Grits, Grats and Gruts...Not Grunts

"Where there''s a will...." This sermon brings together the financial concept of needing to have a will with the faith concept of needing to have a willing nature, to help people see the complex interconnections between the spiritual and the material, our will and our work, our desires and our deeds. The good news is that by continually flexing our spiritual willpower we can experience redeeming acts of resurrection in our lives.

Do you have a will? Everyone needs one. You must not die without it. Do you have a willing nature? Everyone needs one. You must not live without it.

Grits, Grats and Gruts are some of the most talked about techniques in estate planning today. Grits (Grantor Retained Income Trusts), Grats (Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts) and Gruts (Grantor Retained Unitrusts) are all variations on the same theme: You can write your will so that heirs give up interest on assets today, which they will own in the future, in order to achieve dramatic tax breaks and reduced gift effects. All three of these strategies allow one to help charities and churches while leaving assets to heirs, all the while retaining control over resources plus reducing gift and estate taxes. This is one kind of willpower.

While Grits, Grats, and Gruts will surely be used and abused by individuals whose bank accounts are far more developed than their sense of responsibility and benevolence, they nevertheless open a way for the ...