On the topic of charitable donations, I just set up a Fidelity Giving account as mentioned above (took 5 min) and am in the process of transferring some vested RSUs to it with the purpose of donating to one of the charities listed above (seems like it takes a few days). FYI, donating stock has 2 major tax wins 1. Donating stock allows you to avoid realizing the capital gain, and therefore the associated taxes. That is one win. 2. If you itemize your deductions you can claim deductions for charitable giving, regardless if it is cash or stock (or other things). If stock then the amount you report in your tax return is average of high & low price on the day of the transfer. This lowers your taxable income, and therefore total income tax. This is the second win.

Mazel tov! 🎉🎉

Does anyone know if there is anything halacically complicated about this? Say I need to give 10k in maaser. Can I just give 10k in rsus?

The logistics will be around the price fluctuation from when you initiate the transfer from when the DAF sells your shares in a few days

Is there an easy way to track that?

yes you can see what the contrib amount is on the activity for the account and just adjust your next contribution accordingly

Did a bit more research on this. The tax benefit for donating only applies to stocks with long terms capital gains. The short term gain story is more complicated but doesn't seem to yield any real benefit.

Very interesting!! didn't realize that probably worth it just to wait a few months then do it lol

Yes. Can't say I feel bad about donating to charity but I did miss out on a tax break.

you used a DAF?

Fidelity charitable account

gotcha so you still had to pay short term cap gains?

From what I'm reading you can only deduct the cost basis so yes I'll still have to pay the capital gains on it

I'm very surprised. Sorry that happened to you.