One rule for life is, "We can do this the easy way or the hard way," and that's especially true of charitable planning.
Many clients want to be charitable, supporting worthy local causes. Many local charities seek to move donors out of their comfort zone of writing small checks to making larger gifts, often over time.
Life insurance and annuities can be part of the conversation.
Where does "we can do this the hard way or the easy way" fit in?
Some vehicles, like charitable gift annuities, meet the needs of both the charity and the donor, but they have a drawback: They sound complex. They need to be set up.
In other cases, a trust might be a good vehicle, but the client needs to bring an attorney into the picture. The outcome might be, "Maybe later." The project is shelved.
There are easier ways to bring life insurance and annuities into the charitable giving conversation. Familiarity with those ways could help a financial professional have intelligent, productive conversations with high-net-worth people.
Bringing insurance into the charitable giving conversation with your client opens the door to addressing their other insurance needs, and talking about these options with a local charity might lead to a future speaking engagement at their next donor event.
For five examples of relatively straightforward life- and annuity-based giving strategies, see the gallery accompanying this article.
Bryce Sanders, president of Perceptive Business Solutions Inc., has provided training for the financial services industry on high-net-worth client acquisition since 2001. He is the author of the book "Captivating the Wealthy Investor."
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