Have you ever shopped for a birthday card for someone over 40? They tend to be comedic in nature, laughing about the realities of getting older. Forgetfulness, aging bones and muscles, greying or thinning hair, wrinkles. You can probably write the jokes yourself. It’s all meant laughingly, but there is a consistent, unfortunate theme. Getting older is not fun, and we don’t have a lot to look forward to.

Here at Anglicans for Life, we do a lot to address the issues of aging and dying. So rarely do I get to write about the benefits of aging, as most see it as a negative! Still, getting older, despite what the greeting card aisle will tell you, does have its benefits—and one of them happens to be financial.

When you are beginning to approach the end of life, financial goals change. No longer does the fear of financial insecurity during retirement hang over you. You are living it! For many people, loans and mortgages are things of the past. While medical needs may be changing, other expenses, such as vehicles and transport, are beginning to decrease. It’s a time when you can stop thinking of making enough money to live on and begin learning to live the best life with the money you have. This also creates a new opportunity for giving to organizations, ministries, and non-profits with goals that you value and support.

An excellent and easy example of giving during your Golden Years is through an individual retirement account (IRA). If you are 70 ½ or older and have an IRA, your minimum distribution can be re-directed to organizations, such as Anglicans for Life. When the distribution is made to a non-profit ministry, it is excluded from your gross income – providing you with a great tax benefit! Not only are you giving, but you are gaining twice the tax incentive to do so.

So, as you think about your year-end giving, please consider making a gift to Anglicans for Life from your IRA to reap important tax benefits—all the while helping to save preborn babies and their mothers from the devastating effects of abortion and to protect the elderly from having their deaths hastened.

Remember, gifts given from your IRA Minimum Distribution excludes them from your gross income, which means lower taxes for you. Your gift also counts as part of your required minimum distribution for 2018. This is an easy, convenient, and tax-beneficial way to make a gift from one of your major assets.

To qualify for these benefits in 2018:

• You must be 70 ½ or older at the time of your gift
• The gift must transfer directly from your IRA to the Pennsylvania Pro-Life Federation Education Fund
• Your gift must be received on or before December 31, 2018
• Your combined IRA gift(s) cannot exceed $100,000 per year

Seek your own legal and tax advice and instruct your IRA custodian to issue a check directly to the:

Anglicans for Life
405 Frederick Avenue
Sewickley, PA 15143

No, getting older is not always fun and does bring with it very real challenges. But as you approach the end of life, consider the ways that your increasing years of life can bring blessings to those who serve Life!

Written by Deacon Georgette Forney, AFL President