My holiday gift to all investors isn't wrapped in dollars and cents but comes in a single word: Hop

By Dian Vujovich

Now that the season is in full swing with Christmas upon us, Kwanzaa to be celebrated on the26th and the 28th the last day of Hanukkah, I’d like to remind investors how very fortunate they are: Fortunate to be alive. Fortunate for their fortunes whether they tally in the millions or billions or a few dollars in a piggy bank or stuffed under the mattress. Fortunate enough to have a friend, or any number of them, and perhaps even a family of one sort or another.

I happen to love Christmas and get all jazzed up about creating and sending cards, buying, wrapping and giving gifts to others. And, of course, absolutely love those I purchase and give to myself.

But in addition to all of that, this year has been different from all the others: This is the first year that I’ve been aware of the other side of the happy ho-ho-ho-ing holidays.

Never before have I known of so many friends or acquaintances who have lost loved ones in the past 12 days as I have this year. A friend’s mother died, another’s husband is in Hospice, another’s aunt passed away the other day, an acquaintance lost her son, and an old friend died suddenly.

All of these passings have added a different color to this season of parties and sparkles. No, not one of dour blackness but rather that of the warm yellow glow of hope. Hope we all can see, if we’d like to, when looking at flame of single solitary candle. Hope that comes in this season of light and in the new birth of a child and not in packages or American Express Platinum card rewards.

Hope that doesn’t discriminate by race, creed, language or portfolio holdings. Hope that opens the doors and windows of tomorrow and at the same time— if we’re real lucky–gives us time to pause and think about how very fortunate each of us are no matter what our circumstances.

Cheers to these holidays and the hope they bring for all.