With the holiday break over, Francis is falling back into his school routines. This includes the different shows Katie and I allow him to watch. Sports is still his favorite, be it football or basketball, he wants to watch it almost all the time. If not watching sports he is now getting into the statistics and scores of each game. Katie and I just may have a future Howard Cosell on our hands.
When not watching sports, Francis is like any other four-year-old, he enjoys his cartoons. Thanks to Apple TV and Netflix, there really is no limit to the number of shows he can watch. Recently, Francis has taken a liking to the ‘The Lion Guard’. As a follow-up to the Lion King, this show follows Simba’s son, Kion, as he leads the lion guard in protecting and defending the Pride Lions. I have watched a few episodes and it follows a time-tested story of presenting the good characters, bad characters, has the bad characters distract the good characters so they can do something bad and ultimately the good characters prevail. Francis enjoys it, so that is all that matters.
However, when I have watched the Lion Guard with Francis, it made me think of the distractions differently. These distractions could be called ‘white noise’ or the meaningless or distracting events in our world. This can include anything from politics to Facebook posts, however this is not something new. What is new, is the speed and frequency of ‘white noise’. For example, we can find out “news” within seconds of it happening versus the days or weeks it once took.
Below are Time Magazine covers.
In the above magazines, it seems as if these are all topics and headlines, we have either read or heard about numerous times over the last decade. However, these are from issues of the 1970s and 1980s. The more the world changes the more it stays the same?
Over the prior weeks, we have spoken with many clients. While we certainly spoke about the election and COVID, more importantly, we spoke about what was going on in their lives. These Regular Progress Meetings are important because it allows everyone to continue to look to the future and for us to try and help you accomplish all that is important to you.
With the future in mind, over the next few weeks, you will continue to receive tax documents for the tax year 2020. Documents will come from numerous sources so be sure to look for these documents in the mail and email. If you or a family member are still working, this can also be a good time to review your tax withholdings to see if you need to increase or decrease your tax withholding allowances.
Have a good weekend and continue to stay safe and healthy. Thankfully, it looks as if the light at the end of the COVID tunnel is getting brighter.
Chris
Chris Zeches, CFP®
Managing Partner