As we near the end of 2014, you may be thinking about how to maximize your tax savings while giving to your ministry of choice. If you normally give cash at the end of the year, you may want to consider transferring stock instead.
You will receive an income tax deduction that may help lower your 2014 tax bill. You may avoid capital gains taxes on the transfer, and you will help us end the year with a gift we can use equal to the full value of the stock.
Electronic transfers can be made into the Foundation’s main brokerage account from any account in the country by using the following instructions:
1. Ask your broker to send the designated stock to:
Electronic transfers can be made into the Foundation’s main brokerage account from any account in the country by using the following instructions:
1. Ask your broker to send the designated stock to:
| Church of the Nazarene Foundation Account #20378620 Robert W. Baird & Co. Incorporated DTC #0547 Contact: Tracy M. Raz at 866-792-9679 |
2. Give the Foundation the following information:
- Donor’s name
- Name of stock and number of shares being transferred
- Purpose for which the gift is to be used.
This notice may be mailed, faxed, or e-mailed to us at:
| Church of the Nazarene Foundation 17001 Prairie Star Parkway, Suite 200 Lenexa, KS 66220 Phone: 913.577.2983 Fax: 913.577.0898 E-mail: info@nazarenefoundation.org |
If you have any questions about giving stock, read the securities transfer instructions on our website, call us at 913.577.2983, or e-mail us at info@nazarenefoundation.org. To read about all of our services, visit www.NazareneFoundation.org.
| Blessings, Kenneth R. Roney, J.D. President |
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Bonds - Bond Yields Fall Slightly
CDs and Mortgages - Interest Rates Fall
 PERSONAL PLANNER
Living Trust vs. Wills
 Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis was diagnosed with cancer in January 1994. She signed a will in the New York offices of a large law firm on March 22, 1994. She passed away just two months later on May 19 at the age of 64.
Because a will is a public document, her will is available on the internet. In the will she remembered family members, several friends and planned to make a substantial transfer to a charitable lead trust. However, because the children received the family personal property and promptly sold the items for the unexpectedly large sum of $35,000,000, the residue of the estate was used to pay the estate taxes on this large transfer of value to children and the charitable trust was not funded.
Bing Crosby passed away on October 14, 1977, with a trust. When his first wife Dixie Lee passed away from cancer in 1952, she had a will that transferred her separate and community property. Bing Crosby was very upset that his financial circumstances were disclosed to the public through the probate process. After marrying his second wife Kathryn, Crosby created a number of trusts for the children from his first marriage, for Kathryn and for children from his second marriage. He greatly appreciated the privacy benefit of creating a living trust.
You may not have the fame of Jacqueline Onassis or the assets of Bing Crosby (along with Lawrence Welk and Bob Hope, he was one of the wealthiest actors at the time of his death), but you can learn from both of them in deciding whether or not to create a will or a living trust.
When Wills are a Good Choice
There are a number of reasons why a person frequently starts the estate planning process with a will. These include youth, cost, the estate size, the ability to transfer assets outside of probate and a hesitation to select a trustee.
Young and Healthy
If you are in your 30s or 40s and have good health, a will is the common starting point for estate planning. Your will is much more simple than a living trust. The property subject to a will goes through probate, but that could be many decades in the future.
As you acquire other property, it can be covered by your will. You can modify your will at any time, and you save the effort necessary to retitle and track property inside a living trust.
For a young person, the cost savings are significant. Wills frequently cost from $250 to $800, while a living trust may involve costs of $1,000 to $2,500. A young person may be reluctant to spend the funds necessary to create a living trust, but can start his or her estate plan quite reasonably with a will.
Modest or Moderate Estate
A second characteristic of people who choose a will is that they have a fairly modest or moderate estate. As the estate becomes larger and more complicated, a trust is more important. For individuals who have more moderate assets, the will is a good starting point. As the estate grows, they can use some of the increase in resources to add a living trust to their plan.
Using Transfer Methods that Avoid Probate
Another option is to create a will then transfer most assets without probate. Your IRA, qualified pension plan, life insurance and property held in joint tenancy with right of survivorship all avoid the probate process. For individuals who have a modest or moderate estate and are willing to transfer most assets through contract or property law methods that avoid probate, a will is a good solution.
Do Not Want to Select a Trustee
With a living trust, it is necessary to select a trustee to manage your property. This trustee frequently will end up managing your assets during the senior years of your life and after you pass away.
Some people do not like the concept of a trustee managing their property. They would rather own the property themselves outright during life and transfer the property outright to family members. For this person, a will is often a preferred planning method.
When a Living Trust is a Good Choice
For those individuals who can afford a living trust, it is a very good choice. The living trust facilitates management of property during life, protection of the grantor, transfer of assets and income to family members and management of real estate.
Senior Age Care
What if I become too ill to manage property? One of the concerns you may have is that you may eventually become a senior person with a major illness. For medical reasons, you may be unable to manage your property. A major benefit of a living trust is that you select a successor trustee. If you are no longer able to serve as trustee and manage the property, your successor trustee can manage your property. He or she can make certain that the expenses of your medical care or long-term care needs are covered through trust payments.
Larger Estate or Real Estate
If you have a more substantial estate, a living trust can have multiple benefits. The living trust may include various provisions for handling the management of real estate or personal business interests. Particularly if you have real estate in multiple states, it is advantageous to transfer that property to a living trust. This property can then be managed for the benefit of both you and your heirs.
If you have property in multiple states and pass away with a will, it is necessary to conduct a probate administration in each state where you own property. This entails hiring professionals to manage the probate in each estate and considerably increases the total cost. With a living trust holding real estate in different states, there is no need for multiple and expensive probate proceedings.
Bypassing Probate
One of the major benefits of a living trust is that the trust assets bypass the probate process. In most states, there are savings in probate costs that may be many thousands of dollars.
Not only are there savings in probate costs, but your estate may also avoid the delays that frequently occur in the probate process. If there are claims against the estate, the probate process can take from two to ten years. While some large estates have been tied up in probate for many years, other similarly sized estates with a living trust can continue to manage the property and pay income and principal to beneficiaries.
Privacy
As Bing Crosby discovered, a living trust is generally a private document. While wills are public documents (the will of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and many other famous individuals are readily available through internet search sites), a living trust is a private document. Even if a financial institution requests the trust in order to invest property owned by the trust, generally only a small portion of the trust is required to be disclosed to the institution. For most purposes the living trust is private.
Reduced Risk of Estate Contest
Larger estates are understandably more vulnerable to a probate contest. When the document and a large estate are public, as is the case with the will, the target is very tempting. Distant relatives come out of the woodwork to determine whether they have a potential claim against the estate.
One of the most disheartening aspects of a will contest is that there frequently are lifelong hard feelings among family members. In many cases, the bitterness from a will contest is carried by children, grandchildren, cousins, nephews and nieces to their grave.
A living trust is a private document. Because it is a private document and does not have to meet the specific standards for signature and witnesses that are applicable to a will, it is less likely to be attacked.
With a large estate, the living trust is generally safer. In addition, if a senior person needs someone to manage the estate, the successor trustee has been previously designated. The successor trustee frequently protects the senior person from potential undue influence of heirs or caregivers. Therefore, the living trust reduces the probability of an estate contest.
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SAVVY LIVING
Free and Low-Cost Legal Services that Help People in Need
 Where can someone turn for free or low-cost legal help? My sister needs some professional legal assistance but she doesn’t have a lot of money.
There are actually a number of free and low-cost legal resources available today, but what’s available will depend on where your sister lives, the type of legal assistance she needs and her financial situation. Here are several resources to check into.
Legal Aid: Directed by the Legal Services Corporation, legal aid offers free legal assistance to low-income people of all ages. Each community program will differ slightly in the services they offer and income qualifications. See lsc.gov/find-legal-aid to locate a program in your area.
Pro Bono Programs: Usually sponsored by state or local bar associations, these programs help low-income people find volunteer lawyers who are willing to handle their cases for free. You can look for a pro bono program through the American Bar Association at findlegalhelp.org or through lawhelp.org.
Senior Legal Hotlines: There are a number of states including the District of Columbia that offer senior legal hotlines, where persons over age 60 have access to free legal advice over the telephone. To find the states that offer this service and their toll free number, visit legalhotlines.org.
Senior Legal Services: Coordinated by the Administration on Aging, this service may offer free or low-cost legal advice, legal assistance or access to legal representation to people over the age of 60. Your Area Agency on Aging can tell you what’s available in your community. Call the Eldercare Locator at 800-677-1116 to get your local number.
National Disability Rights Network: This is a nonprofit membership organization that provides legal assistance to people with disabilities through their Protection and Advocacy System and Client Assistance Program. If your sister is disabled, she can visit ndrn.org to find help in her state.
Other Options
If your sister can’t get help from one of these programs or she finds that she isn’t eligible, another option is for her to contact her state or local bar association that may be able to refer her to a low-fee lawyer. Alternatively, she may want to consider hiring a lawyer for only part of the legal work and doing other parts herself. This is known as unbundled legal services.
Many bar associations offer public service-oriented lawyer referral services that will interview clients and help identify the problems a lawyer could help them with. If a lawyer can help with your sister’s problem, the service will provide her with a referral to a lawyer. If the problem does not require a lawyer, the service will provide information on other organizations that may be able to help. Most of these lawyer referral services conduct their interviews and make referrals over the phone.
To contact your state or local bar association, go to americanbar.org and type in “state and local bar associations” in the search field to find their state-by-state directory.
And finally, if your sister is an AARP member, one other discount resource that may be able to help her is AARP’s Legal Services Network from Allstate. This service provides members a free legal consultation (up to 45 minutes) with an attorney along with 20% discounts on other legal services persons may need. To locate a lawyer near you, call 866-330-0753.
Savvy Living is written by Jim Miller, a regular contributor to the NBC Today Show and author of "The Savvy Living” book. Any links in this article are offered as a service and there is no endorsement of any product. These articles are offered as a helpful and informative service to our friends and may not always reflect this organization’s official position on some topics. Jim invites you to send your senior questions to: Savvy Living, P.O. Box 5443, Norman, OK 73070.
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YOUR PLAN
Peace of Mind Gift Annuity
 When Fred and Grace Bertolet retired after years in the ministry, they wanted to continue to support the Church. At the same time, they wanted to be faithful with what God had given them for their retirement.
After much research, they decided on a Charitable Gift Annuity.
This gift option allowed the Bertolets to:
enjoy the security of regular, guaranteed income, even if interest rates drop;
reduce their taxes;
provide for the ministry of the Church after their death.
Fred and Grace were so pleased with the results of their first Charitable Gift Annuity that they established 10 more, with payout rates ranging from 7.7% to 11.0%. Even though Grace has since passed away, Fred will continue to receive income for the remainder of his life. With each annuity they were able to designate the ministries to receive funding after their deaths.
Charitable gift annuities have been a blessing to Fred and Grace Bertolet. They can be a blessing to you, too.
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WASHINGTON NEWS
Tax Extenders – One Year or Permanent?
 As the Thanksgiving holiday rapidly approaches, there are significant negotiations underway on the tax extenders bill.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) presented House Ways and Means Chair Dave Camp (R-MI) with the latest Democratic proposal.
Chairman Camp has openly stated that he would like to make permanent as many of the tax extender provisions as possible. Ways and Means Member David Reichert (R-WA) confirmed that point and noted, “We are looking at permanent extenders for all of the extenders that we passed from the House.”
The House has passed bills with six permanent business and charitable extenders. The business extenders include bonus depreciation, the research and development credit, Section 179 expensing and favorable provisions to minimize capital gain for Subchapter S corporations. The charitable provisions include the IRA charitable rollover, appreciated property gifts from Subchapter S corporations and gifts of apparently wholesome food.
Chairman Wyden presented a proposal to make permanent the enhancements for the earned income tax credit (EITC), the child credit and other tax extenders.
The final negotiations next week are likely to include the leaders of both parties. Senate Democratic Whip Richard Durbin (D-IL) stated, “I would like to see this resolved and make permanent some of these extenders, and I hope we are going to include in that discussion the EITC and childcare tax credit.” Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) told the media that he was open to some permanent extenders. Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) did not comment this week. However, he has previously supported the House bills with the 12 permanent provisions.
Both parties will attempt to reach an agreement during the week of November 24. If the agreement is reached by Thanksgiving, it will be presented to the House and Senate during the first week of December.
Editor’s Note: Senate and House members are showing a sense of urgency in moving forward. The fact that both parties are now proposing permanent status for some preferred tax extenders is quite positive. While Congressional agreement is never certain, the positions of both parties suggest that a compromise agreement on a number of permanent extenders is possible. The question for philanthropy is whether the IRA charitable rollover and other provisions will be passed permanently or for one or two years.
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 FINANCES | Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM) reported its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday, November 19. The report showed healthy earnings for the quarter. | Williams-Sonoma reported revenue of $1.14 billion for the quarter. This represents an increase over the same period last year when the company reported revenue of $1.05 billion. | “Solid performance across our brands allowed us to deliver these results with revenue growth of 8.7%, operating margin expansion, and earnings per share growth of 17.2%,” said Laura Alber, CEO of Williams-Sonoma. “These achievements reflect our product leadership, lifestyle merchandising, iconic brands and strong execution. We believe that this third quarter further demonstrates that our multi-channel model, with more than 51% revenues now coming from the e-commerce channel, represents a distinct competitive advantage. We continue to focus on serving our customers and investing for sustainable long-term growth.” | The company reported net earnings of $65.91 million. This represents an increase of 14.4% over the comparable period last year when Williams-Sonoma reported net earnings of $56.72 million. | Williams-Sonoma held free cooking technique classes during the month of November that focused on the Thanksgiving holiday. Past classes included information on planning the Thanksgiving menu, cooking the turkey and preparing side dishes. For those interested in learning about Thanksgiving desserts Williams-Sonoma is having a final free techniques class on Sunday and Monday November 23 and 24 at select stores. | Williams-Sonoma, Inc. (WSM) shares finished the week at $73.97, up 6.25% for the week. | Target Hits the Mark | Target Corporation (TGT) reported its latest quarterly earnings on Wednesday, November 19. The company’s earnings show a better-than-expected increase in sales. | Target reported net sales of $17.73 billion for the quarter. This represents an increase of 2.8% from the same period last year when the company reported net sales of $17.26 billion. | “We’re pleased with our third quarter financial results, which were driven by better-than-expected performance in our U.S. Segment,” said Brian Cornell, Chairman and CEO of Target. “We’re encouraged by the improving trend we’ve seen in our U.S. business throughout the year, and our fourth quarter plans are designed to sustain this momentum. In Canada, we’ve made improvements to our operations, pricing and assortment in time for the holiday season, and we’re eager to measure how our guests respond.” | The company reported quarterly net income of $352 million. This represents an increase of 3.1% from the same period last year when Target reported net income of $341 million. Earnings per share came in at $0.55 per share. | Target’s former CEO, Gregg Steinhafel, was replaced by Brian Cornell in July of this year after a serious security breach and a difficult rollout of Target stores in Canada. However, the company reported an unexpected sales increase this quarter driven by a 30% increase in online sales. This better-than-expected sales figure caused the price of Target stock to rise 7.4% after the earnings announcement. The increase in sales, though positive, is not Target’s main concern. Target’s main problem is a decline in store traffic. The number of shopper transactions in the U.S. has been declining for two consecutive years. “We need to get to a place where we continue to grow traffic in our stores,” Target CFO John Mulligan said. | Target Corporation (TGT) shares finished the week at $71.51, up 5.82% for the week. | Intuit Earnings Meet Expectations | Intuit, Inc. (INTU), provider of financial and management solutions, reported its latest quarterly earnings on Thursday, November 20. The company’s earnings were in line with the company’s expectations for the quarter. | Intuit reported quarterly revenue of $672 million. This represents a slight increase over the same period last year when the company reported total revenue of $622 million. | “We begin fiscal 2015 on a strong note,” said Brad Smith, Intuit’s President and CEO. “Our shift to the cloud continues to accelerate customer growth, led by QuickBooks Online. We’re also gearing up for tax season and are looking forward to our lineup of innovative solutions coming to market.” | The company reported a net loss of $84 million for the quarter. This represents a larger loss than was reported during the comparable period last year when the company reported a net loss of $11 million. | Just within the past few years, Intuit added online versions of its most popular software including QuickBooks and TurboTax. The total number of subscribers to Intuit’s online software has been increasing steadily. During the latest quarter the company added 56,000 new users. Much of Intuit’s future success will depend on the popularity of its cloud software offerings. | Intuit, Inc. (INTU) shares finished the week at $91.72, up 1.11% for the week. | The Dow started the week of 11/17 at 17,632 and closed at 17,810 on 11/21. The S&P 500 started the week at 2,038 and closed at 2,064. The NASDAQ started the week at 4,678 and closed at 4,713. | Treasury prices increased and yields fell this week on signs of weak economic growth in Europe and Asia. The growing unease abroad brought investor dollars to relatively high yield U.S. Government bonds. | The People’s Bank of China (PBOC) is lowering its one year deposit rate and one year lending rate from 3% and 6% to 2.75% and 5.6%, respectively. This comes as economic growth in China dropped to a five year low last quarter. Between June and October the PBOC has infused over $280 billion into China’s economy in its own attempt at quantitative easing. | The European Central Bank (ECB) is buying asset backed securities and covered bonds in an attempt to spur sluggish economic growth and raise inflation. The European Commission has said that it expects the economies in the 28-country European Union to grow at a pace of 0.8% in 2014. ECB President Mario Draghi has said that purchasing sovereign bonds is an option if growth continues to stagnate. | In addition to slowing growth in Europe and Asia, sovereign-bond yields in both France and Ireland hit record lows and the spread between U.S. Treasury yields and German bund yields widened to 1.55%. “If you look at the spread differential between 10-year bunds and Treasuries, we’ve gotten back to extreme levels,” said Larry Milstein, Managing Director of Government-Debt Trading at R.W. Pressprich & Co. “That’s really what’s pulling us lower in yield.” | This economic news abroad caused U.S. Treasury prices to rise and yields to fall. The 10-year yield fell two basis points to 2.32%. The 30-year yield declined two basis points to 3.03%. | The 10-year Treasury note yield finished the week of 11/17 at 2.32% while the 30-year Treasury note yield finished the week at 3.02%. |
The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.99% this week. This represents a decrease from last week when it averaged 4.01%. The 30-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 4.22% this time last year.
This week, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.17%. This represents a decrease from last week when it averaged 3.20%. One year ago, the 15-year fixed rate mortgage averaged 3.02%.
“Fixed mortgage rates were slightly down as housing starts decline 2.8% in October below the upwardly revised September rate,” said Frank Nothaft, Vice President and Chief Economist at Freddie Mac. “However, building permits increased 4.8% in October after a 2.8% boost a month earlier. Lastly, industrial production slipped by 0.1% in October, below the market consensus forecast.”
The money market fund finished the week of 11/17 at 0.4%. The 1-year CD finished at 0.7%.
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Are you a Nazarene Legacy Partner (NLP)? The answer is “YES” if you have designated any gift to a Nazarene ministry in your will, bequest, or estate plan. This could be a tithe on your estate, an insurance beneficiary designation to your local church, college, global mission, or any other Nazarene ministry you support.
Send us your name and contact information by reply email and indicate “I am a Nazarene Legacy Partner” and we will add your name to our NLP honor roll. To model generosity inspires others to do the same. Thank you for your interest in gift planning. To access any of this updated financial and gift planning information, please select our website.
Church of the Nazarene Foundation
17001 Prairie Star Parkway, Suite 200
Lenexa, Kansas 66220 United States
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