David Rubenstein: commitment

Transcript context

…Do you think the foundations of other very wealthy people — after their deaths — have gone well or gone poorly? Like anything in life, there are good cases and there are bad cases. Some people have done really good things with their foundations after they died, and some people’s foundations probably haven’t been as productive. In the end, I encourage people to give away as much money as they can while they’re alive. I am amazed that probably 99.9 percent of the population gives away about 95 percent of its money upon their death. You say to yourself, “Why are you waiting so long? ” I remember — I won’t mention his name, but a very famous businessman said when he was 93 years old, “I’m going to give away $400 million to my college upon my death. ” You say, “Well, what do you need that $400 million for between the age of 93 and 94 and 95? Why don’t you just give it away now?” I don’t understand why people wait until they’re dead before their money is given away. You presumably think you’re going to be in heaven to see where it’s going, but that’s a big risk. How do you handle or filter what must be a steady stream of solicitations and requests? Money, money, money, everyone wants money. How do you actually process the near-infinite demand?…

Stored transcript either side of the excerpt. The highlighted words are the published quote; the surrounding text is unedited source, never generated.