For Brad and Carrie Bertrand, being a part of the financial services industry is a family affair. Since 1998, the couple has owned Bertrand Retirement Solutions, LLC, a financial planning firm in south Oklahoma City helping clients with estate and retirement planning insurance solutions and retirement planning.

Brad spent 10 years in investment and commercial banking before opening the firm. His wife, Carrie, is a registered investment advisor as well as a former physics and chemistry teacher who is currently a stay-at-home mom and a home school educator.

With a devotion to give back and have a positive impact in their community, the couple established an advised fund at the Oklahoma City Community Foundation in December 2014. They did so with the intention of having their daughters, Elizabeth and Samri, involved in the process. The couple believes that involving their daughters early on will have a greater impact on their philanthropy in the future.

"Carrie and I want our giving to have lasting benefits," Brad explains. "We also want our daughters to be active in giving and supporting worthy causes."

With an advised fund, specifically a legacy fund like the couple established, the endowment is permanent and invested to allow for growth, supporting a donor's charitable interests forever. Legacy funds offer flexibility for donors to recommend grants to nonprofits as they see fit, and donors can name successor advisors, enabling the original donor's legacy to continue in perpetuity.

"My wife and I have been aware of the Oklahoma City Community Foundation for a number of years and we knew we wanted to support evangelical organizations in our community," says Brad. "The more we learned about advised funds the more convinced we became that this was the mechanism to use to support Christian causes in perpetuity. Setting up the fund was the perfect channel to accomplish our goals."

The Oklahoma City Community Foundation offers three types of advised funds that are designed to meet your clients' unique needs. Advised funds can be established with a gift of cash or other assets, allowing donors to focus on their giving while we handle all administration and reporting requirements. Learn more about the advised fund options we offer here or contact Joe Carter at 405/606-2914.

Charitable gift annuities (CGAs) can provide reliable, fixed payments to a single annuitant for life or two annuitants over their joint lives. Periodically, an annuitant will have a change of address and become difficult for the charity to locate. With a legal obligation to continue making CGA payments, learn what charities can do after a series of annuity payment checks have been returned as undeliverable.

Congress has designated the third week in October as National Estate Planning Awareness Week (October 17-23, 2016). Estate planning is one of the most overlooked areas of personal financial management.  An estimated 70 percent of Americans do not have an estate plan. The Oklahoma City Community Foundation works with attorneys, CPAs, financial planners, trust officers and other professional advisors to help facilitate their clients' charitable giving - including estate planning. Our knowledgeable staff can help you structure a giving plan that provides the maximum tax advantages and meets your clients' charitable and financial goals. Learn more.

   

Contact:
Joe Carter
Director, Donor Development and Planned Giving
j.carter@occf.org
405/606-2914

---