07 issue of the 9 newspapers of Rising Publications (formerly Martinelli Publications) in Westchester County, NY including The Westchester Crusader, The Rye Chronicle, The Eastchester Record, The Pelham Sun, The Sound View News, Home News & Times, The Mt. Vernon Independent, Harrison Independent, and North Castle News.

Written by:

Frank Sisco, 30 Mill Road, New Rochelle, NY 10804

Home office - 914.740.4422, Cell - 914.740.4422; Email – ideasmoney@aol.com

www.LifeAndMoney.com

Life and Money - "Convergence"

By Frank Sisco, CPA, PFS

(Word count = 867 words plus "Across the Media" section (67 words) plus 61 words for About the Author)

I've had "convergence" on my mind for the last few days. Bringing together. Consolidating. Perhaps, it was triggered by seeing how various technology fields were being brought together on the amazing iPhone device that I've been enjoying and writing about. Or, more likely, it's my growing intuitive awareness that my daily activities, even those that are not apparently related, have strong connections, making the whole greater than the sum of the parts. This concept for "convergence" may have important effects on my life and money, and possibly on yours too.

Convergence is the opposite of compartmentalization. Surely there is a need for us to segment our lives in order to be efficient and to focus our energies on the matter at hand, but doing so limits possibilities, and in turn ourselves. For example, when I am advising a client on an estate planning matter, I realize that I need to be in that role and not excitedly proclaiming how wonderful the lyrics are for new songs released by Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty or Neil Young in the last few weeks. If I do not stay enough on task, then the client may doubt the credibility of a recommendation about taxes or the planned distribution of assets. Yet, that is my assumption not necessarily the case. In fact, if I let my intuition guide me, and not squelch bringing up the songs, there may be an important message in the lyrics (such as being honest with one's long-held beliefs), which the client may understand better than a theoretical guideline. My point is that if I am more open to share ideas, and not contain them artificially, the convergence may bring enlightenment. Like in the song, "free your mind and the rest will follow."

In financial planning, there is a tendency to compartmentalize, party as a result of limited information or knowledge. Investment advisors suggest investments, sometimes at odds with the realities of cash flow or risk tolerance. Estate planners recommend strategies without understanding the underlying emotional issues. Accountants propose transactions over the heads of the clients. If there was a better communication of thoughts and feelings about the interrelationships of the areas and perhaps among the players, then the results may be more in tune with the client's real needs and objectives. In order to bring about this type of convergence, I'm suggesting that we all strive for, and let happen, convergence within each of us.

Here's an example using the four areas of life that are very important to me, but often have existed in separate spheres: (1) Spirituality and positive thinking, (2) relationships, (3)music, and (4) technology. Recently I've seen the connections more clearly and the convergence. I videotaped a seminar given by Karen Garvey, psychic and author of "The Answers," in which she stated that spiritual guides may influence everyday events in our lives in order to present signs to help us along. Even the lyrics of songs on the radio may be giving us the perfect message we need at that particular time. Her statement resonated with me, and I started being more aware of songs' messages. I even downloaded songs heard on WFUV onto my iPhone using the new iTunes wireless feature, which led to further research of the archives of WFUV.org, that led to hearing an interview with a favorite songwriter and musician, Joseph Arthur, in which he said "We're all just channels" in an in-studio conversation with Claudia Marshall about his songwriting for his Nuclear Daydream CD. The subject of channels reinforced such a discussion by Karen Garvey the week earlier. In the interview it was revealed that Joseph Arthur worked with T. Bone Burnett who was also involved in the "Across the Universe" movie musical I recently saw twice. Additionally, the day before, I heard "Wild Wood" by Paul Weller on WFUV and downloaded it to my Mac and iPhone and its lyric helped me get through an issue. I'm planning on sharing it with others who may find it helpful. Now that I'm thinking of these four areas, last Saturday I was a participant in an extraordinary music class called "Classical Music for Dummies" given by Eric Jennings at St. John's Episcopal Church in New Rochelle, NY and afterwards a few of us who never met before listened to songs on my iPhone on the outside benches. Convergence of the four areas?

I don't think convergence is accidental or coincidental. I think we each have a purpose in our lives that we are developing, and, as we progress on our path, the connectedness of experiences and people around us help to guide us along. For you it may be the convergence of cooking, baseball, cousins and being altruistic. For another person, it may be the convergence of television trivia, being part of a large family, muscle cars, and writing novels. It's not what they are that's important. Instead it is seeing how they connect and bring us closer to understanding and fulfilling our purpose. Separately and together. Perhaps, "convergence" is the glue that makes meaning of our scattered multi-tasking activities. Perhaps "convergence" is another perspective to Robert Frost's commentary about the diverged paths and taking the less traveled one. Happy converging!

AcrossTheMedia references:

For the Apple guided tour of the iPhone, including the music features, please see: http://www.apple.com/iphone/gettingstarted/guidedtour_medium.html

For the videoclips of Karen Garvey's seminar on 10/11/07, go to www.VideoVoom.com, and then select the link under the "People" category for the subcategory "Leaders in Spirituality and Positive Energy."

For the webpages and archives of the Fordham University radio station WFUV, please see: http://www.wfuv.org.

About the author:

Frank Sisco is a CPA and Personal Financial Specialist and writes on topics related to life and money. You can contact Frank by email at ideasmoney@aol.com or by phone at 914.589.1013 in order to express your opinion about this article or to obtain copies of prior articles. He resides in New Rochelle, NY with his wife and daughter.