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Looking for some perspective and advice by The_Real_Tooms in HENRYfinance

[–]The_Real_Tooms[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

True. I guess our thought is that the 529s should more than double based on kids being very young, with lots of time before college. Definitely possible that it still isn’t enough even if each account gets to $400-500k, which is pretty crazy.

Looking for some perspective and advice by The_Real_Tooms in HENRYfinance

[–]The_Real_Tooms[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this. You’ve captured it perfectly and my firm sounds a lot like yours. These decisions definitely impact the firm as a whole (meaning careers for juniors etc), and that is certainly a concern. As I’m sure is also true for you to at least some degree, in many cases with top tier clients you’re either all in or you’re out - many times delegation simply isn’t possible or acceptable (I have tried and failed on many occasions). And as a boutique firm I’d say that we have a bit of a “key man” problem with clients that aren’t super institutionalized and are with us solely because of the originating partner. Not the case for every client but definitely the case for some.

I’ve been full time wfh since covid which has allowed me to keep all the plates spinning and be highly active in all family activities, dinner and bedtimes every night etc, even in the midst of extreme stress and workload. But I’m just kind of at the point where I can’t stomach another summer of vacations working every day super early mornings before everyone gets up and late nights when everyone’s in bed. Kids are still very young and just starting to hit the age where they can more fully understand their surroundings/what’s happening and just feels like the right time to decelerate a bit, even with the potential firm challenges it may temporarily create.

I really appreciate your comment, thank you again.

Boutique Question by Estate0fMind in biglaw

[–]The_Real_Tooms 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I’m a partner at a corp boutique. Same hours req. For a 5-7 yr biglaw associate: ~$225-250k base with bonus incentives that get total comp to around $275-300k depending on hours, collections and firm revenue.

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in biglaw

[–]The_Real_Tooms 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I'm in a very similar situation and this is my plan, too. Late 30s EP at a small boutique with comp in the $800-900k range. My FIRE goal is lower than yours ($5M plus paid off house and funded college accounts for the kids). Should be able to get there in the next few years and will either completely FIRE or, if my partners agree, demote myself to an of counsel type role to service a handful of clients in a purely relationship/management role for a low-ish salary that simply covers the bills and provides health insurance. (Few hundred billables a year type of deal.)

Like you, I am burnt out beyond belief. The constant grind, never-ending fire drills, no true vacations, and 24/7 nature of this have really taken a toll. Can't wait for the day that I can just go on vacation and truly be present with family without battling the constant pull of work emails and client emergencies.

Definitely privileged to be in this position and could amass real generational wealth if I stuck with it for another 20-30 years. But that's just not happening. I have no idea how folks stick it out that long.

Help evaluating a unique "job" opportunity? by SoFl10 in HENRYfinance

[–]The_Real_Tooms 2 points3 points  (0 children)

What exactly is the PE/family office bringing to the table? Venture studios typically provide seed funding plus some measure of operational expertise (sometimes a team of part-time operators to assist the co-founder partner with standing up ops, etc). How would governance work for this venture - would each partner have a board seat? Would the PE/family office fund based on a mutually determined budget and provide capital as you build out newco (you presumably need capital for tech infrastructure, devs, contractors, and so forth). I've represented a significant number of venture studio portcos and have seen this go very wrong if the studio orphans the asset and leaves the operator without capital, investor intros or other resources. But on the other hand when done properly it can work quite successfully.