Peter Kote learned about money through philanthropy, not banking. Early in his career, he encouraged people to include charities like Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home, the Red Cross, the American Heart Association, and Long Beach State University in their estate plans. He figured out how charitable trusts and gift annuities work. More importantly, he realized that before anyone gives money, they need to know if they can afford to.
This insight pushed him toward financial education. By the 1980s, he was traveling around the country, explaining financial planning and how it should work. At Long Beach State University, he saw professors picking retirement investments just because the adviser seemed friendly. He started a program called “It’s your money.”
Now, as board chair of the nonprofit Financial & Estate Literacy (FEL), Mr Kote runs workshops based on this idea. He teaches people how money and estate planning work, without selling them anything.
FEL runs two main workshop series (available in person and online), each with six sessions in the Spring and Fall. Both are free and open to everyone. The first, called “It’s Your Money!”, focuses on topics like tax law changes, financial planning, medical care, investing, and understanding different types of markets. The second, “It’s Your Estate!”, looks at estate planning, healthcare choices, legal documents like powers of attorney, wills and trusts, retirement accounts, and how taxes affect giving to charity.
Too much to read, too little to know
Finance claims to be transparent. It puts out prospectuses, disclosures, and filings to inform people. But in reality, Mr Kote says, these documents overwhelm most readers. “If we give you full disclosure, then you can make up your own mind.” The problem is scale. “A prospectus is sometimes two, three hundred pages written in legalese. The philosophy is nice, but the practicality is that nobody knows anything.”
FEL works in the space between disclosure and real understanding. Lately, participants have used AI tools to break down complicated contracts and find out what things actually cost. “It really gets it right into the nitty gritty,” Mr Kote says. But tools are not a substitute for judgment. “You’ve got to learn how to ask the right question.”
Mr Kote has seen that not knowing about money is not just a problem for people without formal education. Even highly educated people made choices based on trust, not on cost or structure. He would ask, “Don’t you care about how much you’re paying?” The real issue is familiarity. Consumer finance is complex, rarely taught, and seldom discussed.
Education or sales?
FEL’s workshops started small, with just a few people in 2013. Although Mr Kote initiated the program, its development has been shaped by a small group of long-time collaborators, including Trevor Murphy, FEL’s president, board member Richard Huntington, and philanthropic adviser Don Vivrette. Their roles span programme moderation, governance, and input on charitable planning.
Over time, attendance grew. The format did not change: no products, no pitches, just explanation. The workshops expanded after a personal experience. When Mr Kote’s father got sick, the family did not have the right legal documents. After surgery, his father could not speak, and the children could not agree on what he wanted. “None of us could agree as to what he wanted,” Mr Kote says. “It was just absolutely agonising.”
Many people think estate planning matters only after death. In fact, it affects life too. “Your successor trustee determines where you live, what you eat, what kind of companionship you have,” he says. FEL responded by adding estate planning workshops that run for several weeks. “You can’t get this stuff in an hour and a half,” Mr Kote says.
What sets FEL apart is what it leaves out. “It’s the difference between an educational program and a solicitation program,” Mr Kote says. In his view, “99% of the ‘education’… involves the sale of a financial or insurance product.” FEL works to remove that incentive. Presenters have to be fee-only. They cannot earn commissions from selling financial or insurance products. Presenters also have to say how they get paid and if they receive money from other sources.
The organization gets support from charitable partners. Here, giving to charity is seen as part of your overall financial plan, not something separate. This way, charitable giving fits with your own financial goals and estate plans, instead of being a one-off decision.
Attendees’ information is never shared. There are no follow-up calls. Presenters give written disclosures, and participants choose if they want to reach out. The aim is to create a setting where people can discuss money and estate planning without pressure — a safe environment. The effects of this kind of education usually show up in small steps.
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