How Can You Maximize Your Charitable Giving?

MARK RIEPE: If you’re like most people, you’ve probably imagined what it would be like to win the Powerball jackpot. It almost certainly won’t happen, but it’s fun to think about coming into a lot of money with very little investment or effort. Maybe you’d quit your job, pay off your debts, or buy a new home and car. Maybe you’d buy several houses and several cars. You might travel, start a business, or help someone else start a business. It’s natural to assume that winning the lottery would make us happier. But, as you may know, research shows that many lottery winners are not happy, and some find their lives ruined. Sometimes it’s because they spend all the money and even go into debt buying things that just don’t bring happiness and sometimes bring trouble.

This isn’t a new phenomenon. One study from over 40 years ago² asked recent lottery winners and people who were recently severely injured in accidents to rate the amount of pleasure they got from everyday activities. These are things like chatting with friends, eating breakfast, laughing at a joke, or receiving a compliment. The accident victims reported gaining more happiness from these simple activities than the lottery winners.

We’ve talked on past episodes about overconfidence, and in our last episode we talked about underconfidence. This over- and underestimation is at work here as well thanks to something called hedonic adaptation. One aspect of this phenomenon is that we overestimate how good something will make us feel. For example, buying material possessions. The reason is that we have a tendency to get used to the things that once made us happy.

We win a lot of money and buy stuff, but the thrill of winning and the new possessions lasts for a little while, but eventually fades. Hedonic adaptation works the other way as well. Humans tend to be more resilient than we think we are, and so we underestimate our ability to adapt to new circumstances and move on more rapidly than we might have imagined.

I’m Mark Riepe, and this is Financial Decoder, an original podcast from Charles Schwab. It’s a show about financial decisions and the cognitive and emotional biases that can cloud our judgment.

There’s a growing body of research that demonstrates that helping others can help improve our mood. Elizabeth Dunn is a professor of psychology at the University of British Columbia and co-author of the book Happy Money. She points out that one-third of the world’s population has given money to charity. Now, that’s not especially surprising to me. What is surprising is that people who gave to charity reported that in order to match the benefit of happiness of giving to charity, you would have to have about twice as much as your current income, no matter what your current income bracket is.³

Of course, we’re all different, and these are results averaged across many people.

So how can you increase the odds of generating that warm glow? Dunn suggests that you need to look for three things. The first is connection. It’s best to feel connected to the person or cause you’re helping. The second is impact. If you can see how your contribution is making a difference, then you’ll feel better about it. The third is choice. Giving needs to be something you want to do. It’s tough to feel great about giving if you feel like you’re being forced into it.^3,4

By the way, feeling happier after giving to others isn’t just a U.S. phenomenon. A Gallup poll found that in 135 countries, there’s a correlation between giving money to charity and increased happiness, no matter what the country’s economic situation or culture.⁵

One more thing before I get to my guest. Earlier I mentioned hedonic adaptation—our tendency to get used to things that used to make us happy, but that good feeling just fades away. In a 2018 study,⁶ researchers from the University of Chicago and Northwestern University found that when it comes to giving to others, hedonic adaptation either doesn’t apply at all or is much weaker.

As they said in the study, “The happiness we get from giving appears to sustain itself.”

In other words, while we get used to winning the lottery and the thrill of our new possessions, we don’t get used to the warm feelings we get from giving. They tend to linger for much longer.

By the time we publish this episode, it’ll be late November, and that’s the time of year we all get bombarded with requests for charitable contributions.

To help us make the most of those contributions I spoke with Sam Kang, president of Schwab Charitable. Prior to joining Schwab Charitable, he spent over 20 years at TD Ameritrade, where he held a variety of leadership roles. Sam holds the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® designation and is part of the executive leadership team for the American Heart Association in Tarrant County, Texas.

Welcome, Sam. Let’s start with the basics and maybe just start at the beginning. What are the different ways to give to charity?

SAM KANG: Yeah, thanks for having me, Mark. There are many ways to be charitable. Usually, it’s a combination of what we call the three Ts. That’s time, your talent, and your treasure—or, in other words, your money. Although the pandemic has really changed the nature of volunteering time and talent, Americans are more generous now more than ever. Donating money continues to be a popular way for donors to support their favorite causes. And when giving money to charity, donors can choose to give cash, usually by writing a check or even using their credit card. They can give non-cash assets such as stock or private business interests, also.

MARK: So let’s talk about both of those options for the method of giving, and why don’t we start out with cash. I think we’ve talked about on previous episodes about how when people, when making a decision, most of the time, they’re just going to default to the easiest choice. And it seems to me that when it comes to charitable giving, probably the easiest thing is just to write a check or use a credit card. What do people need to be thinking about when it comes to charitable giving using cash?

SAM: Yeah. Well, first of all, there’s nothing wrong with giving cash. In fact, the CARES Act offers additional tax benefits to donors who give cash this year. Several things to think about, though: The maximum deduction for cash donations in 2021 is 100% of your adjusted gross income. That is up from 60%. And anyone can deduct $300 in cash donations this year, and that’s whether you itemize or not.

With that said, while cash may be an easy choice, it’s not always the best option. Donors can enjoy that tax deduction for contributing cash or non-cash assets to charity if they itemize, but the Tax Code also provides extra benefit for those who contribute highly appreciated non-cash assets when they’re held for more than a year. Donating appreciated investments, such as, you know, publicly traded stocks or mutual funds, ETFs to a nonprofit, that could actually increase the amount available for the charity by up to 20%. And that’s because neither the donor or the charity has to pay that capital gains tax on that donated asset.

MARK: That’s a really important point. I want to explore that a little bit more in a second. But before we get to that, though, can you talk a little bit about where we are right now in terms of people responding to the COVID pandemic as we’re recording this? It’s been about a year and a half since this started. What’s the lay of the land right now?

SAM: Yeah, people are still giving very generously. For Schwab Charitable in 2021, our fiscal year ended here in June, and donors made 24% more grants and supported thousands of new charities. We see grants to organizations across all sectors, including public health, human services, and even for small-business assistance and supply delivery and logistics.

We’re also seeing an increase in the number of unrestricted grants that aren’t designated for a specific program or purpose. And what that means is it gives a charity more flexibility to perform critical services. We saw a nearly 50% increase in unrestricted grants this past fiscal year.

MARK: Those are pretty remarkable numbers, Sam. As we’re recording this, you mentioned earlier, capital gains taxes. As we’re recording this, U.S. stocks are near all-time highs. So many investors, if they’re … they’re going to have some gains if they sell, and they’re going to be taxed on those gains. So what could investors be doing right now to maximize their tax advantages?

SAM: That’s right. This time of year, many are rebalancing their investment portfolios and wanting to sell some shares of appreciated stock, or ETFs, or mutual funds. And if they donate shares to charity, including to charitable vehicles like the donor-advised fund, they can avoid paying capital gains taxes on the sale of those shares. If they itemize their deductions, they can also receive a current-year charitable tax deduction based on their fair market value of the assets. And if you do plan to donate non-cash assets, you know, it’s important to keep in mind that some of these deadlines fall in November.

MARK: Yeah, I think those deadlines are important. And I think it’s also important that I suspect most people think of charitable giving as kind of this once-a-year thing. And they just think about it within the confines of a particular calendar year. Is there a case to be made for multi-year tax planning? Can people benefit from, for example, grouping donations into a specific year?

SAM: Yeah, absolutely. So as we approach the end of the year, many investors work with their advisors to estimate what their current year tax bill may be. Some donors find that the total of their itemized deductions is near the level of that standard deduction. And they may have the option of what we call bunching this year’s charitable giving and next year’s into the 2021 tax year. So they can itemize all their deductions in 2021 and then take the standard deduction the following year. And this strategy actually produces a larger two-year tax deduction.

MARK: I want to go back to the point you raised earlier about rebalancing the portfolio. Are there other examples of maybe people looking at their portfolio and looking to kind of change direction to it? And can … in the process of reworking that, does that have any implications for charitable giving?

SAM: Yeah. So, you know, what we see is more and more investors are rebalancing their investments to align with their values. And we’ve seen some donors tie their realignment directly with their charitable goals. Generally, if you sell certain investments that don’t align with your values, you’re generating significant capital gains taxes. So rather than taking that tax hit, we’ve seen some investors actually donate their shares to charity or a charitable vehicle.

So, you know, as an example, one of our donors in California, she wanted her investment portfolio to really emphasize companies with women in leadership. And instead of selling the stock that didn’t meet that criteria, she transferred them into a donor-advised fund. And she didn’t have to pay the capital gains on the appreciated stock. And she used that charitable asset to make a 10-year commitment to support literacy for girls in Africa and Asia.

MARK: That’s a fantastic example, Sam. I mean, if you already own something that is not aligned with your values, then you sell it and you take a tax hit, it’s as if you’re getting penalized, you’re getting a double whammy. And making that donation, as you just described, that is a fantastic idea.

As you were talking about that particular cause of supporting financial literacy for girls, that’s a great cause. We just did an episode on that, I think our previous episode to this one. But there are so many different good causes out there. And I think we’ve all had examples of where we get all these different choices, and we start to suffer from some sort of a choice overload. We get paralyzed when it comes to making a decision, and we end up, frankly, not making any decision. We just avoid it. What are some of the ways to get past that paralysis, to get past that choice overload, and take some action?

SAM: Yeah, you’re right. With, you know, more than a million and a half charities in the U.S., people sometimes have decision paralysis of where to give. And generous people naturally respond to current events. So the pandemic is no exception. In 2020, it was a record year for giving overall. According to Giving USA, total charitable giving grew to more than $471 billion in 2020. Now, that’s the highest on record. For us at Schwab Charitable, the first half of 2020 was the most active six months since the founding of our charity, and giving continues to outpace previous records in 2021.

MARK: What happens when we get into a situation where maybe we’re overly influenced by the most recent event, and it doesn’t really tie back into the plan, our charitable plan, that you were describing earlier? What do we do about that?

SAM: So in our experience, those who take the time to plan giving can make sure they’re not only following what you call that recency bias, but we do have a lot of tools and resources on our website to help people create that giving strategy. And we see donors who have that plan can not only support those unexpected, immediate needs, but they can also continue to support their favorite causes over time. And that really helps people stay aligned with their priorities and values.

MARK: So we’ve talked about the importance of making a plan. Usually, we’re talking about, you know, in a financial planning context, or sometimes we talk about trading plans when we’re talking about topics related to more active trading of individual stocks. How do you go about planning when it comes to charitable giving? It seems like it’s a little bit of a different animal.

SAM: Well, we encourage donors and all investors to take the same thoughtful approach with charitable giving as they do the rest of their wealth management and planning. Many may think that the majority of giving in the U.S. comes from, you know, large foundations or corporations, but, in fact, individual giving represents 70% of total giving, and it actually grew faster than corporate giving last year.

So giving is a part of a household, and it could be planned just like, you know, you purchase a house, or you’re saving for your kids’ college, or even saving for retirement. You know, more and more, we’re seeing donors involve their families and, particularly, the next generation in their planning. And, you know, we’re coming into the holidays now. It’s a great time for families to do this together. In fact, in a recent study, we found that 80% of adult children give because their parents gave. It’s really a learned tradition and legacy.

So when you’re thinking about planning, it really starts by defining your charitable mission, setting the goal, both from how much you want to give, when to give, and to what causes. And to help donors think through those various decisions in creating that charitable plan, we recently released the Schwab Charitable Giving Guide this year. And what that is, it’s a comprehensive, interactive guide to help people create and manage a thoughtful giving plan. It helps donors to find their charitable mission. It creates a giving budget, and it also helps find charities that support their interest. So the guide could be also used with your financial advisor who can help you consider maybe any tax or investment implications.

MARK: I think the way you described it, it sounds … it’s actually not that much different from a financial plan. You know, what are your goals? What’s the process to achieve those goals? It’s just a matter of, in this case, talking about—what are your values? How can you express those values through charitable giving? Is that the essence of it?

SAM: Exactly. You know, much like a thoughtful investment strategy and asset allocation for your investment portfolio, a plan really helps investors stay on course and meet their financial objectives.

A charitable strategy and a cause allocation plan really empowers donors to do the same to meeting their charitable objectives. It gives them peace of mind, you know, to know who they want to support or what causes they want to support over time. And doing that in a most tax-effective way is, you know, something that I’m always worried about. It also gives an easy way to say no when you’re asked for donations that don’t necessarily appeal to your plan.

MARK: Yeah, that’s really an important point. We talked about giving cash. We talked about donating your appreciated stocks. One thing we haven’t talked about is bequeathing assets through wills and estate plans. We’ve done an episode on estate planning before. And one of the things that came out of that episode was a lot of people, they just don’t actually get around to creating a will or updating it because of, frankly, procrastination. And this always seems like something you can put off. What impact does procrastination have when it comes to estate planning and charitable giving?

SAM: Yeah, defining a legacy is an important part of charitable giving for many donors. You know, it is always surprising to hear about wealthy individuals who have passed away with no plan in place for their loved ones or favorite causes.

The legacy conversation, it’s about the future, but I would encourage donors to start thinking about that in the present. You know, it is a great way to connect even more deeply with your causes that you support and with your younger family members.

Also, the charitable exclusion is one reason formal planning is critical. What the charitable exclusion is, it’s an important part of our Tax Code that allows people to remove any assets given to charity from their taxable estate. So giving by bequest, you know, represents 10% of all giving last year. Any person whose estate will be subject to that estate tax upon their death, and if they don’t specify charitable beneficiaries as part of that estate plan, is basically choosing to pay taxes rather than give to their favorite charities. So if you don’t know whether this applies to you, be sure to consult with your tax or legal advisors.

MARK: Another tax-related strategy that I think is especially important for retired people are qualified charitable distributions. This applies, I think, to people who have individual retirement accounts or IRAs. How does that fit into the picture?

SAM: Yeah, so unlocking retirement assets for additional giving makes sense for a lot of donors. If you’re over 70½ or older, you can direct up to $100,000 per year, tax-free, from an IRA to any operating charity through what’s called a QCD, or a qualified charitable distribution. So by reducing the IRA balance, a QCD may also reduce the donor taxable income in future years. It could also lower the donor’s taxable estate. And, in addition, it limits the tax liability on the IRA beneficiaries.

MARK: Sam, let’s talk a little bit about private foundations. That’s a well-known method of giving to charity. What’s your assessment of that approach?

SAM: Yeah, so just like a donor-advised fund or charitable trust, private foundations allow people to contribute and give over time, but more so for wealthy individuals. Unlike donor-advised funds, private foundations can actually employ staff, including family members. And they can make grants to named individuals, for example, for travel or study. So because of these benefits, private foundations offer lower tax deductions than giving directly to a charity or to a donor-advised fund. They also carry legal set-up costs and annual administrative and tax-filing costs.

MARK: So the word that comes to mind when I hear “set-up costs, annual administrative and tax-filing costs” is overhead. Is this overhead pretty substantial?

SAM: Yes, so ongoing expenses can be substantial. Private foundations are generally recommended for those with millions of dollars in charitable assets, who often have more than one giving vehicle, though. So, in fact, donor-advised funds works well as a complement to a private foundation.

MARK: So let’s get into more depth on the donor-advised funds, since you mentioned that a couple times, and I’m not sure we’ve actually defined that. That’s probably the least well-known structure, but also one of the fastest growing. So what do people need to know?

SAM: Yeah, so that’s right, Mark. So there are now, actually, more than 800,000 donor-advised fund accounts, and that number is growing rapidly. And it’s because people love the tax-smart convenience and cost effectiveness. Seventy percent of our donors say that they give more to charities because of that donor-advised fund, so it’s a win for charities also.

You know, what a donor-advised fund … is very similar to a 529 or a 401(k) because they allow you to invest assets tax-free for a specific purpose. Unlike a retirement fund, you can’t withdraw the money. So once you contribute to your donor-advised fund, the fund does need to go to a charity. But we’ve seen great success where our donors gave $3.7 billion to charities just last year.

MARK: That’s an amazing amount of money. That’s got to be one of the largest charitable entities in the country, I would think. How does it work? What are the mechanics of a donor-advised fund?

SAM: Yeah, so a donor-advised fund, like Schwab Charitable, it’s a registered 501(c)(3). So it’s a public charity, and it carries many of the same tax benefits donors are used to with their traditional giving to charities. Donors can contribute cash or non-cash assets, or investments. And once you contribute those, you can then recommend grants to the charities of your choice. You can also then invest those charitable assets for potential growth, tax-free. So donor-advised funds really help people give more. It increases their giving power, and they’re able to grow the amount of their donations over time.

MARK: So if I’ve got an appreciated stock in my brokerage account, I can just move that over to the donor-advised fund. The donor-advised fund will go ahead and sell that, and then I can immediately disperse the assets, or if I haven’t quite decided what I want to do, I can just have it continue to be invested in the market. Is that basically what it comes down to?

SAM: Exactly. So after the contributions are liquidated, investors can recommend grants to any IRS-eligible charity of their choice at their convenience. The donor-advised fund providers handle all the due diligence and sends a charity a check, you know, along with a personalized grant letter. But any balance in the charitable account can also be invested for potential tax-free growth, which could grow over time, which means more money available to the charities. Here at Schwab Charitable, we offer a wide variety of low-cost index funds, as well as actively managed and socially responsible investment options, also. And our larger accounts can be professionally managed by an independent investment advisor.

MARK: So, clearly, these are growing in popularity, $3.7 billion just in the Schwab Charitable Fund … in grants, just in the Schwab Charitable Fund alone. What do you think … what do you think is attracting people? What is the … what are the advantages of this approach?

SAM: Yeah, so, obviously, in addition to the tax benefits and the increased giving power, donor-advised funds are really very simple and efficient. It allows the donors to manage their charitable giving right alongside their finances, and it offers the same digital experience that investors are used to. So, you know, donors can log in to their Schwab Charitable account. They see all of their giving history, their account balances, right next to their investment and banking accounts. And then even with just a … you know, a simple few clicks, donors can move assets from those investment and banking accounts right to their charitable account. We also offer a personalized annual report at tax time. So, you know, I’m sure you’ve been here before, where you’re having to collect all those receipts for giving. That eliminates all that, where that’s all in one report.

We hear from donors and advisors that donor-advised funds really help people give more and more often because it helps a donor really plan and fund charitable giving right alongside their financial goals. And I think, most importantly, donor-advised funds are a help to charities because they help to reduce their costs, and it really encourages a greater level of giving.

MARK: So, Sam, I want to tie this back to where we started, which is really about decision-making biases that people have. How does the donor-advised structure, how does that help mitigate some of the decision-making biases that we’ve discussed?

SAM: Yeah, so donor-advised funds make it much easier to donate more tax-advantaged appreciated assets and unlock their value for charitable good, mitigating that bias of defaulting to the easy choice of just giving cash or writing checks or even pulling out your credit card. The donor-advised funds also helps to combat both that procrastination and recency bias by providing a simple tool for investors to incorporate charitable planning into everyday financial planning. They can help create a proactive and a more thoughtful approach to charitable planning and legacy planning.

And, finally, I would say that donor-advised funds also help to compensate for what we call that loss-aversion bias, which can distract from strategic giving. And, you know, what we mean by that is, you know, by contributing money to a donor-advised fund, you’re separating that financial decision from the charitable decision. So once the money is in the account, it must go to a charity, so the decision on when, or where, or how much to grant, that becomes much easier.

MARK: Yeah, that’s one of the things I like most about it because it makes the task a little bit … seem a little bit less overwhelming because you can break it into these … break it into these discrete pieces.

We’ve got a lot of people who listen to the podcast. What’s the profile of the type of individual who benefits the most from a donor-advised fund?

SAM: Yeah, so donor-advised funds, it can be appropriate for anyone who gives to charity on a regular basis. Our donors live across the U.S., across all generations, you know, from the greatest generation to the millennials. And we see people pursuing a variety of philanthropic goals. And then we have accounts from a few hundred dollars to millions.

MARK: Giving … it’s a tool. It’s a tool to express yourself. It’s a tool to make a change in the world, hopefully, in a positive way. But like all tools, they can be used well, they can be used not so well. So what are some of the mistakes that people make when it comes to giving to charity?

SAM: Yeah, so when I think about mistakes, taking only a reactive approach instead of a more proactive and planned approach with your charitable giving, it could result in just a less efficient and less impactful, you know, philanthropy. So it’s important to make sure to utilize the education and resources that are available. Some donors try to go it alone and try to find a cause to support. But what we like to do is really encourage our donors to talk to friends and family and leverage the databases that are out there, such as Charity Navigator or Candid. There’s also lists available, or there’s recommendations. So, for example, Center of Disaster Philanthropy. And then, always, financial advisors can help you with just your overall planning.

MARK: Same question as before, but could you zero in on some of the mistakes that people make when it comes to donor-advised funds?

SAM: Yeah, so with donor-advised funds, specifically, tax laws can be tricky, so it’s important to pay attention to the details and consult with your tax advisor before making any moves. As an example, the tax benefit applied by the CARES Act, they don’t apply to donations to the donor-advised fund. So donations must go to working charities. If you’re a new donor, and you want to be eligible for the 2021 tax benefit, it’s also important to give yourself and your donor-advised fund provider enough time to establish your account and process the contribution before the year-end, especially if you’re planning on contributing a complex asset. We encourage anyone interested in that year-end contribution guideline to visit our website on SchwabCharitable.org.

MARK: By the time this episode airs, we will be in the thick of the holiday season, and some of those deadlines are coming up fast. So we really encourage people to get a move-on and start really thinking about this. Thanks for being here, Sam. Great information. Appreciate you coming by.

SAM: Great. Thank you.

MARK RIEPE: Sam made an important point about the CARES Act that deserves a fuller explanation. It includes tax incentives for charitable giving that apply through the end of 2021 and apply only to cash donations. For instance, if you’re an individual taking the standard deduction, you can claim an additional deduction of up to $300 for cash donations to charity. If you’re a married couple filing jointly, you can claim up to $600. If you itemize deductions, the rules are a little different—for one, you can elect a CARES Act deduction of 100% of your adjusted gross income deduction limit. If you’d like more information, visit SchwabCharitable.org.

Sam also made a point about how choice overload can be a real obstacle. It happens when we have too many choices and get overwhelmed as a result. It’s counterintuitive—it seems that the more choices we have, the better. But in fact, too many choices can sap our happiness and, in some situations, cause us to give up completely and walk away without choosing anything.

In a recent episode of Choiceology, Katy Milkman had an interesting look at choice overload. It’s season 6, episode 2, and it’s called “Spoiled for Choice.”⁷ You can find it at Schwab.com by searching for “Choiceology,” or wherever you listen to podcasts.

Katy’s guest, Barry Schwartz, discusses choice overload in terms of buying things, like jeans, where there’s a seemingly endless array of styles, colors, etc. But you can see how the concept of choice overload easily translates to selecting charities, where there’s an abundance of choices.

How do you decide which charities to donate to? A good place to start is the list I provided at the beginning. People tend to be happier when they gave to charities whose missions they connect with. You also might be happier donating to organizations where you can see the impact your contribution makes.

Whatever charity you end up selecting, don’t forget that a donor-advised fund can help you maximize your impact. If you don’t have one already, you can go to SchwabCharitable.org to get started. Schwab Charitable also has a great podcast called Giving with Impact that covers many of the topics Sam discussed and others in greater detail. You can give it a listen and subscribe in your podcasting app of choice—just search for Giving with Impact—or you can visit SchwabCharitable.org/ImpactPodcast.

So if you want to feel a little bit happier this holiday season, don’t bother fantasizing about the Powerball jackpot. Instead, pick a charity you believe in and use one of the giving strategies we covered here today to truly make a difference.

If you’ve enjoyed the show, please leave us a rating or review on Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening.

For important disclosures, see the show notes and Schwab.com/FinancialDecoder.

¹ Landau, Elizabeth, “Winning the Lottery: Does It Guarantee Happiness?” CNN.com, January 7, 2011 http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/01/07/lottery.winning.psychology/index.html

² Brickman, P., Coates, D. & Janoff-Bulman, R. (1978). Lottery winners and accident victims: Is happiness relative? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 36(8), 917-927.

https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2F0022-3514.36.8.917

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/22451114_Lottery_Winners_and_Accident_Victims_Is_Happiness_Relative

³ Isenberg, Sofie, “Want to Feel Happier? Science Says Try Being More Generous,” wbur.org, July 20, 2020 https://www.wbur.org/kindworld/2020/07/28/dunn-interview

⁴ Dunn, Elizabeth, “Helping Others Makes Us Happier – But It Matters How We Do It,” TED, April 2019
https://www.ted.com/talks/elizabeth_dunn_helping_others_makes_us_happier_but_it_matters_how_we_do_it/footnotes?referrer=playlist-curator_s_picks_top_10_ted_talks_of_2019

⁵ Norton, Michael, “How to Buy Happiness,” TED, April 24, 2012, https://www.ted.com/talks/michael_norton_how_to_buy_happiness?language=en#t2319

⁶ O’Brien, Ed, and Kassirer, Samantha, “People Are Slow to Adapt to the Warm Glow of Giving,” Psychological Science, December, 2018
People Are Slow to Adapt to the Warm Glow of Giving - Ed O’Brien, Samantha Kassirer, 2019 (sagepub.com)

⁷ Choiceology with Katy Milkman, Season 6, Episode 2, “Spoiled for Choice”
https://www.schwab.com/resource-center/insights/content/choiceology-season-6-episode-2