According to the American Bar Association only about 20% of Americans have taken time to set up a will if they should die. For many years now, I have been working with families in Colorado, throughout the US and the world, as a financial advisor and investment representative. When it comes to long-range planning, I have discovered just how much the phrase, My True Love Gave To Me, carries in value. Whether people provide for those they love most while they are alive or after they are gone, the reality is that it always comes back to those they love most. “Getting your house in order” is truly one of the most unselfish, loving things you can do for your family and those you hold most dear in this life. Having a will means leaving behind a much more efficient world for your loved ones to live in.

     In a special double issue U. S. News and World Report (Dec.26Th 2005 edition) the front cover read: 50 Ways To Improve Your Life In 2006. Guess what one of those 50 Ways To Improve Your Life in 2006 was? Compose a Living Will. In this little article there also was a very challenging thought by the writer, “To procrastinate is human; to get a second chance, divine.” If you love someone you want to give your loved one a second chance in life if the worst happens to you, a chance to start over again….a chance to pay off burdensome debts, unforeseen bills…a chance for your children to go to college or start a business of their own. Therefore, in the end they can say, “My True Love Gave To Me.”

     My 81year old father, who has been very successful in the business world, has always reminded me of Robert Greene’s famous quote, “Time and tide wait for no man.” How true this is. For Terri Shiavo’s family this was a rude awakening. I urge you to “Do your giving and planning while you’re living so you will know where it’s going.” Give your true love, true love. Take time to enlist people who can represent you if you can not sign your own name or make intelligent decisions. People you love and trust, who love you.
Love is a very difficult thing to define. Leaving money behind for those you love, not to make them rich, but to help them remember your thoughtfulness and love says it all. In the scriptures, I love to read those words of St. John, “Greater love has no man than this that a man lay down his life for his friends.” An heir feels very special. And should. Why? Because someone is saying with the gift of his or her assets left behind, “My true love really did give to me.”

     Today millions of people are accumulating many assets. Many of them really have never done anything right or wrong, they just haven’t done anything. The Problem? It’s as old as Solomon. People do not ever plan to fail, they just fail to have a plan. Tomorrow has a way of coming; it just does. You will find as you age that it also gets real late after awhile. Next thing you know you will inherit what your true love (parent, spouse, sibling, family member or friend) gave to you.

     A couple of years ago I received a gift of $2,000.00 in the mail. It was from a long time family friend. In her estate she left something for me. Now $2000.00 today is certainly not a fortune by any means. However, I honestly never considered the gift, but my wife and I were grateful for the giver. Why? Because, “My True Love Gave To Me”, became a reality to us and that has made all the difference.