Personal Finance for Lawyers

Learning to have money is critical to making progress on your financial goals. Many lawyers are used to not having money, so keeping money feels hard at first. But when you get this down, you can create stability in your finances, pay down debt, and save more. In this episode, let's talk about why it's so hard for many lawyers to HAVE money, some real-life examples of how this shows up, and some s...

Everything we do with our money stems from what we believe about money and the best use for it. That means to experience a breakthrough with your finances, you need to shift your beliefs about your finances. In this episode, I share the belief shift and subsequent breakthrough that led to me paying off almost $500,000 of debt and building wealth. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/194 for the full...

You're not getting better results with your finances because you're not spending time on the things that would yield better results. We often put a lot of time and attention toward things that don't move the needle in our finances. When you put more time and attention to the things that do, your results will follow. In this episode, let's talk about the things we tend to focus on in our finances a...

Making more money isn't the quick fix solution to your money problems that you think it's going to be. You may even make more now than you did at another point in life when you told yourself things would be better once you made more money. It's because the amount you make is only one factor in what's going on with your finances—and it's not the most important one. In this episode, let's talk about...

Many lawyers don't make the progress they want to make with their finances simply because they don't pay attention to their finances. You can't not look at your numbers and expect them to magically get better. What gets measured gets improved. In this episode, let's talk about the importance of tracking your finances on your journey to wealth. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/191 for the full epi...

My clients Gabe and Olisi found themselves struggling with their debt balances and feeling stressed. But they were so focused on the negatives of their finances that they missed the positive things they were doing with their money. Although we worked on paying down their debt, a bigger part of our work together was improving their money mindset. In this episode, listen in as Gabe, Olisi, and I cha...

You're not uncomfortable enough with your current financial situation to achieve your financial goals. Often our goals are just things we think sound good or would be nice to have, but that's not enough to actually achieve them. If you want to achieve your goals, you need to view them differently. In this episode, let's talk about why you're not achieving your goals and the changes you need to mak...

"I'm just not good with money." So many lawyers believe this or similar statements about their abilities with money. But all of them stem from the mistaken belief that some people are inherently good with money. That some people have the "X factor" and others don't. It's not true, and if you keep believing that, it will keep you from taking the necessary steps to make the progress you want to make...

One of the biggest drivers of my financial journey has been the opportunity to be more generous. Improving your finances will increase your capacity for generosity, but it's possible to make room for generosity at each stage of your financial journey. In this episode, let's talk about the importance of generosity and some of my personal experiences with it. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/187 fo...

When we're thinking about managing our money, we often think about the strategies like paying off debt vs. investing or how much we should save. But there's one piece of the money management puzzle that makes a much bigger difference in your financial situation than any of the strategies. In this episode, let's talk about what that piece is and why it has such a big impact on your finances. Head t...

Let's talk about the best way to achieve your big money goals. Lawyers often want to go after the biggest goal from the outset, but that's typically a recipe for failure. A better approach is to identify the small steps that lead to that big goal and go after those instead. In this episode, let's talk about the importance of taking those small steps in the right direction and why this approach lea...

What's not moving you to where you want to be with your finances? The start of a new year is a great time to reflect on those things so you can let them go and implement new things as we come into 2024. In this episode, let's talk about a few things to leave in 2023 and a few new things to implement to move forward with your finances in 2024. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/184 for the full epis...

Every piece of financial advice isn't meant for you. Often people have opinions about what we should do and how we should handle our money, but they don't have the same goals or vision that we have. That makes their advice largely inapplicable. In this episode, let's talk about the importance of being mindful of who we take advice from and filtering the advice we receive through our vision for our...

Closing your eyes and hoping for the best is not a good money management strategy. At the same time, you don't want to be obsessing over every penny. I've been on both ends of the spectrum, and both sucked in different ways. In this episode, let's talk about a better way to approach your finances that doesn't suck and keeps you moving toward your goals. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/182 for th...

Sometimes good financial advice can actually hurt your finances. That's exactly what happened to some of my clients and to me when we followed the common advice to maximize our contributions to our retirement accounts. In this episode, let's talk about our stories of saving for retirement to the detriment of our finances, why that advice wasn't the best for us, and the importance of considering yo...

Whether you believe you can or believe you can't, you're right. Your belief makes all the difference in your ability to achieve your goals. The way you look at your goals and what other people have done dictates what you achieve. In this episode, let's talk about a recent conversation I had with one of the first readers of my original blog and the importance of believing that you can achieve the t...

We spend a lot of time wishing we could be further along. But we often miss all the good things we already have going on and overlook the fact that someone else is wishing they could be where we are now. In this episode, let's talk about being grateful for our present circumstances, even as we work toward our goals. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/179 for the full episode show notes. Join Money...

Your brain is lying to you about what's going on with your finances. If you're managing your money based off estimates and ideas in your head, we need to talk. In this episode, let's talk about the importance of knowing the actual facts of your finances and a few examples of how going off estimates can steer you wrong. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/178 . Join Money Mastery at https://www.rhoth...

What's the hardest part of managing your money well? If you're like most lawyers, it's sticking to the plans you make for your finances. By and large, lawyers find this step more challenging than any other aspect of managing their finances. The good thing, though, is that this is completely within your control. In this episode, let's talk about a few strategies you can implement to start sticking...

It can feel really bad to find yourself in a position where you're bleeding money. Lawyers sometimes find themselves in this position for a variety of reasons, but it's not the end. It's completely possible to turn things around. In this episode, let's talk about 4 steps to take if you find yourself bleeding money. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/176 for the full episode show notes. Join Money M...

My clients Vanessa and Joe were overspending—sometimes to the point that they had to put off paying bills—and it was causing tension at times in their marriage. They came to me wanting to get a handle on their money to put their family in a better position. They achieved that and then some. In this episode, I sit down with Vanessa and Joe to talk about our work together, some of the things they've...

As we head into the holiday season, let's revisit how to prepare for expected expenses. If you're like many other attorneys, the holidays catch you off-guard every year. The same may be true for other big expenses or financial changes you know are coming up. So often people don't financially prepare for things that are completely expected and end up feeling stressed out and anxious when those thin...

Sometimes our loved ones think they know best about what we should be doing with our finances—and they have no problem making it known. Although they mean well, their thoughts, tips, and advice can lead to feelings of stress. In this episode, let's talk about three things to do if you have loved ones who are stressing you about what you should be doing with your money. Head to https://www.rhothoma...

Sometimes we get so focused on the numbers and the mechanics of personal finance that we forget what we're doing it for. It's important to take a step back and think about the point of our money journey. In this episode, I share the point of my money journey and invite you to explore yours. Get the full episode show notes at https://www.rhothomas.com/172 . Join the Money Mastery for Lawyers member...

As lawyers, it's common for us to focus on what we haven't achieved (the gap) rather than looking at all the progress we've made (the gain). This concept was discussed in the popular book, The Gap and the Gain. In this episode, let's talk about how the gap and the gain show up in our personal finances and the importance of focusing on the gain more often. Get the full episode show notes at https:/...