For many people, the job they start out after college isn’t the vocation that takes them through their entire career. For me, it all started in public accounting. Two years on the audit trail and I knew for sure that isn’t what I wanted to do.
I had a second shot at public accounting by buying into a smaller firm where I became a tax nerd. Tax season was as bad as it sounds, and that wasn’t something that I wanted to do for the rest of my life either. I gravitated to the sections of the tax codes that weren’t seasonal, and frankly even more impactful for families with wealth and businesses… those were the sections of the IRS code that dealt with trusts, gifts and estates.
It was the love of those areas of the tax world that led me to financial planning. I thought that I could take that knowledge to another level by marrying it with financial planning and offering a fully-integrated wealth management solution at a time when literally no one else was doing it.
This took me all over the country to work with families and other advisors in a way to utilize my experience to improve the lives of thousands. And then one day, while waiting for my luggage at Logan airport, I received the ultimate job offer.
A stout little gentleman with white hair and a beard started walking over to me. For a moment, I wondered if we knew each other and I simply forgot who he was. He was quite a jolly old fellow. The man approached me in a very friendly manner. He nodded and winked, and in the blink of an eye he handed me his business card. His name, Santa Claus.
I looked at him with a puzzled face, and he said that he owned a company that has over 400 Santa’s around the USA performing in parades, at high end events including the White House, The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade and many high-end hotels everywhere.
Then the real reason for his visit surfaced. He looked me in the eye, and sincerely said to me, “You look like you’d make a very good Santa” and tried to recruit me to join his legion of Santa’s. I knew that someday my second helpings of Lasagna and my 25% Norwegian heritage would be beneficial. I wasn’t sure that was an honor to be proud of, but it makes for a very good story.
To this day, I haven’t yet reached out to him or played Santa for anyone… but I do come close. When my grandchildren ask me, “Papa, why is your hair white”? I proudly answer that my hair is white because I am related to Santa Claus. So far, they still buy that.
