Charitable Gift Annuities

Although Bill Keagan and his sister, Lois, live in Las Vegas, they are not willing to take a gamble with what happens to their life savings once they have passed. The siblings, who are more like best friends, have no natural heirs and they knew they needed to figure out a game plan. After each making sizable profits on the sale of their homes in other states and seeing profitable returns on many stocks they owned, giving some of that money to charities felt like a logical choice. At the bowling alley Bill frequents weekly, his buddies asked why him and Lois were giving their money away. “We have the greatest faith in charities,” Bill said. “Why not give while we are alive and can see the impact we are making,” said Bill.

The siblings have given to many nonprofits over the years, but the American Heart Association is the first and only so far that they have supported through a Charitable Gift Annuity (CGA), a gift that provides fixed life-long income to individuals. As adults, Bill and Lois experienced heart disease directly as their father suffered multiple heart attacks and strokes before he eventually passed from a heart attack in his sleep. It was Lois who first began giving to the American Heart Association, feeling a natural connection to the mission, eventually getting Bill involved as well. Their support had been primarily through cash donations until Bill decided to cash in several stock accounts he held to create their CGAs. “We’re no longer on a budget,” Bill said of the payments they now receive from the CGAs. “We don’t have to worry as much about inflation, we live a comfortable lifestyle.” Thanks to the lifetime income that CGAs create, Bill and Lois know they will live the remainder of their lives not worrying about money, and with the satisfaction that they are making a difference for the causes they champion.