can anyone find a flaw in this argument?
Ignoring the utility of the money to the target charity today, e.g.,
food or medicine to live, the money value of the PV should also be reduced
by the tax benefit you have forgone by not making the donation today.
