With the holiday season comes many gatherings around the table, time to unwind, and an opportunity to reflect. How did we spend our time and money this past year? Are we happy with it? What do we want to change moving forward?
At the end of the day, the heart of financial planning is about just that: uncovering what is most important to you and using your wealth to create a life of joy, connection, and freedom. Giving, whether financially or with your time, is one of the ways wealth enables you to live a meaningful life.
As we enter the final days of 2025, many of us are still considering year-end gifts, taking stock of the ways we gave this past year, and planning for the coming year. Let’s take a moment to consider how giving back with intention can take your gifting from a practical tax move to an experience that leaves a lasting impact on both you and those you serve.
Living Out Your Values Through Your Wealth
Whether you’re just starting to work charitable giving into your wealth plan or you’ve been giving for years, leaning into the “why” behind it all brings deeper purpose and alignment to your giving.
If family connection is a core value, your giving might support programs that strengthen households or provide for children in need. If education or equality matters deeply to you, your generosity might open doors for someone else’s future, whether by supporting a local scholarship fund or funding a mentorship program.
Your giving can stay closer to home, too. Helping your adult children buy their first home, supporting them through graduate school, or gifting to a family member in need are all powerful ways to live out your values through financial giving.
A Note on Tax-Smart Charitable Giving
While charitable giving begins with generosity, it can also support thoughtful tax planning. Strategies such as donating appreciated securities (to avoid capital gains), using a donor-advised fund (DAF) to “pre-fund” gifts in higher-income years, or making qualified charitable distributions (QCDs) from IRAs in retirement can help reduce taxable income while amplifying the impact of your gift. These are optional tools—not the reason we give—but meaningful ways to help your dollars go further.
For a deeper dive into how these strategies work, explore our blog on tax-efficient charitable giving.
At Wingate Wealth Advisors, we are strong believers in giving back to the community and seek to prioritize initiatives that are close to our team’s heart every year. View our 2025 community giving recap here.
The Gift of Time and Presence
Often, the greatest reward that wealth grants is time—time to do more of what you love and to be with those that matter most, whether that means traveling to see grandkids, diving deep into your favorite hobby, or taking a vacation with your spouse.
But giving some of that time away is also a form of wealth transfer.
For example, volunteering at a local charity is a direct and personal way to support the causes you care most about. As a bonus, volunteering is linked with many health benefits, including reduced mortality and increased physical functioning.¹ Similarly, mentoring a younger parent or younger adult following a career path similar to yours is a deeply impactful way to invest in someone’s growth and help them navigate the road you’ve walked.
In fact, some individuals may not realize the ways they are already giving back in this regard. If you are caring for an aging parent or babysitting your grandchildren, for example, you are providing an immense amount of value to those in your immediate circle.
The luxury of time is a direct financial benefit from years spent working hard and accumulating wealth over the course of your life. And so, if giving back with your time resonates with you, consider how you might be able to free up more of your time in the coming years. Downsizing, switching to a more flexible work schedule, or retiring early are all ways you can invest more time into the causes and people most important to you.
The Joy of Giving While Living
You may hope to leave financial gifts as part of your legacy to children, loved ones, or charitable causes. Legacy giving is indeed an incredible tool, allowing you to make a lasting impact after your lifetime.
But when possible, gifting some of your wealth now allows you to see the results during your lifetime, especially if your intended heirs are in a position where a timely gift could be helpful (say they’re buying a house or planning a wedding).
Whether it’s helping a family member achieve a milestone or supporting a charitable mission, the combination of present and future gifting allows you to see the difference your wealth can make, and strategic planning can help that impact extend further.
Just keep in mind, the IRS limits how much you may gift without incurring tax liability. In 2026, you may gift up to $19,000 per recipient before any reporting is required. If your gift exceeds this limit, you won’t necessarily owe tax, it simply means you must file a gift tax return to report the excess, which is then applied against your $15 million lifetime gift and estate exemption.²
These annual gifts, while often motivated by generosity, also serve as a simple but powerful estate-planning tool. Over time, regular gifting can help reduce the size of a taxable estate, allowing more of your wealth to reach the people or causes you care about.
There are some exceptions to the gifting exemption limit. For example, you can make payments directly to a medical facility or educational institution on someone’s behalf without impacting your gifting limits.
Reflect Before You Give
It can be easy to quickly incorporate giving into your wealth plan as a tax strategy without a second, deeper thought. When that happens, it’s easy to lose touch with the reason behind it all, so it’s important to ask ourselves: why are we giving?
Regularly reflecting on your evolving priorities can help ensure your giving stays aligned with what you truly care about, ultimately supporting a life of meaning, joy, and impact for both you and those you serve.
If you’d like to explore what gifting intentionally could look like for you, our team at Wingate Wealth Advisors can help you make a purposeful plan that supports both your values and your financial future. Contact us today to learn more.
Sources:
2 IRS
