About the Podcast
The Vital Wealth Strategies Podcast helps entrepreneurs lower their taxes, build wealth and plan with purpose. Host Patrick Lonergan, founder of Vital Wealth and an advisor to high-level entrepreneurs, brings on guests who can explain how strategies work in practice, including the details that are easy to miss.
Episode Highlights
Phoenix and Pat explored:
The wide range of assets that can go into a Donor-Advised Fund, from private business interests to real estate and precious metals
How a venture investor turned LP interests that had no sale in sight into a charitable deduction
Why a Donor-Advised Fund fits most donors, and the two cases where a private foundation makes more sense
How donors use their funds creatively, from coral reef preservation to backing first-time venture fund managers to letting the grandkids vote on causes
Key Takeaways
Keep your investment and lose the gain. Donate appreciated stock, then use the cash you would have given to buy it back. You keep the same exposure, reset your cost basis and pay no capital gains on the donated shares.
Give while the deal is still at risk. A gift can sometimes work after a letter of intent is signed, as long as the deal isn’t locked in. Most clients start planning six months to a year before a sale.
For charity, you want a high appraisal. That’s the opposite of estate planning, where owners often look for discounts.
Know the limits before you give. Deductions are capped as a share of income, but anything you can’t use right away can generally carry forward for up to five years.
Why It Matters
At UI Charitable, we measure giving by outcomes, not outputs. A charity that drilled 20 wells is describing its output. The outcome is thousands of people who can go to school because they no longer spend hours walking to get clean water. Thoughtful planning puts more money toward results like that. Phoenix summed it up at the end of the episode: “Never donate cash, and always donate before you sell your assets, not after the sale.”
Listen and Learn More
Listen to the full episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Etdf5vnjFWQ
Learn more about the Vital Wealth Strategies Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@VitalStrategies
Learn more about UI Charitable: https://www.uicharitable.org
