Larry stopped playing entrepreneur and, upon his retirement from the NBA, found a job doing something he knew: being a television commentator for basketball games. After two years in television Larry took a job as an assistant coach. He then moved into the front office of the team and became assistant general manager.

Linda Birnbaum and Marilyn Jenrette, the art gallery owners, had come to me for help in cleaning up ownership issues, when their real problem was that the business was starving for more revenue. When I pointed out how dire their business finances really were, Linda and Marilyn instantly set aside the issues that had divided them. They launched a successful new marketing plan and within six months had recruited a handful of new artists, one of whom, a sculptor who makes somewhat disturbing life-size statues of himself, has become quite popular. Once the business was on a surer foundation, Linda met with her ex-husband, Paul, who was happy to sell his shares for little more than his initial investment. Marilyn bought Paul’s twenty-five percent share, and another twenty-five percent from Linda, and today they are equal partners, formally as well as practically.

Gloria Crenshaw had come to me with the fear of being impoverished, but she actually was too embarrassed to let anyone know her financial ignorance. In order to help Gloria overcome her embarrassment I had her meet with a very down-to-earth female financial planner I’d worked with in the past. The planner had the patience to take Gloria step by step through all the adjustments she needed to make in her finances in order to become independent. Gloria has sold the Park Avenue apartment and used the proceeds to buy a smaller but still lovely apartment in Florida. The planner has also revamped Gloria’s investment portfolio so it generates sufficient income for her to live comfortably.

Henrietta Sitney had believed she couldn’t afford to move, when actually the problem was that her roommate, Jean, couldn’t afford to stay in the apartment without her. This was actually the toughest of all four problems to overcome. Henrietta’s daughter Cheryl and I worked very hard at trying to get Henrietta to see that she had to put herself first; that, in fact, she had no choice, since she wouldn’t be able to afford the apartment any longer. We had very little success. It was actually Jean who finally turned Henrietta around. After a long talk with Cheryl, Jean called her nephew in Oregon and arranged to move into an adult home near his house, freeing Henrietta from her perceived obligation. Henrietta now lives in an adult community in California, ten minutes from Cheryl’s house.