The Wise Elder Project: Sample Body of Paper Due Date: November 8 (Thursday) by 11:59 p.m. Length of Paper: Five full pages of text (at least 110 lines of text) to 8 full pages (176 lines). Format for Paper Introduction (½ page to 1 page). I purposely did not give you a sample introduction. Create your own. In this section, state problem you’re addressing and two reasons why it is important. Body of Paper (minimum 3 pages). See sample “body of paper” below. Wise Elder’s Background (no more than ½ page) a) Explain why you picked this elder. b) Were they as wise as you anticipated? Favorite Story told by Wise Elder Lessons which You Learned from Your Wise Elder Conclusion (minimum 1 page). I purposely did not give you a sample conclusion. Create your own. Recap what you did. How did what they said compare to Izzo’s five secrets? Did they mention any of the secrets implicitly or explicitly? Offer at least three conclusions (one per paragraph). Use the excerpt below as a guide for writing the body of the paper. Follow the general outline below. Put suitable headings into your paper. Sample “Body of Paper” Background Robert was my high school calculus teacher and the coach for scholastic pentathlon and super quiz. He would always tell the most interesting stories and seemed to know just about everything there is to know about history and science. He was a scientist grandfather to me. Robert grew up in Texas and attended the University of Texas. He received his bachelors in physics, but decided being a scientist wasn’t the right path. He began working on his masters in English but never finished his dissertation. During our interview he made sure to tell me that finishing dissertations is important, and this is his only regret. Being a UT student in the 60’s naturally made Robert a hippie. In high school he saw I was listening to the Velvet Underground and began to tell me about all of the adventures he had with his roommate, who just so happens to have been their bassist, John Cale. After dropping out of his master’s program, Robert went to live in the woods and find himself. He quickly learned that he prefers camping to full time nomad life and moved back home to find a job. He became a manager of a local grocery store, and learned a lot about being an adult and having responsibility. Many of his employees were high school students, and Robert discovered the best part of his job was mentoring the young adults which led him to becoming a teacher at Harlingen High School. I was fortunate enough to have him in his third decade of teaching, and the quiet wisdom behind his smile is what made me choose him for my wealth and happiness project. I could’ve chosen a financially wealthier subject, but I felt that there was something I could learn interviewing Robert Hill. Favorite Story Robert had a ton of fun stories to tell, but I think my favorite because I can’t imagine doing it today was when he went camping in Mexico. To.

1. The Wise Elder Project: Sample Body of Paper
Due Date: November 8 (Thursday) by 11:59 p.m.
Length of Paper: Five full pages of text (at least 110 lines of
text) to 8 full pages (176 lines).
Format for Paper
Introduction (½ page to 1 page). I purposely did not give you a
sample introduction. Create your own. In this section, state
problem you’re addressing and two reasons why it is important.
Body of Paper (minimum 3 pages). See sample “body of paper”
below.
Wise Elder’s Background (no more than ½ page)
a) Explain why you picked this elder.
b) Were they as wise as you anticipated?
Favorite Story told by Wise Elder
Lessons which You Learned from Your Wise Elder
Conclusion (minimum 1 page). I purposely did not give you a
sample conclusion. Create your own.
Recap what you did.
How did what they said compare to Izzo’s five secrets?
Did they mention any of
the secrets implicitly or explicitly?
Offer at least three conclusions (one per paragraph).
Use the excerpt below as a guide for writing the body of the
paper. Follow the general outline below. Put suitable headings

2. into your paper.
Sample “Body of Paper”
Background
Robert was my high school calculus teacher and the coach for
scholastic pentathlon and super quiz. He would always tell the
most interesting stories and seemed to know just about
everything there is to know about history and science. He was a
scientist grandfather to me.
Robert grew up in Texas and attended the University of Texas.
He received his bachelors in physics, but decided being a
scientist wasn’t the right path. He began working on his masters
in English but never finished his dissertation. During our
interview he made sure to tell me that finishing dissertations is
important, and this is his only regret. Being a UT student in the
60’s naturally made Robert a hippie. In high school he saw I
was listening to the Velvet Underground and began to tell me
about all of the adventures he had with his roommate, who just
so happens to have been their bassist, John Cale.
After dropping out of his master’s program, Robert went to live
in the woods and find himself. He quickly learned that he
prefers camping to full time nomad life and moved back home
to find a job. He became a manager of a local grocery store, and
learned a lot about being an adult and having responsibility.
Many of his employees were high school students, and Robert
discovered the best part of his job was mentoring the young
adults which led him to becoming a teacher at Harlingen High
School. I was fortunate enough to have him in his third decade
of teaching, and the quiet wisdom behind his smile is what made
me choose him for my wealth and happiness project. I could’ve
chosen a financially wealthier subject, but I felt that there was
something I could learn interviewing Robert Hill.
Favorite Story
Robert had a ton of fun stories to tell, but I think my
favorite because I can’t imagine doing it today was when he
went camping in Mexico. Today the Texas/Mexico border is

3. plagued with violence, and most Americans wouldn’t dare drive
to the forest and mountains that are a mere three hours from the
Rio Grande Valley. When Robert was young he would often go
camping and purposefully lose himself in the woods. He would
go on an all day hike and simply exist. He learned a lot about
himself and grew spiritually. I hope that one day while I am
living it is safe enough to take a trip into the interior mountains.
Lessons Learned
My interview with Robert was very fruitful. I learned a lot
about living a life full of love and creating happiness. Money is
great to have, but not at the expense of missing out on
adventures. Mr. Hill would go on a camping trip every winter
and summer with his wife when they were teachers. Now he
goes on a trip in his RV almost monthly. His passion is
exploring the outdoors, so he made sure to create a budget that
supports that. I think the valuable lesson is to find your true
passion and make sure that you are making enough to pursue it,
and saving enough so you never have to give it up.
Another lesson involved Robert and market timing. He has
watched his private investment portfolio rise and fall, but never
made a rash decision, and has been able to watch it grow and
help support his retirement as an adult. He says it’s easier to be
patient when you know you have a pension, but I still think that
it is important not to be rash or try and time markets. Another
anecdote would be some land he inherited when his father
passed away. At the time he could have sold the 5 acres for
$20,000, a good chunk of change at the time. Instead he held
onto the property and recently sold it for over $300,000. It
usually pays to be patient.
Another lesson Robert wanted to share with me is the
importance of budgeting. He says he never kept an extremely
detailed account of his cash flows, but it’s important to make
sure at least once a month you take into account your fixed
expenses, your income, and think carefully about what you want
to devote to discretionary spending. He says that he and his
wife were frugal about purchasing things and lavish in spending

4. on travel. This supports the argument that it is more important
to spend on achievements and experiences because they are
what offers true happiness.
Mr. Hill and the Five Secrets
I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the five secrets videos,
and I thoroughly annoyed my girlfriend by reminding her to live
with no regrets. Robert Hill hit on all of the secrets before we
made it to the last section of interview questions. This led me to
believe that I was correct in my assumption that he was full of
wisdom.
Mr. Hill is without a doubt true to himself. Of all the
teachers I’ve had he always stuck out as the strangest. He
moves to the beat of his own drum and doesn’t care what others
think. Every cross road he has walked upon in his life has led
him to look inside and ask himself what he truly wants. That led
him to living in nature, and later towards nurturing curious
young minds. Robert is passionate about teaching others and
giving back to his community. He has made sure that the
choices he makes reflect his values, and this has without a
doubt brought him happiness.
Robert made sure to tell me his only regret in life is not
having finished his dissertation in grad school, and maybe
breaking a few hearts. Clearly he lives a life with no regrets. He
never wakes up with a heavy heart because he is not afraid to do
what he likes. When he married his wife she told him she didn’t
like camping. Most people would probably have done one of
two things. Leave her, or give up camping and harbor
resentment. Instead he chose to take her to Yellowstone because
he knew the beauty of nature there would have a great shot at
changing her outlook. Sure enough she was hooked and goes
camping with him all the time. He had the courage to try and
make it work and not live with regret.
Robert has become love through teaching. He treats every
student as if they were his own child, and it shows. His eyes
have a loving smile and he finds so much joy in helping. His
relationship with his wife is something he never took for

5. granted and to this day works hard at ensuring that there is a
loving connection between the two. Robert makes a conscious
decision to be love.
When Robert told me he isn’t afraid of death, but really
enjoys living he demonstrated that he lives in the moment.
Every time he goes on a trip he lives for each day. Even the
seemingly boring part of driving to his destination around the
continent is fun for him. He finds mini adventures and loves to
stop at different rest stops and take in his surroundings.
Some teachers only teach because it pays the bills and
affords long vacations. Robert, on the other hand, teaches
because he loves helping out future generations, thereby giving
more than he takes. He also loves to donate time to charitable
causes rather than money. He feels that it is extremely
important to donate time to the community if you truly want to
make an impact. I know for a fact that I am a different person
due to the impact he had on my life. He has about 200 students
per year, so over his 35 year career he has probably affected
7,000 members of his community.
The Wise Elder Project
(30 points)
This project is based upon John Izzo’s book, The Five
Secrets You Must Discover before You Die. Izzo interviewed
over 200 wise elders and extracted the five secrets from their
stories. See last two pages of this packet for more information
about John Izzo and the five secrets.
Your Task
Find a wise elder (age 60 or older) and interview them about
their views of life and money. Then summarize what you
learned in a paper. Pages 2 and 3 contain the questions to be
asked. All interviews must be done face to face or on the
phone—no email/text interviews.
Paper Due Date

6. Submit via Blackboard by 11:59 p.m. on November 8
(Thursday).
Paper Length
Title page plus between five full pages of text (at least 110 lines
of text) and 8 full pages (176 lines of text).
Paper Format
Introduction (½ page to 1 page)
State problem you’re addressing and two reasons why it is
important.
Body of Paper (minimum 3 pages)
Wise Elder’s Background (no more than ½ page)
a) Explain why you picked this elder.
b) Describe the elder’s background.
c) Were they as wise as you anticipated?
Favorite Story told by Wise Elder
Lessons Learned
Conclusion (minimum 1 page)
Recap what you did.

7. How did what they said compare to Izzo’s five secrets? Did
they mention any of the
secrets implicitly or explicitly?
Offer at least three conclusions (one per paragraph).
Meaning Questions for your Wise Elders (from Izzo’s Five
Secrets Book)
Ask all of meaning questions (1-10). It is your choice whether
to ask the optional questions (11-14).
Meaning Questions (ask all of these questions)
1. Pretend that you are at a dinner party and everyone is sitting
in a circle. The host invites each person to take just a few
minutes to describe the life he or she has lived. If you were at
the party and you wanted people to know as much about your
life as possible in a few minutes, what would you say? Describe
the life you have lived thus far
2. What has given brought you the greatest sense of meaning
and purpose in life? Why does it matter that you were alive?
3. What has brought you the greatest happiness in life, the
greatest joy moment to moment?
4. Tell me about the major “crossroads” moments in your life,
times when you went in one direction or another and it made a
large difference in terms of how your life turned out.
5. What is the best advice you ever got from someone about
life? Did you take the advice? How have you used it during
your life?

8. 6. What do you wish you had learned sooner? If you could go
back to when you were a young adult and have a conversation
with yourself, and you knew that you would listen, what would
you tell the younger person about life?
7. Fill in this sentence, I wish I had. . .
8. Now that you have lived most of your life, what are you
certain or almost certain matters a great deal if a person wants
to find happiness and live a fulfilling life?
9. Now that you have lived most of your life, what are you
certain or almost certain does not matter very much in finding a
happy life? What do you wish you had paid less attention to?
10. If you could give only one sentence of advice to those
younger than you on finding a happy and meaningful life, what
one sentence would you pass on?
Optional Questions
11. What role has spirituality played in your life?
12. What is the greatest fear at the end of life?
13. Now that you are older, how do you feel about your
mortality, about death? Not death in the abstract but your
death? Are you afraid of dying?
14. What roles have spirituality and religion played in your
life? What have you concluded about God?
Money Questions for your Wise Elder
General Money Questions (ask at least 5)

9. 1. What do you wish you had learned earlier about money?
2. What is the best money advice you have ever received?
3. Does money buy happiness?
4. How do you feel about giving money away?
5. Did money define you?
6. What is the best financial decision you have made?
7. What financial advice would you give yourself at age 18?
8. What philosophy informed your investments?
9. What is the best investment advice you have received?
10. What was your most devastating financial loss?
11. What was your best investment?
12. When did you start saving/investing?
13. How does charitable giving play into your life?
14. What does money mean to you?
15. Has money been a motivating factor in your life? If so,
how?
Nuts and Bolts Money Questions (ask at least 3)
16. If you could go back, what would you do differently
financially?

10. 17. What would you have changed about your
financial/investment strategy?
18. What have been your best approaches to saving money?
19. If you were my age and won the lottery, what would you do
with the money?
20. What is the biggest regret you have with regard to your
finances?
21. Would your life have been different if you had made twice
as much money as you did?
22. What have you done about retirement and estate planning?
“The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die” on
YouTube
1) Be true to yourself (don’t wait for a wakeup call).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8et6N1ek0U
2) Leave no regrets.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OO4AaHiRQOI
3) Become love (love is a choice).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HfC2EPUNojI
4) Give more than you take.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWWnXJxHvL0
Part 1.

11. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8et6N1ek0U
Part 2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcZb-26EFjw
The 5 Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die
By Carolyn Anderson MD FRCSC
Best-selling author and renowned international speaker, John
Izzo, has gathered an extensive collection of wisdom from over
18,000 years of experience. He interviewed over 200 people
between the ages of 60 and 100 who were voted as the wisest
people by their peers.
All this insight is gathered in an incredible book that
highlights the five secrets to a happy and purpose filled life.
Knowing how to use our one life to its fullest requires wisdom
more than knowledge. Wisdom is the reward you get for a
lifetime of listening when you would have preferred to talk.
There is an intuitive connection between age and wisdom, yet
sometimes age shows up without wisdom. For the individuals
interviewed in this book, age was associated with immense
wisdom and the common themes for a happy life were
summarized in the 5 secrets.
5 Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die

12. 1) Be True to Your Self
Wise people continually ask themselves whether they were
living the life they wanted to live and truly following their
hearts. As Socrates so brilliantly stated “The unexamined life is
not worth living”. The message was to live your life with
intention and ask yourself…Is my life focused on the things that
really matter to ME? Am I the person I want to be in this world?
Happy people know what makes them happy and they continue
to make this a priority. I think a lot of people forget what makes
them happy and they stop doing it. Take time to hear the small
inner voice that tells you if you are missing the mark on your
deepest desires.
2) Leave No Regrets
What we fear most is not having lived to the fullest extent
possible, having to say “I wish I had”. We must live with
courage, moving toward what we want rather than away from
what we fear. At the end of our lives we will not regret risks
that we took that did not work out the way we hoped. We only
regret the risks we did not take. The message from all those
interviewed was to take more risks. More risks of the heart and
the risk to truly reach out for what you want in life. I think after
we have lived a long life we begin to realize that there was
much less to lose than we thought there was. Ask yourself what
step would I take in my life right now if I were acting with
courage not fear?
3) Become Love
The giving and receiving of love is a fundamental building
block of a happy and purposeful life. Be a loving person. Love
is a choice not just an emotion. Although we may not have the
ability to “feel” love at will, we have the power at every
moment to choose to become love. The power to choose to love

13. transforms us.
4) Live the Moment
It all goes by so fast. We believe we have forever and we
soon realize this is not so. To live in the moment means to be
fully in every moment of our lives, to not judge our lives but to
live fully. Wise people see each day as a great gift. Seneca, the
Roman philosopher said that “we should count each day as a
separate life” Each day is not a step on the way to a destination.
It is the destination. Do not rush through moments of joy.
Breathe them in. Experience them. Live fully.
5) Give More Than You Take
What matters most at the end of your life is what you leave
behind. That something was different because you were here.
The message is to leave the world better than you found it. It is
those who give the most that find the greatest joy.
These 5 secrets are words of immense wisdom. They are
beneficial to all of us no matter what age we are. John Izzo
makes an interesting point in the conclusion… sometimes when
he talks to people in their 40s or 50s they talk as if their life
were over. But really they have only been an adult for 25 years.
It is not very much time to figure life out. And if you live to be
90 or 100 you may have another entire adult lifetime or maybe
two before you die. Don’t give up on yourself or life. It is never
too late. Hold on, keep growing, you will find your dreams and
make a difference while you are here. Armed with these 5
secrets we all have a much better chance of finding our dreams
and impacting the world.
The Five Secrets You Must Discover Before You Die
By Lionel Ketchian

14. What are the Five Secrets? The Five Secrets You Must
Discover Before You Die, is the name of a great new book by
John Izzo, Ph.D. The book begins with a premise that we might
be better off learning those things that could help us live a
better life, from older people who have lived that life. Dr. Izzo
found about 200 people between the ages of 58-105 years old.
He asks the question: "Would we learn some important things
about living with purpose and finding deep happiness if we
talked to those who had lived most of their lives already and
had found happiness and meaning?" John found in his
interviews that "all happy and wise people eventually discover
and live these five secrets."
John distinguishes knowledge from wisdom in that there is a
great deal of knowledge and more is being created all the time.
Wisdom, is the ability to know what is important and what is
not important. This is critical to finding real meaning in one's
life. Dr. Izzo, holding advanced degrees in religion and
psychology, said, "In my experience, the two things humans
want most are to find happiness and meaning."
What are the secrets? I will tell you, but you still have to
read the book to really learn and understand the secrets. "The
first secret is: be true to yourself." John raises this thought:
"The question that happy people ask is not whether they are
focusing on what matters but whether they are focusing on what
matters to them! The second secret is: leave no regrets." John
uncovers an important directive for our happiness, when he
reports the following: "Perhaps what often determines our
happiness in life is the step we take after a setback."
"The third secret is: become love. When they spoke (to the
200 elders) of how important love was in their lives, they were
defining love more as a choice than an emotion. The secret to a
happy and purposeful life was to choose to be a loving person,

15. to become love." John mentions the reason he feels this way is
the following. "Although we have little control over whether we
get love, we have almost complete control over whether we
become love."
An interesting study of 100 of the happiest people by Marci
Shimoff the author of the great new book, Happy for No
Reason, 7 Steps to Being Happy from the Inside Out revealed a
similar conclusion: Those 100 happy people were all loving
people that felt a connection to others. These two studies and
the interviews can teach us how important love can be for the
happiness of the individual.
"The fourth secret is: live the moment. I have discovered
that happy people know that we are more in control of our
minds than most people realize. The fifth secret is: give more
than you take." In his interviews, John learned this profound
truth. The happiest people he interviewed were the least focused
on themselves. Robert Louis Stevenson said, "To forget oneself
is to be happy."
With great awareness, John advises us about: "Preparing to
die well: happy people are not afraid to die." John says, "Unless
we come to peace with death, not as some foreign invader but as
a part of what it means to be human, only then can we find
peace." John further advises us, "I also learned that until we
accept that death is a part of life, we are not ready to embrace
life."
I agree with John on the idea of accepting our death without
fear. I have found that facing my own death with awareness has
become a liberating thing for me. It has freed me from fear and
uncertainty and brought me to live in the present moment with
lasting happiness. It may be helpful to quote the words of
Bertolt Brecht, who said: "Do not fear death so much, but rather
the inadequate life."

16. John wants you to "contemplate the five secrets." He says,
"Try to resist the temptation to "judge" your life. Instead, ask:
How can I embrace and live the five secrets more deeply?" John
is very perceptive in advising us not to judge our life. Judging
produces a negative state in us, and does nothing to change the
things we want to change. I am so glad that John has written
this wonderful book. I am grateful to John for raising our
awareness of the important things we can learn before it is too
late.
We do not need to acquire more knowledge; we need to
master more wisdom. This way we can to live our lives with
authenticity and power. John reveals this wisdom to us with
great insights, and shows us lasting peace through his
interviews with the elder individuals he spent time with to
create this book. I recommend this book to you whole-heartedly.
You can take my word for it, because being 62 years old and
happy, I fall into the category this book was created from.
Now that I told you about this great book, I know you will
be dying to read it. Buy it, borrow it, take it out of the library
and read it. You will find that it offers you a great deal to live
for. It will help you become a positive force in your own life
and the lives of others.
DUE NOVEMBER 7th