A reverence and respect for water is a universal theme, found in cultures from ancient Greece to the remote Pacific Island of Vanuatu. The ritual significance of water spans across the globe to include the Native American rain dance, Christian baptismal font, the gleeful splashing of the Songkran water festival of the Dai New Year and the solemn funeral pyre on the Ganges. Learning to manage water, whether it is a lot or a little, is an important part of our shared community. Well-handled water can be cleansing, refreshing, energizing. Out-of-control water has the power to drown and destroy, to wash away with time even the greatest of mountains.

Directions in Design, an interior architectural and design firm, has welcomed ERIN SWENSON as its director of business development.

After the initial veil of financial hysteria lifted, the economic chaos of 2008 made a little more sense. Area professionals, as well as recent study results, weigh in on what we should do from here.

Creating good by giving back is a gift to yourself, local financial advisers say. But before making a major donation to support your favorite cause, heed the following pieces of advice to avoid scams, maximize that gift and leave a lasting legacy of philanthropy. 

BLAKE YOUDE has been named executive director of Access Academics, a program that supports at-risk middle school students. Previously, Youde served as deputy superintendent of institutional advancement for the St. Louis Public School District.

The Champagne toasts and wedding cake may have passed, but there still is time for claiming whose is whose. Postnuptial agreements, the figurative younger sibling of the better-known prenuptial agreements, offer legal documentation of spousal understandings, should marital circumstances change in the future. But if you’re happily married, why bring attorneys into the picture?

To flourish financially into future generations, author Ellen Miley Perry says affluent families also have to thrive emotionally. A wealth adviser for 25 years and author of A Wealth of Possibilities: Navigating Family, Money and Legacy, Perry has worked with more than 150 high-net worth families throughout her career—often witnessing the same pattern. “I observed that families who flourish the most were focused on qualitative issues, not just quantitative ones,” she says. “They took time and interest in quality family relationships and raising the next generation. Far fewer families devote the same intensity, energy and commitment to human assets as they do to financial assets.”

Let's face it. Nobody really knows which investments are going to be sure-fire winners. Even the savviest financial gurus tell horror stories about seemingly reasonable ventures that inexplicably went south.

You voted, we listened! Ladue News readers know what they like; and with this year's Platinum List, you've made your voices heard. This list compiles the best of St. Louis. 

I have to admit, I went into this movie with the bar set low. The trailer looked dreadful and what’s worse, you sort of got the feeling that they put all the funniest bits into it. This is what I describe as a frustration comedy—a nice guy is getting screwed and a bad/ annoying/ overbearing character is doing all the damage. There’s a fine line with this type of comedy: The good guy has to have just enough of a negative in his personality that the audience can tolerate his abuse, and the foil has to have just enough of a soft side that we forgive him or her in the end. The question here is, is this Planes, Trains and Automobiles or The Cable Guy?

A tough economic climate, an aging baby boomer population and the high prevalence of social-media use are predicted to create the biggest hurdles for local attorneys and their clients this year. 

Dr. SHARI COHEN opened her new practice at 555 N. New Ballas Road, in Creve Coeur. The practice shares office space with medical psychotherapist BRUCE SCHMIDT.

Maryville University doesn’t have the ancient ivy-covered walls or Greek columns. It doesn’t have a 100,000-seat football stadium or hold on a spot in the Final Four. You might even overlook it when considering some of the other colleges in St. Louis, and yet Maryville is consistently gaining national honors. In 2011, Forbes ranked Maryville one of America’s Best Colleges; Kiplinger’s followed, calling it one of the nation’s best values in private colleges; and now, U.S. News & World Report has declared it the No. 1 ‘over-performing’ university in the nation.

As a University of Missouri student, Amy Lorenz-Moser witnessed a devastating domestic violence episode where a man came in and “clobbered” a woman who worked at the school cafeteria. From that moment, Lorenz-Moser knew she wanted to become a personal injury lawyer. “I thought that it was an area where I could make a difference.”

Entrepreneur Jason Jan admits he’s a little camera-shy. “I prefer to be humble,” says Jan, a husband and father of three children—two boys, ages 5 and 8, and a 7-month-old daughter.

St. Louis feels like home to Hungarian native Susan Polgar, the four-time Women’s World Chess Champion. “There is a nice metropolitan feel to St. Louis. There are more things to do, the people here are very nice, and the nearby hills and rivers remind me of home,” she says.

An elderly couple transferring wealth, an entrepreneur seeking business investment advice and a three-generation family preserving a legacy—they all turned to the Commerce Family Office.

Some of life’s biggest moments—marriage, the birth of a child and retirement—are a time to celebrate. But local legal professionals say families should also remember that life-changing events mean changes in your life insurance coverage.