HOUSEKEEPING
Make sure year-end donations go far
Charitable donations tend to pick up around the holidays and as the year comes to a close because many people participate in the season of giving, make donations in honor or memory of friends and associates, or simply want to want to maximize tax deductions before year’s end.
Just because you’re giving on a deadline doesn’t mean you should forgo smart advice on the subject. At , the “Holiday Giving Guide 2007” is a quick read that will help you avoid the traps that sometimes catch consumers.
A little research and some quick guidelines will ensure that your best intentions deliver maximum results; one key feature of the site is its highest- and lowest-rated charities, grouped by cause, a quick reference that is particularly handy for someone who knows the causes they want to support but who is not sure which agencies make the most of their donations.
SHORT COURSE
Safe harbor
In regulation, a safe harbor protects individuals or corporations from the legal consequences of certain activities they undertake. For example, a firm filing forecasts with the Securities and Exchange Commission has a safe harbor from individuals and businesses that use the forecast.
This means that if a brokerage firm relies on these forecasts, invests on them and then loses money, they have no recourse with the firm so long as the forecasts were prepared in good faith. Safe-harbor rules also apply to employers giving minimal advice on retirement savings, where the company can represent what a retirement-savings plan could grow to without guaranteeing returns or making promises for which it could be held liable.
