What if charitable planning was about much more than simply helping a client make a donation?

For many financial and insurance advisors, charitable planning is still viewed as a conversation about writing a check to a charity at the end of the year.

But that perspective may cause advisors to overlook much larger planning conversations already sitting inside their existing client relationships.

On this episode of the Finance Leaders Podcast, Daniel Hanzelka sits down with John Frasier works with Legacy Tree Foundation, to explore how advisors can begin recognizing charitable planning opportunities involving taxes, appreciated assets, real estate, older annuities, wealth transfer, income, and legacy.

The conversation explores questions such as:

• Why should advisors pay more attention to charitable planning?

• Which clients and assets may signal a potential opportunity?

• Why can older non-qualified annuities create future planning challenges?

• What should advisors consider when a client owns appreciated real estate?

• How can a few additional questions uncover opportunities inside an existing book of business?

• Does an advisor need to become a charitable-planning expert before having these conversations?

• How can advisors work alongside specialists when more advanced opportunities arise?

One of the central ideas of the conversation is simple: Advisors do not need to know everything. They need to know their clients well enough to recognize when an opportunity may exist.

Sometimes that opportunity starts with charitable intent.

Other times it begins with an appreciated asset, an older annuity, a tax concern, an estate-planning question, or a client asking a much larger question: What do I ultimately want my wealth to accomplish?

For advisors looking to expand the conversations they are capable of having with clients, charitable planning may represent an area worth understanding.