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Introduction
Once in a great while people achieve their dreams and are simultaneously afforded the opportunity to contribute back to the society of man good thoughts, good things, and good deeds. I find myself in that position.
For 23 years I have practiced law and limited my practice mostly to personal estate planning, business planning, and wealth counseling. My law practice has enabled me to provide for my family and to enable my two sons to attend wonderful universities to help them realize their dreams one day. I have been privileged to enjoy these blessings and am eternally thankful for such opportunities.
I am especially grateful to my parents, who inspired me with their simplicity, their honesty, and their values. My father, Don, worked nearly his entire career for Commonwealth Edison Company in Chicago. He only had a high school education, but persevered to be promoted into the Industrial Relations Department where he worked until his retirement. He never made a great deal of money, but nevertheless made his way to the train station every morning for the train ride from Downers Grove, Illinois into the busy Chicago downtown. We lived in the suburbs of Chicago, as my parents always wanted their son to grow up in as healthy an environment as they could afford.
My mother, Josephine, spent virtually all of her working life as a legal secretary in a small, two-person law firm in downtown Chicago. She would also ride the rails every morning, usually on a later train to make sure I got off to school. I think I probably received my first taste of lawyering from visiting her and meeting the lawyers in her office. She taught me how to type at nearly 100 words a minute, something I thank her for even to this day now that we are in the midst of the high-tech computer revolution.
They were simple people leading simple lives. Life indeed did seem to be simple in the 1950s and 1960s. But the values they passed on to me were far from simple. Although I really don't recall much overt preaching on their part as to how I should think and how I should lead my life, they taught me by their examples. Over the years I learned their values. Their values became mine. My wife, Phyllis, and I frequently receive complements on how wonderful our children are and how we must be so proud of them. We indeed are very proud of them. And I attribute at least my small contribution in their upbringing to how my parents raised me - by example. I have tried to teach my children values by example. I think I have been a good example most of the time. I know there are times I have been anything but a good example, but I hope those times will be forgotten as the years go by.
After working all of their lives providing for me, sending me to college, watching me get married, they finally retired and moved to Florida, something they looked forward to for a long time. After I graduated from law school in 1976, my wife and I also relocated to Florida, moving to Clearwater, not far from my parents. Shortly thereafter, my mother was diagnosed with terminal cancer. She never got to travel and do the things people in retirement should do. She was able to see our first son, Christopher, and that most certainly gave her immense joy.
I remember one day at my new law office receiving a telephone call. It was my father telling me that he thought I should come to the hospital right away. My mother was near death. I called my wife and told her where I was going and why, and that I didn't know when I would be home. On my way out of my office, I picked up a framed baby photograph of Christopher. I drove to the hospital, parked the car, and walked into the main lobby. As I emerged from the elevator, the hallways were busy. I walked down the hallway to my mother's room, and went inside. The room was very still.
She was lying on her side, facing the window. The day was beautiful, the sky blue, but the stark hospital room seemed to cruelly keep her from enjoying it. She was in a coma, unable to speak. Her eyes were open and there occasionally was a tear from her eye. I talked, but I don't know if she could hear me or understand me. I took the framed picture of Christopher and propped it up on the windowsill. I wanted her to have as her last image her only grandson. I don't know if she could see the picture.
I don't know if I made a difference in those last few hours of her life because she could not communicate anything to me. But I do know that as I look back on the way my parents raised me, that I can make a difference in other people's lives just as my parents made a difference in mine.
My father never remarried and he died in 1995. When he died, I remember feeling very alone. Even though I was married and had two children of my own, the feeling of aloneness is unmistakable and unpreventable.
As I go forward from this day, I continue to try to make a difference in people's lives. In helping my clients plan for the remainder of their lives and for the lives of their children and their grandchildren, they are able to make a difference. They are told they can make a difference. I try to show them how.
We try to design Life and Estate Plans together so we pass their value system to their loved ones. This "values-based" planning is the core of my practice, whether designing a personal estate plan or helping businesses to plan for the future. Values-based planning first focuses on what my client's need to do to achieve their own financial independence. We want to know first what it is going to take for them personally or their businesses to be completely financially secure for the rest of their lives. Second, we then try to design an appropriate family legacy. Finally, we help clients design their own "social capital" legacy. Social capital is that money that would normally go the government in the form of estate taxes. Many people don't realize that they can direct where that money goes rather than allowing the federal government to take it and spend it according the governmental, bureaucratic priorities. They are able to pass this social capital according to their own value system. They are able to make a difference.
Business formation issues, business management issues, and business succession issues are important and vital areas of concern all business owners need to master. It's not difficult, but it must be done. And in doing so, you, as the business owner, will be able to plan your future, draw your roadmap, and pass your own value system to your employees and perhaps to your loved ones if your business will someday pass to another family member.
Businesses have values too. And your value system is important in shaping how you conduct business and how you enjoy the fruits of your labor. My parents never owned a business and would never have had the opportunity to read a book such as this. But I think that as you read this book and as you think through the issues and values that are important to you, that you will have an opportunity to make a difference. You will have an opportunity to make this difference in how you approach your organization, your employees, your customers, your suppliers, your competitors, and yourself.
It is my hope that Strictly Business will be a valuable reference guide for you throughout the remainder of your business career. You and your values do matter. You do make a difference. Please enjoy. I know that this day the sky is clear blue, that you can see the future, and that you can indeed see the picture on the windowsill - your picture of your family, your future and your exciting business career ahead. Make a difference.
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Neil R. Covert, J.D., is an attorney who limits his practice to personal estate and business planning. For over 23 years, Mr. Covert has written, lectured, and advised high-net-worth individuals, family business owners and other professionals. He is a member of the National Network of Estate Planning Attorneys. Mr. Covert is a frequent lecturer and is noted for his training programs for financial professionals.
Mr. Covert received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa and a J.D. degree, cum laude, from John Marshall Law School in Chicago, Illinois. He was an associate editor of The John Marshall Law Review. He is admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of Florida and the U.S. Tax Court.
Mr. Covert lives with his wife, Phyllis, in Clearwater, Florida. His oldest son, Christopher, has Bachelor of Arts degrees in Business, International Business, and
Spanish. He is working with Neil in the law firm as his Funding Coordinator. His youngest son, Jonathan, graduated from the California Institute of the Arts with a degree and film. He is working as a Video Editor in Los Angeles, California.
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