Sorry, but the reason our January newsletter is so late is that I intended to write this article right after my recent holiday trip to India - - but I couldn't come up with the right words to describe it!

Those of you who know me may be surprised to find me at a loss for words. However, it has taken several weeks for me to fully absorb and evaluate all of the unusual (and, at times, unsettling) sights, smells, impressions and personal experiences. India is so different from our reality here, that I feel like I visited another planet!

The India I toured was a land of extreme contrasts. Beautiful modern buildings and dilapidated ancient monuments.

(click on photos to view larger image)

Millionaire mansion compounds surrounded by slum shacks built of discarded trash. Cows walking slowly in the street being passed by speeding Mercedes Benzes. Barefoot, scantily clad beggars with cell phones. Sparkling clean beaches, water and air and some of the worst garbage on city streets, filthy water and foul-smelling air pollution (pollution so thick you couldn't see the sun on a sunny day, just a fuzzy circle of light peering through a grey sky!). 

The mind-blowing thing is that I often observed all of these extremes at the same time. It was as though some higher power had shook up a container of everything ever created, both good and bad, and plopped it down in one spot!

And then there were all of the "inconveniences" I encountered on a daily basis. Electricity intermittently going on and off. Hot water available at times and not others. Sewage occasionally backing up and a terrible stench coming from the commode (not to mention public restrooms!). Marketplaces so crowded you could hardly move! Long lines at the post office, with hundreds of people waiting for several hours to be serviced by 5 workers with just 3 very old computers and seated amidst piles of paperwork in stacks everywhere on their desks and sticking out of overstuffed drawers! (Could you imagine the riot that would ensue if people here had to wait even one hour at the post office?!)

 I describe daily life in India as "barely functional chaos". Somehow, despite how everything seems completely out of control, it works. Remarkably, the people (including many of the poorest individuals) appeared calm, tolerant, patient, stress-free, vibrant, friendly and optimistic - - particularly about their country's rising stature in the world. Perhaps this emanates from India's great religious traditions, which have strong beliefs in Karma. Someone remarked to me that Indians believe that by accepting one's lot in life, and exercising calm, peaceful and right actions, one will be rewarded by moving up the Karmic scale.

Which leads me to some conclusions about the role we, as Americans, have in the world. Since returning from India, I have been overcome by overwhelming gratitude. We are so lucky and privileged to enjoy and take for granted so many things we are blessed to enjoy every day that many millions of others don't have. We rarely notice the poverty and need of others in America, because it tends to be hidden in the "bad areas" we never venture to see. We are used to only experiencing affluence all around us, living in our little "cocoons".

After I saw, and was shocked and humbled by, the millions in India living in squalor and filth, hoping to scrounge something to eat each day and find a place to lie down at night, I am reminded of not only the need for us, the affluent in America, to help others, but more so our "Karmic" obligation to do so.

Which now leads me back to your estate planning (you suspected I would get this in at some point, right?).

Would it really make any difference if your children or other beneficiaries received 99 cents of every dollar of your estate, rather than the full dollar, because one cent (just 1%) went to charity? And imagine, if everyone gave just 1% of their estate to helping others who truly are in need, how much money we could raise in total and how many more people in this world could enjoy a better life?

Or, how about doing some charitable giving now, while you can see and enjoy the results of your generosity? Or, at least consider establishing a "Family Bank Trust" as a part of your estate plan, where you make a deposit now and can teach your heirs how to build and maintain wealth and distribute it appropriately for their own worthwhile purposes or for charitable needs - - instead of just leaving your beneficiaries a big pile of assets at death and having them behave as though they just won the lottery!