The Top 5 Questions Every Big Law Partner Should Be Asking Their Financial Advisor
Written by Chris DeVito
Here's the thing about being a high-earning attorney: if you feel like you’re struggling it’s not because you don't make enough. It’s because your financial life is a mess of moving parts—uneven distributions, brutal taxes, compliance headaches, a dozen different accounts, and major life changes all happening at once.
So, the real question isn't "Do I have a good financial advisor?"
It's "Am I even asking the right questions about my own situation?"
Here are the top 5 questions you should be asking your Financial Advisor about the most important person, YOU!
1. Am I saving enough—and is it going to the right places?
Most partners max out their 401(k), their Profit-Sharing, Cash Balance Plans, and call it a day. But what about everything else? After-tax contributions, Roth IRAs, 529’s, brokerage accounts, trusts—the list goes on.
The real question isn't just how much you're saving. It's whether all these accounts are actually working together to cut your tax bill, give you flexibility, and set you up for what you actually want down the road.
2. Should I pay down debt or invest that extra cash?
A lot of partners are still carrying student loans, private loans, or lines of credit years into their careers. And the instinct is usually to pay them off aggressively.
But that's not always the right move. You need to think about liquidity, what your portfolio could realistically earn versus what you're paying in interest, your tax situation, and whether you'll need cash for something big coming up.
The right answer usually isn't the obvious one.
3. Is my investment strategy actually based on my full financial picture?
Your 401(k) doesn't exist in a vacuum. Partners constantly wonder: Should I hold bonds or stay aggressive? Do I need to avoid individual stocks because of compliance rules? How do my PSP, cash-balance plan, and emergency reserves change how much risk I should take in my 401(k)?
The best plans don't build an allocation based on one account. They look at the whole balance sheet.
4. Am I using the tax breaks that are actually still available to me?
Once you're at this income level, the tax code takes away most of your deductions. Which means the few strategies that do still work become even more important:
- Backdoor Roth IRAs
- Cash-value life insurance (done right)
- Tax-efficient separately managed accounts
- Strategic gain/loss harvesting
- Roth conversions
The question isn't "Should I do this?" It's "How does this fit into my overall tax strategy for the next 20 years?"
5. What am I missing that other partners are already doing?
This is where the biggest gaps show up. High-performing partners usually have:
- Estate plans and trusts that actually make sense
- Disability and life insurance locked in before having kids
- Multi-decade tax projections (not just this year's return)
- A real plan for liquidity—for lifestyle, childcare, whatever
- A withdrawal strategy for retirement that won't blow up their tax situation
These are the things most attorneys don't even know to ask about—but they make the biggest difference over time.
