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Giving to charitable causes can be a very emotional thing. You’re supporting something near to your heart, possibly with a deep personal connection. However, if you’re not mindful, it is possible to give at the expense of yourself. Be sure you don’t let your heartstrings control your purse strings.

Forethought and planning should extend over all your financial decisions, including charitable giving. For a variety of reasons, many don’t follow a plan. Some give whatever’s left in their budget, perhaps not as much as they’d like or tempting them to give more than they can afford. Others give at the end of the year for the tax break. Alternatively, perhaps charitable giving isn’t planned for at all, which allows one to be swayed by emotion when the right cause comes along. Suddenly, they can be committing based on what they feel rather than what’s best for their finances.

Once you decide to factor your charitable giving into your annual financial plan, you can start doing your research. Not only do you determine which causes you want to support, but you can also investigate various organizations that service that cause. There are many websites that evaluate charitable organizations to ensure that your financial contributions or going where you want. Additionally, having your charitable giving worked into your financial plan allows you to turn down other charitable requests graciously. Should you be approached, you can mention your annual giving plan and that you will consider them for the following year.

Being mindful about your charitable giving also gives you the opportunity to influence your children or loved ones on how to do the same. Your actions become the example to your values. While you needn’t share all the details, you can openly share how you formulated your plan and why. The more people who become aware of how to consciously create an annual giving plan, the more people are actively working towards their financial independence.

I don’t think it’s possible to take all emotion out of your connection to a charitable cause, and I don’t think you should. However, I will always be an advocate of folks proactively working towards their financial independence. The key to that is approaching your finances with reason and logic, relegating our emotions to the backseat and holding firm to your purse strings.

Starting December 16, 2025, Meta will begin using what you say or ask in Meta AI chats to personalize what you see on Facebook and Instagram.

• Example: If you ask Meta AI for hiking tips, you may start seeing more hiking posts or ads.
• Meta says it will not use AI chats about sensitive topics such as politics, religion, or health.
• Users will begin receiving notifications about this change in October.

What This Means for You

Your social media experience may start to feel more personalized, but it also means Meta will collect and analyze more information about your interests based on your AI conversations.

Possible Risks

• Less Privacy: Your AI chats could influence what ads or posts you see. Even if Meta says it is not reading your full conversations, it is still learning from them.
• Unintended Targeting: You may start seeing ads or content you did not expect, based on what you mentioned to Meta AI.
• Misunderstandings: If the AI misinterprets what you say, it could lead to inaccurate suggestions or assumptions about your interests.
• Data Sharing Concerns: More information about you increases the risk if Meta’s systems are ever compromised or misused.

What You Can Do

You do not have to stop using Meta AI, but you can take steps to control how much it learns from you.

1. Limit what you share with Meta AI.
   Avoid asking personal or sensitive questions.
   Treat AI chats like public posts and do not share anything private.
2. Review your ad preferences.
   Go to Settings → Ads Preferences on Facebook or Instagram.
   Adjust “Ad Topics” and “Activity Used for Ads” to limit personalization.
3. Use the “Why am I seeing this” option.
   Tap the three dots on any ad or post to understand why it was shown and make changes.
4. Turn off AI features where possible.
   You can skip or decline to use Meta AI in searches or chats.
5. Stay alert for prompts.
   Meta will notify users about this update. Take a moment to read the message before clicking “Agree.”

Bottom Line

Meta’s AI is designed to make your social media feed feel more relevant, but it also means the company is using new kinds of data about you. If you use Meta AI, be thoughtful about what you share and take a few minutes to review your privacy settings so you stay in control.