Welcome to PSA Thursday, a weekly bonus segment of the Affordable Care Podcast in which we

talk about how to manage money, work, and life in the special circumstances of the year

2020.

These PSA Thursday episodes are bare bones, stripped down versions of the podcast.

There's no intro music, no outro music, no ads.

They're typically much shorter shows, and we deep dive into one specific topic.

So last week, for example, we covered student loans and how the CARES Act, which was passed

at the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic, how the CARES Act impacts student loans.

So tune into last week's episode for that.

Today, we're going to be talking about donor-advised funds.

What are they?

What are the benefits to opening one?

And how would you go about opening one if you wanted to?

Let's begin.

A donor-advised fund is a charitable giving account.

Some people call it a philanthropic fund or a giving vehicle, but it is an account that

you open specifically for the purpose of giving the money inside of that account to charity.

So the money that is put inside of a donor-advised fund technically is no longer yours.

The minute that you put money inside of a donor-advised fund, that money now belongs to charity.

But you get to manage that money and grow that money.

You get to manage and grow the investments until you designate which specific nonprofits

you want that money to go to.

...