Life, Law & The Pursuit of Wealth

Attorneys at large law firms today are experts in their fields, providing high-level advice to their clients. When it comes to managing their own finances, however, attorneys often fail to devote the time and resources nececessary for success. "Life, Law & The Pursuit of Wealth" was written to help rectify this situation, highlighting some of the key financial mistakes attorneys often make that keep them from being able to save enough for what will likely be a very long retirement.

Attorneys at large law firms today are experts in their fields, providing high-level advice to their clients. When it comes to managing their own finances, however, attorneys often fail to devote the time and resources nececessary for success. At the same time, the environment in large law firms is rapidly changing; attorneys who once thought they would be able to stay at their firms indefinitely -- billing clients and generating income well into their golden years -- are instead being shown the door if they don't produce at the same level they did in their younger days. Many firms are instituting mandatory retirement at age 65, or even earlier. As a result, younger and mid-career attorneys need to plan for a very different type of retirement than the ones their predecessors enjoyed. With long expected life spans, young lawyers today may well live twenty or thirty years in retirement with no income from their jobs. Amassing a comfortable nest egg during their working years is now a critical need for all attorneys. The good news is that attorneys in large law firms typically enjoy very high incomes and do, in fact, have the means to save enough for retirement. The challenge, though, is that lawyers also typically are big spenders, acquiring lifestyles that often don't leave much left over for investing. And when they do invest, the outcome is often less than successful. "Life, Law & The Pursuit of Wealth" was written to encourage today's young and mid-career attorneys to address the urgent need to save enough for retirement during their workings years. This short ebook was inspired by the authors' work with dozens of attorneys in some of Atlanta's largest law firms, many of whom are suddenly faced with a reduction, or complete loss, of income that they had expected to enjoy for many more years. Many attorneys who are nearing the end of their legal careers have expressed to the authors that "they wish they knew then what they know now." This book was written to help younger attorneys avoid those same regrets.

Dennis W. Covington is the managing principal of Capital Directions, LLC in Atlanta, Ga., a fee-only Registered Investment Advisor with $1.2 billion in assets under management. A Certified Financial Planner TM Practitioner, Mr. Covington has extensive experience helping attorneys in some of Atlanta’s largest law firms solve their wealth management challenges.