Bear Market Provides Boost to a Little-Known Strategy; a Record Low Hurdle Rate

By Mike Spector

Assuming the trust realized returns of at least 5.75% annually over eight years, "my daughters could then be able to each have ... the original amount that was put into the trust," Ms. Ridgley says.

She sends charitable payments from the trust to a donor-advised fund run by the Columbus Foundation. Ms. Ridgley, a part-time minister who has traveled on religious missions to Indonesia, Thailand and Israel, among other places, sends the bulk of her donations to the Christian Broadcasting Network and other Christian organizations.