It has been a while since I posted on this site. I have sporadically kept up with my own net worth calculations but never posted the results. To be quite honest I have just been so f’n swamped, the last thing I was looking to do was be accountable to myself as I was accountable to so many other people. However, a few big things happened in my life that warrant a resurgence of this site and my accountability to myself and to it.
For the past 17 or so years, I have worked for a financial services company while practicing law part-time (first for myself and then for a great firm). When I made the transition to the firm my life became very, very, very hectic. Burning the candle at both ends has been tough, but doable. Notwithstanding, it all came to a head a few weeks ago.
I always knew it was a long shot, but at my core, I wanted to take over the financial services firm when the current partners retired. Well, I found out recently that was not going to be happening. So it left me renegotiating my current compensation structure.
With an appropriate compensation structure in place, I am excited to make some big changes in my life.
One Employment Priority
While I would have been happy becoming the boss at my financial services company, I am really looking forward to serving only one employer for the first time in 4 years (or 12 years if you count private practice). I have basically been running two full time jobs, and simply put, I am burnt the fuck out. Believe it or not, it isn’t the hours that burnt me out it was the stress of two very different positions and constantly feeling like I am letting one of them down, or if if I had both going full speed for a bit, letting my family down.
What I am struggling with is the idea of my identity. I have identified with the idea that I am a trust and estates attorney with an “in house job” but that just isn’t going to be the case when the dust settles. It shouldn’t matter, but it feels weird right now. I think it will take a bit of getting used to…which is even weirder since I have been in the same position for 17 years.
Currently, I am feeling a lot of anxiety about writing my departure email to the firm I have been with. First and foremost, there are the relationships I built with clients. These relationships mean something to me. These relationships are the reason I became an attorney. Trust was given to me, and to a certain extent it feels like I am abandoning them. I know that is not the case, and people leave jobs every hour of every day, but for some reason, this feels different for me. I am sure a shrink out there could give me some insight to it. Second problem is that the partners I am working with are going to be taken back. They trusted me to build a T&E practice for them but I am leaving mid-job. I am sure they are going to try and get me to stay, but there is just no way they can compete with the compensation structure (and work-life balance) I have been offered.
My plan, as of writing this post, is to stop taking new cases as lead attorney after I let them know. I will then slowly close out all cases I am working on…one by one, while, hopefully training my replacement although they may just abandon the department as a whole, who knows?
With only “one master” to serve I can put all my efforts into it and I am really excited for that opportunity.
Getting Back to Personal Finance Basics & Beyond
This has brought me full circle as it relates to my personal finance journey. Years and years ago personal finance decisions completely consumed me. All of that went by the wayside when there was zero time to give credence to it. I am very excited to get that back in my life. I am excited to reoptimize my financial life.
The first step will be in about 4 weeks when I do my goals and objectives post. I think this means getting my cash flow under control. I want 2024 to be about building cash and deleveraging. I want cash and debt to be at a place where I reduce my stress levels for a bit (not forever because of my constant need to grow but for a bit).
The second step will be figuring out what my future looks like to build what I consider my financial future without traditional ‘business ownership’ as a part of it. I think this may mean a bigger emphasis on building my income streams and real estate.
Nevertheless, I am pumped to sit down and write all about it, which itself makes it different than the past 2 or 3 years!
