Advancing Your Purpose

If you have recently retired, you may still be figuring out the ideal balance of activities. If you have been retired for several years, you might still be trying to figure it out! Time and again, research shows us that finding purpose is an essential component of a happy and satisfying retirement. Consider the following:

• A large-scale, longitudinal study used data from 13,770 older adults, finding that those with a higher sense of purpose at baseline were significantly less likely to develop unhealthy behaviors.
• Other research used a nationally representative panel of over 8,000 American adults and determined that, contrary to some beliefs, retirement can actually increase a person’s sense of purpose.
• A cross-sectional study analyzed data from nearly 2,000 adults and found that sense of purpose was significantly associated with lower depression and anxiety in both retirees and non-retirees.

Indeed, retirement offers a unique opportunity for individuals to rediscover their sense of purpose beyond the confines of a traditional career. The East Tennessee Foundation’s team and charitable tools can play a pivotal role in this journey. Here’s how:

Check in on tax planning

For starters, the East Tennessee Foundation team can work with your tax advisors and you to be sure your charitable giving is reflected in your estate and financial plan to achieve the impact you are seeking. Among other issues, we will help your advisors and you explore whether itemizing your tax deductions in certain years might save you money. You can “bunch” charitable donations into your donor advised fund in higher income years to exceed the itemization threshold, then support your favorite causes steadily over time from that fund. If you are 70 ½ or older, we will also help evaluate whether tax free transfers directly from your IRA—up to $108,000 (in 2025)—to a designated, unrestricted, or field-of-interest fund at the East Tennessee Foundation would be an effective planning technique for your situation.

Involve the next generation

Many retirees have more time to include family members in their personal charitable giving activities. The East Tennessee Foundation team can work alongside you and your estate planning advisors to name children or grandchildren as advisors or successor advisors to your donor advised fund and invite them to participate in site visits and educational events. This is a great way to strengthen family bonds while building a legacy of generosity across generations. Our team can help you identify ways to include children and grandchildren in site visits to favorite charities and participate in education sessions about community needs and the nonprofits that are making a difference for people who live in our region.

Build a legacy

Many people update their estate plans just after they retire. As you work with your tax and estate planning advisors, consider incorporating a gift in your estate plan that will allow your charitable legacy to live on for generations. For example, many people name a fund at the East Tennessee Foundation as the beneficiary of their IRAs because of the significant tax advantages when compared to leaving the IRAs to heirs. Our staff is happy to work with your advisors and you to establish a special fund to receive assets from your estate, whether from an IRA or other type of estate gift. The fund can be structured as a permanent endowment to address the community’s greatest needs far into the future or even support the East Tennessee Foundation’s operations to ensure that philanthropy and stewardship continue to thrive for generations to come. You can also name your  donor advised fund as an estate beneficiary, and your children and grandchildren can serve as advisors to the fund so that they, in turn, can carry on the spirit of charitable giving in the family’s name.

We look forward to working with you throughout your retirement years to ensure that your community dreams are fulfilled through the power of charitable giving. Please reach out anytime.