Memoirs Productions has been featured in this month’s edition of WEALTH Magazine on NorthernTrust.com. The article titled “Preserving Your Family History” focuses on leveraging technology to pass along family legacy. Kindly click here to read the article.
We’ve just received news that Memoirs Productions has been shortlisted for the Family Office Review’s Excellence in Specialty Services Award.
For the complete list of nominees and all ticket order information for this prestigious event, being held at the Peninsula Hotel in Chicago June 5th, 2014, please click here.
We hope to see you there!
Congratulations to all the winners of the Third Annual Family Office Review Awards! To view the complete list of winners, please click here.
Suzanne Shier, SVP– Northern Trust and Iris Wagner
Steffi Claiden, Editor-In-Chief, Family Office Review with Iris Wagner
Memoirs Productions and Iris E. Wagner have been featured in Patricia Annino’s latest book “It’s More Than Money, Protect Your Legacy”. In her book Patricia examines how to:
* Focus on what your values are.
* Align those values with your goals.
* Work with your team of advisors to put in place the legal documents and financial framework that will
* Protect you, your family, your charities and your legacy.
“As Iris points out, an ethical will benefits both the narrator and the recipient. It benefits the narrator because it is a celebration of life by which the narrator focuses on meaning, perspective and purpose. It is an open communication with important people…”
This is both a how to do it blueprint and a handbook designed to provoke family discussion, understanding and unity.
The book is now available on Amazon. We highly recommend adding it to your summer reading list!
In other noteworthy newsIris Wagner wrote the Prologue for the recently published Living Legacies – Volume IV, A Collection of Writing by Contemporary Canadian Jewish Women, PK Press 2014
While families get together to observe holidays throughout the year, there is nothing quite as special as the celebration of one’s birthday. A day especially for us, when we are honored by friends and loved ones. Today is a special day on the blog as we are acknowledging Memoirs’ CEO Iris Wagner’s birthday!
From the joyful childhood rituals of birthday bumps, to blowing out candles and singing the birthday song, these dates of celebration tend to take on greater significance as the years pass. With wisdom comes gratitude for the precious gifts of time and experience.
As part of the very personal celebration, birthdays are an opportune time of year to pause, reflect, and set goals we wish to accomplish before our next birthday rolls around. Even better: write them out and put the list in a place where it can easily be referenced. Imagine the treasures you will accumulate if, year after year, you collect these lists: a veritable portal into the evolution of priorities and accomplishments across your lifetime.
Sharing a birthday is also fun! We seem to pay extra attention to the celebrity birthdays, and horoscope predictions when our special day comes around; it’s also great for forging connections. An interesting anecdote: during an icebreaker at a conference networking event, participants were asked to find others who shared their same birth year, followed by month, then day, all the way down to the time of birth. If you can believe it, Iris met someone who had been born at the exact same year, day and minute as she– except he was born in England!
Above all, birthdays should be a yearly celebration of life. A day to indulge in special treats, small (or big) luxuries, and rituals we might forgo the rest of the year. A special day to celebrate and be feted– a day that is just for us!
December 2014 Update:An interview with Iris Wagner is featured in Kirby Rosplock’s December blog post, ‘Preserving Family Legacy’. To read the whole article kindly click here.
We are pleased to highlight that Iris E. Wagner is featured in Kirby Rosplock’s recently released book “The Complete Family Office Handbook” as an expert on preserving family legacy.
The book, now available on Amazon, has already received high praise. “The Complete Family Office Handbook captures the essence of today’s family office and paves the way to best practice for every family and advisor entrusted with sustaining generational wealth. Kirby has written what is sure to be an industry classic.” —Sara Hamilton, Founder and CEO, Family Office Exchange
To find out more about capturing the history and legacy for Family Offices, please contact Iris at Memoirs Productions at 866.481.9303 or iris.wagner@memoirsproductions.com
As 2013 draws to a close, we encourage you to take the time to reflect and write a Legacy Letter. Similar to an ethical will but usually shorter in length, a personal legacy letter is written to share what has been most important in your life with loved ones.
A great idea is to take the time to write a legacy letter on behalf of your children when they are too young to do it for themselves. Annual letters documenting children’s blossoming personalities and emotional growth are a treasure worth saving and sharing. Your kids love stories about themselves, and as time passes, the small details are lost to the quick passing of time. Capture them now while they are still fresh!
Storytelling is the most powerful way to connect with family members and can have huge influence on your children and grandchildren. Writing down the special stories of life’s moments guarantees that your wisdom and values are truly preserved. Please make sure to print and store them safely (or back them up off your computer).
Andrew Weil, M.D, author of Healthy Aging sums it up very nicely, “Certainly, an ethical will can be a wonderful gift to leave your family at the end of your life, but I think its main importance is what it can give you in the midst of your life.”
So please don’t put it off. Do it before the rush of the New Year begins! You (and your family and friends) will cherish the results.
The Thanksgiving holiday celebrated in the U.S. is almost upon us. It’s one of the few times of the year loved ones make the greatest of efforts to make the pilgrimage home. We gather around our dining tables to enjoy the company of family and friends, as well as a carefully planned and executed feast. It is also a deliberate time for reflection, where we pause to express our gratitude for many things that life has to offer.
Reflecting on what we are grateful for should not be saved for one day a year. Just as being in the company of loved-ones is beneficial for both the heart and soul, starting a gratitude journal and writing in it several times a week has proven to have tangible benefits.
A study lead by Robert Emmons, a professor at the University of California at Davis and world leader in the science of gratitude, has revealed that those who keep a gratitude journal felt better about their lives overall, are more optimistic about the future, and report fewer health problems than the other participants. Interestingly, those who keep such journals reported getting more sleep, spending less time awake before falling asleep and feeling more refreshed in the morning.* The reason this practice works, above and beyond simply taking time out to think about the positive things in our lives, is that translating thoughts into language, spoken or written, makes us more aware of them, deepening their emotional impact.
We are all deeply grateful for are our relationships with our families and loved-ones. Because time passes so quickly, the importance of documenting the stories of our parents and grandparents greatly increases as they age. Thanksgiving, when everyone is together, is a perfect opportunity to capture the stories right from the source. In fact, technology has become so simplified that it is as easy as strategically placing a smartphone on the dinner table and powering on the voice memo feature to record the stories told by family members. Likewise, using a video camera (or smartphone camera!) to record all the details is so easy, even children can help out. And the results become special keepsakes.
After you have your smartphone or video camera ready, here are 5 tips to keep in mind for the day:
Having loving family and friends is definitely at the top of most people’s gratitude lists on Thanksgiving. We’d like to take this opportunity to wish you wonderful times with yours. Happy Thanksgiving. We’re really grateful you stopped by!
*Source: http://www.cfidsselfhelp.org/library/counting-your-blessings-how-gratitude-improves-your-health
Harry Knobovitch
1923-1944
Every veteran who remembers serving in a 20th century war, whether it is with pride for defending freedom and honor or with horror for the atrocities seen, deals with their experiences and memories differently. Although some choose to willingly share their stories, others internalize and live their memories in silence. As the number of WWII veterans diminishes every year, it is becoming increasingly important to record these accounts. “Lest we forget” is not merely a Veterans Day slogan, it is a call to action: to remember the sacrifices made by individuals and to honor their efforts with the respect they so deeply deserve.
Memoirs Productions has had the privilege of capturing many veterans’ experiences on camera. Initially some were reticent to reflect on their wartime experiences and memories. Most of them had never even shared these memories with their wives or their children – they had chosen to keep that whole section of their lives private from their families. Although the exercise can be very emotional, even painful for some, once they started telling their story, they usually told it all and typically they remembered every vivid detail.
As Veterans Day (or Remembrance Day in Canada) approaches, we encourage you to start the conversation with any veterans in your life – to find out their experiences, stories, memories and write or record the details before it is too late. Ask them to pull out old photographs and treasures they may have kept locked away all this time. Ask them to identify anyone you might not know in the photos and make sure to record that information.
The legacy veterans left should be heard and recorded. Learning about their heroic roles is invaluable for your family’s history. It may be difficult, but worth every moment. And perhaps you’ll even be thanked for it!
P.S. My Dad is a Royal Canadian Air Force vet and he regales us with stories every chance he gets. Now that we filmed him they certainly are cherished by our family!
In memory of my uncle Harry Knobovitch (whom I never met) as he died way too young in 1944 flying for the RCAF in Europe.
Iris Wagner has been chosen as client of the month in the October 2013 edition of YES Montreal’s newsletter. Providing English language support services for Quebec businesses, YES Montreal has inspired and provided strategic support to Memoirs’ growth.
“I often attend YES Entrepreneurship Conferences and am always inspired by the great keynote speakers they have each year,” she continues. “At their Tune In To YES Benefit Concert I landed a great gig on CJAD’s Morning Show from a silent auction prize I won. These are truly great events for entrepreneurs looking to network.”
To read the full feature, kindly click here.
P.S.: Iris will be attending the 7th edition of Tune In To YES on Thursday October 24th. If you’re looking for a great opportunity to network and support a great Montreal business organization, this is it! Click here for event details. 
