A friend shared that he planned to have a conversation very soon with his wife about some of the finer details of their financial situation. He described it as getting a meeting on their calendar. The need for such an appointment came just weeks after several unexpected and sudden family losses. The reminder to keep family members updated about financial information comes to us at the worst times. ...[Read More]
Tips for All-Important Family Conversations
How to Be the Unique Giver You Were Designed to Be
I have a friend who loves to go to party fundraisers. Her husband finds a buddy to talk with while she dances from one group to another because she loves people and doesn’t want to miss a single friend. And for her, it’s all the more enjoyable because she can have so much fun while supporting an important cause. I met with a woman who unexpectedly inherited a large sum of money from a ...[Read More]
How to Write a Legacy Statement – The Most Important Gift You Will Leave Behind
Tiny stacks of 35-millimeter slides covered the dining room table. One by one I passed them through the slide viewer. The story of my parents’ earliest years together unfolded from Okinawa to North Carolina to Colorado and Texas. Pictures are only part of the story. Several years ago, dad sent me a handwritten letter, more like a long list of notes that wind through place and time. That’s anothe ...[Read More]
Hot Dogs, Money and Kids
If you could invent one thing to make the world a better place, what would it be? That’s the question we put to eleven-year-old Jack during the game Phil and His Family’s Adventures in Giving. Joined by his thirteen-year-old brother and another friend of the same age, we took turns answering scripted questions. Questions like, “What is the nicest thing you have ever done for someone” or “What is t ...[Read More]