Ministries: Legacy Ministry

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The Legacy Ministry

Contact the Legacy Ministry at LegacyMinistry@st-andrew-umc.com.

Ministry Team/Standing Committee:  Legacy Ministry

Mission/Purpose Statement:

The purpose of this Committee is to provide educational programs, and offer individual appointments to the members of this congregation, to address the options which are available for gifting, and creating a financial legacy through the endowment fund of St. Andrew.

Primary Responsibilities/Activities:

1.         Meeting individually with members of the congregation to discuss their financial resources and possible gifting to St. Andrew.

2.         Provide educational, financial and retirement workshops for the congregation of St. Andrew and planning opportunities for church members and constituents for giving through wills, annuities, trusts, life insurance, memorials and various types of property.

3.         Provide ongoing support or services to the Pastoral Staff and Leadership as requested regarding estate planning, legacy planning, and or gifting/Endowment programs.

4.        Manage the permanent endowment fund for Saint Andrew UMC.

Members of Legacy Ministry, Standing Committee:
(click here for further bio information)

James McCallen, Chair, FSA, MAAA               Don Kelley, LlB
Benita Creacy, CFP                                         James LaFemina, FSA
Lorraine Dunn, CPA                                       Daneen Stang
Woodson Herring, JD, LLM                           Mike Welch

 

 

Programs, Seminars and Information

We continue to develop comprehensive programs on estate and financial planning issues, including asset preservation topics, such as identity theft and long term care,  as they affect your personal well being and life stewardship.

Calendar of our programs and other related activities (more detail):

                Financial Preparation for College – Sept. 20, 7:00pm, Benita Creacy

                A World View, An Economic Update During Uncertain Financial Times – Oct. 11, 7:00pm, Jerre Stead

                Year-End Planning for Your Income Tax Return – Nov. 9, 7:00pm, Scott Bell

                Estate Planning – the Basics – Jan. 20, 2011; 7:00pm, Don Kelley & Woody Herring

                Creating a Legacy for Your Favorite Ministry – Gifting “Outside the Box” – Feb. 17, 2011; 7:00pm, Panel

                Estate Planning – Beyond the Basics -- March 24, 2011; 7:00pm Don Kelley & Woody Herring

                Financial Choices That Matter the Most -- April 20, 2011: 7:00 to 8:30, James LaFemina

                As other programs sponsored by the Legacy Ministry are planned they will be described here.

Archive of articles prepared by Committee members for the St. Andrew Messenger, by title.

We encourage you to check out the web site of the United Methodist Foundation - Rocky Mountain Conference for their many available stewardship services.

 

 

Links to Internet Resources for your Personal Financial & Estate Planning

If you have any additional links to suggest please send your comments to LegacyMinistry@st-andrew-umc.com.

The IRS has created a very nicely done page entitled “IRS Offers Tips for Year-End Donations” at IRS Newsroom

UMC Resources

Rocky Mountain Conference, United Methodist Foundation – The Methodist Helping Methodist Fund, investments and loans.

Rocky Mountain Conference UM Foundation Planned Giving Site (all about planned giving and planned giving news)

Personal Financial Planning

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants 360 Degrees of Financial Literacy webpage that focuses on personal finance topics, including articles, calculators, and tools you can use to analyze a home purchase

Mymoney.gov is the website of the U.S. Financial Literacy and Education Commission with basic information for consumers on a variety of financial topics and including links to government online financial calculators.

MSN MoneyCentral has very useful personal financial management materials, including recommendations for the prevention of identity theft

Investing Basics – A short course in the basics of investments

TurboTax for the Web – Information on planning your income taxes, retirement and investments with basic income tax calculators

Identity Theft – From the Federal Trade Commission on how to protect yourself

Retirement, IRA, College and other Financial Planning calculators – online calculations

Calculators for Investments, Mortgages & Household Finance & Mortgage Info – From Mortgage-Calc.com

Home Refinancing Calculators – Various financing and refinancing options for your home

Canadian Living –  articles on personal financial planning, savings, scholarships, planning with spouses

Retirement Planning

IRA Questions and Answers – From the Internal Revenue Service

RothRetirement.com – provides a Roth FAQ and a series of brief videos explaining traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs, and the possibility of converting from a traditional IRA to a Roth IRA

Estate Planning

Revocable Living Trusts – Explanations and Analysis (informative materials from various organizations)

Wills, Why You Should Have One – from the American Bar Association

Protecting Your Property – American Bar Association; Wills, Powers of Attorney & Trusts

Videos for PBS produced by the American College of Trust and Estate Counsel – “Death and Taxes,” “Disability Strikes”,  “Life and Death Decisions” and "Tax Implications of Estate Planning"

Elder Resources

Colorado Long Term Care Partnership is a public/private group to enable the purchase of long term care insurance

The American College of Trust and Estate Counsel links to websites addressing advance directives, Medicare, dying and grief, retirement, information for caregivers, Medicaid, end of life issues and Social Security

 

 

Links to Information on Financial Matters for Youth

Gallo Consulting – Articles on family financial management and teaching life stewardship to children, by Jon & Eileen Gallo, authors of Silver Spoon Kids.

College Savings Plans Comparison – a chart from the Motley Fool Web site

College Savings Programs – Specific for Colorado residents (section 529 plans)

IRS Publication 970 – Tax Benefits for Education (requires Adobe Reader)

The Sallie Mae site – Preparing for college, selecting a college and information on obtaining and managing student loans.

Fastweb – A site for discovering available College Scholarships, from the Denver Post

Babymint and Upromise offer rebates on purchases made through various retailers and channels them into college savings programs, such as 529 plans or Coverdell accounts.

Youth and Money – Online financial game playing

 

 

Techniques of Giving

Ways to Give to Your Church’s Permanent Endowment Fund

In addition to annual pledges, many church members choose to provide lasting support for Saint Andrew United Methodist Church through a planned gift to our Permanent Endowment Fund.  Contributions to the Permanent Endowment Fund may be designed to match the congregant’s personal goals and help to support the church’s mission.  Such gifts may be made in any of the ways described below.  Income and gain from gifts to the Permanent Endowment Fund may be earmarked for a special purpose or may be given to the fund for application to the general purposes of the Church. 

The Permanent Endowment Fund will be professionally overseen.  You may direct how the income and gain on your contribution to the Fund will be applied and the initial value of your gift will be permanently maintained by the Fund.

Here are some ways you can make a planned gift to the Saint Andrew United Methodist Church Permanent Endowment Fund.

  1. GIFT OF CASH - Cash gifts may be deducted for one year, or over six years, up to 50% of your adjusted gross income.  Cash pledges may be given, and paid annually for a period of years.

  2. GIFTS OF SECURITIES - For giving stock or other publicly held securities Download the Document for Stock Transfer to St. Andrew.  Appreciated stock, held by you and/or your family for more than one year, makes an excellent gift to Saint Andrew.  You may avoid capital gain taxes and receive a charitable tax deduction of up to 30% of your adjusted gross income for the full market value of the stock when it is given.  As to securities with a built-in loss you may wish to sell it to realize the loss and give the proceeds to St. Andrew. 

  3. BEQUEST THROUGH YOUR WILL - Your last will and testament, or revocable living trust, is an excellent opportunity to make a lasting gift to Saint Andrew and remind your loved ones of your faith.  You may make a bequest to the Church by providing for a dollar amount, a legacy of specific property, a percentage of your estate, or the residue of your estate after specific legacies to family and others.  Such a legacy is deductible for estate tax purposes and may serve to reduce your estate tax.  A simple codicil to your will may be sufficient for this purpose without rewriting your entire will.

  4. CHARITABLE TRUSTS - You may create trusts with a prescribed amount payable to yourself during life, and with the principal thereafter going to Saint Andrew.  Or the reverse, with an annual payment to Saint Andrew, and the principal after a prescribed period returning to you or your heirs.  We will be glad to furnish you with more detailed information about such trusts, upon request.

  5. CHARITABLE GIFT ANNUITIES - You may purchase an annuity with a guaranteed fixed income payable to yourself during your lifetime, and with the remaining balance passing to Saint Andrew at your death.  Annuity rates are based on your age at the time of the purchase of the annuity.  Individuals age 50 and older may begin receiving payments immediately.  An immediate charitable income tax deduction is available for a portion of the cost of the annuity.  We will be also glad to furnish you with more detailed information regarding such annuities.

  6. GIFTS OF LIFE INSURANCE - Gifts of life insurance to Saint Andrew can be made either by designating the Church as a beneficiary of a life insurance policy, or by assigning ownership of a policy to the Saint Andrew Permanent Endowment Fund.  Beneficiary designations alone will produce no income tax deductions, but may remove the proceeds of the policy from estate taxation in your estate.  Assignment of a life policy having a current cash value may give you a current tax deduction for the cash value of the policy.  Annual charitable income tax deductions may be allowed for premium payments you make on a policy owned by the Church.

  7. RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS AND PENSION PLANS - Retirement plan assets may be subject to income and estate taxation levels that minimize their benefit to your heirs.  All, or a portion, of retirement plans, or IRAs, not required for the comfortable support of you or your loved ones, may be given to Saint Andrew with proper beneficiary designation and planning.  There are particular advantages to charitable gifts from retirement plans and IRAs for certain tax years under the Pension Protection Act of 2006 and later legislation.  Such distributions may be designated directly to Saint Andrew with no income tax cost to you.  Because of the income tax costs upon distributions from retirement plans a gift from such plans may be one of the lowest-cost ways to achieve your charitable giving goals.

  8. REAL ESTATE - For some individuals, a gift of land, such as farmland or a dwelling may be a preferred means of charitable giving.  You may receive an income tax deduction for the full market value, minimize capital gain taxes and remove the property from exposure to estate taxes.  One option is to make an outright gift of real estate and an interest in it, such as use of a house, for life.

 

These gifting possibilities are not the exclusive means of gifting to the Saint Andrew United Methodist Church Permanent Endowment Fund.  They may be combined in various forms and other means are available.  You will want to consult with your professional advisors as to the benefits of these plans, the tax consequences of the type of gift you are considering and how they can fit into your estate and financial planning.

Vehicles for St. Andrew

St. Andrew accepts donations of motor vehicles in cooperation with Vehicles for Charity. To donate a vehicle call Chuck Curtis at the church, email LegacyMinistry@st-andrew-umc.com or go the Vehicles for Charity web site, select “Donate a vehicle,” choose Colorado and then select “St. Andrew United Methodist Church.”  You will get a tax deduction and free removal of the vehicle.

For more information about the tax results of donating vehicles see IRS - Making A Car Donation  and the IRS Publication A Donor’s Guide to Car Donations.

Help St. Andrew!                         

Help Yourself!

Do you have a vehicle you no longer need?  Tired of the hassle of storing, selling or disposing of it yourself?  Why not donate your vehicle?  Now, through a partnership with Vehicles for Charity* you can help St. Andrew UMC and claim a tax deduction for yourself.

  • 60% of the net funds generated from the sale of your vehicle go to St. Andrew.
  • The fair market value of the vehicle or the gross proceeds of sale of it by St. Andrew (if the value is more than  $500), are tax deductible.
  • Cars, Trucks, Motorcycles, Boats, Recreational Vehicles, Campers and more can be donated.
  • Free Pickup at your home or office.

You can donate now!  Just call: 1-866-628-CARS (1-866-628-2277) or go to the web site:     http://www.vehiclesforcharity.org/index.html and select Colorado and St. Andrew United Methodist Church as the charity of choice.

If you have questions, email LegacyMinistry@st-andrew-umc.comor call the church office

Don’t Delay!! Do it today!!

*Vehicles for Charity is owned and operated by the Metropolitan Association of Retarded Citizens, a 501c(3) nonprofit organization formed in 1968 to support developmentally disabled individuals and their families.

 

 

Bios of Legacy Committee Members

James McCallen, Chair, FSA, MAAA, has been a St. Andrew member since 1982.  He has a financial background in life insurance and retirement savings products through his work experience as an actuary and CFO at Great-West Life.

Benita Creacy, CFP, is Vice President of the Financial Planning Institute and previously was a Director of Financial Aid and a Financial Aid Consultant for universities and colleges throughout the US.  She presents seminars about financial aid for college students

Lorraine Dunn, CPA

Woodson Herring, JD, LLM, has been a St. Andrew member since 1988 and is an attorney in private practice. He specializes in business, tax and estate planning, as well as estate and trust administration

Don Kelley, LlB, is a long time St. Andrew member and is a retired attorney who specialized in tax and trust and estate matters.

James LaFemina, FSA, is a St. Andrew member and is a financial professional with Prudential Financial where he works with families and business owners on retirement planning, wealth accumulation strategies, long term care and life insurance.

Daneen Stang , ex-officio member from Board of Trustees, has been a St. Andrew member since 2005.  She has a corporate background for two decades in group benefits, and additional experience with budgetary management sitting on non-profit boards.

Mike Welch

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