<prompt> Human: Ive read a number of books that suggest donating upwards of 10 of your income to charities. Is this a good idea?Arguments for donating to charity By donating to a charity, youre supporting a cause you care about Knowing that you give a of your income to charity, you will want to make more money not only for yourself selfish reasons, but also to improve the world There are some tax benefits of making the donations Whatever you put out in the world will come back to you. If you act from a place of abundance seeing that there is more than enough money and resources for everyone, then the world will be more likely to provide what you need. If you act like theres never enough in the world, you will generally find that is true because it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy Arguments against donating to charity Giving money away is just like another fixed cost, which slows down your ability to save Once you have taken care of myself financially, then you can worry about taking care of other people Charities are wasteful, and if you want to help people, you should just donate my timeDo you agree that donating to charity is financially smart? If so, what of a persons income should be given away to charity every month?  <response>: I think this is something you cant really look at too objectively. If there is an organization or church that means a lot to you, go ahead and give them some money. Just keep in mind that youre not getting that money back.Hypothetical: I really love pizza, and buy it more often than I should. Does it make more sense for me financially to cook something cheap at home as opposed to ordering from my favorite pizza place? Of course. But that pizza gives me great personal satisfaction that outweighs the cost, so I dont mind spending the money. Donating to charity should be the same. 