Dear colleagues, customers and friends,

It is both a privilege and a challenge to be in the business of humanizing two things often seen as heavy, intimidating and oh, so serious! -- the instrument of the ethical will and the concept of legacy. Simply put, they ask of us a singular question:

What do I have that I can give?

Legacy is the enduring influence of ALL the gifts you have to give. Money, yes, but also love and values, wisdom and stories, clarity of feelings and intent, gifts of time, energy and ideas.

You might make the mistake of believing you are in control of your legacy, when it is largely determined by the people who have been influenced by you in some way. The degree to which they carry pieces of you forward will be up to them, not you. It never hurts to be remined of this humbling truth.

It is not a question of "leaving a legacy" that is somehow tied up with a ribbon for others to open after you've gone. It is a matter of living in awareness of all you have to give to others -- in everything you do and everything you say.

In appreciation of you, and of the great mystery that is legacy,
Susan
Learning and Doing
I was pleased to be part NAPFA's Playbook Series last month:
Conversations That Matter: The Value of Educating Clients About Letters of Wishes and Ethical Wills

90% ranked the presentation as
Valuable or Very Valuable

I am looking forward to presenting at the NAPFA national conference in Boston in October on the topic,
Legacy Conversations: With Your Clients, For Yourself

I hope to see some of you there!
A two-hour ethical will workshop

August 18: 11:00 - 1:00 ET
or
October 13: 7:00-9:00 pm ET

Write a 1-2 page letter in this comfortable, interactive on-line workshop. We'll give you the structure and the time to create a loving, helpful and timeless message
for those you love.

$50.00 per person
Registration deadline:
48 hours in advance

"I wanted to write to say thank you for the workshop last week. It was really powerful."
Words fly away, what's written remains:

My dear wife and children,

My love, which neither sea nor land, nor death itself can extinguish or lessen toward you, most endearedly visits you with eternal embraces, and will abide with you forever; and may the God of my life watch over you, and bless you, and do you good in this world and forever...

The opening paragraphs of a letter by William Penn, June 4, 1682

by Walter Raleigh and Henry Sidney, edited in 1824