My new deadline: 20 years to give away virtually all my wealth

Post by swiftcoder » Thu, May 08, 2025, 3:21 PM UTC

philomath_mn wrote: post #93

Windchaser wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> So he’s going to selflessly donate it to himself to save himself from taxes? What a hero. You don't really "save yourself from taxes" by donating money to charity. Option A: sell stock for $100, pay taxes of $20, spend $80 on yourself Option B: donate stock of $100 to charity, and spend $0 on yourself Which of these options leaves Gates with more money in his pocket to spend on himself? Giving money away doesn't sa…

The exact same logic applies to any deductible expense, and yet people think they can buy a business vehicle "for free" because it is deductible. IDK why this is so hard to understand.

Post by vasco » Thu, May 08, 2025, 3:21 PM UTC

9rx wrote: post #100

Ozzie_osman wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For you (or other folks) working in tech and giving to charity, apart from corporate match, another couple pieces of advice are to consider a Donor Advised Fund. They are really easy to set up, and then you get some benefits, like the ability to "bunch" your donations (can help with tax deductions) or donate appreciated investments (like RSUs) without paying capital gains tax.

> without paying capital gains tax. It's a funny day when you're feeling charitable, but go out of your way to avoid helping the entity that should be the ideal charitable recipient.

Post by monooso » Thu, May 08, 2025, 3:22 PM UTC

willvarfar wrote: post #65

DavidSJ wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

MSFT is up 18x during that time and the S&P 500 is up 5x during that time. His investments are some mixture of MSFT and other things, so we might say he would have been up around 10x if he'd given no money away. Since his net worth is only up 3x, that means he gave away about 70% of his wealth.

He won't have given away 70% of his wealth. If he gave away a dollar at the beginning that is 10 dollars that dollar didn't turn into etc.

Post by nicce » Thu, May 08, 2025, 3:22 PM UTC

wincy wrote: post #95

BSOhealth wrote: post #79

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My guess would be, actually a very small number of people think he’s the antichrist. Why would anyone other than someone with decades of operating system passion even care who this guy is? They know he’s a rich guy. Big deal. I’d guess most people just live their lives and don’t care about Microsoft monopoly or FOSS or anything. The same can probably be said for his altruism—most people probably have no idea.

Huh? You must not hang around middle America, out here people act like Bill Gates wants to vaccinate all of Africa in order to sterilize them and also put microchips in your brain. I guarantee if I asked five random people on the street in Kansas about what they think of Bill Gates, half of them would say “oh right he’s like doing bad stuff with the Illuminati?” or something similar.

Post by [deleted] » Thu, May 08, 2025, 3:23 PM UTC

_bin_ wrote: post #88

wing-_-nuts wrote: post #39

His foundation really does seem to do a good job with 'effective altruism'. There's a reason they're marked as secondary beneficiaries on all my accounts. Also, as a recommendation, you guys should look into whether your employer matches charitable donations to 501Cs in any amount. I find giving a solid chunk of my discretionary budget to charity every year lends a sense of purpose to a job that wouldn't otherwise ha…

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