MtoM #253: A Dentist Acquires Enough to Run for Mayor and Finance 101: End of Year Giving

Summary

White Coat Investor Podcast: Milestones to Millionaire #253

Episode Title: A Dentist Acquires Enough to Run for Mayor and Finance 101: End of Year Giving
Date: December 15, 2025
Host: Dr. Jim Dahle
Guest: John, a General Dentist and Mayoral Candidate

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Overview

This episode highlights the story of John, a general dentist from Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, who has reached a financial milestone significant enough to give him the freedom (both in time and resources) to run for mayor in his city. Dr. Jim Dahle and John discuss the journey to Financial Independence (FI), the unique mix of wealth and fulfillment that comes from building a practice, the realities behind “having enough,” and the motivations for serving the community beyond medicine and dentistry. The episode concludes with Dr. Dahle’s timely “Finance 101” on charitable giving and key updates to the U.S. tax code regarding charitable deductions.

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Episode Sections & Key Points

1. Introduction & Guest Teaser

[00:00–03:02]

• Dr. Dahle introduces the White Coat Investor Champions program for medical/dental students.
• Teases a “unique milestone”—a guest currently running for mayor, linking financial independence with civic engagement.

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2. Meet John – The Dentist-Mayoral Candidate

[03:03–04:04]

• John introduces himself—17 years out of training, practicing general dentistry.
• Offers humorous clues about dentistry:
  • “We do microsurgical procedures a fraction of millimeters and hundreds or maybe thousands of nerve endings…almost always are done while patients are completely awake.” (John, 03:09)
  • “Often we hear the phrase from patients, ‘No offense, but I hate you. I mean, not you, but what you do.’ So I’m a general dentist." (John, 03:59)
• John underscores the challenges and humanity in dental work.

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3. Milestone Explained: “Enough to Run for Mayor”

[04:14–05:19]

• John originally applied to celebrate paying off student loans but was never selected.

• The real milestone: John now feels financially secure enough to run for mayor—affording the time and self-funding campaign, thus enabling him to pursue service without needing external donations or fearing loss of income.

  "Once you put yourself out there in the community and you're no longer the respected dentist, you're somebody who wants to move people's cheese…It takes some thought…it takes some prayer, and it takes some fortitude." (John, 04:37)

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4. What Does “Enough” Look Like?

[05:19–06:56]

• John’s definition: If he liquidated everything today, he could live off assets for life, possibly leaving a legacy as well.

• Location: Coeur d’Alene, Idaho—beautiful, four-season town, major employer is the local hospital, with recruitment for physicians and dentists ongoing.

  "If we were to sell everything, liquidate today, like, we could live off of our assets for the rest of our life and still probably be in a situation where we're giving things to our kids or charity." (John, 05:28)

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5. Financial Journey & Student Loan Humor

[06:56–08:10]

• John still has $6,000 in student loans at low interest (1.87%); keeps making payments.

• Attribution of holding onto the loan partly as a joke and out of inertia.

  “[Dave Ramsey] makes fun of people like me. They say you keep it around like it's your pet.” (John, 07:24)

  • Started in dental practice with father, initial salary ~$120k, now mid-six figures.
  • Consistent investing in real estate and practice ownership, careful financial management, and focus on setting incremental goals.

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6. The Hedonic Treadmill & Fulfillment

[08:10–10:30]

• Achievement satisfaction is fleeting—setting higher and higher goals doesn’t ultimately bring lasting happiness.
• Pivot in focus from monetary gains to “giving back”—engaging with city issues, impacting the city of Coeur d’Alene positively.

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7. Asset Allocation & The Anxiety of “Enough”

[11:05–13:07]

• John details his net worth:

  • 35% in dental practice
  • 35% in primary residence
  • 10% in retirement accounts
  • 15% in other real estate
  • 5% in cash

• Expresses lingering unease and risk associated with having a significant percentage tied up in illiquid or volatile assets.

  “Even though I feel like I'm in a position where I can take the foot off the gas, it still feels…a little bit risky.” (John, 11:41)

  • John’s retirement account just reached $1M at age 42.

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8. Motivation for Running for Mayor

[13:07–14:56]

• Inspired by the social division post-pandemic and his desire to bring non-partisan, service-based solutions.

• Belief that local civic work—public utilities, parks—should transcend political divides.

• John campaigns on not taking a salary as mayor while the city has a budget deficit, planning to donate it to first responders.

  “…as professionals, as healthcare providers, we never consider any details about patients…related to their political leanings…So as I consider, like a city that provides water, sewer, streets, first responders, those things are the same. There's not such a thing as a Republican street or a Democratic park.” (John, 13:34)

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9. The Trade-Offs of Public Service & Financial Independence

[14:56–16:27]

• Dr. Dahle relates with his own spouse’s service—a reminder that local civic duty is rarely financially motivating and often emotionally challenging; instead, it’s supported by personal financial well-being.

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10. Advice for Younger Colleagues & Aspiring Civic Leaders

[16:27–18:40]

• John’s success advice for dentists (also relevant to other high-earners):

  • Find a mentor.
  • Invest in continuing education—standards and patient care evolve rapidly.
  • Live like a student, minimize debt, and steadily invest.
  • Practice ownership is a proven path to wealth but is all-consuming (“you own a job that owns you”).
  • Diversify income streams if possible, but don’t feel the need to chase complex asset classes to become wealthy.

  “Once you buy a practice, you own a job that kind of owns you like you're a slave to your business.” (John, 18:17)

• Emphasizes that sticking to basic investing and saving principles is enough for most.

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11. Closing Interview – Congratulations & Takeaways

[18:40–19:02]

• Dr. Dahle thanks John for sharing his story, underlining the value in pursuing passions and community involvement once financial security is achieved.

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12. Finance 101: End of Year Charitable Giving (with Tax Law Updates)

[19:03–end (~23:48)]

Key 2025/2026 Charitable Deduction Changes

• “One Big Beautiful Bill” act introduces:
  1. Above-the-Line Charitable Deduction: Now permanent. $1,000 (single), $2,000 (other filers), in cash, not requiring itemization. Not for shares or via Donor Advised Funds (DAFs).
     • “You can still take the standard deduction and deduct another thousand to $2,000 in charitable giving…Has to be cash.” (Dr. Dahle, 19:22)
  2. New Peacetime Floor: Starting 2026, first 0.5% of AGI given is not deductible.
     • “If your AGI is $300,000…first $1,500 you give is not deductible.” (Dr. Dahle, 19:48)
  3. Deduction Cap for Top Bracket: Capped at 35% benefit (down from the highest marginal rate), further disincentivizing large charitable deductions for high earners.

Giving & Smart Tax Moves

• Strong encouragement to give in 2025, not 2026, if seeking maximum deduction.
• Endorsement of DAFs for recordkeeping, anonymity, and flexible timing—“super easy to give anonymously via a daf…You can delay the period of time between when you get the deduction and when the charity gets the money…” (Dr. Dahle, 20:24).
• Reminder: Charitable giving reduces taxes but is not a net profit tool (“don’t get confused about that point. This is not some sort of wealth building tip…”).
• Tax-loss harvesting for charitable giving with appreciated shares remains a highly recommended strategy.

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Notable Quotes

• “Once you put yourself out there in the community and you're no longer the respected dentist, you're somebody who wants to move people's cheese…It takes some thought…it takes some prayer, and it takes some fortitude.”
  — John, 04:37

• “If we were to sell everything, liquidate today, like, we could live off of our assets for the rest of our life and still probably be in a situation where we're giving things to our kids or charity.”
  — John, 05:28

• “Even though I feel like I'm in a position where I can take the foot off the gas, it still feels…a little bit risky.”
  — John, 11:41

• “…there's not such a thing as a Republican street or a Democratic park.”
  — John, 13:39

• “Once you buy a practice, you own a job that kind of owns you like you're a slave to your business.”
  — John, 18:17

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [03:03] John’s introduction (“Guess my profession!”)
• [04:14] Defining the milestone: “Enough to run for mayor.”
• [07:24] Discussion on still holding student loans (“Dave Ramsey makes fun of people like me…”)
• [11:05] Details on net worth breakdown & the anxiety of “enough”
• [13:34] Why run for mayor? Civic duty above politics
• [16:27] John’s advice for younger dentists and future civic leaders
• [19:03] Charitable giving segment: breaking down new tax law and charitable deduction strategy

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a compelling narrative of how financial security can pivot high-earners toward new forms of service—here, in the form of civic leadership. John’s candor about his wealth-building journey, practical advice for peers, and honest reflections about risk and fulfillment provide valuable lessons for those seeking both success and significance. Coupled with actionable year-end charitable giving guidance, this installment embodies the White Coat Investor ethos: enabling medical and dental professionals to take control of their money and lives—with real community impact.

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Transcript

[A]

This is the White Coat Investor podcast, Milestones to Millionaire. Celebrating stories of success along the journey to financial freedom. This is Milestones to millionaire podcast number 253. A dentist acquires enough to run for mayor. Resolve is the number one rated physician contract team, reviewing 1,000 plus physician contracts every year. They empower physicians with location specific compensation data, which leads to unparalleled leverage during the physician contract negotiation process. A physician contract lawyer is included and can negotiate on your behalf, alleviating the stress that can go along with reviewing complex legal terms. Flat rate pricing and flexible schedules are designed for a physician's schedule. Use code WHITECOAT10 for 10% off. Go to whitecoatinvestor.com Resolve all right, don't forget about our Champions program. This is for the medical and dental first year students out there. Other professions also welcome. Okay. We're trying to give away copies of the White Coat Investors Guide for students. It's really important to us to get this into the hands of people at the beginning of their career. And this is the best way we've been able to think of to do it. All you got to do to be a champion is go to whitecoatinvestor.com Champion, put in some information which is like your mailing address, so we can send you a box or two of books, one for everybody in your class. And you just gotta pass it out. That's it. That's the whole program. If you'll do that, we'll give you some swag. And more importantly, you're going to contribute to your classmates becoming financially literate. That's probably worth a couple million dollars a piece, right? So if you got 100 people in your class, we're talking about providing a $200 million value to your classmates. That's pretty awesome. Pretty awesome. You can do that just by signing [e-mail] Champion. You get one for yourself too. So it's a free book? Free book. All you gotta do is pass out some books. I should promise a free lunch. Medical students and dental students will do anything for a free lunch, but you know, it's basically the equivalent. It doesn't take much. Makes a big difference. Thank you for being willing to do it. Our deadline this year is February 15th. We just need time to be able to get these books out. Okay. We got a great interview today. It's a little bit unusual, right? We got somebody who's actually running for mayor right now. Well, running for mayor Wall, when we record this, the election's over by the time you hear this podcast? I don't know if our guest won the election or not as I record this, but, you know, it's pretty exciting stuff to be running for office. All right, let's get them on. Stick around. Afterward, we're going to talk a little bit about giving, charitable giving. Some of the changes in charitable giving, things you ought to know about charitable giving. It's the end of the year, tends to be when most charitable giving is done. So let's talk about it. Our guest today on the Milestones Millionaire podcast is John. John, welcome to the podcast.

[B]

Thanks. Thanks for having me.

[A]

Okay, tell us a little bit about yourself, how far you are out of school, what you do for a living, what part of the country you're in.

[B]

All right, I'm gonna make this a little bit fun. Okay. So I'm 17 years out of training, but my profession, I'm gonna give you some clues first. Okay. Then it's a little bit biased. But it's the most difficult profession. We do microsurgical procedures deal fractions of millimeters and hundreds or maybe thousands of nerve endings. The procedures almost always are done while patients are completely awake. Even though we discovered and introduced anesthesia, we have no physical or mental therapist that we routinely refer to for post treatment therapy or counseling. And our surgeries are best done in a dry environment, but it's almost always wet. I kind of like to use the analogy of we're like fixing a windshield. A little chip in a windshield while driving through the car wash. This one may give it away, may resonate with some of the listeners. Hopefully not. But often we hear the phrase from patients. No offense, but I hate you. I mean, not you, but what you do. So I'm a general dentist.

[A]

Yeah, yeah. Very, very well described as. Well, okay, tell us a little bit. This is a unique milestone in some ways. Tell us, tell us what we're celebrating today.

[B]

So I am celebrating a milestone. Well, okay, in full disclosure, I applied about one or two years ago. I applied to come on the podcast with the milestone of paying off my student loans, but you guys never called me, so I still haven't done it yet. But anyway, the milestone today that I'm celebrating is I have enough to run for mayor in my city. And, you know, that's kind of a weird, vague milestone. And we can talk about some other things, but, man, it's crazy. Once you put yourself out there in the community and you're no longer the respected dentist, you're somebody who wants to move people's cheese, and that definitely Took some thought, it took some prayer, and it takes some fortitude. So very cool.

[A]

So it's a financial podcast. We gotta talk about the finances behind it. What does enough to run for mayor look like? Are we talking about funding your campaign? Are we talking about about enough that you can cut back to part time and work as mayor as well, that you have time to campaign? Or what do you mean by you have enough to run for mayor?

[B]

Enough to run? I guess part of it is like, as I've listened to your podcast over the years and read some of the books you've talked about, like Die with Zero and even I've met with some financial advisors, which we could talk about later, too. But basically I kind of crunched some numbers and said, look, if I don't contribute any more to my retirement account, if we were to sell everything, liquidate today, like, we could live off of our assets for the rest of our life and still probably be in a situation where we're giving things to our kids or charity. So one question you didn't ask. What you usually do is what part of the country do I live in? And I'm totally happy to share that.

[A]

Sure, tell us about it.

[B]

Okay, so also another fun thing. Okay. It's a part of the country with four seasons. We have five skiing areas within an hour's drive. We have several lakes for water sports, mountains, hiking, biking trails. We even have a theme park. Maybe not as good as Disneyland, but it's pretty impressive. It draws people from several hours away. We have very few bugs in the summer. And we have a golf course with a famous floating green, meaning the green moves around. Okay, so this may give it away. And if it hasn't given away yet, the city is Coeur d', Alene, Idaho. And the reason I say that is because, well, for one, the largest employer in our city is the hospital, and the hospital is hiring. So some of your listeners may be looking to move, they may want to come here, but we do have a lot of good physicians and there's room for more. And also a little bit selfish, but I'm also recruiting for my dental practice, so.

[A]

Yeah, yeah, no surprise. Very, very cool. Well, you're going to be a good advocate for your town if you get elected as mayor. I can tell. All right, so let's talk a little bit about your financial life up to this point. You mentioned that you paid off student loans not too long ago.

[B]

No, I didn't pay them off.

[A]

Oh, you didn't pay them off?

[B]

No, I didn't. Because you didn't invite me on for that. I was waiting for you.

[A]

You gotta be kidding me. So you still have student loans because you didn't get invited onto the podcast?

[B]

Yep. Dave Ramsey, you know, he makes fun of people like me. They say you keep it around like it's your pet. And my wife is really annoyed, too. It's like $6,000 left payments, 300 bucks a month. It's 1.87% interest. I've made every payment, never missed a payment. I paid off all the high interest ones years ago, like you would probably encourage. When we were living like residents, I got rid of the high interest rate loans and we got it done. So still a little bit left.

[A]

So if I allow you to celebrate this milestone as well, will you write them a $6,000 check and be done with it?

[B]

Oh, man. Maybe it really is a pet student loan.

[A]

I think you like having it. Yeah.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

Okay, well, tell us about the rest of your financial.

[B]

So, I mean, graduating dental school, I came out with 300,000 in student loans. So we, yeah, whittled away at those. Started out making like a hundred, and I think in the first year, so I started practice with my dad, and he told me in dental school, like, hey, when you get done, you're gonna make like 120,000 a year in your first year, like, pretty much gear I can promise you. And I thought, wow, that's amazing. That's a lot of money. And it's, you know, gone up from there. It's probably gone into like the mid six figures over the years. But also been investing in, like, real estate. We've kept our. Our previous home. We try to own the real estate that our practices are in. So we've definitely been very blessed and kind of grateful to be able to be in a position where I feel like, okay, you know, it's interesting and you've probably felt this and some of your listeners have too, but you set these goals, like, hey, we want to get our business to do a million dollars a year or $2 million a year. And then when you get to 3 million, you want to get to 5 million. And every time we've hit some major goal, the satisfaction is just so temporary. Right. I think people call it the hedonic treadmill. And so, you know, reaching this point where it's like, well, if that's never the answer, what is? Like, how else can I give back? How else can I serve? And I've looked at many different things over the years, and this is kind of the latest one. That I've been engaged in city issues for 10 years and we thought, hey, let's see if we can make the city better by engaging that way. I see patients two days a week right now, and I have been for the last several years. And so I have time and I have enough money. I'm not taking donation. I didn't want to go around to my neighbors and say, hey, will you donate to my campaign? One thing my dad taught me early on is no matter how much money you make, even like when I came out of school with 300,000 in student loans and making 120, which is a terrible investment initially. Right. He said no matter how much money you make, you're always going to be a rich dentist. So, you know, keep that in mind. And so I've thought, well, as I go around doing this project that I'm doing right now, I'm not going to ask for people's money, I'm just going to pay for it myself and whatever happens, happens. And hopefully I can influence the community for better.

[A]

Yeah. The way I figure is everyone's going to assume you're a rich doc, so you might as well be a rich doc.

[B]

Right?

[A]

For sure. Okay, so we're really talking about post fi life here and how we decide how we're going to deal with this existential crisis of what we're going to do the rest of our lives. And your decision so far has been some part time work, which is very common among doctors that become fi, as well as a little bit of a stint into politics. So let's talk a little bit about, about what inspired you to spend some of your time and money in making change around you.

[B]

Sure, yeah, I'm happy to do that. One thing, like when you say post fi, like I will say, it doesn't feel like that. I don't, I don't feel like I'm there and maybe it never comes. But like for one thing, like for my net worth, probably 35% is in my dental practice and the other, another 35 is in my primary residence. 10% is in retirement accounts, which is, you know, not that much really, and 15% in other real estate and 5% in cash. So 70% is in one physical residence and one business. It feels to me, and maybe I'm just looking at it wrong, but I often feel like, man, that could disappear tomorrow. I don't know, my house could burn down. Insurance is never enough to rebuild a home exactly how it was. I don't know. I don't not, not to like be dismissive of your question, but I just wanted to throw that out there. Like, even though I feel like I'm in a position where I can take the foot off the gas, it still feels a little bit. A little bit risky. Yeah.

[A]

Define. Defining enough is a challenge for most people, and especially when that enough fluctuates in value, you know, like, like a closely held family or small business does. It's. It's a lot trickier, for sure. It feels a lot better for some reason when it's sitting in cash or, you know, some bond funds or some stock index funds. For sure, it feels easier to value, but the numbers are what the numbers are. And while your practice might not be that easy to sell, it's probably sellable, certainly, as real estate is.

[B]

Right? Yeah. So, I mean, when you talk about the numbers, like, for example, my 401k, I think this year we barely surpassed like a million dollars in our retirement accounts. And I'm 42, I'll be 43 in a couple weeks. So the way I look at it, if I don't touch it till age 75, like, that should be pretty big.

[A]

Yeah, it's going to, it's going to double four or five more times, probably.

[B]

Right. So it's like, okay, if that's really true and the markets don't, you know, whatever, World War 3 doesn't happen, America doesn't fall apart. And maybe this gets into your question, like, kind of what inspired me to run. Right. So ever since COVID was a big wedge for a lot of people. Right. Masking. No masking. Vaccines. No vaccines. Why are we taking our kids out of school? Why are we shutting them down? And in our community, it was really rough as well, and it's gotten a little bit better, but there's still a lot of division. And so as professionals, as healthcare providers, we never consider any details about patients or people that we treat that are related to their political leanings or their gender identity or their sexual orientation. We don't use those as a litmus test for how we treat people. And so as I consider, like a city that provides water, sewer, streets, first responders, those things are the same. Like, there's not, there's no such thing as a Republican street or a Democratic park. And so we need people, that good people to step forward and say, hey, guys, look, we need to get over our differences and let's, let's be informed as a community, let's be engaged as a community, and let's find solutions that work for everybody. So that's kind of the main impetus. And then I saw the city budget is out of balance the last two years. So that's something, you know, as a business owner, if there's no profit at the end of the year, guess who doesn't get paid? Me. Right. You. The white coat investor's not doing hot Jim doesn't get any money. I'm sure that's how it is. So. And as a mayor, I would do the same thing. Like I'm campaigning on. I'm not going to take the salary because we're in the red and let's donate that money to first responders.

[A]

Awesome. Well, that hits close to home. I've got a spouse that's also an elected politician doing something similar with the salary. And it's interesting, these issues out there, they need people to work on them and they've got to be people that have enough money that they can spend the time instead of earning a living working on these issues. Because for most people that go into these political positions, they're getting paid dramatically less. Even if they're taking the salary from the political position. It's not a profit move the vast majority of the time. Maybe if there's some real estate developer and they can influence the laws in that way or something. Maybe. But most of the time you're working on other issues. Like the big issue in the school district right now where Katie's on the school board is we lose about an elementary school worth of children every year. Right. They're just no longer in the district. People that have young families can't afford to buy houses in our district. So they don't. And of course that means fewer and fewer kids at the school. So eventually school's got to be closed and combined and nobody wants their neighborhood school closed and nobody wants it closed. It's a very divisive, very emotional issue to start talking about school closures. So she's dealing with lots of that right now. I don't envy you. If you get elected. Some of these other issues that are hot button issues for local people, it's challenging work, but it's work that somebody needs to do. And taking care of your finances can allow you to do it. So let's say there's somebody out there, maybe they're 10 years younger than you, they'd like to get into politics. What advice do you have for them on how they should be managing their financial lives now?

[B]

So, you know, I can't give great advice to physicians. You have many people who do that. Other high income Earners, it's tough for me, too. But for dentists specifically, I can give a lot of great advice. So, number one, you have to have a good mentor, whether it's somebody you're working with or somebody that you hire to be your mentor or coach. That is a good idea. Secondly, you have to continually invest in yourself, and that means continuing education. The requirements for dental school have changed dramatically since I graduated in 2008 until today, which is post Covid. And, you know, patient care has been different. We used to have live patient exams for people to pass their boards and become licensed in our country. Now it's all on mannequins and plastic teeth. And so the experience that people are getting right out of school is a little bit limited. So I'd say take as much continuing education as you can and then follow a lot of the principles that are being taught right here on the white coat Investor. You have to save. You have to live like a student and get out of debt as quickly as you can and, and invest, make smart investment decisions. A lot of people, and I know you've had some podcasts about become an owner, buy a practice, and that is a great way to wealth. However, for most, and I'm a little bit biased, right, because I have two partners in our dental practice and we have eight other dentists that work for us and we're recruiting. So obviously for me to say owning a practice is the best way to go is not. I can't really say that. But if you can invest in other sources of income, once you buy a practice, you own a job that kind of owns you like you're a slave to your business. That's kind of why so much of my net worth is tied up in the business, is I've just put money back in time, back in money back in time, back in. And I imagine that if I put the same amount of money and time into other investments like stocks and bonds, and it could be worth a lot more if I, you know, it's a little safer to invest in your own business. You're leveraging based on what you can do and what your partners can do. But, yeah, I don't know. I've never invested on options or things like that, so.

[A]

Well, it turns out you don't have to do that to become a very financially successful, you know, multimillionaire who's got enough money to run for mayor. So congratulations to you on your success. Thank you so much for being willing to come on the podcast, share your success with others to be able to inspire them to do the same, to chase their passions, to make a difference in the world around them. Thank you so much.

[B]

All right, thanks.

[A]

Okay. I hope you enjoyed that interview. He's apparently recruiting for people to join his practice and move to Coeur d' Alene and fix all the problems in Coeur d'. Alene. Coeur d' Alene is a nice place. I like Idaho. There's a lot of really cool stuff in Idaho, so I'm a big fan. And you know what? It's not a very expensive place either. So if you're looking for some geographic arbitrage, check out Coeur d'. Alene. We love Coeur d'. Alene. Coeur d' Alene's great. All right, enough about Coeur d'. Alene. Let's talk about charitable giving. Some changes this year. The one Big Beautiful Bill act had some changes. Basically three of them. Three big ones. One, there is a deduction you don't have to itemize for has now been made permanent for charitable donations. It's $1,000 if you're single, $2,000 if you're not single. People have been calling it an above the line deduction. It's technically not. It's below the line. But it does not require you to itemize on schedule A. So you can still take the standard deduction and deduct another thousand to $2,000 in charitable giving. Has to be cash. Can't be run through a daf. It's not donated shares. Right? This is just you give cash to charity and you get a deducted. Okay, so that's number one change. Number two and number three changes are not good for high earners and high givers. The first one kind of encourages low earners to give more money. The next two discourage high earners from giving money. The first one is there's a floor on your charitable giving deduction. The first 0.5% in your AGI that you give you cannot deduct on schedule a starting in 2026. Okay? So if your adjusted gross income is $300,000, that's the first $1500 you give is not deductible. So that's kind of lame, right? But that's the way it's going to work in 2026. The other change for those of you in the top tax bracket is you're not going to get deduction. You're going to get a 35% deduction. It's being limited, capped, whatever you want to call it at 35% of what you give. So what does that mean? That means if you want to give to charity, you want to support charity, you should give in 2025, not 2026. Now I know it's already mid December, you're running out of time, so you better hustle to start getting stuff done this week. I'm a big fan of using DAFs because even if you don't want the charity to get the money this month, you can still get the deduction this month. Now it's a little bit of a jerk move. Please don't just put money in a daft. Take the deduction, never give it to the charity. That's lame, but it can be helpful. It does a couple of things. One, it simplifies your record keeping dramatically. Two, it gets rid of charity porn in your mailbox. Charity porn is those glossy flyers that look like they cost $10 to produce. They start showing up in your mailbox. As soon as you give to one charity, you're getting it from 30 charities. So you can avoid all that by giving anonymously. It's super easy to give anonymously via a daf, a donor advised fund. So big fan of those. And you can delay the period of time between when you get the deduction and when the charity gets the money if that's important to you for some reason. Okay, so those are the kind of changes coming up now as far as giving, a lot of people like, oh, giving, I'm going to lower my taxes. Well, it's true you do lower your taxes by giving, but. But you don't come out ahead, right? You only get back some of what you gave away as a deduction. Right? So basically you get a third of it back. So if you give $100, you get $33 back. That's not a winning formula. Right? You're not coming out ahead by giving to charity. So give to charity because you want to give to charity, cause you want to support that cause. And you know, basically being able to get a deduction for it. Being able to give to charity with pre tax dollars just allows you to give more. So don't get confused about that point. This is not some sort of wealth building tip. This is helping you with the fifth of those money activities out there, right? Earning, saving, investing, spending, giving. They're all important to master in your life. Most of us are not good at all five of those. But if you're going to give, you might as well get a tax deduction for it. Unless your favorite charity is the US government. In that case, I guess just pay the taxes and you can skip the rest. But I hope that's helpful to you as you plan your year end giving. Lots of other cool giving tricks out there. Of course. One of my favorite is I do tax loss harvesting on a taxable account. So I grab the losses, then I flush the gains out by using them to donate appreciated shares instead of cash to charity. You can donate up to 30% of your AGI and take a deduction. Even if you donate more than that, you can carry it forward for five years. So that's a great move if you have a taxable account is never give cash again to charity. Give appreciated shares. It allows you to increase your basis so future tax bills, assuming you ever have to sell them before you die, are lower all right, our sponsor for this episode was Resolve, the number one rated physician contract team. They review 1,000 plus physician contracts every year and empower physicians with location specific compensation data, which leads to unparalleled leverage during the physician contract negotiation process. A physician contract lawyer is included and can negotiate it on your behalf, alleviating the stress that can go along with reviewing complex legal terms. Flat rate pricing and flexible schedules are designed for your schedule. Use code WHITECOAT10 for 10% off. Thanks for being a member of this community. Without you, there's no point to this podcast. If you want to come on the podcast, you can [e-mail] Milestones. We'd love to have you. 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