Sharon Almaguer ’84
McAllen, Texas
Support to Texas A&M: Sharon Almaguer Library Endowment
When Sharon Almaguer ’84 was attending law school at the University of Houston, she received a scholarship from an anonymous donor. She was struggling financially at the time, so the gift gave her an extra boost and allowed her to focus on finishing her education. “I always thought to myself, ‘When I get to a place where I can afford to give back and help others, I will do the same to pay it forward,’” she said.
When Sharon was ready to give back, she decided that creating a planned gift using her retirement account was the right method for her. A gift of retirement assets is an excellent way to make a planned gift to Texas A&M, since most people don’t use all their retirement assets during their lifetimes and gifts of retirement assets can be costly to inherit. Fortunately, gifts of retirement accounts passed to the Texas A&M Foundation are not taxed.
“As a lawyer, I was already familiar with the idea of making charitable contributions through your estate, but I was still surprised by the simplicity of the whole process,” Sharon said. Her $91,000 planned gift will benefit the Texas A&M University Libraries.
“I spent a lot of time in the libraries with friends as an undergrad at Texas A&M,” said Sharon, who studied in the business school. “I decided to support the libraries specifically because I wanted Aggie students from any major to benefit from my gift.”
In addition to paying it forward for the scholarship support she received as a law student, Sharon ultimately wanted to give back to Texas A&M simply because she’s an Aggie. “I credit a lot of who I have become to the university,” she said.