The end of the year is near and while this isn’t my final blog post, I will tell you right now that I am happy 2008 is coming to a close. It has been tough. No matter how you look at it, 2008 is one for the ages and I am glad it’s going to be over soon.
It’s shocking how much stuff one can fit into a year. In college, I worked at the student newspaper – the office was too small – so a few of us got together with the school’s head of physical plant to see what could be done to improve the space. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much because — to quote the head of physical plant directly – “You can only fit five pounds of shit into a five-pound bag.”
I think it’s clear that Wall Street alone, not to mention other events, proved this theory wrong when it came to 2008.
The headlines are many and the list quite long – I won’t bore you with any of them. Still, I do suggest checking out some of the recaps to make sure you don’t lose sight of what happened in the eighth year of the new millennium.
Since the Madoff crisis, I have had received many calls and emails questioning the impact of his actions on the industry. Unfortunately, I don’t have the answer, but I do believe that more regulation is coming. The industry will clearly change in other ways, too, but just how is still up in the air. I do, however, hope that somebody in Washington finally realizes that that the industry needs standardized reporting and that this regulation is at last put into place.
As the Madoff scandal continues to unfold, stories come out day after day of people and families who have lost much, if not all, of their wealth. One of them is the father of a friend. Last Monday, my friend called to discuss his family’s situation, which thankfully is not a total loss. The family and its advisors had only allocated a portion of their assets to Madoff, but it is a loss nonetheless. My friend said that his father’s reaction to the loss was that of shock, disbelief and sorrow. He was devastated not only because he was conned but because he had planned on the leaving the money Madoff was managing to his heirs. It was to be his legacy.
I was troubled by this comment. I told my friend so and then added: “Your father’s legacy is not defined by money distributed at his death. It is defined by the time he spent with you while he is alive. This is what he will be remembered for by you and your family.”
It is important that those of you who know people who were touched by the Madoff situation talk to them to let them know that while they probably aren’t going to get the Madoff money back, the greatest commodity of all is still available to them – time. And they should use their time wisely, because time well spent creates the memories that define one’s legacy.