Financial Planning Tip November 2025

Only about nine weeks remain before we bid adieu to 2025. If we have one bit of advice for our clients before the ball drops, it's to emphasize charitable giving in 2025. The charities you support will be just as noble in 2026, but your tax deduction for donating to charities will be smaller. Accordingly, please consider the three points below as you plan the next nine weeks: 

• For those over 70½: If you haven't taken your RMD for 2025, a QCD should be at the top of your list. If these acronyms are unfamiliar, please contact us right away.

• The second-most beneficial way to support a charity is available to everyone: donate appreciated stock. The market's returns have created a lot of winners the past few years. There are multiple benefits to donating appreciated stock instead of cash, but they will diminish on January 1, 2026. 

• For those who regularly donate to charity and who have taxable investments with large gains, there's still enough time to open a donor advised fund (DAF). This allows you to make a large contribution in 2025, then send grants to your favorite charities across multiple future years. Because the actual gift occurs in 2025, it falls under this year's more generous tax rules. The catch is that it takes a few weeks to open a DAF. It's still possible, but we'll need to take action soon.