Why I donate: reflections from an “early retiree”

This is my personal story of why I took The 🔶10% Pledge, committed to giving 80% of my net worth to charity upon my death, and founded Yield & Spread, a nonprofit that uses financial literacy as a superpower to help people give more.

A Defining Moment

Do you remember the Australian bushfires of 2019? It was right at the beginning of COVID, and I was reading the news way more than I normally do because, frankly, I didn’t have as much to do in lockdown. I kept scrolling through these devastating photos. Plenty of things in the world have tugged on my heartstrings, but for whatever reason, this just got to me. It’s one of the biggest wildlife disasters in history, and I was sitting in my boyfriend’s living room staring at a Red Cross donation page wondering:

How much should I donate?
If I donate now, will the money get there in time?
Will it actually help anyone?

And if I’m being really honest with you, the loudest question was: 

Do I even have enough money to donate?

This question of scarcity was especially ridiculous because I was already sitting on a million-dollar nest egg. I was someone who had been pursuing Financial Independence (FI) and had been saving well over 75% of my salary at this point. Rationally, of course I could donate. But emotionally? I was paralyzed. By guilt, by a lack of understanding of whether my money would even help, and by that scarcity mindset so many of us in the FI community know too well.

Do I have enough?
I’m not FI yet.
To give or not to give. And if to give, then where?

How did I get from this moment—frozen in front of a Red Cross page—to taking The 🔶 10% Pledge and committing 80% of my net worth to charity upon my death?

It happened once I had the time and space to think for myself. 

How Early Retirement Reframed My Understanding of Purpose

I’ve been an early retiree for nearly six years now. And I did all the things you dream about when you’re still grinding toward Financial Independence: I slept well, worked out, traveled, read everything I wanted, spent quality time with friends and family. Each day looked exactly the way I wanted.

But here’s the thing: none of that gave me a deeper sense of purpose. Not any more than the 12 years I spent in commercial real estate.

And so I found myself asking: 

What is the point of all this early retirement stuff? What am I striving for?

I felt privileged before FI, but I still “suffered” with everyone else: the annoying boss, the early alarm clock, the constant grind. But when I pulled the early-retirement trigger, the privilege of being able to do so hit me in a new way. I got to do this thing, retire early, while so many people still struggled.

It honestly overwhelmed me. 

And so I began to read more and dive deeper into new ways of thinking in order to find my purpose. And very surprisingly, I found a big part of that purpose in the book The Life You Can Save by Peter Singer.

Before FI, I believed investing was only for the super rich (which we know is not true). And before Singer’s book, I believed donating meaningful sums of money was also only for the rich. Sure, I gave here and there. To the Australian bushfires, to friends running marathons, to someone who asked for help on the street. But I didn’t have a systematic, intentional way of giving.

And when you don’t have a plan, of course you doubt yourself. 

This book changed that for me. It showed me that I could quite literally help save lives. And that’s what sealed the deal.

Building the habit

I had spent so many years practicing the fundamentals of FI (to save, to invest, and to build wealth) that it took time to unravel this scarcity mindset.

I started by giving small amounts regularly and monthly. I wanted to test my appetite for giving and my sense of financial security. I gave myself 6 months to deploy and then reflect on this strategy. 

Did I miss the money?
Did I feel like I was sacrificing? 

Was I putting myself or my family at risk? 

The overwhelming answer was, “No!” In fact, it brought me such a deep sense of joy to look at my finances each month and see that line item for donations grow over time! I was donating monthly, mainly in the form of appreciated stock from my investment account (I liked this option as it also helped me avoid capital gains tax, win-win!)

I then made a personal commitment to try doubling my donations each year, with the option to reassess based on how my investment portfolio was doing and my expected expenditure. This model worked well for me. Each year, my desire to give has intensified and I feel even more confident and so I kept with this commitment. It’s been 5 years since deploying this strategy. 

This past year, my family decided to hold our donation levels steady. We moved to a high-cost-of-living city, welcomed our first child, and started paying for daycare. Since our expenses jumped significantly, we pressed pause on the doubling challenge and gave ourselves more time to assess whether we still felt financially secure. And thanks to our system, we know exactly how and when to re-evaluate.

When all is said and done, it’s so obviously clear we have so much to give. In the six years since I stopped earning an active income, my investment portfolio is literally larger than it was when I left my job. And that includes all the donations I’ve made. 

I think 10% is truly just the beginning. And I’m excited by the prospect of making room to give more.