Author Topic: Who is your DAF with?  (Read 3962 times)

I'm a red panda

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Who is your DAF with?
« on: May 01, 2018, 10:47:13 AM »
We currently have a DAF with Vanguard. We opened it with the minimum balance ($25k), and will likely not contribute again for a few years. I have some concern about their balance requirements (accounts with less than $15,000 are charged a $250 fee), and am looking to move it to TIAA, which does not seem to have this minimum balance requirement (we couldn't do that last year, as we were passed the deadline to transfer when we opened it last minute for tax benefits.)   However, I am having a hard time comparing fees. It seems like both Vanguard and TIAA charge a 0.6% administration fee, but TIAA does not have an "average investment fee" listed like Vanguard does- however, from my experience with my other accounts TIAA does have higher expense ratios than Vanguard. 

How did you decide who to invest your DAF with?

Would you keep this account with Vanguard and just limit grants to keep it above $15,000 until the market has some growth? Or would you move it to TIAA since this will never be a very large DAF?

ISawTheLight

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #1 on: May 01, 2018, 11:15:33 AM »
I set up my DAF with Schwab last November.  0.60% management fee, $100 minimum.  If the balance dips below $16,667 then I am paying more than 0.60%.  TIAA has the same fee structure.

My own research had narrowed the choices to Schwab and Fidelity, folks I know in the wealth management industry indicated that they preferred Schwab, so I went that direction.  I'm using the low cost index funds that Schwab has available (I think I am paying 0.05% or lower inside the mutual funds).

seattlecyclone

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #2 on: May 01, 2018, 11:27:17 AM »
We went with Vanguard. That's probably not a help to you because you're trying to get away from their DAF, but our reasoning is that this setup allows us to transfer shares to the DAF without any phone calls or snail mail, and that's worth quite a lot to me. Should the balance dip below the $15k threshold, we'd probably just donate the rest of it that year and be done with it.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #3 on: May 01, 2018, 11:34:51 AM »
I set up my DAF with Schwab last November.  0.60% management fee, $100 minimum.  If the balance dips below $16,667 then I am paying more than 0.60%.  TIAA has the same fee structure.

My own research had narrowed the choices to Schwab and Fidelity, folks I know in the wealth management industry indicated that they preferred Schwab, so I went that direction.  I'm using the low cost index funds that Schwab has available (I think I am paying 0.05% or lower inside the mutual funds).

This is helpful, I hadn't seen that TIAA charges a higher fee below $16,667.  That basically makes my issue with Vanguard moot.

HAPPYINAZ

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #4 on: May 01, 2018, 11:35:28 AM »
Have you considered not using a DAF but instead donating directly to whatever charity interests you?  You can get the same tax savings but save on fees.  Most charities can receive donated stock.  I was considering a DAF a couple years ago, but didn't like the fees, so I contacted the charities I would want to donate to and found out that they can indeed accept stock donations.  So now I just donate directly to the charity without fees.  I remember seeing an article awhile back that said that charities suffer because of Donor advised funds because people tend to hold the money longer in the fund rather than give it out immediately.  Giving a larger amount to a charity in one year rather than waiting and dolling it out in smaller increments can be a huge win for the charity and saves you money.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #5 on: May 01, 2018, 11:53:32 AM »
Have you considered not using a DAF but instead donating directly to whatever charity interests you?  You can get the same tax savings but save on fees.  Most charities can receive donated stock.  I was considering a DAF a couple years ago, but didn't like the fees, so I contacted the charities I would want to donate to and found out that they can indeed accept stock donations.  So now I just donate directly to the charity without fees.  I remember seeing an article awhile back that said that charities suffer because of Donor advised funds because people tend to hold the money longer in the fund rather than give it out immediately.  Giving a larger amount to a charity in one year rather than waiting and dolling it out in smaller increments can be a huge win for the charity and saves you money.

We used a DAF because we are unlikely to be itemizing most years with the new tax structure. We got significant tax savings by opening a DAF last year before the standard deduction changed.

I -DO- intend to hold the money in the fund rather than doling it out, as we want the market growth as part of our giving plan (I also like that the growth is now tax free), and the DAF was only set up for tax purposes.  If we did not have our DAF, we would still give the same amount to our charities each year, our charitable plans have not been altered by the DAF.  Vanguard does have a minimum $500 grant, to help charities save on administrative costs of smaller gifts.

MDM

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #6 on: May 01, 2018, 01:59:03 PM »

Xlar

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #7 on: May 01, 2018, 02:17:42 PM »
Ours is with Fidelity.

See also Donor advised fund - Bogleheads.

I also have mine with Fidelity. The lower minimums for both account balances and grants appealed the most. I don't believe that Fidelity charges any extra fees for accounts with low balances.

I'm a red panda

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #8 on: May 01, 2018, 02:20:34 PM »
Ours is with Fidelity.

See also Donor advised fund - Bogleheads.

Thanks- this is helpful.  Too bad TIAA isn't on the comparison table.

I need to check if my husband's 401k is with Fidelity. We have so many accounts (USAA, Vanguard, TIAA, 2 credit unions, wherever his 401k is, wherever his HSA is), I'm not sure I want to open yet another one... but that does look like what I'm looking for.

Edit: Grr TDAmeritrade and Prudential. So we don't have anything with Fidelity.

Rocketman

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #9 on: May 01, 2018, 04:52:46 PM »
I opened mine with Fidelity. Seemed to be the low cost option and lower giving amount.   

boarder42

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #10 on: May 01, 2018, 04:55:31 PM »
You can roll them over to anyone we started with vanguard but plan to roll to fidelity. Exp ratio is a bit higher but the lower limits and flexibility to give are better. We started with vanguard just bc of how late the tax law changed and we couldn't put our highest earned shares into fidelity by the end of the year. Fidelity said it's easy to roll between DAFs

boarder42

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #11 on: May 01, 2018, 04:56:48 PM »
Just do Fidelity look at the extra management as community service hours so you can keep more money in the hands of people who need it not the big banks

katsiki

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #12 on: May 01, 2018, 05:14:20 PM »
Fidelity here too.  Just setup in December so not a lot of experience...  Scheduled grants are easy with Fidelity.

Sarah Saverdink

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #13 on: May 01, 2018, 06:19:19 PM »
Another Fidelity DAF due to the lower minimum to open the account.

Dicey

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #14 on: May 17, 2018, 11:24:16 PM »
Yet another vote for Fidelity, based on advice from this site. I went with the lowest fee option available. I wanted to make a lump sum contribution, then mete it out over a few years. I figure over time, the market gains will outpace the fees. If the market dumps, I'll just hold off on contributions or give from other sources. I also have some appreciated stock I want to move into it, but the tax changes happened so fast, there wasn't time. I've used it once and it was easy.

honeyfill

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Re: Who is your DAF with?
« Reply #15 on: May 18, 2018, 11:38:11 AM »
We opened ours last year with Vanguard because we already have our accounts there. We procrastinated to the end of the year and wanted to make sure everthing transferred before Dec. 31 for the tax savings. Now that it is there, we find we dont like the 500$ minimum withdrawal limit.  We like to give lots of small donations to lots of different charities.  Sometime this year we will probably transfer the money to Fidelity.