Charity,Being Smarter With Your Donations
As contrary as it might seem, charitable giving is actually one of the very best things you can do to improve your finances . In fact, charitable giving may be one o the biggest keys to becoming wealthy. Some of the wealthiest people are also the biggest contributors to charity. You might think that individuals of high net worth would naturally give more to charity, but studies point to charitable giving actually being the cause of an increase in wealth rather than an increase of wealth resulting in higher charitable giving. Like all investments, charitable giving needs to be strategic to achieve maximum impact. Here are three ways to be smart with your donations.
Charitable giving is hard because, in order to devote money to one thing, you have to divert it from something else. No matter how wealthy you are, chances are good there are always going to be things you want but can’t afford. Just because you want them, however, doesn’t necessarily mean having them will make you any happier. This is something that people who give charitably understand. No matter what your income level, charitable giving requires sacrifice. Those sacrifices will be far easier to make, however, when you are making them for a cause you care about.
One of the biggest pitfalls to charitable giving is giving generously to a cause, only to find out the money is not being used wisely or even for the purported cause at all. This can turn many off to ever giving charitably again. One way to avoid this is to thoroughly investigate any cause or charity before donating. This also means it’s not a good idea to give at the last minute at the checkout counter or to random online fundraisers.
Like every other investment tool, you will get the most ROI from your charitable giving the more strategic you are about it. The more you see and view charitable giving as an investment, the more likely you are to be successful with it. Not every investment opportunity is going to be right for you, nor is every charitable opportunity either. Having a plan, however, will make it far easier to say no to everything that isn’t in your plan.
Originally published at http://manojbasnyat.org.
