This time of year, I always receive a few Christmas letters from friends that recap their year. They come with their holiday cards. Not all are from people celebrating Christmas, but they all have a common purpose of keeping in touch with friends and family and recapping the year. I suggest that this year such letters are more important than ever.
I like this idea. I also like the concept of people writing something about their lives to pass on their accomplishments that might not be so clear or known by younger family members as well as nuggets of tips of things that could make everyday living a little brighter. I suggested this is my Getting Your Affairs in Order book and reproduced the entire chapter in a blog posted here. See, you do not have to purchase the book.
Since I wrote the earlier blog many friends have called to tell me how much they liked the idea and that they will get started on it. However, when I followed up, few have started. Well, start today with your Christmas letter. It does not need to be too long as long as it is to the point. Write it out and send it – postal mail it with a card if you could. Then every once in a while, jot down some thoughts where you think there can be a lesson somewhere in it, and if you do this just once every few weeks, you can have a dozen or fifteen such memos by this time next year. Do this for the next four or five years and you will have a pretty good “book” of gems to pass on. Whether you organize them or just keep them as written, you will have accomplished something pretty good for your children or grandchildren. The only downside is that a lot of it won’t mean anything to them until they are the age you are at now. However, if they have it, they might read it and possibly learn from it. If they do not have it, they definitely won’t get any benefit from it. To me, the “mights” out weight the “won’ts”
I also posted a previous column about this on an accounting site and followed it up yesterday with further information. Those columns are focused on accountants connecting with their clients, with some personal aspects. For those interested, here is a link to yesterday’s posting.
Try it. Start and see what develops.
If you have any tax, business or financial issues you want to discuss please do not hesitate to contact me at [email protected].
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