August 1, 2019

One of the reasons we don’t do our financial planning, tax planning or estate planning, is because we don’t really feel moved by the possible future.  A Harvard business report (which you can find here) showed that people will make better decisions when they stopped seeing their future selves as “strangers.”

I was reminded of this as I played with the FaceApp, which has been making it’s way around social media lately. (Yes, I am aware that the Russians may now have my likeness, but I’m pretty much everywhere on the Internet anyway, why not one more place? I’ve since deleted the app anyway.)

It was eye-opening to see what I may be looking at in the mirror 30 to 40 years from now. In fact, I also found it insightful to see what the app had to show for my likeness 30 years ago. What kind of legacy do I want to leave behind? What is 83-year-old Neel trying to say to 43-year-old Neel? And for that matter what does 43-year-old Neel want to say to 13-year-old Neel?
What about you? What would you tell yourself you get the opportunity speak to yourself 30 years ago? What do you want your legacy be? And how we accomplish that? That’s where we can help. If we get together I would love to hear your goals, dreams and wishes. Maybe that person in the picture doesn’t have to be such a stranger.

Finally, we celebrated my mother’s birthday over the weekend. My maternal grandfather (Dada) sat next to me at dinner. We decided to use my FaceApp picture and do a side-by-side with his picture. Check it out below. Made me think – maybe I didn’t need the app after all.
Feel free to reach out if you want to chat about your future, present and/or past.