The Jura family shares first-hand what they enjoy most about the Charitable Gift Annuity
Kathy and I hold lifelong beliefs in giving back to society. We both have made and continue to make contributions in time and money that will help people live better, fuller lives. While we have supported a number of organizations, our primary monetary contributions have been to the University of California.
These contributions stem from our long relationship with the University. My father was a professor of chemistry at UC Berkeley, and one of my brothers was a professor of astronomy at UCLA. Kathy is a graduate of UCLA, while I am a graduate of UC Davis.
Our past contributions to the University include the establishment of a scholarship fund at the UC Davis law school, donations to the building fund for the expansion of the building for the UC Davis School of Law, and contributions to a graduate fellowship fund in astronomy at UCLA named after my late brother.
We became interested in donating to UCI Health after I was diagnosed with prostate cancer and was treated at UCI Health. I subsequently was treated for another medical issue at UCI Health, as well. Based upon the quality of medical services that I received and conversations and contacts with the doctors who treated me, Kathy and I decided that it was appropriate to support the UCI Health system with donations to support prostate cancer research and to help other patients receive the same high level of care which I received.
It is important to us to make these contributions to support improvements in healthcare for Orange County residents. However, our financial resources are not unlimited, so we need to make certain that our contributions both benefit UCI Health and allow us to continue to meet our own financial needs. We decided on making a Charitable Gift Annuity ("CGA") to UCI Health because it meets both of our goals.
Before my retirement, I worked as a member of the retirement plan and 401(k) plan at my prior employer. In studying retirement issues in these positions I became convinced that Kathy and I were best served with a diversified retirement portfolio, including a certain amount of guaranteed income that would not depend upon fluctuations in the stock and/or bond market, or in changing interest rates.
Our Social Security payments are part of this guaranteed income. The CGA forms another part, since our lifelong income from the CGA is an obligation of the University of California. Upon our deaths the assets in the CGA will go to UCI Health to support its programs in men's health.
However, until that time when we both die, we receive a lifetime income from the CGA, which income is an obligation of the University. We expect the University to be around long after we have died, so the fact that the payment of the funds under the CGA are an obligation of the University gives us a great sense of security that the payments will be made during our lifetimes.
When we signed the agreements for the CGA, we received an immediate substantial charitable deduction for both our federal and state income taxes. The amount of that deduction varies and needs to be calculated separately for each annuity, so anyone considering such a CGA will need to get an individualized analysis of the amount of that deduction from the University, ahead of time. UCI was very supportive regarding this quote, and also in providing us with adequate documentation of the final charitable contribution and the back up actuarial contributions to support that income tax deduction. We knew ahead of time what our tax deduction would be, and we were provided with proper documentation to support that deduction for tax purposes.
Overall, we feel that our donations to UCI Health have been beneficial and meet our goals for charitable donations. The CGA, in particular, not only benefits UCI Health and the population that it serves, but also provides us with a degree of financial security that is important to us as we age.
