I read Newsday and some other newspapers on my phone every day.  It’s a Long Island, NY paper if you’re not familiar.  Yesterday I opened the app to the headline page.  One of them  said “Tree cutter dies after fall”.  It’s not the kind of story I will usually open or read but for some reason I did.  I glanced at the story and a name jumped off the page, Erik Halvorsen.

In my 20’s and 30’s I was an avid basketball player and often played at a park with great competition some 15 miles from my home.  During that time I also coached HS basketball so I would find a spot on my team for a younger kid if he played hard.  Erik was one of those kids.  As a bonus he was also the nicest most polite kid.

I hadn’t seen Erik in a good 25 years, but somewhere along the line I had heard he started a tree service business and was doing pretty well.  Yesterday something went wrong and despite proper safety gear a tree he was in snapped and he fell.

Erik was 45 years old.  I have no idea if he was married, had kids, or had done any comprehensive financial planning for himself or his business.  I hope he did.  It hit home to me why I do what I do.  We can’t plan for everything in life but we can for the big things – the ones that matter.

For those of you who haven’t planned or revisited your financial plan, today is the day.  Stop putting it off.  Today is Yesterday’s Tomorrow.

The Bottom Line:  Godspeed Erik Halvorsen.

--Michael Ross, CFP®