Does anyone have a spouse that is a financial advisor?

[Anonymous]

How was it the first few years? Did you have to tighten your belts significantly? How about family time? Spouse is thinking of leaving his advisory firm and going off on his own. Wondering what that would mean for us emotionally.

[Anonymous]

Just curious: why wouldn't you ask whether anyone IS a financial advisor, rather than asking about spouses?

[Anonymous]

PP, the OP is obviously asking from her point of view, so that has validity, too.

OP -- an in-law is considering doing this, and upfront the main concerns are (maybe obviously) monetary. There's quite a bit of outlay involved in getting the firm up and running (legal work being a good part of the funding needed). Emotionally, it is tough on her at this point because of all the legwork and stress in getting all the right steps done. But if the move means more independence, better income in the long-term, and being away from perhaps a bad work environment, then emotionally everything will be more positive over time, too.

[Anonymous]

My husband is a financial advisor, and headed up, with a couple other guys, a new firm. His hours are very very LONG, remember, clients are home at night - for example - he has a meeting in Baltimore tonight and we live in Alexandria. Pretty much sucks but he's good and he loves it, so I don't complain. Getting clients is hard enough as it is, but then throw in a bad economy, you have to work twice as hard. His office hires interns to cold call, pays them $10 an hour, but offer flexbility for their school schedules.

Regarding tightening our belts - we didn't really have much debt to begin with, our mortgage is almost paid off, we paid cash for our cars (I should say he did), so financially, there wasn't a significant impact. I work part-time, and what I do earn goes towards groceries, preschool, etc. I guess that's why my husband has been successful on his own, $$, he's an example of someone who is responsible and understands how money works.

His work is hard on our child, he misses his daddy at night and will often wake up when my husband gets home. Sometimes, but not often enough for me to bitch, he schedules meetings on the weekends. And to add fuel to the fire, we have real estate rentals that require attention.

Good luck! The financial world is very competetive.