The Year I Received “Criss Cross Crash”
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The second video relates to the content below. Watch this video and read below for some 2026 charitable giving advice:
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The Year I Received “Criss Cross Crash”
As we approach the holidays and year end, I thought I would tell a story from Christmas. We didn’t get a ton of gifts for Christmas. I tended to get one, maybe two gifts under the tree from “Santa”. It was part of our simple life in the early 80s, some combination of living within very modest means and growing up in a household where material wealth wasn’t primary nor sought after.
Ironically, this might’ve made the gifts that much more memorable. One year I got a BB gun. I still have it and have fond memories of learning the safe way to shoot it, along with setting up pop cans for target practice. Another year I got a set of pencils, one for each NFL team, I believe that was for St Nick’s Day which is December 6.
One Christmas, in 1984 or so, I received the hot wheels toy Criss-Cross-Crash. It was a figure 8 track with a hand crank. In order to play, you set the hot wheels cars on the track and turned the hand crank. The crank stirred a wheel that would then shoot the cars around the track. They would criss, they would cross, and eventually they would crash into each other.
My brother Javan and I set it up at the bottom of the steps in the basement. This particular Christmas was like many others, we couldn’t wait to get up. We were up around 5 am and had that crank whirring quickly thereafter. We had the entire house awake by 6 am, and we played with that thing until my hand hurt from turning that crank.
Those simple Christmas mornings taught me that the best joy often comes from the energy we put into things — and that a little planning can make all the difference between a smooth ride and a crash.
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It’s that time of the year when it’s worth doing year end planning. This planning can include the job of giving along with tax-smart decisions that help you as the years pass. Here are a couple of options to consider:
Gifting - The IRS allows you the ability to gift money to anyone, whether its adult children, college students or young professionals, future heirs or elderly parents or relatives. You can give up to $19,000 in 2025 to any individual without even telling the IRS. And as a married couple, you can give $38,000. To be clear, you can give more than this without federal tax consequences in most instances, but you will have to file a form with your taxes if you exceed the $19,000/$38,000 threshold for any one individual. This type of gift can serve multiple purposes - there is the obvious excitement and satisfaction that comes from giving. In addition, if you have a significant estate, it can help gradually transfer wealth out of the estate to reduce future taxes.
Charitable Contributions: This is a more complicated section than usual. Less than 10% of tax returns itemize these days, making it much harder to benefit from charitable contributions. In fact, if you plan to give $2,000 or less, you would be better off waiting until January. That’s because a $2,000 “above the line” deduction returns in 2026 as a result of the “Big Beautiful Bill”.
If you are 70 ½ or older, you can give to charitable organizations directly from your IRA and completely avoid income tax on the amount of the donation up to $108,000 per individual. The term for this is a “Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD for short). This can have additional value if you are using your donation to satisfy your required minimum distribution from your IRA. Because an IRA distribution creates taxable income, utilizing the QCD may reduce Medicare surcharges, tax on Social Security benefits and income-based deduction phase-outs. Give us a call if you have any questions on this topic.
A final way you might make a charitable contribution is to give appreciated stock. If you give appreciated stock, you receive the full value of the stock as a contribution while avoiding the capital gains tax you would incur if you sold the stock on the market. This can be a great way to enjoy the satisfaction of financial generosity while realizing a tax benefit.
Roth IRAs: If you are considering contributing to a Roth IRA, the holidays are a good time to make that contribution. If you are under age 50 and meet the income threshold, you can add $7,000 to a Roth account. That number rises to $8,000 if you are 50+. The income limit for full contribution is $150,000 for single filers, $236,000 for those married filing jointly.
Backdoor Roth IRAs: If you are over the income limits, you might be able to do what’s called a “backdoor Roth” contribution. This is a 2-step process whereby you make a nondeductible contribution to a traditional IRA, then immediately convert the traditional IRA to a Roth IRA. The conversion must be reported to the IRS on a tax form. The only watch-out here is the complexity if you currently have a traditional IRA with a balance. In this case, the conversion will be partially taxable due to the pro-rata rule. If you have any questions, feel free to give us a call regarding Roth IRA’s or backdoor Roth IRA conversions.
So as you’re crissing and crossing the store parking lots this holiday season, take a moment to crank your energy in a direction that lasts.
Give with purpose.
Plan with intention.
And maybe — just maybe — avoid a few financial crashes along the way.
Jared
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