Your Financial Troubles May Affect More Than Just Your Wallet

A lack of financial fitness is causing a well-being crisis in our profession. This is due in large part to the toll financial stress puts on a lawyer’s mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Financial Fitness: How Your Finances Affect Your Well-Being, an On-Demand CLE webinar that's free for ABA members, discusses the ways poor financial fitness can affect your life and practice. Watch the webinar to receive practical solutions to these financial issues from a certified financial advisor.

According to a MetLife study conducted shortly after COVID-19 lockdowns began, more than half of US employees were more concerned with their finances than any other aspect of their well-being. Even more striking, the National Endowment for Financial Education reports that nine out of ten Americans say the pandemic is causing financial stress. For young lawyers who are burdened with record amounts of student loan debt and entering the second economic downturn in a decade, these statistics might not be that shocking. A recent report published by the ABA indicated that the median student loan debt of new lawyers is $160,000. For these individuals, financial stress and worry have become a way of life. The toll that stress can have on your physical, mental, and emotional well-being should not be ignored.