irrational comments on What's the right way to think about how much to give to charity? - Less Wrong

10 Post author: irrational 24 September 2014 09:42PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (72)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: banx 25 September 2014 01:09:35AM 7 points [-]

My temporary solution is to max out my employer's annual match. That the maximum match is somewhere between 10 and 15 percent of my income is very convenient, as that makes me feel like I'm contributing the "expected" amount for an EA (this feeling is only important for fuzzies) but still leaves me with what seems to be a good amount to save and spend. It also allows me to avoid committing an answer to the question of whether to donate now or invest and donate later. The guaranteed, almost-immediate, soon-to-expire 100% return provided by the match wins pretty clearly over the EV of investing and donating later, and since I feel like I'm donating enough for now, I can evaluate what to do with what's being invested later on, based on my wants and needs.

Comment author: irrational 25 September 2014 04:51:59PM 3 points [-]

That's a very useful point. I do have employer match and it is likely to be an inflection point for effectiveness of any money I give.