October is an important point in the college football season. The excitement of the opening weekend has passed; teams have tested their strengths, and coaches are evaluating what is working and what adjustments are needed for the remainder of the season.
It is also a good time for families to pause and review their charitable game plan before the year-end.
For many families, college football is about more than the game. It is a tradition passed from one generation to the next—the same school colors, favorite team, treasured recipes, and Saturday rituals. Charitable giving can become a family tradition in much the same way.
Parents and grandparents often think carefully about the financial legacy they hope to leave. But a family legacy includes more than the assets transferred to the next generation. It also includes the values that shaped how those assets were earned, managed, and shared.
Start by discussing the causes that matter most to your family. Then review the gifts you have already made this year and consider what you would still like to accomplish. Are your contributions supporting the organizations most closely aligned with your values? Is there a cause you intended to support but have not yet addressed?
Children and grandchildren can also participate by researching charities or selecting an organization to receive part of the family’s charitable budget. These conversations can teach valuable lessons about money, gratitude, and responsibility.
Just as a midseason review can help a team finish strong, an October charitable review can help your family give more intentionally. As we continue through our Year of Abundance, now is the time to make thoughtful adjustments and carry your family’s tradition of generosity into the seasons ahead.
Postscript: I joined my first fantasy football league this fall. I had no idea what I was doing. I didn’t know any of the players. A lot of the teams have changed since I last watched the NFL in the 1990’s. I had to ask if a tight end played on offence or defense and what a target was. I was a bit of a mess. On my league’s zoom draft day, it was all happening so fast that I decided to reach out to the people I felt could help me the most: the internet. Yep, all those Monday morning quarterbacks who tweet, post, like and share their opinions about football are now the (un)willing content creators now collected into large language models (LLM) trained to predict data sequences from scraping the internet. And it worked! I’m currently in first place in my league. So, I thought I’d try it again with content shared about charitable giving and asked the LLM to produce a blog that encouraged an abundance mindset with a slant towards charitable giving and college football in October. And what you just read above is the result of that prompt. And my human eyes, my human intelligence, and my 32 years of practical industry experience agreed with it. I tell you this not only for honest transparency, but to also encourage you to have an honest conversation with your favorite chatbot about how you can incorporate planned giving into your family. To get out of your comfort zone and into the red zone of giving.
Kimberly Enders CFP®CPFA
CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER®
Enders Wealth Management
37800 Van Dyke Ave, Suite 125
Sterling Heights MI 48312
#kimenderscfp
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