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I have some very exciting news to share with you. I am thrilled to announce that my new companion e-course for Retirement by Design is now available to help you prepare for retirement and help your firm manage partner succession and retirement more effectively. Also, the National Legal Mentoring Conference is back after a long pandemic-forced delay and registration is open. You can read more about both my course and the conference below.

I’m often asked whether retirement affects men and women differently. Based on my observations and experience, there are more similarities than differences among professionals, but when it comes to facing and adjusting to retirement, men struggle more. Scroll down to read more.

Then, scroll down farther and you’ll find links to my recent presentations, podcast interviews, and article about topics related to succession planning and retirement.

And if you’re looking for help with retirement issues, personally or for your firm, or if you need a speaker on retirement or mentoring subjects, please contact me.

Retirement by Design: Companion E-Course Benefits Individuals and Firms

The success of my book, Retirement by Design, has revealed a hunger for help in preparing for retirement. My new e-course provides this help in a visual medium that supplements the text and helps people ease into the process of planning for post-career life. In the feedback I’ve received and the…

The Beatles told us that “Money can’t buy me love.” Good advice, but law firms are trying to buy love anyway, hoping that huge bonuses will keep the associates they need. The tactic isn’t working. In the last 12 months, associate compensation has risen 10%, yet attrition is over 14%. So, what can law firms do to retain associates? I discuss one very easy step below.

The holidays are coming up fast, and year-end is a time when people contemplate their future plans. It’s the perfect time for my book, Retirement by Design. As the 100-year life becomes a reality for more and more people, we need to think about retirement in a completely new and different way. Below I explain why our increasing longevity makes creative retirement planning essential, and how my book can help you design a happy, meaningful and adaptable future.

In addition to the private consulting, programming, and presentations I’ve been doing about mentoring and retirement, I have done many webinars, programs, podcasts, and articles that are available to the public. As you scroll further down, you’ll find links to some of those resources.

My sincerest wishes to you all for a very happy Thanksgiving. These last two years have shown us how much we have to be thankful for, and this year should be especially meaningful as more of us are able to celebrate in person with family and friends. I hope your celebration is filled with…

I realized how much has changed about the way we view careers when a young woman I have been dealing with professionally told me she was leaving her firm to take a “mini-retirement” and move to Portugal for a while. She was feeling burned out after working hard through the pandemic and wanted to take some time to think about her next steps. Though she was not yet 25 years old, she was highly educated, had impressive credentials and experience, and had lived, studied, worked and traveled in several countries on different continents. She knew she had a number of job options and felt no hurry to take one; she wanted some time for herself, to reflect, enjoy life, and plan her next move.

This young woman represents the radical shift that is happening in the traditional career model most of us are familiar with, where retirement happens later in life. In the traditional model, people went to school in their 20s, worked through their 30s, 40s and 50s, then retired in their 60s. But today, careers are becoming choppier and longer, their trajectories less linear and more cyclical. People move in and out of work, alternating periods of employment with “mini-retirements” to explore, study, or do whatever they choose. And rather than trade work for leisure at 65, people in their 60s, 70s and 80s are continuing to work and remain highly productive. Encore careers and entrepreneurial ventures among…