Time for the next chapter in my life

Wow!!!! What a week!  Just 5 days ago, how was I to know that my world would change.  Fortunately it is for the better.  Hopefully in the next 5 days, I'll be all squared away with my new firm.  But, even though it was a shock to be fired (first in my 46 years), it will hopefully be the best thing that ever happened to me. 

If I hadn't been fired that day, I wouldn't have been home in time to reply to a neighborhood email seeking a home for a abandoned puppy.  Elly could not have been a more perfect fit for our family (and our other dog, Midnight, who has been mourning the death of our beloved dog, Ally).  Thank goodness Elly was not perfect for her former family.  You've got to celebrate non perfectionism!

While I am in between firms, I can actually talk about being a financial advisor.  It is the best and most fulfilling job I've ever had.  I know that I have helped people retire, send kids to college, buy a first (or second, or 22nd) home, helped widows deal with the aftermath of the expected and unexpected deaths of their loved ones, and helped clients (especially women) become more confident to understand their finances.

I am disappointed in my former employer and there is NO reason to celebrate their lack of perfection.  I'm not disappointed in my firing (truly a blessing in disguise), but what I had to put up with for almost 5 years.  Even though I am a lawyer, I don't believe the courtroom is the best place to settle all disputes.  But, there are times when it is and I look forward to being a part of this case:  http://www.bofagenderlawsuit.com/   At least they weren't physically attacked by a co-worker!

I served in the Navy, was involved in the Tailhook trials (as a defense attorney and finally as a witness in the claims for illegal command influence -- it's in the Tailhook book), practiced law with a firm that was mostly men (and where I was required to wear a skirt!), but I never felt that being a woman was ever an issue in what I could do professionally until I came to Merrill.  

I'm also disappointed that were so many trainees hired who never graduated for the training program in my office.  Although there were many minorities hired, only one woman graduated from the program while all but one white male did.  I think that one woman would have graduated based on her own merit, but it didn't hurt that she was engaged to another successful advisor and that she had worked as an assistant at Merrill for several years.

I was hired at Smith Barney in 1998 right after the settlement of the infamous "Boom Boom Room" lawsuit.  As part of that settlement, Smith Barney had to hire more women as advisors.  The problem with the arrangement was that managers were rewarded for hiring, but not for seeing that women graduated.  My training class had many women who were there just because they lacked a Y chromosone. I was so fortunate to have the most wonderful manager who didn't care that I was a woman.  He wanted me to succeed just as he wanted all his advisors to succeed -- which we all did.  There were a few exception to the rule, but by and large, I never felt it mattered.  When another manager said a stupid thing to me when I was pregnant (expressing his concern if I died during childbirth!), the higher ups stepped in immediately and fixed the situation.  They apologized and we moved forward.  That manager was a bad manager and replaced.  I was just the proverbial straw breaking the camel's back.

But Merrill needs to get its act together and realize that there is a problem with the way female F.A.'s are treated.  Those things in the lawsuit happened to me as well.  But that was nothing compared to what another F.A. did  to me.  I will forever have arthritis in my big toe and a  scar on my foot from the surgery I had to remove the neuroma which developed after that  FA slammed a door on my foot.  I lost all faith in Merrill when H.R. said basically that I caused the other F.A. to attack me.  Yep, that's what happened to me.  

On behalf of my clients, I tried everyday to do my best for them.  I was working in the most hostile environment you could imagine.  This was one time when "nonperfectionism" could not  and should not be celebrated.  I couldn't leave without serious financial consequences.  The way it ended was an immense blessing to me.  Not perfect -- but just right.

Now, I get back to why I love being an advisor -- working with my clients to ensure that their future (and mine) are bright.  As the mother of two bright and wonderful daughters, I really do hope that they will never had to deal with stupid and ridiculous discrimination.