A Smart Way to Give

“Good Counsel really helped me when I was a kid,” says Ron Lara ’62. He struggled with academics in middle school, especially math. However, he was accepted into the first group of students to enter Our Lady of Good Counsel High School.

“One of the brothers took me aside and helped me to improve in math,” says Lara, who is grateful for the path this eventually led him down. He discovered he was actually quite adept in the subject, and after college, Lara even became a financial planner.

Recently, he used his expertise in the field to make a strategic planned gift to GC. It wasn’t purely an altruistic decision, he says.

“The main reason why I did this was to make money. I was selling my office building in Frisco, Colorado. Because I had the building for over 15 years, I had depreciated it. The capital gains tax is 25%. Plus then you have your state tax,” he explains. After local taxes, he would have experienced a deep cut into his profit on the sale.

Lara also had a substantial tax holding which, if he sold, would also have been heavily taxed.

Instead, Lara, whose specialty is in charitable trusts, transferred his holdings into an LLC. Then he donated the property and stocks into a charitable trust called a pooled income fund, which he donated to GC in his estate plan.

“I also get all of the income and short-term gains for $1.2 million in stocks for the rest of my life. Then, after I’m gone, GC gets a percentage of it.” — Ron Lara ’62

In total, he says he enjoyed about $500k in tax savings.

“I also get all of the income and short-term gains for $1.2 million in stocks for the rest of my life. Then, after I’m gone, GC gets a percentage of it,” he says.

Lara is happy he is able to give back to his alma mater, which helped him succeed early in life. He encourages other alumni who are selling their businesses to consider using a pooled income fund to give back to the school. It is a little-known option for charitable giving, even among financial experts, he says.

“If an alum is selling their business, they can do this and benefit the school,” Lara says. It will continue to benefit you, your spouse and even your children later, he adds. One can even designate art or other valuables as part of the fund.

“By putting the money in now, it benefits people tremendously over their lifetime, especially if they’re in a high tax bracket. There are alumni who can really use this, especially if they are selling rental real estate that has depreciated,” he says. “It is very beneficial.”

Please consult your tax advisor for details.