As I thought more about the importance of financial planning, especially for wealthier and retired people, I found myself eager to deliver this message and to ask you three basic questions:

Do you have a will?
If so, have you updated it during the past few years?
Have you left something for MICDS?

In my experience, I have found there are many of my friends who dearly love MICDS and want to support it. Many of them have assumed the only possible charitable gift is one made outright. While MICDS welcomes, encourages and, frankly, depends on outright gifts, all of us should realize there are many different ways to support the School. Putting MICDS in one's will through a bequest is a meaningful way to help the School further its mission and secure its long-term future.

A will is the most basic element of estate planning. It is very important for those of little means. But estate planning, which includes making a will, is critical for people of wealth if they would like most of their estate to go somewhere other than to the federal government in the form of estate taxes. Based on several surveys I have read, a majority of wealthy people do not know that federal estate taxes climb as high as 55 percent and that estate taxes are due as soon as nine months after death. Many of us with significant estates have "social capital," and we should make a conscious decision during our lifetime how we want this capital spent upon our death.

While reducing estate taxes is a wise financial decision, putting MICDS in one's will - as many already have - means that you are committing to helping a great school secure a promising future. If you haven't already, I invite you to include MICDS in your estate plans by establishing a bequest to the School. As the world grows even more complex, MICDS is one of the brightest hopes for the young people of the 21st century.

Sandy Galt '60 is past chairman of the Planned Giving Committee and a former member of the National Board of Visitors.


HAVE YOU INCLUDED MICDS IN YOUR ESTATE PLANS?

The Eliot & Thompson Society recognizes alumni, parents, grandparents and friends of MICDS who have made provisions for a planned gift to the School in one or more of the following ways:

A new or revised will directing a percentage or fixed amount as a gift to MICDS.

A gift naming the School as a beneficiary and/or owner in a new or existing life insurance policy.

An irrevocable or revocable trust, a life estate or other deferred gift agreement that gives all or a portion of its assets to MICDS.

For more information about planned giving, please contact Theresa Fleck, Director of Major and Planned Gifts, at 314-995-7425 or tfleck@micds.org.