Writing Your Life Story: Why

How often do you wish you knew more about your family? When we’re young, we don’t necessarily pay attention to the stories our elders tell us. Later in life, we often become interested in knowing who and where we come from.

We want to learn more about what makes us who we are, and we may even become interested in genealogy. Unfortunately, for many people, the resources that were there when we were younger have become faded memories and the people who could fill us in have already passed on.

A new idea by the website FamilySearch makes recording memories easier than ever for younger generations.

A common life lesson is to take large tasks and break them into smaller parts to make them achievable. FamilySearch has taken the task of writing your life story and broken it into 52 discrete parts that you can do once a week for one year. When you’re finished, you’ll have captured the memories your loved ones will value and created a true legacy for your family.

The questions posed on this website will allow you to catalog many things about yourself, such as the following:

• The basics about you, such as your full name, how you got your name, where you were born, and where you grew up;
• Information about your immediate and extended family, including memories of your parents and the work they did;
• Important genetic information that could be helpful to your descendants, such as unusual genetic traits and medical conditions that run in your family;
• Information about family traditions and how you spend your holidays;
• Your memories about your schools and your friends;
• Information that you have learned about yourself and the world, such as your greatest strengths and challenges, as well as your life philosophies; and
• Funny stories you remember, such as fads while you were growing up and tales about pets.

You can even add pictures. FamilySearch makes it easy to store your life story online, so your family can access it easily.

We believe capturing your values, insights, stories and experiences is so important, in fact, that we incorporate Family Wealth Passages into our estate planning process through a “Family Wealth Legacy Interview” with every plan.

This way, we ensure you are passing on not just your financial assets, but your whole family wealth, and what’s most often lost when you are gone. If you are an existing client and would love to update your Family Wealth Legacy Interview, contact us. If you are not yet a client, now is the time to get started with a Family Wealth Planning Session.