In this episode of You Can’t Take it With You, host Jim Dunlop sits down with Phil Cubeta, Founder of Philanthropy Offerings, to discuss leaving a lasting legacy through impactful generosity. They explore the importance of starting philanthropic efforts during your lifetime, how to effectively integrate generosity into estate planning, and practical steps to ensure that our values continue to make a difference long after we’re gone.
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Phil Cubeta is the former Wallace Chair in Philanthropy at The American College, a seasoned financial services veteran, and a renowned thought leader in the world of generosity and philanthropy. With a background spanning philosophy, psychology, literature, and financial services, Phil has dedicated over a decade to teaching and promoting philanthropy through the Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy (CAP) designation. He continues his mission of fostering generosity and financial literacy through his work as the Founder of Philanthropy Offerings. Inspired by the depth of human connection to giving, Phil’s own story is equally grounded in helping individuals make a meaningful impact in their communities.
Episode Summary:
What does it mean to truly leave a lasting legacy? Beyond wealth and possessions, how can we ensure that our values and generosity endure after we’re gone?
According to Phil Cubeta, a renowned expert in philanthropy and legacy planning, the key lies in intentional and impactful generosity. He highlights that creating a generosity plan is not just about financial planning but also about reflecting on one’s core values and the causes that matter most. By combining financial security with thoughtful estate planning, individuals can ensure that their philanthropic goals are realized in a meaningful way. This approach not only benefits the community but also enriches the donor’s life by allowing them to see the impact of their generosity firsthand.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- Jim Dunlop on LinkedIn
- Advent Partners
- Phil Cubeta: LinkedIn | Email
- Philanthropy Offerings
Special Mentions
- Jim Langley on LinkedIn
- Langley Innovations
- The American College of Financial Services
- Chartered Advisor in Philanthropy® (CAP®) designation Program
- Dr. Dennis Jaffe
- Dr. Russell James on LinkedIn
Quotable Moments
- “Not all of us can build libraries or endow colleges, but we can build generosity into our daily lives.”
- “Bringing the financial adviser’s expertise together with the nonprofit causes can make a real difference in the world.”
- “We take care of each other, and God’s grace comes down from above, but we celebrate what we give to each other.”
- “If charities can bring us to tears with their causes, why are we not reflecting that passion in our financial plans?”
- “It’s more satisfying to plan your legacy while standing up rather than feet first.”
Action Steps
- Define your inherent values and causes that resonate with you deeply: This fosters alignment between financial planning and personal convictions, ensuring funds are used to support what truly matters to you.
- Ensure financial security for yourself before committing to philanthropic actions: Balancing personal sustainability with generosity allows for responsible and long-term giving.
- Clearly communicate your legacy intentions to your financial advisor with concrete percentages for heirs, taxes, and charity: This clarity translates into tailored financial plans that truly reflect your wishes and impact your goals.
- Strategically plan for both lifetime and posthumous giving to see the impact of your generosity: Experiencing the fruits of your giving can bring tremendous satisfaction and encourage continued or increased contributions.
- Consistently revisit and reassess your financial and generosity plans to align with changing life circumstances: Adapting your plan over time ensures that it remains relevant and continues to serve your philanthropic objectives effectively.
Sponsor for this episode:
This episode is brought to you by Advent Partners — a financial planning partner dedicated to helping you make informed decisions that simplify your financial journey.
Our seasoned team is committed to guiding you toward your financial goals. We offer tailored solutions based on your specific needs, from standalone financial planning to integrated financial management.
Whether you are planning for the future, investing for growth, or navigating financial hurdles, Advent Partners is here to provide insights, recommendations, and a clear financial roadmap.
To learn more about Advent Partners and how we can guide your financial success, visit AdventPartnersFP.com.
Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:00
Welcome to the You Can’t Take it With You show where we feature stories around generosity designed to inspire and encourage others to do meaningful things in their communities. Now, here’s your host, Jim Dunlop.
Jim Dunlop 0:17
Hi, Jim Dunlop here, a wealth advisor and host of this show where I sit down with people who get it when it comes to generosity. I’m excited to have guests who can give us stories on generosity to not only inspire listeners, but to give practical ideas on ways we can give. Today’s guest is Phil Cubeta. But before we get to Phil, I want to share that this episode is brought to you by Advent Partners ready for good. Advent is a financial planning team dedicated to helping you make informed decisions that simplify your financial journey. Whether you’re planning for the future, investing for growth, or navigating financial hurdles, Advent Partners is here to provide insights, recommendations, and a clear financial roadmap. To learn more about Advent Partners and how we can guide your financial success, visit readyforgood.com. Before introducing today’s guest, I want to give a big thank you to Jim Langley who introduced me to Phil. Go check out Jim’s website at langleyinnovations.com. And like Phil, Jim is a real thought leader in philanthropy, you can check out his episode at canttakeitwithyou.com. So let’s introduce Phil Cubeta. His original training was in philosophy, psychology, and literature after a career in financial services. He served for 12 years as the Wallace chair in philanthropy at the American College of Financial Services responsible for the chartered advisor and philanthropy cap designation. Now he enjoys the freedom to learn and teach philanthropy with kindred spirits by invitation and through private courses and conversation. Phil, it is so good to have you here.
Phil Cubeta 1:53
Thank you for having me.
Jim Dunlop 1:55
I will share with our listeners that I recently completed the CAP designation. And so two of those three courses were taught by Phil. And so I’m very familiar with the sound of Phil’s voice. Those are all online courses, which were really fun. And so it’s fun to actually talk to you today. And I’m hoping you can start off by just telling us a little bit about yourself in a little autobiography. And then we have some more questions around generosity.
Phil Cubeta 2:25
Okay. Well, I grew up on a college campus in Middlebury, Vermont, my father taught Shakespeare there his whole entire career. My mother had taught Spanish in college, but she became a mother after that, and, you know, so my earliest memories are really of an academic setting and kind of expected that my career went from one school to another getting degrees. And that helped really to teach literature that was kind of my, you might say, calling or bent. And things don’t always go as planned. And in 1982, I found myself teaching life insurance one on one in Birmingham, Alabama, which was really not Middlebury College, Shakespeare at all. But, you know, I think sometimes you learn more from adversity and things that go awry than you do from things when you stay on the, you know, the beaten path. And with New York Life, which was the company I was with, I kind of was always in management, training, education, things like that. And I got into advanced planning. And from there got into philanthropy. And I have to say that when I came around to philanthropy, within financial services, I felt like I had found my true home because it’s really good to be idealistic and to care, and to have that the wisdom that comes from the humanities, but there’s also a practical side of life, we have to get things done. In almost everything that gets things done, our society goes through money, let’s face it, it’s all about one way or another, putting money to work for a better purpose. So that’s what I think philanthropy does. And being able to combine the interests of the humanities with the expertise or the background and estate planning, financial planning, builds, exit planning, all that the litany of things you have to learn in financial services has really been satisfying. So about, I guess, 13, 14 years ago, we got a call from the American College and saying, you know, we’re here, you’re know something about philanthropy, you know, anybody who might want to come here and teach philanthropy and SOA, and they call it the right time, today is the right day. So I found myself leaving Dallas, where I was working with New York Life and moving to Pennsylvania, to teach at the American College, which is online and online course, but as a result, I guess, you know, I’m really, really pleased that we’ve met to touch about two or 3000 advisors with that program. And if you think about how many clients you have, who were touched by your message, and you multiply that by two or 3000 others it’s a lot of people who are hearing the message which combines them, you know, the purpose questions with the how questions. So I think that it has done quite a bit of good. I’m really pleased with how I was taken off in certain cities, and the things you can point to concrete specific legacies and gifts that have resulted from it. So I’m really glad that you’ve gone through it, and the big investment of your time and hope it’ll pay off for you.
Jim Dunlop 5:18
Oh, yeah, I love it. And I really enjoyed the coursework tremendously as we were doing it. Phil, can you share your first memory of hearing about giving.
Phil Cubeta 5:31
To give you a few from my mother, these are quick, but they made a big impression on me. My mother, my mother’s mother. During the Depression, her mother’s mother’s husband was my mother’s father at a random plumbing company. And a couple of memories about them, they were people in the depression will come to the back door, and my grandmother would take them and actually feed them herself. And that has made a huge impression on me visually, because I see the back gate, I could visualize the people coming in the back gate coming up the path, my grandmother feeding them. Another story that she would tell us: those of her father during the Depression had plumbed in somebody’s house, they had a massive plumbing problem. And even though there’s a huge amount of work, at the end of the day, the woman he did the work for didn’t have any money to pay him. So she gave him a clock, which he graciously accepted. It was on the mantelpiece when I was little, glass dome clocks, you see the movements. And as a little kid looking at that clock and trying to figure out the plumbing, clock, payment, you know that, but she was making a point about how we would take care of each other. And the final story on the same line was about a family member, my grandmother had several, as in those days, like Old Maid, sisters who didn’t get married. And one of them during the Depression came to live with my mother’s family and had nothing to give you and had no money, that’s why she was there. But every day, she would make a pie. And my mother said, We got so sick of pie, we could scream, but it was the one thing she could give back. And I, you know, it really made a big impression on me that each of us can give it our own way. And there’s dignity that comes with giving and with reciprocity and taking care of each other. So that was really my first, you know, sense of giving. My mother was Irish Catholic, which is about as Catholic as you can get. So as far as raised with Catholic tradition, kneeling by my mother, and a lot of the gospel messages really just seemed like continuation of the story. She told me honestly, that we take care of each other, you know, God’s grace comes down from above, we celebrate what we give to each other. It’s, you know, there was just a directness and invalidity to that that came from the stories you told me. So it’s connecting those that I guess really, that’s always been my sense, but giving is all about it’s not so much mega giving. And, you know, building, that’s, that’s important, too. It is important to think of the spirit of giving us to take care of each other before we take care of family.
Jim Dunlop 8:11
I really appreciate that. And I like that. There’s some good visuals in your stories, whether you realize it or not. You can picture the clock and the mantel; you can picture the people coming to the back door. And that that visual probably will stay with you forever. Can you tell me who Bill and Sally Wallace are?
Phil Cubeta 8:33
Yeah, yeah, it’s, it’s important to me because they funded the chair that I had. And had it not been for them. I wouldn’t be doing but not that chance to do the work. But they were also visionaries. And I think their vision really would apply to the two of us but also to your audience. Bill grew up in a poor family, he became a football player, went to Columbia and a football scholarship became All American. He was a big guy. He served in the Korean War in the predecessor of the Navy SEALs that were called beach jumpers in those days, but of a patriot and he married Sally Wallace, who lost her husband in the war, okay. And he came back to the US and became an insurance agent, which was distressing to everybody who knew him. You know, he got this Columbia degree, first person in his family going to college and going to be a life insurance agent. Well, he tells the story with great pleasure because he rose to be the head of the company Phoenix, so mutual, and he served in the financial services industry in all kinds of ways. He was a giver. He served on the board of the American College for decades really. Kind of a towering figure, won every award you could possibly win, but he what he said there was a founding concept of the camp program which I think many people in your audience may be able to identify with maybe not now, maybe not in this case, because they have you as their advisor, but what Bill said is that our charities can bring us to tears with their causes. But they know nothing about our money or advise everything about our money in our desires about our giving. And they saw it as their mission to bring the nonprofit side, the true cause side, together with the financial advisors to make a real difference in the world we’re living with a difference in the community for Bill was education, the American College, leveraging advisors to get the message out, that was his theory of change, as they call it, to get 1000s of advisors to train to each talk to hundreds of people, each firm makes a little bit for generosity going on. So it’s a mega theory behind this, this idea. And so his hope was to help children. And then Bill kind of convinced her this would too, because, you know, we’d be taking care of families, and the families would be taking care of the world. So that was the theory. And I really, truly think it’s a marvelous viewpoint. And it has proven to be the case we could actually point to. In Omaha, there was been a group of people coming together to study this material for about 10 or 15 years now, about 100 advisors have gone through it, and the person running that group coordinating that group as volunteer is in the financial services business, Mark Webber, and he went back and he surveyed all the advisors about the situations they touch that led to philanthropy over the time they’ve been doing camp, that wouldn’t have happened without it. And he was able to document 9.2 billion. 9.2 billion. One city multiplies that by dozens of cities. I think Bill’s theory is as idealistic as it has really been proven out.
Jim Dunlop 11:50
Well, and that legacy, you’re and I are both beneficiaries in some way that legacy you as a professor and I as a student and cap designee holder. So that’s neat.
Phil Cubeta 12:04
Yes, I think that’s true. And I think, you know, when you’re talking about a legacy, one person’s legacy is another person’s inheritance right on down the line, and it goes back generations like an unbroken chain. And, you know, I think the way you pay a legacy back because you pay it forward, and you think about the number of people you’re touching the number of people in the audience, you’re addressing that same message of ripples down I think, is really the legacy. It’s a tradition.
Jim Dunlop 12:31
Phil, you served 13 years as the Wallace Chair in Philanthropy at the American College, what were some lessons you learned? Or what are some stories that you can share that might help our listeners think about their own generosity?
Phil Cubeta 12:46
Well, it’s interesting. I think one of the very first lessons I learned in Dallas and promoting the program was new. And we’re trying to get the advisors in the fundraiser to sign up and I remember so vividly, there was a room at the music station of Texas, and there might have been, Gosh, 40 people in the room. And they gave me the microphone, and there’s a stage and a podium that is pretty formal. And I was trying to get people to consider taking this program and explain, it’s going to be good for your practice. They’ll have no big deal. It’s going to be good for your clients, we’ll head on no big deal. And then the person I was doing the talk with, Jenny Grimes, who works for the Community Foundation, took the microphone, and she said, Everything Phil said is correct. But that’s not what we’re doing. We’re doing this for Dallas, Dallas is going to be the most generous city in the country. And they literally lined up, they literally lined up with their wallets out to sign up for the course. And that was a lesson learned for me big time, because I’ve trained advisors for, you know, the better part of my career. And I always and when I first joined a finance company, I was taught as a trainer to tape $1 bill to the blackboard. You know, ladies and gentlemen, by this class, you’ll be able to make 100 of these. You know, what I’m saying is very, very transactional. So when Janie corrected me and went beyond the transactional benefits to the community uplift, and that was a lesson from seeing how well because that’s what I was doing it for. And that’s what Bill and Sally were doing but that’s what the program was really doing. But she had the courage to name it, and instead of the room emptying everybody signed up. So that is what I learned. And I also learned, I think that there’s a filter when you take the high road, you know, many, many people do not, are not in the position. Let’s put it that way to come with you. Maybe now’s not the right time. You know, I’m saying they’re not in a position to think generously. They’re paying, living hand to mouth so to speak. But if you have a room with quite a few people and speak from ideals, some people leave and some people come forward. And the people who come forward are the people you want to work with. You meet, you meet a whole different crew, and you get to be friends with the crew. So I think the lesson I’ve learned is permanent. I’m going to stay on this more idealistic track. Those who want it can gravitate around it. Those who want to go elsewhere are welcome to go elsewhere. But that’s what we stand for. And I think in your own practice, when you’ve explained it, but even your tagline, it’s clear, I mean, you’re presenting a clear vision of what you stand for. And people that gravitate to that. Or they don’t, but you’re not going to compromise the idealistic, idealistic part of it. And I think that’s really important. I think that is a lesson learned. For me. I think another lesson learned is that very often we let our professional training do our thinking for us, to the detriment of our own self representation, or what do I mean, but I’ll give you a very clear example. In Omaha, going back to that example, with Mark Weber and his people studying this camp program, that was an attorney, Zoom, a graduation ceremony by Zoom. And I interviewed, you know, asked each person, their name, and what they do and what they learned, and you know, what changed for them. And I’ll never forget this story. I can see it so vividly. This was a very distinguished estate tax attorney, he is probably 55 – 60 years old, who’s obviously very successful. And he said, I don’t know what I learned and what I’m doing differently. But I’ll tell you a story. Yesterday, a couple came to see me again. I’ve been doing their estate planning for 30 years. And they said to me, during this revision, that they’d like to leave a third of their estate to charity. I said to them, what I mean, I’ve known you all these years, you never mentioned anything about giving, why all of a sudden, why have you suddenly become so generous? And they said, we’ve always been generous, but we didn’t think you would approve.
Jim Dunlop 17:00
Interesting.
Phil Cubeta 17:01
Isn’t that staggering? Absolutely staggering. That he did not realize he was giving off his cold-blooded vibe about protecting from predators, creditors, taxes, you know what I’m saying everything is about being defensive and reactive, and building a fortress. Rather than living in community with other people, and thinking about the role of money outside, just what’s in it for you in it for your family. So that’s a lesson learned, I think that the professionals do a disservice. I really, I really do believe that. Even today, the bulk of the professionals do a disservice to generous donors in general, as clients, the systems aren’t built for that. It’s the exception, not the rule. And as a result, you know, I just think a tremendous amount of generosity gets lost in translation. It’s in the heart, but it’s not in the plan.
Jim Dunlop 17:55
Understood. So, Phil, you’re no longer at The American College, and so I think you’re in this place. I don’t know if it’s fair to call it retirement or not. But can you tell me about your work at Philanthropy Offerings and what you’re doing now?
Phil Cubeta 18:16
Well, you know, I, the one thing about teaching in an academic environment that I always found limiting is there has to be a significant amount of emphasis on how much material over what period of time with what learning objectives with what assessment is regulated, so highly regulated industry actually, it’s a, education is government regulated like everything else. And doing it that way, teaching to test, I just felt was really doing a disservice to the, to the material to some degree. And what excites me is seeing people put it to work, use it, and get good results. We’re not just for the practice, but for the betterment of the community. And I could never really teach to that. I was always teaching the test. I think a lot of times people get an 82 or 85 or 88 on the exam like they accomplished something, and for me know, their question Was, has anything changed in your practice? So philanthropy offering is doing a similar material, but really from the standpoint of influencing the practice actually getting behavioral change for advisors on the one hand and nonprofit gift planners or fundraisers on the other? So I’ve got some courses on building there and some I’ve deployed to boards. You know, I’m gratified that I can actually see money in motion and people changing and call into question Okay, you got maybe three, but you know, did anything change? The subject of retirement? It is interesting. I, I did officially retired from the American College, but then again, I officially retired from New York Life before that 13 years before, so I’m used to retiring and coming back to work but this stuff is really important to me, and it’s not something I do because I get paid, I get paid, I’ve been paid for it, it’s been my job, but that’s not why I did it. Really, I did it because I needed the money, but I had to do this kind of work as best I could. And I’m still doing it. I talked to a guy named Dennis Jaffe, who is probably 80 years old, Dr. Dennis Jaffe. He’s a well-known guy who works with extremely wealthy families, billionaire families around the world, legacy planning, not as an attorney really as a sociologist as the underlying profession. And I was asking him what he’s doing and he’s doing a lot, writing a lot of books, and he asked me what I was doing, I said mostly retirement. Work constantly, adding courses on, it’s what I always do, it’s what I know how to do, like a beaver building dams. I mean, I just have to build dams. He said, you know, Phil, you’re retired, when you retire, you can do anything you want. What do you want to do? I said keep on doing courses. Do courses. So that was really revelatory to me, you know that. All this means is I don’t have a boss. So that’s a pretty good thing.
Jim Dunlop 20:57
Very good. So let’s, let’s take a slightly practical turn here for a moment. Not that this was impractical. But just thinking, you know about going from this is the ideal of being generous to what do people need to know, when it comes to actually putting a financial and generosity plan in place?
Phil Cubeta 21:21
Well, that’s a good question. I think the very first thing you need to know is that nobody’s going to do this for you. Nobody is going to walk you through the process, in the way that maybe it should be done. Because it’s too time consuming. It’s too personal. It touches on too many things that are often private. And just as with doctors, today, we have to take more responsibility for your health. I think with your generosity plan, it primarily is done at the kitchen table, not the planning table, it either starts at the kitchen table, where it probably will not be off to a good start. So I think there’s certain fundamental questions that if you’re doing this with somebody else, or just alone, you know, if you don’t have a partner, spouse, they really have to answer first. Okay, I think you might think of this as a baseball analogy, of glimpses, walk, just walk the bases with you going to cover the bases. The first question is, what is home base to you? What is non-negotiable in terms of your value commandments? Who are you as a human being? What do you stand for? You know? I mean, how important is your faith? How important is your hometown? How important is your country, how important are the nonprofits that have touched your life and think about them in a meditative way, not a checkbox way, but reflect on the nonprofit that has touched your life and what they mean to you. So that’s the first mode, and it is reflective. And I think, absent that, the plan will be sterile. First base is making sure there’s enough for yourself, because if you’re going to be giving money away, you want to make sure it’s there for yourself. So you want to do your retirement planning, investment planning, all the, think of CFP work, on first base before you get overly generous. You can build generosity into that type of thing. And so forth, it may build into your, you know, your monthly budget, but that’s about it. That’s financial planning. And then on second base, you have your estate plan, which is where does your stuff go when you’re gone? Where does your wealth go when you’re gone? And that was typically a very cold, very dry, and somewhat intimidating process we’re talking about. Let’s face it, you talked about death, and nobody wants to talk about that. You want that over as fast…and you’re getting billed 500 bucks…and now we’re talking about death? I don’t think so. So it’s a very chilly process. And you’d better go in there with some warm thoughts, they will not survive the freezing temperature in that room. And the questions that I think you have to be able to answer when you go in there are taxes, community or charity. Here’s all of my assets minus all my debts. If I divide those three piles, where would I want it to go. Only you as a donor client can say to the advisor what that percentage is, but no advisor that I know asks you, very few do. Instead, it’s all built around tax reduction, they’re going to reduce taxes to zero, and they’re going to send max net to the IRS. I can’t tell you how many 1000s of plans I have touched max next to the IRS. We’d have to ask what your goals were because we already knew the software gave us your goals. Your actual goals were an annoyance; they were a distraction from the machinery we are running in the back room. This is the truth that’s why I’m emphasizing going to them with a sheet of paper taxes, charity, and children. What are the three percentages? Okay, and if you can then take the next couple steps in your own mind you are doing everybody a favor. Okay. You said a third to charity, a third to child one, a third to child two, nothing to taxes. Okay, those are good instructions. But then you get down to in what form when? Outright in trust. Now or later. So if you can just think about taxes, charity and heirs, settle those percentages, turn the paper over, maybe come back with some coffee stains on it. When, in what form? And if you have answers to those, I guarantee you’re going to jam up every financial planning system, every estate planning system I’ve ever worked with. You will get, yes, we have no bananas, we have no bananas today, because the systems were not built for generosity. So my suggestion is, be that clear and that strong around your goals. Give them to the planners, look at what they give you back and see whether your goals are met. And I am not hostile to advisors. I am one, I’ve trained 1000s. But I’m saying systems are not built for generous people. They assume your goal is to maximize net wealth to heirs. Any deviation from that requires custom work. Okay, so all I’m trying to say is to protect your whole, wholly those highest aspirations, make sure they’re in the plan. I’ll give you I’ll give you a data point that is so much telling on this is from a guy named Russell James, Dr. Russell James, who is the primary research on charitable planning and legacy planning. He’s an academic at the University of Texas. Almost everybody on this podcast gives every year nobody’s giving zero just about, I’d be amazed. But if you look at the legacy plans, what is the percentage in the United States we have any philanthropy and the legacy plan? According to Dr. James, it’s 5%? Oh, my goodness, how do we go from 85% or 50% of the general population down to five? I had a presentation on a major financial services group with another guy who was a big advisor. And I said, the answer is the advisor. The answer is advisors and their systems. So don’t say that you’re going to insult them by saying it anyway. And it went over, okay, because it’s true, it’s true. We’re not asking the right questions on the front end. And our systems aren’t supportive, we can work around that. But if you come into our office with clear goals, it’s our responsibility to work with work around our systems to make sure your goals are met. But it’s up to you to be that clear, even figures about what your goals are.
Jim Dunlop 27:34
And so is it safe to assume third base is the implementation.
Phil Cubeta 27:38
The third base will be the charitable tool. So once you get to the point where you know, I’m going to leave my kids a third or two, or one third each, two kids, that’s a third to charity. Now then you get down to you know, what charitable tools am I going to use, it’s going to go directly to charities, only a CRT donor advised fund foundation, all that stuff around third base. And the issue there is not only the tool and how it works, okay, and you’ll get the tool conversation over and over and over from advisors. The thing to keep your eye on from the advisors perspective, you are the client, they are going to explain to you all the benefits for you because you are their client, that’s their job, there is going to be a tax deduction, there may be some cash coming back to you, it’s going to stay in this rapidly you can manage benefits, benefits for you. And then when you die, your kids can manage the two benefits for them. Please keep in mind the benefits to the organization’s at home plate they began to think about in the first place, your church, your synagogue, your school, the scouts, whatever it is, is near and dear to your heart, the hospital that your mother was cared for. Keep your eye on that because most of the tools primarily defer receipt of the money to mañana sometimes forever. So just think through what the right timing is for the mind to leave the tools on third base or your balance sheet or income statement and arrive at the nonprofit. If I asked you this as a donor as a friend, you know, I know what the answer is going to be. If I say to you, okay, you’re going to be leaving a third to charity and you can afford to do it sooner or later. Quarter the calculations they run all the numbers for you, you could afford to leave the third sooner rather than later. Would you rather do it while you’re alive? Pay your legacy home run standing up or feet first. And I never get the answer: I will wait until I’m dead, never and never not once, and I’ve almost never seen a plan that plans for doing it during a lifetime. I’m just giving you what you asked me for what I’ve learned. This is what I’ve learned. It’s yeah, it’s absolutely stark. But you know when you complete that cycle, and you bring the dollars home, maybe in a stream of payments, start small and get bigger. You can really see some impact in your community and that allows your audience the people who are you know they’re not mega rich, but they can make a significant difference in their community starting sooner, and giving some energy, some volunteer time, actually see how the dollars are going to work, meaning the children who were served, it makes your whole life so much richer. So it’s better if you can afford it. And that’s exactly what planners are good at calculating for you.
Jim Dunlop 30:20
Yeah, so I love what you’re saying, Phil. And this really hits home for me as an advisor, and the name of the show can’t take it with you. Jokingly came up because it was a question. Part of a question that I asked a lot of our clients is, okay, you’ve got this money here to live on and you’re in good shape. You can’t take it with you. So what do you want to have happen? And, and I think, too, there is something powerful about being able to see the impact that you can have while you’re living. And, and maybe you don’t get it done in your lifetime, fine. But you’re right, if we don’t need this money for ourselves, why wait?
Phil Cubeta 31:01
Well, that’s exactly what you were, as you were saying that it’s exactly the same message. Using your own words, it’s exactly the same thing. It reminds me of the Bill and Sally story we started with, okay. They were sitting on the front porch of their beach house talking about their legacy plan with an attorney and a fundraiser for the American College. And they decided they’re going to put the beach house in his charitable remainder trust to fund the walls Jaren flap with American college. That would be a wonderful thing to do. It’s a beautiful beach house. Amazing gesture. It was enough money to cover the bogey to fund the chair. But the way Joe remainder trust works is you sell the asset inside you get income back to supplement your retirement, you get a tax savings. And then at your death, the money goes to the charity to fund the project. Well, you know, a little time went by, and it occurred to them, we got our CRT, but we don’t have a chair. Because we’re not dead yet. So I began to take cash flow from the CRT and got the college to accept that along with more coming later to fund the chair. So they’d be into cash flow the money to the chair, and they got the chair. But the point really was, the tool was maybe the right tool, maybe not the right tool, but for sure they had to work around it in order to get a result now. So I would be really, really clear, okay, you want a chair in philanthropy and your name, or you want to feed the homeless, you want to educate kids, whatever that is starting when. Okay, because almost always legacy planning falls due when you’re dead. And that may not be the time to get the most satisfaction and may not be the right time for the charity. And you know, start a little, give it a taste of it while you’re alive. And then fulfill it at death and an advisor can help you to do that. That’s a wonderful thing, advisors love. When you get to this point, the compensation advisor wheels are turning. They love it. Because they can figure out the most efficient way to do it now and later. But they got to be clear that that’s the goal.
Jim Dunlop 33:14
Absolutely. Phil, I love this. Thank you so much. This has been really helpful, and I think it just varies from this ideal of, you know, we owe it to our community to give back something that was instilled in you as a child by your family, your mom and your grandmother, all the way down to let’s, how do we practically accomplish this? This has been a great conversation today. I really appreciate this.
Phil Cubeta 33:42
Well, thank you and I’m very glad to have a chance to talk to you and assume that you’re actually building your practice around this ideal.
Jim Dunlop 33:51
Well, before we get to our final question, I just want to point out to our listeners that if you’d like to interact with Phil, he’s invited you to email him directly phil.cubeta@philanthropyofferings.com. So you can connect and interact with Phil obviously, he’s got a lot of passion on this subject and a lot of ideas. So don’t hesitate if you’d like to reach out to him. So Phil, as we bring this to close, if we could put a billboard anywhere for you with a message that would reach lots of people. What would you want to put on that billboard?
Phil Cubeta 34:26
I guess the first thing that came to mind is a Roman saying that translates as “Not all of me will die.” And the question is what will live on here in this world and how I will live on?
Jim Dunlop 34:41
Absolutely. But it’s it we get to make an impact while we’re here. So let’s work hard to do that and if we do that, well, that work can continue.
Phil Cubeta 34:52
Right. Doing it intentionally so that the good in you lives on.
Jim Dunlop 34:55
Well, thank you so much, Phil. It has been a real privilege and honor to speak with you today. I appreciate you sharing with our audience. And thank you so much.
Phil Cubeta 35:04
Thank you.
Outro 35:07
Thanks for joining us to hear stories of generosity that remind us that you can’t take it with you. Visit our site at canttakeitwithyou.com. For more details on today’s episode, and to subscribe to future shows.
Disclosure 35:25
Advent Partners may utilize third-party websites, including social media websites, blogs, and other interactive content. We consider all interactions with clients, prospective clients, and the general public on these sites to be advertisements under the securities regulations. As such, we generally retain copies of information that we or third parties may contribute to such sites. This information is subject to review and inspection by Thrivent Advisor Network or the securities regulators. Advisory Persons of Thrivent provide advisory services under a “doing business as” name or may have their own legal business entities. However, advisory services are engaged exclusively through Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC, a registered investment advisor. Advent Partners and Thrivent Advisor Network, LLC are not affiliated companies.
