Helping Lawyers Prepare to Retire

Lawyer Career Consulting DC counsels lawyers to overcome indecision, strengthen personal interests, renew their relationships, and prepare to relaunch their lives in retirement.

Are you ready to retire?

Lawyer Career Consulting DC works with many lawyers at retirement age:

• "I want to earn as much money as I can now, so I can retire early."
• "If I keep working this hard, I’m afraid I’ll die early and never make it to retirement."
• "I’m most concerned about my financial security and my health insurance."
• "I’m worried that when I retire, I’ll have nothing to do, because all I know to do is work."
• "I might postpone my retirement another year or two. I’m not feeling ready."
• "I don’t expect to retire at all. I’ll slow down, but I expect to keep working until I die."
• "I want to do charitable activities – the ‘do good’ things I never did while practicing law."
• "I’d like to mentor younger lawyers."
• "I want to spend more time with my grandchildren than I did with my own children."
• "I’m concerned that I have no friends. When my children are gone, who will I be with?"
• "I can’t wait to stop practicing law. As soon as I have saved enough money, I’ll quit."
• "I already regret wasting so many years of my life practicing law."
• "I’m worried about my memory and my physical health."
• "I look forward to getting caught up on sleep."
• "I want to have more time for travel."
• "I’ll spend as much time as possible on a sailboat – preferably on the South Pacific."
• "I’m worried about losing my sexual ability as I grow older."
• "First of all I want to find time to take care of myself. I’ve always taken care of others."
• "Instead of retiring, I might take up a new job, or find a new career."

If you are a lawyer contemplating retirement, you may wish to:

• Confirm your financial plans;
• Update your estate plans;
• Ensure continuity of health coverage;
• Renew and strengthen friendships;
• Plan avocational interests;
• Downsize your possessions;
• Move closer to family;
• Strengthen your emotional and physical health; and
• Confirm your personal faith.

As a lawyer approaching retirement, you may face special opportunities and challenges:

• Time To Travel: If you are financially successful and in good health, you may have opportunity for travel, recreation, and avocational interests.
• Scrape For Pennies: If you are financially less secure, you may have fewer options in choosing an age for retirement and managing disposable income.
• Abandon Excellence: If you place a premium on "excellence" in your activities and find it difficult to settle for "second best," you may struggle emotionally with limitations imposed by age.
• Surrender Control: As a lawyer, "surrendering control" in senior years may be especially difficult for you.

If you could soon retire, Lawyer Career Consulting DC can work with you, on both an emotional and practical level, to:

• Overcome the fears and doubts that might keep you practicing law longer than you need for financial reasons;
• Strengthen your "safety net" of friends, family and supportive others;
• Ensure that your financial, legal, health,and safety networks are in place;
• Renew interests in life other than your work; and
• Develop a retirement plan that provides a balance of meaningful activities and recreation.

Retirement is a life transition involving heightened awareness of mortality, increased vulnerability, dependence on others, and fear of the unknown – or of what is known. In retirement, personal maturity is high but physical and emotional stamina diminish. Lawyer Career Consulting DC can assist you in this sensitive and critical stage in life.