Family & Friends

ESTATE PLANNIN

Preparing for the Worst

I was on Today this morning talking about how important it is to get your finances in order in case the unexpected happens.  I blogged about this very topic last week, so I’ll just leave you with the video clip below:

The Parent Trap

I am — as I am sure so many of you are — so sad about Natasha Richardson.  I didn’t know her (I met her once, at a wake, but that doesn’t count as knowing).  But I am truly upset for her children, her husband, her mother, her sisters.  She seemed to be one of those one-in-a-million Hollywood people who actually did have it all.  Perhaps because she lived no where near Hollywood. 

For me, freak accidents like this one bring me back to the question: What if it was me?  My literary agent told me of how he was once on a plane that seemed like it was absolutely going down.  In that few moments he asked himself: Had he taken care of the people he loved?  Had he dotted all the i’s and crossed all the t’s?  And because he had, he was able to be at peace in the middle of a situation that turned out not to be a disaster after all. More…

THE DIFFERENCE

The Magic of Jon Gruden

In my seventh grade chorus class, there was a boy with sandy blond hair and freckles.  He sat behind me and he had “it.”  The boys wanted to hang with him.  The girls just wanted to be near him.  He was popular.  I didn’t live in that town long enough to know if he grew up to be prom king.  But later, I — and everyone else in America — watched him motivating a bunch of pros to become the youngest Super Bowl-winning coach in history.

As I dug into the data for The Difference: How Anyone Can Prosper In Even The Toughest Times, I was particularly interested to see if popularity at a young age was tied to success and wealth in adulthood.   More…

Me and Mila

My friend Elisa has many things to admire about her — but the thing I admire most is her enthusiasm.  She’s one of the many women I know who stopped working full-time when her children were little (it was hard for her, she enjoyed her work in employment law but the hours were unsustainable).  But unlike those who have been tentative about how to get back in, when to get back in, if they should get back in, Elisa always knew she wanted to find something else to excite her and fill her days — and though she hasn’t exactly found it yet, she has been willing to try many things.  And I think that’s great. More…