Charity & Personal Finance
After my post about the Best of Twitter, I got to thinking about charity or the lack thereof in the PF community. The thing is that this community is one of the only places you go on and say, “I maxed out my 401K in only four months” or “I paid off my mortgage in 10 months” and you are met with support and congratulations. This is awesome. Anywhere else and you are met with anger because you shouldn’t be “bragging” about stuff like that. “It’s rude to talk about money.” 🙄 We should be talking about money a lot more in everyday life. Sadly, some are not ready for that. Yet, even in the PF community, we don’t hear much about charity or what we can do to help others.
Charity is somehow more taboo to talk about than money. It is seen as bragging and essentially saying that you are better than someone else when, in actuality, you are either trying to a) raise awareness or b) remind others that giving is a thing. Of course, we are also talking about a community where a good amount of people genuinely believe that you should be able to pull yourself up from your bootstraps in any situation (this is a stupid point of view and people should know better by now), so I should not be very surprised. There are some people who do talk about it. Moriah Chace and Zillennial Values have both spoken about it on their respective blogs. Still, this needs to be a more discussed topic.
One of my biggest questions has been how much of your income should go towards charity. While, I am financially better off now, previously we were not. So, the amount my mom gave while I was going up was under $1000 a year if that. When you are sometimes struggling to put food on the table there isn’t exactly a lot left over to give to others. Since the PF community definitely has an excess of funds, I did ask how much people felt should be given to charity/helping others.
I didn’t get a crazy amount of responses, but it varied from anywhere from 2.5% to 10% of your income. If you’re looking at $100,000 (this is a very easy number to use), then it’s $2,500- $10,000 in a year. For me, this is probably closer to $6,250- $25,000. This is an estimate since I have no clue where I will end this year.
Prior to asking this question, I was very much in the “give when you feel like giving and it will all work out” group. The problem with this idea, at least for me, is that without a set number or goal, this can very easily fall by the wayside. Everything else in my finances is a set number: $19,500 to max out 401K, $6000 for IRA, etc. This needs to have one too. For now, that number is going to be $10,000 in 2021. I will more than likely increase it over the year, but $10,000 seems like a good starting number. I’ll also be updating on this more throughout the year. So far we have done $3250. That was all via direct aid. $6750 to go. 🙂 Let’s keep it going.
How much do you give to charity yearly? Do you feel you should have a set number? Where do you like to donate your money/time?
I will never understand the twisted kind of thinking that calls it bragging when we share charitable giving on the level that we mere mortals can do. That’s where I get the best ideas for giving – from people I read and who share what matters to them.
I have been working on increasing the amount we give every year even while balancing all the catching up I have to do from way too many years of having a huge chunk of my income diverted to supporting my parents. Since I only cut my dad off a few years ago after 15 years of support, I still have a long way to go to make up for those lost retirement savings. Even during the lean times I made sure to give and to exercise that muscle, and as we build, I will keep increasing our giving each year. Morally I think it’s the right thing to do and I consider it the right thing to do to help seek balance in the universe as well.
I think it stems from the don’t talk about money stuff. It all sounds like bragging to people. It’s a ridiculous mindset all around. That’s great that you have been increasing how much you give, and I am glad that you are able to work on your retirement more now.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
It is weird we don’t talk about it much here in the space!
I started making my giving *automatic* a couple years ago since I realized it’s exactly what made my net worth grow so – duh – i should do it with my giving too! So now anytime i find an organization (or person/blogger/project!) i believe in, I set up monthly donations of $20/mo with the goal of doing 100/mo… I think i’m up to 13 or 14 now?, and every time i see the receipts get emailed to me I smile 🙂 and no i never *forget* to give too! Or do the whole “should i, shouldn’t I?” internal debate!
Something else I’ve started a few years back was making it a rule to always say “yes” when asked for $$. Whether it’s on the streets, from friends doing fundraising, to even “rounding up” stuff at stores. Similar to the above it forces me to give more without any of the fuss and helps those in my direct community much more too. And while at first I’d only give the bare minimum of, say, a dollar or two, now I’ll push myself to give the biggest dollar bill I have in my wallet which stings more (I always carry $20s lol) but also makes me feel the best when I pull it off too 🙂
So yeah – sometimes you just gotta ‘trick’ yourself into ways to give if you’re not naturally good at it, similar to wealth creation!
Yeah. Not talked about much at all. In some cases, it almost seems frowned upon which I never understood. 🙁
That’s great that you do that! Those are great tips to make yourself do it more.
Thanks for reading! 🙂
Thanks for talking about this stuff. We need more people in the PF community to share when they give. It’s not bragging. (Unless you do it in a braggy voice- which some people do sometimes haha)
I grew up tithing and giving to church. 10% was our family rule so I stuck with that for many years. Having a set number helps me budget more, but everyone has a different amount I guess.
A couple years back I started giving less money and transitioned to volunteering my time more. I do want to give more and am looking for new volunteering places currently. I also have an automatic “yes” policy for when people ask me to donate. That’s a helpful way to stay active and open to new giving opportunities.
Cheers for the post. And thanks for your generosity over the years!
I agree. It’s sad that many do not mention it. That’s great that you give both your money and your time. The “yes” policy seems like a helpful way to increase donations for sure.
Thanks for reading. 🙂