The Best Way for Retirees to Give to Charity

If charitable giving is a significant part of your retirement plans, you have a lot of options for making your contributions. You can donate cash directly, send appreciated stock to your charities of choice, or use a donor-advised fund to manage your contributions and distributions each year. While each has its pluses and minuses, the best option for many older retirees is a qualified charitable distribution from a traditional IRA.

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A qualified charitable distribution, or QCD, is a withdrawal from an IRA that's paid directly to a qualified charity. The account owner must be at least 70½ years old at the time the distribution is made (not merely turning 70½ that year).

Source Fool.com