Personal Finance for Lawyers

It's easy to think that you're doing okay with your money if you're able to cover your bills and buy things you want. But this line of thinking leads many lawyers to stay stuck in the same place financially because they're not strategically thinking about how to move themselves forward. In this episode, let's talk about winning with your finances and growing your net worth, rather than just gettin...

Lawyers often have multiple things they want competing for their financial resources. But we sometimes forget that we always have the power to intentionally decide which things to focus on. Many people allow their unintentional desires to direct the way they use their money, which leads them to not make the progress they want to make financially. In this episode, let's talk about how to manage you...

Waiting for your next paycheck to hit or feeling like you’re living on the edge financially doesn’t have to be the norm. One of the strategies I teach all of my clients—the checking account buffer—puts an end to all of that. In this episode, let’s talk about what the checking account buffer is, how much should be in it, and some common reasons that prevent lawyers from creating one. Head to https:...

Let's talk about a common problem for lawyers and non-lawyers alike: overspending. The default for many people is to beat themselves up when they overspend and make it mean all kinds of negative things about themselves and their ability to manage their money. But it doesn't have to be that way. In this episode, let's talk about the three steps I recommend you take when you overspend. Head to https...

With personal finance, people typically think about the strategies and what to do. But the way you see yourself has a huge impact on your ability to manage your money and achieve your financial goals. When you believe you're bad with money and don't feel confident with it, you can do all the "right" things and still not make the progress you want or have the experience you want with your money. In...

One of my favorite money strategies is the money check-in. This is one of the biggest factors in my clients achieving the goals they set for themselves so quickly. It's a simple strategy that will keep you on track with your planned spending throughout the month, and I'm sharing it with you today. In this episode, let's talk about why people resist looking at their finances, how to do a money chec...

Whenever you want to do something new, like managing your money better, your brain will present all the reasons why you can't. But just as there may be reasons why you can't do the new thing, there are also plenty of reasons why you can. In this episode, let's talk about why your brain tries to stop you from doing new things and explore all the reasons you think you can't manage your finances bett...

My client Val didn't know much about personal finance and carried a lot of shame around the debt she and her husband had. They were making more than ever but going deeper into debt, so she reached out for help. During our time working together, Val started paying off that debt and saving money. But the biggest shift for her has been the trust she developed in her ability to make decisions for her...

Many lawyers put off learning to manage their money better because they think it will be hard. Change feels uncomfortable. New sometimes feels hard. But we overlook the fact that it also feels hard and uncomfortable to want to change your situation and not be where you want to be yet. In this episode, let's talk about the concept of choosing your hard and leaning into the discomfort of change. Hea...

Lawyers often put so much pressure on ourselves to always be striving for the next thing and to get there faster. But when you’re always so focused on what’s next and how far you are from your goal, you make your present experience more difficult than it has to be. In this episode, let's talk about what happens when we're always focused on getting to the next thing in our finances and the importan...

I find that when lawyers are running into issues like rising credit card balances or overdrafting their accounts, it's typically because they're not balancing how they're using their money. There are always three buckets that are competing for your money--your needs, wants, and goals. Often the needs and wants buckets get the bulk of the money, leaving little to nothing for the goals bucket. In th...

My client Ashley found herself in a position where she was making good money but not really paying attention to her finances. She was in a state of passivity, as she calls it. During our work together, she got out of passivity and started taking big action to turn her finances around. She paid off all her credit cards and has implemented a plan with her husband to build their savings and start inv...

Listen in as I reflect on 2022. I'm really proud of the work I did and the things my clients accomplished in the past year. And I'm just getting started. In this episode, let's talk about viewing each thing you do as just the beginning of what you're going to do and the importance of lawyers learning to manage their money better. Head to https://www.rhothomas.com/133 for the full episode show note...

One of my favorite ways to motivate myself when working on a goal is to look at examples of other people who have done what I want to do. Because someone else has done the thing, I know it's possible for me, too. We often want to pick out all the parts of other people's situations that are different from our own and point to those as reasons why they can achieve the thing and we can't. But there's...

"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...

We unintentionally prioritize things in our lives when we're not being thoughtful about our choices or the tradeoffs that come along with them. I see it happen all the time in personal finance. When you don't have a plan for your money or don't follow the plan you DO have, it often leads to not being able to achieve your financial goals. When you don't achieve your goals, all the things you spend...

One of the questions I ask all of my clients is, "What is your compelling reason for doing the work to improve your finances?" You'll inevitably experience setbacks and challenges on this road to manage your finances better. Having a compelling reason behind your efforts will mean the difference between giving up and continuing to move forward to achieve your goals. In this episode, let's talk abo...

We put so much focus on the numbers of money that we sometimes forget about the importance of the way we feel about money. Having negative feelings about your finances drains your energy and impacts your day-to-day experience of life. The value of feeling better about your money can't be overstated. In this episode, let's talk about one of my clients' experiences with feeling better about her mone...

My client Liz had saved a significant amount of money but didn't feel like she had a good handle on her finances. She had a system for tracking her money but wasn't getting useful data to help her manage it better going forward and felt like her savings wasn't enough. During our work together, Liz completely shifted her view of money and developed a simpler system to manage her money that works fo...

Lawyers tend to look for things that could go wrong or that aren't working, whether because of our predisposition, training, or both. This is a great skill to have in your legal practice—not so great when you're learning to manage your money better. In this episode, let's talk about why it's important to look for and acknowledge everything that you're doing well with your finances, especially when...

Many people would rather talk about topics like weight and intimacy before they'll talk about their finances. There's a lot of shame surrounding money, and that shame is heightened within the legal profession. But it doesn't have to be that way. In this episode, let's talk about two common reasons lawyers feel shame about their finances, the effect of shame on your finances, and how to address it....

Sometimes one of your biggest strengths can actually prove to be a weakness. Case in point: Lawyers tend to be really good at following steps and rules. But when you’re trying to manage your money better, you can get hung up on rules to your detriment. In this episode, let’s explore why some common rules around how to manage your money, such as maxing your 401(k) and putting 20% down on your house...

If you're not financially preparing for unexpected things that can come up, this episode is for you. Not preparing yourself ahead of time will lead to unnecessary stress in your life when an unexpected expense arises. Although we don't know exactly when unexpected things will happen, we typically know that they can happen and can prepare for them. In this episode, let's talk about the mindset you...

There is a widespread fear of debt in our society. People are internalizing negative beliefs about debt and about themselves for having debt, and it's causing a lot of unnecessary pain and unpleasant experiences. In this episode, let's talk about some commonly held beliefs about debt (including the good debt vs. bad debt distinction), the negative consequences that can come from being afraid of de...

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 things pop up—as expected. In this episode, let's talk about how to prepare for expected exp...