‘I give away half to three-quarters of my income every year’

[EMJ]

"Allan Saldanha, 41, on how he achieved financial security and now hopes to help save lives

I plan to donate at least 75% of my income for the remainder of my career. As long as the kids are provided for, I intend to give away most of my savings and my investments. Even if I do have financial security now and could retire, I still plan to continue working so I can help others. I won’t work myself into an early grave but my career and salary gives me an opportunity to potentially save more than 1,000 lives."
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/ ... every-year

[fiby41]

He is already fiby41!

[Seppia]

What a great human being. It reminds me I really need to up my game in terms of donating more.

[Jason]

I would think anyone being helped through his donations to Sightsavers and then being shown a picture of that room he's standing in would have mixed feelings on the matter.

[7Wannabe5]

Guy who knows what to do second, after putting on own oxygen mask first.

[unemployable]

His wife gives away 75% too, I'm sure.

[Smashter]

That was a nice story. I haven't committed to giving any of my income away yet, but I do love following the folks at 80,000 Hours, a project started by people affiliated with Giving What We Can. They help people figure out what to do with their careers in order to have a high impact. They have an awesome podcast. The host is sharp, and all the eps are 2-3 hours and go deep into complex topics.

[Jason]

I don't know. He's posing in two pictures, both times sans happy family in tow despite one being taken in his home. Maybe it's a cultural thing or a privacy issue but I just see a high earning guy bringing attention upon himself about how much money he gives away and how everything is just fucking honky dory on the home front. I could see this going MMM, Brexit style. OK, dad is a helping blind people but does that mean I have to sacrifice my perfectly good eyesight by staring at a ridiculous painting of fucking elephants all day. Maybe he's a really nice guy with critically bad taste but to me, there's something assholish about this. Charity starts at home. And if it doesn't, its better done without drawing attention to yourself. George Steinbrenner was the biggest attention whore on the planet except when it came to his extensive charitable contributions.

[Optimal_Solution]

Wow, you guys are critical. Give him the benefit of the doubt.

The dude is giving up a lot of money that very few people could bear to part with. I consider doing this when I'm FI, but I don't know if I could stay motivated to work.

Maybe he consented to being featured in an article because he believes in the cause. It might not just be ego stroking.

[Quadalupe]

Exactly! This blends in quite nicely with the "money is a solved problem" thread. And even if he's just doing it for the attention, I'm sure the people he has helped don't mind. Action speaks louder than words. In this case, he is doing both.

[jacob]

@Jason - Having seen this many times, the more likely process is/was that some journalist was looking for a story about regular people who give away large amounts of money. So they start asking around if someone knows someone. You've even seen how this works in this forum from time to time. One or more persons who think they have an interesting story or who think they can inspire others or for whatever reason volunteers for an interview. This is typically a phone or skype conversation that lasts 30 minutes in which the interviewee fills in the details of a narrative that the journalist has already decided on in advance. Sometimes the interviewee gets to correct misleading statements or fact check the article before it comes out, sometimes not. It's about 50/50. If you're really lucky, like 10/90, the journalist will become enlightened and change their narrative. Shortly before publication the interviewee will get an "Oh, by the way, we need a couple of pictures of you. Nothing special. You can use your smartphone. Could you send some over?"

The photo stuff is an entirely separate process. Even if you're a writer and the journalist is a writer, neither of you might think much about that aspect of the story. It's just filler. One level above a stock-photo.

Unless you've thought deeply about visual framing---like maybe you're a photographer or an instagrammer (is that what it's called?)---it's perfectly plausible that you'll send a professional jpg you already have and then ask the wife to take one of you standing wherever and send this too.

Personally, I've gotten better at this over the years after realizing how big the "too long, didn't read, but saw the picture"-crowd really is. I really doubt such concerns were high on the list here ... or even on the list in the first place. The only pics of me I haven't gotten grief about were the ones taken by a professional photographer that the magazine sent out which has happened exactly once.

[Loner]

Jacob is more than correct on that.

Sometime, it's also the foundations themselves who twist an arm of their donors because it helps them get media coverage. This is actually, in my estimation, the more likely back-story [note:I didn't read the story]: the foundation told the guy "We know you do not want to be in the spotlight, but your talking to the media will help us gain recognition, and funds, and we'll be able to better help those people you yourself care about." It might be that the foundation approached the journalist with the story, or that the journalist approached the foundation, which then looked through it's members/donors for a media-ready story. Whatever the case, there's just about no chance that the story came about after the guy phoned The Guardian saying "Hey, I'm an exceptional person, how about you make a story about me?"

[7Wannabe5]

Yup. Like one time I ended up accidentally on TV giving a speech wearing a white blouse that totally made me look like a cow.

[Jason]

I was half joking. He seems like a nice enough guy and if he inspires others, that's great. But damn, how about you reduce to 65% and hire an interior decorator.

[tonyedgecombe]

@Jason, You seem obsessed with his interior decor, it might not even be his house. My mother-in-law's home looks similar and she would be lauded on this forum for her frugality and ability to resist the latest fashions.

[7Wannabe5]

It's embarrassing, because it makes it seem like frugal people don't like wasting money on shiny stuff simply because they were born with no sense of aesthetic whatsoever*. Like a bariatric surgeon advertising that he will make you skinny by cutting out all of your taste buds. I could bring that room up from a 1.8 to at least a 6.8 for maybe $39.99 total. Is it worth $39.99 (.04) year to not feel vaguely suicidal every time you walk into your living room?

*Hetty Green ring any bells?

[Jason]

The pic of him outside shows a handsome, thoughtful, successful man in a spiffy suit and tie set-up. Someone to emulate. Someone to admire. A person in the full embrace of life. The next pic shows the same person in attire and a room that can best be described as fifty shades of cat puke. In my opinion, it negates the message. This is financial puff piece. It's meant to show people in its best light. But this perpetuates the stereotype of ERE. I'd rather spend a night in a buffalo's asshole than that fucking room. I can smell the fucking must just by looking at it. If this was "Lonely Old Widow Donating $10 Million Estate to Quilting Research" it's one thing but its the fucking Guardian and its about an adult male in his prime. It was a dumb choice. Sorry.

[unemployable]

The next pic shows the same person in attire and a room that can best be described as fifty shades of cat puke.

I see it as a paean to red/green color blindness.

[fiby41]

Donations made out of a sense of responsibility without expectation is done in the mode of goodness.
However that charity done grudgingly with the intention of receiving desired result in return, is transactional.
Alms given without giving consideration to place, time and eligibility of recipient, is giving away in the mode of ignorance.
~Bhagavad-gītā 17.20-22

[chenda]

Love the Gita, so much beautiful wisdom.