I’m spending the week at the Ananda Institute of Alternative Living at the Living Wisdom Family Camp with my family.

It’s a MUCH needed week of peace away for creative refueling.

So, for this weeks email, I enlisted the help of my good friend, David Dee. (www.davedee.com)

Enjoy what he has to say about Holding Yourself to a Higher Standard.

Have a great week!

=================================

Who are you hanging out with and where are they leading you? Your associations have a major impact on the type of person you become and how successful you will be.

One of the major benefits of belonging to coaching groups and going to high level seminars is the interactive you have with people who are motivated, positive and working toward the achievement of worthwhile goals. Additionally, you get to hang out with people who are doing better than you. These people help to change your perspective on what is possible. They also help you keep your ego in check!

I’m fortunate because the majority of my friends are far more successful than I am. Now don’t get me wrong, I’m doing well. But in one mastermind coaching group I belong to, one of the members recently made 4 million dollars over a weekend.

Another major benefit of being around people who are more successful than you are is that they help hold you to a higher standard. I firmly believe that we all could be more successful if we raised our standards and held ourselves to these standards.

Belief in what is possible is one of the determining factors in what we will achieve.

Now, I’m not saying that raising your standards and believing that you can achieve more is all you need. You do need some type of vehicle to get to the next level. However if you raise your standards and honestly believe that you can achieve what you desire, opportunities will present themselves to you. Then all you need to do is recognize these opportunities and then act upon them.

By attending The Life Change Revolution, “Transformation Experience Event”, Alexis and I are conducting in November you will be hanging out with winners who will hold you to a higher standard. Plus, your belief about what you can achieve will be strengthened because you’ll leave armed with all the tools, systems, strategies and plans you need to make your dream life and business a reality.

To get pre-registration VIP notification of this event before everyone else, go to: www.familywealthmatters.com/lifechange right now. (There are only a 150 seats left available and it will sell out so you definitely want to get on the VIP notification list immediately.)

David Dee

==============

To your Family’s Wealth, Health and Happiness,

Alexis Neely

I got tons of emails after I sent yesterday’s message about Melanie and Casey Barber and what their family has experienced since the accident a year ago.

Most of those emails were thanking me for sharing this critical information and enlightening people about this subject not talked about publicly enough.

But some of the emails were from people who were irate.

They were irate because I made them aware of how their family would be living the same financial and emotional nightmare the Barber family has because they don’t have their ducks lined up in this area at all.

Then, I said you have to come to a workshop to learn how you can be sure that if anything happened to you, your family would handle your affairs privately, easily, with grace and with minimal expense.

The emails I got repeatedly asked: “How can I get this information if I can’t attend your workshop Alexis?”

I imagine that if a few upset people emailed me, there are others of you out there who kept quiet.

So, rather than just responding to the vocal few, I’ll respond to all of you who are silently frustrated too.

The truth is that the best way to get this information is in the workshop setting because you are focused and not distracted by the phone, computer, kids, and all the other ADD-inducing bombs that drop throughout any given day.

And, hey, we’ll have babysitters wearing out your kids in the climbing structure, so you’ll get to sit down in a room with other adults and relax for 60 minutes.

But, if you live out of the area (or you’ll be out of town and don’t want to cancel your Hawaii vacation to attend the event), I understand that you can’t make it.

So, here’s what I’m going to do. (more…)

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If you aren’t a parent (or you are a client of mine and already know all this), please send this to any parents you know who would benefit from knowing how important (and easy) it is to make sure this doesn’t happen to their family.

The facts below are taken from public court documents.

Last July, the Barber family of San Diego was in a car accident. Melanie and Casey, the loving parents of three little boys, ages 3, 6 and 9, died.

They had nothing in place to name guardians for their boys or take care of their assets, though family members and friends say they had talked about doing it.

On July 31, it will be one year since the terrible accident. And, because I know that Melanie and Casey Barber would have wanted some blessing to come from their tragic experience, I’m sharing what happened to their family with you now and I hope you will share it with others.

They appeared to be the all American family.

I had heard about the many loving family members of Melanie and Casey and felt confident they would have been able to work out who would care for the boys and their money, with love and grace.

That’s not what happened.

After the accident, the boys were in the foster care system for a short time until family members could be located.

Since then, over 1,000 pages of court records have been filed, there have been 9 lawyers involved, tens (or even hundreds) of thousands of dollars spent, and many, many tears shed.

Now, one year later, the family has been ordered to mediate their disagreements and it appears an agreement has been reached.

The boys’ money will be managed by a professional financial guardian who charges $100/hour. A lawyer was appointed on behalf of the boys to the tune of nearly $25,000 so far and much more to come. Whatever’s left will be distributed to the kids when they turn 18. Until then, after hideous allegations made on both sides, Nick, Cullen and Albert will live in Hermosa Beach, with their Aunt Janine.

Is that what Melanie and Casey would have wanted?

We’ll never know what they would have wanted, but we can be sure they would have done everything they could to avoid what’s happened, if only they knew how easy it would have been.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

I’m hosting a workshop this Saturday, July 21 at the AdventurePlex in Manhattan Beach on Marine.

I’m revealing,

“7 Steps Smart Parents MUST Take,
To Protect Their Minor Children
In Today’s Crazy World”

You’ll discover:

* How to GUARANTEE your kids never, ever spend even one moment in the hands of strangers, if something happens to you!

* How to completely AVOID the lengthy, complex and costly (5% of the total value of your assets) process of probate court, and make SURE your children get supervised access to any funds you have left them, immediately! And, don’t get anything at 18, unless that’s what YOU want.

* And how about this one: Most families have at least one relative, you absolutely do NOT want looking after your kids no matter what, right? You’ll discover exactly how to prevent this from happening, while avoiding any embarrassing or uncomfortable confrontations. Your kids will always be raised by the people YOU want in the way YOU want.

* What to do if my spouse and I can’t agree on who should raise our kids if we can’t.

* And, much, much more …

We have 7 seats left. If you want two (one for you and one for your parenting partner) go to www.helpmealexis.com and get registered.

The workshop is FREE, but we do require a credit card to reserve your spot. You get charged $47 (which is donated to St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital) only if you register and don’t attend.

It’s important to me that only parents who are serious about their family’s well-being register for this event.

If that’s not you, no worries. Please forward this email to another parent you know who might be.

Thank you for your kindness,

Alexis
PS - We’ve only got 7 seats left and your family will thank you for being in one of them.

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I just got back from a party hosted by Tim Ferriss, author of the “4 Hour Work Week: Escape the 9-5, Live Anywhere and Join the New Rich.”

If you haven’t read the book yet, do. It will change your life.

I’m interviewing Tim next Tuesday live. If you have questions for Tim, email them to me at alexis@familywealthmatters.com.

Watch your inbox on Friday for registration details. You’ll want to jump on it - there are only 400 spots.

As more and more of life goes online, I’ve started to wonder what gets lost.

Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE the internet. I was surfing on my slow as molasses modem back in the day.

Yesterday, I was stressed to the max with things that had to get done, including a major trip to the grocery store.

Ugh, I was dreading it. I registered with Vons online and figured I’d skip the lines and the hassle and just get it done.

Luckily, I decided to take the 90 minutes and go shopping with my 4-year old son, Noah.

Life can’t be about just getting it done. It’s about experience and interaction and relationship.

If I had bought my groceries online, I would have missed the chance to watch Noah pick out the most gorgeous bouquet of flowers for our house and to share an irreplaceable 90 minutes — just the two of us.

Much is lost when life is lived online, glued to a screen, without interaction.

Recently, I met with a new client, let’s call him Bob, whose mom had just died. She was on her deathbed when he printed out trust forms from legal zoom and had her sign them.

Unfortunately, her house never got moved into the trust and she didn’t sign a Will that would have directed it there.

This error will cost my new client over $15,000 and nearly a year of his life, not to mention the stress and grief.

Just like I would have sorely lost had I gone online to shop at vons.com, this client lost the gift of a relationship with a trusted advisor who would have ensured he made the right decisions.

The next time you decide to go online, ask yourself what you’re giving up to do it.

To Your Family’s Wealth, Health and Happiness,

Alexis

PS - Mark your calendar for the Life Change Revolution call July 17. We’ve got limited lines and Tim Ferriss as our guest. You’ll want to register as soon as you get the email.

It was two years ago this week that I moved out of my house.
Independence day it truly was.

My ex was so angry. I’ve never felt so much hatred.

If you’ve been through a divorce, you know what I mean …
you’ve either felt that hatred from your ex or felt it yourself
towards your ex.

Either way, it’s not fun!

It’s hard to imagine ever being able to spend time together
again. And, yet, that’s exactly what I did imagine.

I dreamed of a day when he and I would be friends, when
we would be able to parent our children together peacefully
and with love, I dreamed of taking our kids to the beach and
using his house for bathrooms and showers … he kept the
house on the walkstreet.

Two years ago that all seemed impossible. My presence was
too painful for him. He cursed my very existence.

But, I knew what I wanted and held a firm vision of that in
my mind’s eye. I knew a loving and supportive relationship
was possible and that there would be nothing better for our
children than that.

You see, it’s not divorce that hurts children, it’s how their
parents handle it.

In some cases, parenting together appears to be impossible.
If you had talked to me even just 6 months ago, it seemed
that way.

And, yet, this past weekend, I took my kids to the beach at
my ex’s house with my ex!

It was a dream come true. A miracle, really.

You can have miracles in your life too.

Watch your inbox for information about the next NO COST
Life Change Revolution call that will teach you how to
create your own miracles … and have everything you want
in your life.