POSITIONAL GOOD: Defined

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters and AI

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Positional goods are goods and services that people value because of their limited supply, and because they convey a high relative standing within society.

CONSUMER GOODS: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2020/02/05/selected-us-consumer-goods-services-and-wages/

Positional goods may include brand-name luxury handbags, a custom Jaguar automobile, or front-row tickets to the Super Bowl, etc.

CPI: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2022/09/14/inflation-cpi-and-the-ppi/

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DONOR ADVISED FUND: Defined

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

WHAT IS A DONOR ADVISED FUND?

Sponsor: http://www.CertifiedMedicalPlanner.org

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A donor-advised fund is a private account created to manage and distribute charitable donations on behalf of an organization, family, or individual. Donor-advised funds can democratize philanthropy by aggregating the contributions of multiple donors, thus multiplying their impact on worthy causes. Donor-advised funds also have abundant tax advantages.

DONOR DEPENDENCY: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2025/01/02/culture-donation-dependency/

Donor-advised funds have become increasingly popular, as they offer the donor greater ease of administration while still allowing them to maintain significant control over the placement and distribution of charitable gifts. But, unlike private foundations, donor-advised fund holders enjoy a federal income tax deduction of up to 60% of adjusted gross income (AGI) for cash contributions and up to 30% of AGI for the appreciated securities they donate. Donors to these funds can contribute cash, stock shares, and other assets. When they transfer assets such as limited-partnership interests, they can avoid capital gains taxes and receive immediate fair market value tax deductions.

MEDICAL ETHICS: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2024/06/20/medical-ethics-physician-and-financial-organizations/

According to the National Philanthropic Trust’s 2023 Donor-Advised Fund Report, these funds have continued to grow in recent years, despite some headwinds including the Covid-19 pandemic and occasional stock market setbacks. Total grants awarded by donor-advised funds in 2022 increased by 9% to $52.16 billion, while total contributions rose by 9% to $85.5 billion.

Many donor-advised funds accept non-cash assets—such as checks, wire transfers, and cash positions from a brokerage account—in addition to cash and cash equivalents.

Donating non-cash assets may be more beneficial for individuals and businesses, leading to bigger tax bigger write-offs.

PHILANTHROPY: https://medicalexecutivepost.com/2021/11/15/national-philanthropy-day-2021/

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TENDENCY: Consistency and Commitment

Posted on June 1, 2025 by Dr. David Edward Marcinko MBA MEd CMP™

By Staff Reporters and AI

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Consistency and Commitment Tendency: Human beings have evolved – probably both genetically and socially – to be consistent.  It is easier and safer to deal with others if they honor their commitments and if they behave in a consistent and predictable manner over time. This allows people to work together and build trust that is needed for repeat dealings and to accomplish complex tasks. 

In the jungle, this trust was necessary to for humans to successfully work as a team to catch animals for dinner, or fight common threats.  In business and life it is preferable to work with others who exhibit these tendencies.  Unfortunately, the downside of these traits is that people make errors in judgment because of the strong desire not to change, or be different (“lemming effect” or “group-think”).  So the result is that most people will seek out data that supports a prior stated belief or decision and ignore negative data, by not “thinking outside the box”. 

Additionally, future decisions will be unduly influenced by the desire to appear consistent with prior decisions, thus decreasing the ability to be rational and objective.  The more people state their beliefs or decisions, the less likely they are to change even in the face of strong evidence that they should do so.  This bias results in a strong force in most people causing them to avoid or quickly resolve the cognitive dissonance that occurs when a person who thinks of themselves as being consistent and committed to prior statements and actions encounters evidence that indicates that prior actions may have been a mistake. 

According to colleague Dan Ariely PhD, it is particularly important therefore for advisors to be aware that their communications with clients and the press clouds the advisor’s ability to seek out and process information that may prove current beliefs incorrect.  Since this is obviously irrational, one must actively seek out negative information, and be very careful about what is said and written, being aware that the more you shout it out, the more you pound it in.

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