Author of Healthy, Wealthy & Wise will speak in Columbia on September 24, 2019.

The Foundation is partnering with Abacus Planning Group to host author and wealth advisor Coventry Edwards-Pitt (Covie) for a book talk on Tuesday, September 24, 2019.

Covie is authored the Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Collection, a two-book series based on interviews that highlight success stories: the first, Raised Healthy, Wealthy & Wise (2014), focuses on raising children to be grounded and successful adults amid wealth. The second, Aged Healthy, Wealthy & Wise (2017), focuses on designing a vibrant and purposeful later life and legacy.

She is a Partner and the Chief Wealth Advisory Officer of Ballentine Partners, a Boston-area based investment and wealth advisory firm she joined 15 years ago.

Covie took some time to answer some questions from prior to her visit to Columbia.

What inspired you to write the book?

In my role at Ballentine Partners, I’m charged with thinking deeply about the problems our clients are facing and how best to relieve them of these worries. My first book was about one of those problems – how to raise children who are grounded and motivated amid wealth. This book is about how to age well and ensure that our later years have a positive impact on our families. Our goal was to address two groups of clients – those who are themselves at this stage of life and those who may have parents at this stage of life.

Tell us who you chose to interview – what was the selection criteria/process?

I sought out people we’d all want to be when we’re older. People who seem engaged, and enjoying their later lives are role models for the rest of us. I interviewed clients and non-clients in their 60s, 70s, and 80s.

Describe a key takeaway from your new book.

My first book was about the gifts parents give to their children that they shouldn’t. This book discusses gifts that all parents should give to their children, but that few do. All of us would love our parents to take the steps necessary to enjoy their later years. We would appreciate clarity from our parents about their wishes for where to live during their later years, their end of life wishes, and the meaning behind their estate planning decisions. But judging by how infrequently these topics are discussed, few of us will have that clarity. This book focuses on the practical steps we all can take both to enjoy our later years and impart this gift of clarity to our own children. No parent wants to be a burden – this is about how not to be.

At what age do you suggest that people start having these conversations?

Now. You never know what’s going to happen tomorrow. This is in the context of aging, but writing this book made me change some things about my life. I started exercising because it’s highly linked to cognitive health.

There are also some incredibly poignant stories about tragic circumstances, and I don’t want to find myself in a moment like that thinking, “I wish I had said more.” So, I wrote a letter to my daughter because I don’t want any words left unsaid. The events on September 11th, inspired me to write the letter because I don’t want to find myself in a situation like that thinking “I wish I had said these things.”

If you have parents in their 60s and 70s who are thinking “I’m way too young to deal with this” or “I’m awesome” that is the time to bring up a conversation like this. That’s when you have the power to do all these things without the rush and crisis of a health issue, which can change the tenor of these kinds of discussions.

Make plans to join us Tuesday, September 24^th to hear Covie Edwards-Pitt