“Shall I have breakfast today, or grab something on the go?” “Which book should I read next?” “Which pair of shoes are going to best get me through today?” “Which meeting should I be prioritizing?”
We make hundreds of choices a day, all the time, every hour. And every single choice is important, and can have a huge ripple effect. We give little regard to many of them, and don’t think much about the impact of the choice we made. It’s a good thing we don’t – if we thought about all of them, we’d get nothing else done all day.
The ambitious, driven career women that I work with every day are expert choice makers, and the choices they’ve made along the way are a huge part of their success. And I have to say it, choosing to hire a financial advisor is just another of their very wise choices as a professional woman. It’s a choice that stands to serve both them and their career very well indeed.
Challenges, Choices and Competing Priorities
My clients are predominantly female lawyers and female executives – although I do have wonderfully rewarding and successful relationships with clients in other areas too. I gel with these clients because I fully understand the challenges they face, and the choices they have to make. Why? Because I’ve faced the same challenges, and confronted the same decisions. And I help all my clients to see that their choices are the key to their freedom, and their success.
But female lawyers and female executives are terrifically smart, capable, brilliant people. So why, you might ask, would they need help with their finances? Why on earth would a lawyer hire a financial advisor? Why would a high-powered executive who is at the helm of a successful company need help with financial planning? They may well oversee a budget of millions of dollars at work.
It might not be obvious at first. Let’s look a bit closer.
Managing Debt, Chasing Promotions and Choosing Life
I have a client of mine in mind. She’s a lawyer; let’s call her Sarah. Sarah just made partner at her firm, and she’s only 37. She absolutely flew to the top, and she is earning a considerable sum each year. But she realized recently that she had been so focused on achieving her career goals, that she’s paid little attention to anything else along the way.
She still has a mountain of student debt, as ever since she graduated she’s just been paying minimum repayments. She got married fairly recently, and she and her husband bought their first home. It’s a lovely place, but they’ve got a sizeable mortgage. So it just feels like they are swimming in debt, despite the healthy paychecks. And what she wants more than anything is to start a family, but not jeopardize her career too badly. Besides paying into a 401(k), she’s not yet given retirement planning any thought whatsoever.
While Sarah is an exceptional person, I’ve got to say, she is quite a typical client. Female lawyers as well as executives make many choices and decisions as they get swept along with the current of their career – and often those choices feel like sacrifices. They work incredibly hard and earn well, but spending and maintaining a lifestyle gets expensive. And it’s almost impossible to get off the treadmill and make the right choices for themselves.
Why Should a Female Executive or Lawyer Hire a Financial Advisor?
Lawyers and executives have a stressful time of it; they work long, unpredictable hours that don’t lend themselves well to family life. Often the choice to have a family means a choice to reduce working hours or income, meaning more stressful financial decisions, juggling the family’s needs and wants.
There’s also a high chance of career burnout, especially when raising a family too. A study showed that female lawyers are more likely than their male colleagues to retire early. They’re also more likely to slow to part time work for at least part of their career. So the professional (and financial) life of a female lawyer or female executive might be less consistent than that of a man in the same position.
Still, why should a female lawyer or female executive hire a financial advisor? Because it can dramatically change their lives for the better in an extremely short space of time. It can help them to dominate their cash flow, manage their debts and turn them into assets. It can help them to make intentional choices about their financial lives which will leave them empowered, feeling in control of their lives, with real, sincere peace of mind. It can help them to live the life they deserve to live now, as well as in the future.
How?
Collaboration and Teamwork
A female lawyer or executive is juggling multiple priorities and competing goals at once. Multiple demands on their valuable time. And hiring a financial advisor is like extending their own personal team to get their jobs done. When a professional woman hires a financial advisor, she should benefit from a network of professionals just like her.
For example, when I meet a client and establish her needs and goals, we look at all the moving parts that go into making her financial plan. This often involves bringing in other experts; I’ll connect my client with career coaches to help them leverage more income from their role, or put a career progression plan in place. I’ll connect my client with estate planning, accountants, tax professionals – any experts that I’ve identified that we need on the team.
Creating a Flexible Plan That Works for You, Always
So from the outset, the financial plan is multidimensional, and perfectly tailored to meet the client’s particular needs. It’s adaptable and flexible too – it will change when it needs to.
One of the key benefits of using a financial advisor is just handing over the weight of the financial planning; it’s having someone say, “I’ve got this, go and spend time with your loved ones instead of worrying about this.” But more importantly than that, it’s about giving my busy, time-poor clients the gift of empowerment. I am guiding them through the choices they need to make for themselves, to use their financial resources in the wisest way possible, and live the lives they choose for themselves.
It’s about setting crystal clear priorities, and manageable goals, helping them achieve them one by one. It’s about helping each client to live her life on her own terms, knowing that she is creating financial security for herself and her family. It’s about having something to show for all the hard work, and fully enjoying life.
If you want to send your kids to college, pay off your home, grow your business or take the next step in your law firm, we will talk about all your choices surrounding all those goals. And then we will celebrate with you as you tick off each victory, small and big.
It’s Time to Enjoy the Financial Freedom You’ve Earned
So it’s more than just financial planning and wealth management for lawyers and executives. It’s career coaching, it’s retirement planning, it’s life coaching; it’s about empowering YOU to make the right financial choices for YOU. It’s making responsible money moves and supporting your passions and personal goals at the same time. It’s about choosing true financial freedom.
If you’re a female lawyer or female executive and would like to speak to a financial advisor to learn more about what your financial freedom might look like, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. Give us a call to schedule a no-obligation initial appointment. We’ll be thrilled to hear from you.
