Ep 51: Impact Investing with Dr. Recha Bergstrom

Physicians care deeply about many issues that affect our patients, society, and the world at large.  Legacy building is often an important part of the Life Plan.  One way to create impact and build a legacy is through philanthropy.  Yet we may have limiting beliefs that are holding us back.  Do physicians wait to give until we feel financially and socially secure? Isn't philanthropy an activity reserved for the ultra-privileged multi-millionaires or billionaires?  Physicians already have to shoulder a large student debt burden, job insecurity, and burnout.    How can physicians start to create an impact in the world through our everyday decisions?

❤️ Examine what big topics we care about and dig deeper into our why.
❤️ Consider contributing to local causes, and get to know the people and organizations first-hand. 
❤️ Start with small acts, rather than be overwhelmed by all-or-none thinking. No need to sell all our investments or stop all investing in index funds. 
❤️ Look for opportunities to create impact.  We have the power in deciding how we direct the flow of money, not only through donating but also through spending and investing.

I loved this inspiring conversation with Dr. Recha Bergstrom, who is a mom of three, wife, entrepreneur, and philanthropist.  Her husband is a winemaker and together they make award-winning wines in Santa Cruz Mountains – Sandar & Hem Wines.  Recha is also the founder of The Physician Philanthropist, where she helps doctors learn how to donate effectively, invest responsibly and spend thoughtfully to maximize the positive impact they want to have in the world while maximizing their own benefits.   She has established The Physician Philanthropy Impact Fund, offers two comprehensive online courses "The Physician Philanthropist Course" on developing a giving plan and "Impactful Investing for Doctors" to help doctors align their investment portfolios with their values, and shares her blog "Intentional Money for Doctors" on simple ways to start.

Listen to part 2 of the impactful interview on this week's episode of the Dare to Dream Physician Podcast!

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Transcript

Dr. Gray, Host 0:01

Welcome back to another episode of the dare to dream physician podcast. Today, we are going to have part two of an inspirational interview with Dr. Reha Bergstrom. If you have not listened to last week's episode, episode 50, the joy of giving and receiving with drisha Bergstrom. I highly suggest you add that to your queue and listen to that. After you finish this one, we are continuing part two and I can't wait to share this with you. Thanks for tuning in. um, yeah. So this is what you do and this is your expertise. And I would love to hear what you would say to a doctor who's listening and who says. this is really fascinating. I never, you know, I haven't thought about giving because I've been working on, paying back my student debt and, just saving up for retirement. And I haven't really thought about giving. but there are things in the world that I really care about. how do they start? do they just start by, sending$5 to, to an organization? I how do they, I assume it's overwhelming, even if they know, this is what I care about, like for me, there are many things that I care about, but one of the things that I actually haven't really spent a lot of time giving to is, the environment. I just, I want the earth to be in, in a place that can at least sustain itself for posterity and that, and I haven't given as much for that cause but I'm overwhelmed because as I look at it, I'm like, I don't know. I there's so many different organizations I can give to.

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 1:32

Uh, that's, that's a really good point. And I think that's something that a lot of us feel, when we start to think about giving. So I have two, two things for that one is that was one of the reasons I developed the, physician philanthropist course that overarching course of how to make a plan. because that's one of the really good reasons when you start to look at this field, when you think about okay, I want to help the environment. There is so much out there there's so much to think about. And so I developed, the course to step people through figuring out. How to make a plan that aligns with what you care about. And I would say, just to start with, that's great that you have this idea of maybe you want to help with the environment. and then if you dig down deeper into that, keep saying, why do I care about the environment? Sometimes if you ask the why, like five times you actually get a, much more granular kind of idea of what you want to help with. so you know, why do you want to help out with the environment while I care about my children being able to breathe the air or something like that? or I care about the, people being able to food. and so when you dig down into it, a couple of layers, it can help you focus a little bit more. Cause the environment is a huge idea. It is a huge big thing. So one is to ask those questions and other is to, when you're looking at something big, think about Locally, is there something, some environmental groups that you know about, that do something that you can see or have involvement with, or understand in a much more personal way, because that's also another good way to of evaluate what you're thinking about contributing to. so the course is one way that I try to help people step through and make a plan. but the other thing that I've done is. Again, it can be overwhelming. It can be too much with all the things that you're doing as a doctor, as a mom, as all of the other things that you do is I wanted to help people start to think about it, but then take that off of their plate as another to do thing like you don't have to, learn a whole new field, learn about the field of philanthropy, learn about, effective donations, where and how, and that's why I, founded the physician philanthropy impact fund is to take that and make it easy for doctors so that they wouldn't have to worry about one more thing. so that's something that, that is in the works now and that as of this recording will be, I believe open within the next two or three weeks. And what that will allow doctors to do is, donate the money to the fund. They get the full, immediate tax benefit on whatever they want. and it can say, choose from a focus area. So you could say, I want this money to go to the environment and then we do the work and you don't have to. So you know, that your donations will be aligned with what you care about. and a portion of the money would go into impact investments. So this is a fund that can actually grow and have the money that's in it, have more impact in the future. And then a portion will be going directly to charitable donations. And it will be in a, a few certain categories that you get to choose.

Dr. Gray, Host 4:46

I see. And actually by the time this, this podcast is published, your fund may actually be open. So, you know, we'll definitely link to that in the show notes. I love that, you were saying, even for giving, if you know of somebody, cause that's my current strategy right now, just because I don't really know how to evaluate, some organization from far away. And I also live in rural Vermont where, I'm really grateful, to have a job here and, I feel strongly that, that my giving should stay in this area because it's not a well to do area at all. And, I would love for more people to invest in this area. And so that's even my giving, I'm investing in the area that I live in. I look at what people are doing locally. and, is this person who is running this nonprofit organization, do I believe in them? Do I, do I think they have integrity? do I believe in the work that they do? And then I also get to see it, like I could even go to one of their, Saturday events if I wanted to. And so that's how I've been investing almost all of our, donations. but I love to hear a little bit more about, how would you pick, pick charities to donate on this fund, based on a certain area. And, and then as someone who would donate into it, how do they know, aside from, just believing in you, Resha how do they know where their, their money is having an impact? will they get some sort of report or, some sort of accountability.

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 6:06

Yeah. absolutely. So to, to your first point, I think that is a fantastic way to do. that is a really great way to do it exactly the way you're doing it is by knowing the people, being able to see what they do believing in them, trusting them, believing in their integrity. That is actually a really wonderful way to make contributions because be able to see that you'll be able to know that. so I, I think that's wonderful. you're doing great just to start out with, for the impact fund, definitely there will be, an annual report that would show what the impact investments are. as well as, an annual report on the donations made. So that, that would show, what's been done with the money. Basically what's been achieved with it. So the there's going to be that I am also And building my, physician advisory team. So it'll be a group of between four and 10 physicians that will evaluate potential, organizations to donate to. all doctors who care about healing, the world alleviating, suffering, all of that, that have different focuses and different, areas of expertise, that would be able to meet several times over the year to be able to choose the organizations to, to disperse those funds to, and those funds would be dispersed annually after, several months of vetting them and evaluating them.

Dr. Gray, Host 7:30

Great. And tell us a little bit more. Impact investing. Cause you said, part of the fund would be dedicated to that. And I think just in general know, we haven't talked as much about investing, I think every physician, needs to develop an investor mindset. And again, it's not something that we started off having a medical school aside from, just investing in ourselves as we go to medical school, but, having that investor's mindset. And when I first started investing, it was just very simple. It was like, okay, an index fund, the total us stock market, total international stock market index fund. And that's not a bad place to be. But then as you become a more sophisticated, investor. especially if there are things that we care about, it may make sense to also, have at least part of our portfolio in these, investing in a more impactful way.

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 8:20

Yes. Yes, exactly. And I think that's where a lot of us start with, and I know that I have a lot in my index funds. so the idea with impact investing is, understanding that when you make an investment, you're supporting certain practice. Certain companies. And, in the course that's, about to come out, I had this fantastic conversation, with an, an expert who had spent about 20 years on wall street at some of the big name firms doing, investing, and has since for the last 10 years had her own investment firm, that's aligned with her values, that's just impact investing. And one of the things that I think is really interesting to think about. And so for you, if you care about the environment, there's a good chance that a lot of your portfolio might actually be an investments that kind of contribute to. Environmental problems that contribute to those issues. And so the women's, the Holly Ruxin, who's the expert that I was talking with. she said that nine out of 10 people have no idea what what they're supporting, what their investments are in. And I know that I'm guilty as well. I do not have all my

Dr. Gray, Host 9:27

I probably have tobacco companies, As part of my insurance fund that I have no idea.

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 9:33

Exactly. Exactly. so the kind of the first step is thinking about what you have, what kind of investments you have. But also understand that, there are a lot of different ways to align your portfolio with what you care about. So for example, there might be somewhere where you already have your stocks that have what are called ESG funds, which are environment, social governance funds. So those ones at least take into account the effect of they have impact investments, go a step further, and that they actively support companies that are trying to have positive impact. So not just decreasing negative potential impact, but actually have a positive impact and make a positive change. So it goes a little bit further. and in the past, people had thought that, Impact investments. You might not make the same amount of return as you would for a regular fund. And it has evolved to be in such a place that's not the case anymore, that your investments actually, you can expect market returns on a lot of these investments. and that there's, there might be even lower risk in some of these investments because, they're not necessarily going to be getting hit with regulations that, that ones that might have an negative environmental impact or something might have. so I think those are, important points about impact investing and also understanding as with all of this it's not all, or none. You, you don't have to feel like all of a sudden oh geez, I gotta go and completely reinvest my portfolio and I've got to figure this out. I think of it as if you. a small portion of your portfolio aligned. you're in a really good place, you're, you're kind of learning a little bit having, you know, a step in, in the right direction might be protecting your own assets starting to pay attention to these things. And I do believe it's something that will be more, more mainstream and easier to do. as more companies are being held accountable for their practices, for the way they're governed for the way they treat their employees, for the way, the treatment environment that it's, these things are being evaluated more. And so it will become easier in the future. And in the meantime, if there is a small portion of your investment or your giving that can be aligned with these values, then you're making a positive impact. In my opinion and it doesn't have to be like, oh my gosh, I have to change the whole thing. Cause that's just too much. That's just too daunting. I actually, I like to think of it as, if you've heard about meatless, Mondays, people who are, who enjoy eating meat, but they choose to give up eating meat just one day a week. That one day a week can actually have a huge impact on the environment. if a lot of people are doing it. So again, I like to think of these things as small steps that you can take that can have a good, positive impact that aligns with what you want the world to look like.

Dr. Gray, Host 12:34

Oh, I love that. I love that you mentioned it, it doesn't have to be all or none thinking, because I think that's where it gets people to freeze up, where they're like, there's so many problems in the world and basically any of these companies are evil, so do I just stop investing? And that, yeah, no, just start small start, just, maybe set aside a little bit of your portfolio where, don't sell the stuff that you already have, especially if it has tax consequences, just start small with, just like a fund that you allocate into impact investing. And as you say this, I just, something just came up in my mind because you're saying, keeping companies accountable. one thing that's so bothers me, especially, thinking about kids and grandkids and great-grandkids is how much plastic we make and packaging there's just so much plastic. And my neighbor is a, a sugar maker, he makes maple syrup. And he's a salt of the earth kind of guy, like, just loves nature and loves the environment. And he, I remember him telling me when I first met him several years ago. He's like, I feel very strongly about glass, because glass, you can truly recycle glass. And, he feels strongly that he's going to bottle his maple syrup in glass, even though he ships it and, thousands of miles away because for him, it's a non-negotiable for his business. even though it probably does cost more, Especially if it breaks and during shipment So here's a guy, you know, who's just, you know, very small-scale business, but who feels strongly about this because he cares about the environment. And so for me, when I go to the store and I can't avoid it because my, I have a family of five and they eat a lot. I'm buying all this food with packaging. I eat, an orange, everyone in my family eats an orange. And we made this huge plastic net now is the trash and I have to throw it away. And I'm just like, there's something that doesn't add up here because we ate five oranges and now we made this humongous piece of trash. That's going to stay around forever and you can recycle this net even though it's plastic. And then it's going to end up in the oceans. you know, And then you look at those photos of, them taking pictures of trash that ends up in the middle of the ocean. And it's just amazing. How much more can we keep throwing out and how much more trash can we produce? And yet it's really, the business is decision. I know that most businesses are concerned about their bottom line, but if they're held accountable, and I actually tried to buy at stores that don't package their food a certain way. if I go to the natural food stores, they usually just have, items, or you can just buy instead of, having it in this plastic packaging. But if everybody was more, felt more strongly about this, it would help, help the businesses orient in a way that as consumers and as investors, that we can make an impact in our choices. And so whether to invest in the company or whether to just be a consumer of their product,

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 15:27

So actually have some good examples for that, because what you're talking about is so important and it touches on so many things and it touches it on the consumer power of choosing to go to those health food stores, where they use less packaging, the power that your neighbor has as a business owner in making those kinds of choices, but also the big company accountabilities. So as an example, I think it's, Nike is trying to, And develop shoes that are all made of recyclable plastics, recyclable materials. So they're the big companies are also trying to do this because they know that the consumers are paying attention. and so they've developed a, a bunch of different, shoe lines that use, plastic from the ocean. But they're also trying to do, I think it's, something called a loop where you have the shoes that are from recyclable plastics or whatever, and they have this process where they make it into pellets and then they shape it into shoes and things like that. But they're trying to develop one. Can be constantly recycled. So when you're done with them, you send the shoes back, they're able to break it down again, make it into whatever pellets or whatever their magic processing is to be able to send them out into the world again, instead of making new plastics. So people like you who are paying attention to this are concerned about this, people like your neighbor who are thoughtful about how they, as a business, produce things and have their impact are making these changes. And, things like these sustainable brands they are growing, I think 50% more than the rest of the, non I'm forgetting the word, but like the ones that don't pay attention to

Dr. Gray, Host 17:14

The traditional

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 17:16

the traditional, that's a good. Yes. they're conventional methods. So these brands and these products that people who are paying attention to these things and are figuring out these creative ways of managing plastic waste or decreasing the waste, those are the companies that are going to be doing well more into the future as well. I was actually just on a trip last week with my family and I went into the gift store and there were a couple t-shirts that were super cute that I wanted to get. And one of them was made from recycled plastics from the, I don't know where the plastics were gotten from, but it was really soft and it was cute. And so I chose that shirt instead of the other ones. And so these daily choices that we make when we're spending. those are the companies that are going to be doing better. Those are the companies that are going to succeed, and that's where we are. we're in a position to help those companies succeed. So it builds on itself. And I think that was a great, example that you gave.

Dr. Gray, Host 18:19

Yeah, I love that. That's this is so great. I'm so happy that you came on the podcast, and we had this amazing conversation and just so grateful for having you. And why don't you tell our listeners, how to find you and how to connect with you, especially cause by the time this podcast comes out, your funds, most likely going to be launched or about to be launched.

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 18:41

thank you so much for having me here. It's been so much fun to talk with you about this. so I can be found on social media. I'm on Facebook and Instagram at physician philanthropist. I also have my website, which is the physician philanthropists.com. And on there you can find my blog, the intentional money blog. you can contact me. I'm always happy to get questions or contexts and things like that. you can contact me directly there. That's also where I will have my, my courses on philanthropy and on impact investment. And that's also will be the way to find my, the. Philanthropy impact fund is on my website. The physician philanthropist.com.

Dr. Gray, Host 19:23

Wonderful. And, before I let you go, I'm going to have both of us pitch for, why physicians should care about this. So I'll start and then I'll let you do your pitch too. I, and we been talking about this, the whole, conversation, but I really would urge, our listeners, if they don't think, cause the word philanthropist, even, it's an identity that even I, where I actually do donate quite a bit of our income every year, I don't even think of myself as a philanthropist. And I want to start adopting this identity and, in dare Jane physician, what I really try to encourage all everyone, including myself to do is to. Explore and adopt new identities that maybe you weren't comfortable with, that you didn't even think you deserve, or you just didn't identify with. And, but maybe it resonates with you more than you think. And I think to adopt this philanthropy identity, we. It's all about making an impact. That's such an important value for us is to make an impact on the world is to, I thought of it as say, like when I applied to medical school, I'm like, I'm doing this to save the world. And it's our version of saving the world and making an impact. And it's, I often think of money as being boring. But when we think about, how much impact a dollar or,$10, a thousand dollars,$10,000, a million dollars, how much impact this can make it is just mind boggling and, it's what. It's what helps people, who are struggling with, childhood cancer or, premature births, have this resource, the Ronald McDonald house at a hospital where they can actually see their kids. and there's so many things, And there's so many things out in the world and then our country, I there's need everywhere that we just by giving that we can have an impact on. And I I really encourage all our listeners too, to think about that. is this an identity I want to adapt? And if it is just start small, right. Start with$5,$10 start whatever, and go, keep going. And maybe even go to the point where it's a little uncomfortable. Like I remember last year when I gave, and I, you know, I was hitting the submit button on online. Wow, this is uncomfortable for me. And I actually, I thought this is good. This is good. This is a good, uncomfortable, and I, and I have to say the one thing is I have never regretted giving but there are times when I've regretted not giving. And this is not even just with donations, but just, even giving tips sometimes I'm like, wow, I should have given a bigger tip, but it's that attitude. I have never regretted being too generous and I've only regretted not being generous enough.

Dr. Recha Bergstrom, Guest 22:06

Well, that is beautiful. I'm going to have to quote you on, can I call you on that? That is so beautiful. I love what you said there. And I would just echo everything that you said that you don't regret, being generous. I think that, that I agree as physicians, we do what we do, what we can, because we care about people. and we want to have a positive impact. And I think that participating in philanthropy or just being intentional and thinking about where you put your money, when it goes out there in the world, It's the next step to that. it's a, it's in lateral con continuation of caring and, just understanding that, paying attention to that, deciding to be intentional about it. And also, as you say, like daring to dream, imagine the world that you can help create by being intentional that way. Imagine all the good things that we can do together because we are being thoughtful that way. it's I think just a beautiful thought and it's really empowering. And I want physicians to be able to own their own power and understand how much of an impact that can make and how much positive change they can affect in the world.