A charitable gift annuity provides income for the donor and benefit for the community

Jack and Sue Ritchie

Preparing for the future doesn’t always require innovation, but it does require smart planning.

That’s why Jack and Sue Ritchie of Salisbury are avid supporters of Planned Lifetime Assistance Network of Connecticut (PLAN), an organization that helps families ensure proper care of their loved ones with disabilities into the future.

In 2008, Jack and Sue created a designated fund at the Hartford Foundation for the benefit of PLAN.

“PLAN provides essential services into the future and must keep going during good economic years and bad,” said Jack. “To do so, it must build a reservoir, an endowment, which will help supplement gifts and fees from services, helping over the rough spots.”

In 2010, the Ritchies furthered their support of PLAN with some smart planning of their own. They established a charitable gift annuity, which will pay the Ritchies a fixed income for life, with the remainder adding to their designated fund.

“My wife and I are on in years and have been fortunate to have a modest nest egg. However, we need income for living, and that is what the annuity provides along with a good return, tax advantages, and eventual benefit to PLAN,” said Jack.

“Most of us, I think, want to believe we have made a difference in this world. A gift to a charity with a community purpose is one way, and also has some particular advantages to the giver.”

Innovative? Perhaps. Smart? Definitely.