Editor’s note: Bridget Grimes is a columnist for Rethinking65. Read more of her columns here.
Bridget Grimes
During my 15 years in the financial planning industry, more than a few of my female attorney clients have grappled with the challenge of achieving work/life balance. Our financial planning firm specializes in providing guidance to high-earning, high-achieving breadwinner women, including many female attorneys. Some of them have left the practice of law altogether, while others have stayed but transitioned to different roles or employers in search of that elusive balance.
As planners, we believe our role is to help our clients find these more fulfilling roles. Their happiness and fulfillment truly affect their professional success, which in turn affects their incomes. And since our clients earn the money for their families, this income drives their ability to fulfill their financial intentions. I’ll share three client stories that can help other planners help attorney clients in search of work/life balance.
Cindy Left Law Completely
When we started to work with Cindy, she was an attorney at an AmLaw 100 firm in southern California. Single at the time, Cindy constantly struggled with the grueling hourly model of her firm and the lack of life balance, but with the trade-off of a good income. Nearly every time we met, she discussed leaving law. She loved law but hated the demands on her life. This is a common thread among my attorney clients. Female attorneys face a host of challenges, but my focus here is the options those like Cindy have in law.
Initially, Cindy didn’t consider non-law options that presented themselves; she continued to be driven by compensation and could not justify giving up the money even if her quality of life might improve. This drove her decisions for several years until she found the right position without loss of income.
One of the options Cindy considered was to leave the law firm environment and go in-house as a lawyer for a company. We discussed this for several years before she transitioned to a publicly held tech company as head of in-house counsel. While she did get away from the hourly business model, she didn’t get away from significant hours needed for the role. Cindy was successful in the position and compensated well, yet she was still unfulfilled and had little time for personal life. During our meetings, she continued to share how unhappy she was with her life and her profession.
She stayed in this role of head of in-house counsel for several years, proving her value to the company. but eventually requested to transition to a non-legal role within the company. Eventually she transitioned to the role of chief of staff, where she has been for the past few years.
Financial planning has been especially valuable by helping Cindy figure out how much she needs to earn and save. She incrementally saves to a trust account and contributes the maximum to her retirement accounts. Every time we meet, our team provides her with retirement income projections so she can see what her potential retirement income might be at a given point in time.
Cindy remains her family breadwinner but now has two small children and a spouse. Recently, we’ve discussed her interest in possibly transitioning to a different type of work that will pay significantly less than she currently earns. Because she earned a lot of money as a lawyer and has been such a good saver, she would still be on track to replace her current cost of living in retirement even if she chooses to stop contributing now to her 401(k).
Alice Launched a Solo Firm
Alice is a high-achieving attorney who was a very successful partner at a large regional law firm. She was also absolutely miserable. Alice worked constantly, and had virtually no personal time to spend alone or with her spouse. She loved law but had grown to truly dislike her job. Again, the hourly model was brutal — driving her life and preventing any sort of balance. For several years when we met, Alice was determined to leave her position but didn’t know what the next step would be or where. When her situation became critical, we crafted a transition plan.
Of all our attorney clients who have struggled with work/life balance, I am most thrilled about Alice. She wanted to continue practicing law, but on her terms. She knew she could take her client base with her if she left her firm. We knew how much income she needed to save for retirement goals. We crafted a three-year plan. During this time, she saved for and built a home in another country from which she’d work part time, sold her current home and bought another home in the U.S. for less money, and created a business plan that would yield the minimum income we believe she needed.
By having Alice complete the spending worksheet we use, we knew her cost of living. And she was confident, given the client base, that she could cover these costs and more. At the three-year mark, she was ready to transition from law firm partner to law firm owner and entrepreneur.
What is most amazing about Alice’s story is that not only did she create life balance by launching her own firm, she earns much more money than we had hoped, spends much more time with her husband and works fewer hours than previously. She is also truly happy.
Alice enjoys practicing law and is very good at it. As a result, her clients are very happy and business is booming. It’s been an honor to be a part of her transition to happiness and fulfillment.
Ann Boomeranged Back to Big Law
Not all transitions in search of life balance have been as smooth for my attorney clients. Ann, also a partner at a large law firm, has struggled to find the right role, right compensation and life balance. She has moved from one law firm to another in search of a potentially better work/life balance. Several years ago, she decided to launch a solo firm. Her goal was to have control over her life as the mother of two young children and wife with a disabled spouse. She also hoped to have more control over her income and ultimately better compensation.
Unlike Alice, Ann did not have a large client base she could immediately serve in her solo firm. Business development was a big priority, with a strong focus on bringing in clients to pay the bills. To help lower firm costs, Ann soon partnered with another attorney — but this proved to be a bad decision because it resulted in unanticipated expenses that greatly decreased income.
Ann and her partner had decided to share overhead costs, but this was dependent on partner revenue. When her partner stepped away from work for a personal issue, Ann was on the hook to cover the costs. She was unprepared for these costs and unable to cover them based on her revenue. As a result, Ann was unable to save for retirement and eventually racked up substantial personal debt while trying to cover the law firm’s costs. She wound up returning to big law as an attorney. Balance continues to elude her, but financial obligations and the promise of a steady paycheck brought her back to the challenging hourly model.
Income Models Make Career Moves Less Scary
Most of our client attorneys’ transitions have been successful. As planners, we have helped clients with modeling the income they need to make given their cost of living and how much they must save to be on track with their financial intentions. Each of these women has very different wants and needs, but they share the goal of work/life balance. For some, staying in law is important. Others are willing to give up law if it’s necessary for quality of life. Not all are meant to be business owners. Frequently checking in with our clients to take their pulse on their career and their lives has helped us help them better.
Bridget Grimes, CFP, is the president of WealthChoice, a boutique financial life planning firm for women executives, and co-founder of Equita Financial Network, a collaboration of women-led financial planning firms. She is also author of the bestseller “Corner Office Choices: The Executive Woman’s Guide to Financial Freedom.” She believes in empowering women through education, collaboration and support so that they have the confidence to take action for a better life. Bridget can be reached at bridget.grimes@wealthchoice.com.
