Estate Planning - Rich Dad, Poor Dad - Ask Mitt Romney

Follow my estate planning advice and you can be as rich as Mitt Romney. The Boston Globe has been running a multi-part story about Mitt Romney over the past several days. Politics and Bain Capital aside, Mitt Romney is a successful man. Mitt Romney is a rich man. Mitt Romney is a humble man. I don't measure a man by his bank account or his heartfelt opinions, I measure him by how he lives his life. I met Mitt Romney about eight years ago. Mitt and I maintained an odd sort of relationship over a couple of years. He and I would sit twenty feet apart each week for five hours at at time. We never shared a word, but our eyes would meet almost every Friday evening with a "hey neighbor" nod of the head. I represented a company in Utah that is in the legal and real estate software business. From 1999 to 2001 I attended regular Friday morning meetings at the company's office in Provo, Utah. Each Friday night I would fly Delta back to Boston. Invariably I would see the same well dressed man traveling alone sitting in the waiting area. Often he would be reading business papers, but just as often he would be passively enjoying the throng of people filing through the airport. He was Mitt Romney, head of the Salt Lake City Olympic Committee, but I didn't put his face with his name for several months. I noticed something very different about this well dressed and outwardly successful man right from the beginning. As we boarded the plane, each traveling alone, I would take my seat in the first class cabin (because I traveled so much Delta upgraded me on every flight) and Mitt Romney would take his aisle seat in the coach cabin. One time I glanced at the flight manifest that they tack up in the first class galley and saw that Mitt Romney's name was in the list with mine as a "medallion flyer", meaning that he had the same privilege to sit in the front of the bus. And he's tall, and he traveled frequently, but he sat with the people. This was a five hour plus flight at night. The plane was normally only half full and was one of those dull dark rambling flights bringing people from one place to another place without any fanfare. Mitt Romney was not being watched by the Boston Globe or New York Times, he was not even a politician - just a tired business traveler trying to be home for the weekend. Back to the Boston Globe story and how this relates to estate planning, elder law and lawyers in Massachusetts generally. I have no affiliation with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (Mormons) - those that know me know that I would last about ten minutes with their prohibitions on coffee, foul language and alcohol - not to mention where I stand on virtually every social issue of importance in modern life. But I have developed a great respect for their single most important belief - that our families our bound to us forever and therefore of utmost importance. Mitt Romney and I see few issues the same way on the scorecard of politics that the media requires of candidates, but I still see Mitt Romney as a worthy man for leadership in America. That's not to say I'd vote for him, I probably won't, but if Mitt Romney got elected at least I would trust that he would act honorably. The Boston Globe ran a 37 picture album of the Romney family today. From Mitt Romney's childhood through to his wife's birthday party this past Spring his devotion to family is without peer. Mitt Romney reads to his grandchildren. Mitt Romney brings his kids to school on their first day. Mitt Romney cuddles with his newborn son. Mitt Romney holds his wife's hand. Mitt Romney came home on Friday nights to be with his family, steerage class. I recently heard a story about Michael Eisner, the former head at Disney, who apparently had a sign in his office that read "If you're not here Saturday, don't bother coming in Sunday." You won't see this sign in Mitt Romney's oval office. Sure, he'll be available for emergencies of state, but more likely Mitt Romney will be at church and playing Wiffle Ball with his sons on the lawn of the White House. Learn from Mitt Romney. Not the politics (we can have that discussion another time). Learn how the man has enjoyed unimaginable financial and personal success but still goes to his lake house in New Hampshire most weekends to pull water skiers and attend his grand daughters' tea parties. Mitt Romney's devotion to family is worth emulating. In my elder law practice more than anywhere else I see the opposite example. I see parents that never made the time to read to their children, counsel them when they had problems or share their hobbies. What does this breed? Ask Harry Chapin (Cat's in the Cradle). These children impoverish the spirit of their parents by not helping when their parents need help the most. These children impoverish their children by living as their parents lived. It is not too late to mend your ways, especially if you still have young children in the house. Bring a kid golfing with you (Mitt Romney was his father's caddy). Skip your weekly poker game and bring your kids to the movies. Tell your boss that you can't make it to that late meeting because your son has a little league game. Eat your meals together as a family, at a table, without a television or iPod and talk about the events of the day. Go camping, in a tent, with nothing run by electricity. Mitt Romney did these things in spades with his busy father and as a busy father. If you treat your children as an extension of yourself and you bond your family together on the premise that you will be spiritually together for an eternity or at least while your hearts are beating (whatever your beliefs may be), you will be rich - richer than you can ever imagine. Ask Mitt Romney.