In this episode, host Darol Tuttle shares his observations and feelings related to the end-of-life, our attitudes about death and how negative, counter-productive emotions block us from making this critical transition easier and less stressful for your family.

The Law has requirements and they must be met. This, a constant theme of the show is reinforced as Darol summarizes different real-life cases in which people have passed away with different levels of preparedness for this final contingency.

The Second Law of Money was described by Jack Tar: The financial ship always needs a captain.

Six hours after I learned that my father had passed away, I recorded this episode. I recorded it in one, uninterrupted session and it is unedited. I then published it to my website. The next morning, I felt ill at ease. My feelings were not grief about my father’s death. As you will soon realize, my father and I were not close. Rather, I worried that I was about to be hit by a bolt of lightning from Zeus for an unlawful or inappropriately disrespectful speech about the dead. As the day wore on and I had not been Zeus-whipped into a pile of burnt pleading paper, I began to respond to those who had listened to it. The feedback was as expected. Likely, the same reaction you have. I have debated including this frank and visceral exposure of my true feelings about my father. In the end, I decided to publish it if for no other reason it might help some other person out there think about family, the frailty of life and a parent’s obligation.

I decided to close my law firm. I am still a lawyer. I will still help people understand and leverage the law. I do not own and operate a law firm and will not practice law as I once did. The legal services industry is archaic. Expensive. Information is often hoarded when it should not be.

I came to the Caribbean to attend a business meeting. I was one of twenty-five entrepreneurs who were lucky enough to participate in a Master Mind with John Lee Dumas and his partner, Kate Erickson. John and Kate operate Entrepreneurs on Fire and Kate’s Take, podcasts on business and business efficiency. After the Master Mind, I stayed in Puerto Rico for a time and recorded the first and third episodes of this new Podcast.

I closed my law firm for many reasons. I admit being burnt out. You wouldn’t think practicing estate planning would be stressful but it was. Lawyers take on the problems of others. Clients bring with them expectations and entitlements. They are seldom appreciative. More often, they are resentful of the fee they pay.

I also had my eyes opened up to a new world I did not know existed. I suspect this world began to sprout when the internet was invented. The Law was invented in ancient times. Estate planning, my area of practice, began, in most part, during the Middle Ages. Lawyers are trained to look back into time to apply a legal rule of old to a current conflict. Naturally, so busy looking backward, I did not know there was a world out there in which young businesspeople used the internet to promote their product or service. With websites, podcasts and social media, thousands were solving problems for a fraction of the costs of traditional brick-and-mortar businesses. I wanted to do that.

My entire career has been about the laws of money. These laws can be complicated. Legal counsel is necessary to solve some problems but not all. However, in many ways, people seek reliable information. I will go one bold statement further. In many ways, people seek financial awareness that legal documents do not give.

This podcast offers listeners information. It also offers some entertainment. Most importantly, it offers a solution.