"One gentleman in his 90s canceled appointments with me and then showed up at the door in his pajamas when we finally met," she says. "But once we started the interview, he talked for hours without a break."

Sonnenthal feels it is particularly important to preserve family history now with the changes in technology and such things as text messaging, which mean communication that used to be written in letters or diaries will be lost to future generations.

"These young people may have no idea what their parents' and grandparents' lives were like," she says. "Some families still have a great appreciation for storytelling, but few people are organized enough to compile everything."

Michael Lagana and his extensive family are also clients of both Juechter and Martin. The family turned to Martin at Juechter's suggestion when they were running out of ideas of what to get their aging parents for birthday and anniversary presents. It was enough for a while for them to go on vacations and cruises with as many of the children and grandchildren who could make it, but this year they asked Martin to put together their family history.

Lagana's grandfather started an electrical contracting company in 1924, and then his father built on that business. Now Michael, his father and two of Michael's brothers preside over numerous communications and real estate enterprises that have made them all millionaires. Another brother has also recently entered the family enterprise, and there are 13 grandchildren as well, plus another on the way, to be considered for the future.

"Tina and Dan are a great combination because they are dealing with two different aspects of the same thing," Lagana explains. "My grandmother is still alive and my father is still active in the business. When my brothers and I started, we worked 16 hours a day and poured everything we had into the business.

"But what has amazed me, as we have started talking about this with Tina, is that in the beginning my two brothers and I all thought we might not last six months, but none of us said it out loud and none of us knew we all felt the same until recently. That is amazing," Lagana says.

"That is also part of what we want to pass on to our children. I want my children to know their father and their uncles just kept plowing forward without ever talking about the possibility of failure. We want them to know where all of our prosperity came from-spiritually as well as materially," he explains. "Plus, my children are little and they may not remember much about my grandmother when they grow up. I want them to know something of her. Between Tina and Dan, we are preserving our past and ensuring the future for our children."

On the financial side, Lagana sought advice from other people off and on over the years but was never comfortable with them. "They said they were advisors, but they were really insurance salesmen or they were trying to sell me something," he says. "Then I met Dan through a mutual friend and I knew he was the one I needed to help me and our family business to protect and grow the wealth over the long term. He could help the family with no ulterior motive.

"Our business is very complex-with 400 to 500 employees-and has a lot of moving parts," he says. "We needed someone on the inside of our team. Dan is almost like a cousin-we can't have any more brothers! Dan helps us see what our targets are, helps us meet them and then helps us set new targets."