Amid trade fight, Trump says he'll ‘make it up' to farmers
In my profession,
I am blessed to know people in their best times – weddings, babies, retirement – and their worst times
– illness, death. I am trained to give advice for all these times, and occasionally I have the privilege of knowing someone listened.
Several years back,
I attended a seminar series led by a woman who, as a financial advisor, had partnered with an attorney and a CPA and, together, they created a “terrific trio” for their combined clients. In this series, they worked with their clients to create not just an estate plan, but a family plan. One of the many takeaways for me from having attended was the notion that we owe it to our families to NOT leave them with a mess when we die. And we will all die.
What this group taught was more than just making sure there's enough money and that beneficiaries and guardians are properly in place. What they proposed was more from the heart. It was a love letter. Several years back, I shared this concept with a client in Alabama, and last week, I had the immense blessing of knowing he had not only listened, but acted. When I met with my client's family after his passing, there – like a piece of gold – was his love letter.
The letter started by saying, “Your mother and I never had much, but we did the best with what we had, and we tried to raise you, our children, to be independent, productive individuals. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.” He then talked about each child individually, as well as about his wife, and described the special place each held in his heart. Wow! There, in writing, never to be forgotten or mis-remembered, were their father's expression of pride and love. We all want to make our parents are proud, and this man left no doubt.
My client was practical, as well. This letter (ten pages) included details about retirement, savings and investment accounts, as well as life insurances. He provided instructions for what to do with property, what to sell and what was bequeathed to whom. He provided fatherly wisdom on what they should do with the money being left to each of them (“NO savings accounts!”) He also reminded them of their responsibility to their mother, in the event of his passing before her. He showed his humor and his sternness, all in the same sentence at times.
I didn't know this man well, but seeing the care he took in his living years to be sure he “handled his business” brought this sentimental fool to tears. He was not dictating from the grave, as some might fear; instead, he was lovingly directing so that his children – all adults and thirty-plus years removed from living together as siblings – would have no doubt that they were being fair and following his wishes. What an amazing gift!
My client had passed away suddenly. He didn't have the benefit of knowing his time was short, which makes his intense preparation all the more remarkable. But get this… There were letters dated every two years back to 2000. He had, after all, not listened to me. He had grace enough to make me THINK he'd listened to me. He'd been loving on his family all along. What a beautiful man and a beautiful legacy for his family. And we can all do the same.
I urge you to mark a date on your calendar and commit to putting in writing for your family all the things you would want them to know on your deathbed. You don't have to be a wordsmith nor a master of eloquence. Tell a story. Tell them you love them. Your family won't care at all. Your love letter will be a treasure for generations.
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump acknowledged Monday that farmers could be adversely affected by the escalating tariff dispute with China, but promised to make it up to them, saying they "will be better off than they ever were."
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump
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NEW YORK (AP) — Facebook said it would begin notifying users Monday if their data has been swept up in the Cambridge Analytica scandal, although it appears to be taking its time.
The 87 million users who might have had their data shared with Cambridge Analytica were supposed to get a detailed message on their news feeds starting on Monday. Facebook says more than 70 million of the affected users are in the U.S., though there are over a million each in the Philippines, Indonesia and the U.K.
As of 3:30 p.m. Eastern Time, however, there were no signs that any users have yet received that notification or a more general one Facebook said it would direct to everyone on its service. Associated Press reporters around the world have been surveying users, none of whom have reported seeing anything from Facebook. There appear to be no social media reports of notifications, and Facebook had no immediate comment on the matter.
Reeling from its worst privacy crisis in history — allegations that this Trumpaffiliated data mining firm may have used ill-gotten user data to try to influence elections — Facebook is in full damage-control mode. CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged that he made a "huge mistake" in failing to take a broad enough view of what Facebook's responsibility is in the world. He's set to testify before Congress on Tuesday and Wednesday.
In prepared remarks released by a House committee, Zuckerberg said the company has notified all users affected in the scandal. Since the remarks are for Wednesday morning, this means everyone who was affected should see a message by then.
Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie previously estimated that more than 50 million people were compromised by a personality quiz that collected data from users and their friends. In an interview aired Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press," Wylie said the true number could be even larger than 87 million.
That Facebook app, called "This is Your Digital Life," was a personality quiz created in 2014 by an academic researcher named Aleksander Kogan, who paid about 270,000 people to take it. The app vacuumed up not just the data of the people who took it, but also — thanks to Facebook's loose restrictions — data from their friends, too, including details that they hadn't intended to share publicly.
Facebook later limited the data apps can access, but it was too late in this case.
Zuckerberg said Facebook came up with the 87 million figure by calculating the maximum number of friends that users could have had while Kogan's app was collecting data. The company doesn't have logs going back that far, he said, so it can't know exactly how many people may have been affected.
Cambridge Analytica said in a statement last Wednesday that it had data for only 30 million Facebook users.
Facebook has also suspended two more
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