and now I am all in on the DAF's (Donor Advised Fund). So much better than the direct route to the donations in kind office IMO. I read an article recently that lots of rich folks are utilizing DAF's (where us Mormon's pay enough tithing that it isn't as necessary - more as a convenience).

For those that are still figuring out this tithing double pay, simply put (most significant test, but not only test) to the extent that your mortgage interest is much less than $14K annually, you may have a real opportunity to save some taxes. (hint - it has nothing to do with whether you can itemize every year - lots of people get diverted on that).

Funny - I have been asked about this so many times by my friends and others, I created an excel tool that calculates the savings. My born again buddy at work pays tithing, I used my little tool to prove the savings, and I just saved him a boatload of money on taxes. If your mortgage interest is more than $14K, there probably isn't a need to worry about it until you pay it down more. The tax law changes really create more incentives to not have mortgages in some cases.

Now there's some real value having me on your friends list 🙂