May 8, 2025 • 8 mins
In this thought-provoking solo episode of the Wealthy Woman Lawyer® Podcast, host Davina Frederick explores a surprising revelation from a survey of 10,000 millionaires that could change the way you think about your career—and your bank account.
What’s keeping so many lawyers from joining the millionaire ranks, and what hidden habits or beliefs might be getting in the way of your wealth-building journey?
If you’ve ever wondered why your law degree hasn’t yet led to millionaire status, this episode is your wake-up call—and a powerful reminder that you’re in the right profession, but you need the right systems, strategies, and mindset to truly thrive.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Intro (00:01):
Welcome to the wealthy woman lawyer podcast. What if
you could hang out withsuccessful women lawyers, ask
them about growing their firms,managing resources like time,
team, and systems, masteringmoney issues, and more? Then
take an insight or two to helpyou build a wealth generating
law firm. Each week, your host,Devina Frederick, takes an
(00:22):
in-depth look at how to thinklike a CEO, attract clients who
you love to serve and will payyou on time, and create a
profitable, sustainable firm youlove. Devina is founder and CEO
of Wealthy Woman Lawyer, and hergoal is to give you the
information you need to scaleyour law firm business from 6 to
7 figures in gross annualrevenue so you can fully fund
(00:43):
and still have time to enjoy thelifestyle of your dreams.
Now here's
Davina (00:49):
Hello and welcome back to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer
podcast. I'm your host DevinaFrederick and today's topic was
inspired by Dave Ramsey of allpeople. For those of you who do
not know, Dave Ramsey's company,Ramsey Solutions, is a
$350,000,000 a year businessthat helps people all over the
world get out of debt and buildwealth. Not everyone in the
(01:11):
financial world is a fan ofDave's. Maybe you are, maybe you
are not.
But that's not really relevantto what I'm going to share with
you today. What is relevant isthat Ramsey Solutions recently
conducted a survey of 10,000millionaires to determine how
they became millionaires. Mostof them became millionaires by
issuing debt and by slow andsteady investment of a
(01:33):
percentage of income from theirday jobs. Here is what I found
particularly interesting andwhat I wanted to share with you
today. The top jobs of thesemillionaires they surveyed were,
number one, engineers.
Number two, accountants. Numberthree, teachers. Number four,
project managers. Number five,lawyers. Are you as surprised as
(01:55):
I was?
Physicians did not even make thetop five. I think they come in
at number six. Millionaires aredefined by their net worth. So
assets minus liabilities equalsnet worth, and these people have
a net worth of at least$1,000,000 The reason Dave
Ramsey said that these folks,even teachers with their median
salaries of $60,000 becamemillionaires is that they all
(02:19):
have one thing in common. Intheir careers, they all must
follow systems.
He believes that the ability tobe methodical in their jobs
translates to being methodicalin their personal finances.
Ramsey Solutions teaches thatit's not how much you make an
income, it's how much you keep.And quite frankly, what you do
with what you keep. And I agreewith that to a point because
(02:42):
I've known people who've made aton of money but then blown it
all. And I've known people whohad basic jobs with steady
paychecks, and they've made verywise decisions with their money
and, as a result, have becomewealthy.
However, I also believe that themore income you make, the better
your chances of becoming amillionaire. I think Dave would
agree with me to a point withthat because I know he hustled
(03:05):
for years working twelve andfourteen hour days to have
enough money to be able toinvest more of his income. So my
question for you is, if you area lawyer and you are not yet a
millionaire, why not? Here aresome of the reasons I think many
lawyers are not millionaireswhen they could be. Number one,
you owe too much in studentloans and do not have a good
(03:26):
plan for paying it off.
And yes, I completely understandthe issue with predatory lending
and student loans, so don't comeat me for that. Number two, you
owe other debts, like creditcard debt, for example, that may
be keeping the money you do maketied up, so you cannot invest it
to build wealth. Number three,you only take home a certain
(03:47):
amount from your law firmbusiness, and it's just enough
to cover the bills withoutleaving you enough to invest.
You need to take home more, buteither fear around money or
uncertainty how to do it keepsyou stuck. Number four, you are
not building your team, settingup systems, reallocating your
time, tracking your numbers, orany of the other things needed
(04:09):
to scale your law firm so thatit generates more revenue and
allows you to scale yourprofits.
Your salary and profits arecapped out because you can only
work and bill so many hours aday, and you do not have a plan
to leverage your services.Number five, you are spending
all that you make so that otherpeople think you are a
(04:30):
millionaire when you really arenot. This may be you if you have
a luxury vehicle in yourdriveway or designer handbag
collection, but you don't havecash flowing real estate
investments or a flush IRAaccount or brokerage account or
even three to six monthsexpenses in a high yield savings
account. Six) Your law firm isnot set up to be an asset you
(04:52):
can sell later down the linewhen you are ready to move on to
something else, but instead, itis solely dependent on you. Note
that if it were an asset, itwould count as an asset towards
your net worth calculation.
Seven. Not charging enough foryour law firm's services because
you have negative money storiesthat no longer serve you and who
(05:13):
you want to be now. Eight. Youdon't fully understand the
details about how your law firmbusiness makes its profits. You
may even be embarrassed that youdon't know how to read your own
profit and loss report.
You should not be if no one evertaught you. I could go on and on
with reasons more lawyers arenot millionaires, but we know
for sure that many, many aremillionaires, and if they can do
(05:36):
it, you can too. And just incase you think I have forgotten
about systemic oppression,misogyny, and racism, and their
impact on wealth building, Ihave not. I fully recognize that
many have more privilege thanothers and a head start in life.
Others have extra challenges.
For example, if your family iswealthy enough to pay for your
college education or your lawschool education, then you are
(05:59):
starting out your career as alawyer way ahead of those who
had to borrow a quarter of amillion dollars for their
education. However, regardlessof the state of this country and
the world, each of us still hasplanes to catch and bills to
pay, as Jimmy Buffett said, andso we must work with whatever is
in our own control. Lawyers whoown their own law firms can
(06:23):
control their circumstances andhow much money they make or do
not make. The purpose of thispodcast episode is not to
criticize anyone for not being amillionaire yet. I promise you
that in my life, I've made moremoney mistakes than I ever
thought I would, so I will notbe throwing stones from my
glasshouse.
No. My hope is that thisrevelation about the top five
(06:46):
careers of millionaires willencourage you. You are
definitely in the rightprofession, but profession alone
is not enough to become amillionaire. Something more is
needed. Now that you know whatis possible, what do you think
has been holding you back fromthe prosperity available to you?
What habits, behaviors, andbeliefs are you clinging to that
(07:08):
no longer serve you? What ifsomething else were possible?
What if there were people outthere who could help you solve
the problems that are keepingyou stuck, earning less money
than you could be, and investingless of that earned income
instead of spending it. WealthyWoman Lawyer has helped hundreds
of women law firm ownerstransform their law firm
(07:29):
business to wealth generatingmachines so they can fully
embrace a millionaire lifestyle.If you would like help
transforming your own law firmbusiness, then I highly
encourage you to sign up for myupcoming training.
It's called The WealthGenerating Law Firm Business
five Secrets to Create theProfit, Impact, and Flexibility
(07:50):
you desire, and I'll be hostingit live on May 15 at 11AM
Mountain Time. The link toregister is in the show notes.
Click on it now and reserve yourspot as spaces are limited. I
hope this week's episode of TheWealthy Woman Lawyer podcast has
got you thinking about where youare in life and asking questions
(08:10):
about where you want to be andwhat action is needed to start
moving you in that direction. Ifyou enjoyed it, please leave us
a five star review on ApplePodcasts and share with another
woman lawyer with similardreams.
I'll be back next week with morecontent tailored specifically
for women lawyers on a missionto become millionaires and live
(08:32):
the life of their dreams. Thanksfor listening.
Intro (08:35):
If you're ready to create more of what you truly desire in
your business and your life,then you'll want to visit us at
wealthywomanlawyer.com to learnmore about how we help our
clients create wealth generatinglaw firms with ease.
Welcome to the wealthy woman lawyer podcast. What if
you could hang out withsuccessful women lawyers, ask
them about growing their firms,managing resources like time,
team, and systems, masteringmoney issues, and more? Then
take an insight or two to helpyou build a wealth generating
law firm. Each week, your host,Devina Frederick, takes an
(00:22):
in-depth look at how to thinklike a CEO, attract clients who
you love to serve and will payyou on time, and create a
profitable, sustainable firm youlove. Devina is founder and CEO
of Wealthy Woman Lawyer, and hergoal is to give you the
information you need to scaleyour law firm business from 6 to
7 figures in gross annualrevenue so you can fully fund
(00:43):
and still have time to enjoy thelifestyle of your dreams.
Now here's
Davina (00:49):
Hello and welcome back to the Wealthy Woman Lawyer
podcast. I'm your host DevinaFrederick and today's topic was
inspired by Dave Ramsey of allpeople. For those of you who do
not know, Dave Ramsey's company,Ramsey Solutions, is a
$350,000,000 a year businessthat helps people all over the
world get out of debt and buildwealth. Not everyone in the
(01:11):
financial world is a fan ofDave's. Maybe you are, maybe you
are not.
But that's not really relevantto what I'm going to share with
you today. What is relevant isthat Ramsey Solutions recently
conducted a survey of 10,000millionaires to determine how
they became millionaires. Mostof them became millionaires by
issuing debt and by slow andsteady investment of a
(01:33):
percentage of income from theirday jobs. Here is what I found
particularly interesting andwhat I wanted to share with you
today. The top jobs of thesemillionaires they surveyed were,
number one, engineers.
Number two, accountants. Numberthree, teachers. Number four,
project managers. Number five,lawyers. Are you as surprised as
(01:55):
I was?
Physicians did not even make thetop five. I think they come in
at number six. Millionaires aredefined by their net worth. So
assets minus liabilities equalsnet worth, and these people have
a net worth of at least$1,000,000 The reason Dave
Ramsey said that these folks,even teachers with their median
salaries of $60,000 becamemillionaires is that they all
(02:19):
have one thing in common. Intheir careers, they all must
follow systems.
He believes that the ability tobe methodical in their jobs
translates to being methodicalin their personal finances.
Ramsey Solutions teaches thatit's not how much you make an
income, it's how much you keep.And quite frankly, what you do
with what you keep. And I agreewith that to a point because
(02:42):
I've known people who've made aton of money but then blown it
all. And I've known people whohad basic jobs with steady
paychecks, and they've made verywise decisions with their money
and, as a result, have becomewealthy.
However, I also believe that themore income you make, the better
your chances of becoming amillionaire. I think Dave would
agree with me to a point withthat because I know he hustled
(03:05):
for years working twelve andfourteen hour days to have
enough money to be able toinvest more of his income. So my
question for you is, if you area lawyer and you are not yet a
millionaire, why not? Here aresome of the reasons I think many
lawyers are not millionaireswhen they could be. Number one,
you owe too much in studentloans and do not have a good
(03:26):
plan for paying it off.
And yes, I completely understandthe issue with predatory lending
and student loans, so don't comeat me for that. Number two, you
owe other debts, like creditcard debt, for example, that may
be keeping the money you do maketied up, so you cannot invest it
to build wealth. Number three,you only take home a certain
(03:47):
amount from your law firmbusiness, and it's just enough
to cover the bills withoutleaving you enough to invest.
You need to take home more, buteither fear around money or
uncertainty how to do it keepsyou stuck. Number four, you are
not building your team, settingup systems, reallocating your
time, tracking your numbers, orany of the other things needed
(04:09):
to scale your law firm so thatit generates more revenue and
allows you to scale yourprofits.
Your salary and profits arecapped out because you can only
work and bill so many hours aday, and you do not have a plan
to leverage your services.Number five, you are spending
all that you make so that otherpeople think you are a
(04:30):
millionaire when you really arenot. This may be you if you have
a luxury vehicle in yourdriveway or designer handbag
collection, but you don't havecash flowing real estate
investments or a flush IRAaccount or brokerage account or
even three to six monthsexpenses in a high yield savings
account. Six) Your law firm isnot set up to be an asset you
(04:52):
can sell later down the linewhen you are ready to move on to
something else, but instead, itis solely dependent on you. Note
that if it were an asset, itwould count as an asset towards
your net worth calculation.
Seven. Not charging enough foryour law firm's services because
you have negative money storiesthat no longer serve you and who
(05:13):
you want to be now. Eight. Youdon't fully understand the
details about how your law firmbusiness makes its profits. You
may even be embarrassed that youdon't know how to read your own
profit and loss report.
You should not be if no one evertaught you. I could go on and on
with reasons more lawyers arenot millionaires, but we know
for sure that many, many aremillionaires, and if they can do
(05:36):
it, you can too. And just incase you think I have forgotten
about systemic oppression,misogyny, and racism, and their
impact on wealth building, Ihave not. I fully recognize that
many have more privilege thanothers and a head start in life.
Others have extra challenges.
For example, if your family iswealthy enough to pay for your
college education or your lawschool education, then you are
(05:59):
starting out your career as alawyer way ahead of those who
had to borrow a quarter of amillion dollars for their
education. However, regardlessof the state of this country and
the world, each of us still hasplanes to catch and bills to
pay, as Jimmy Buffett said, andso we must work with whatever is
in our own control. Lawyers whoown their own law firms can
(06:23):
control their circumstances andhow much money they make or do
not make. The purpose of thispodcast episode is not to
criticize anyone for not being amillionaire yet. I promise you
that in my life, I've made moremoney mistakes than I ever
thought I would, so I will notbe throwing stones from my
glasshouse.
No. My hope is that thisrevelation about the top five
(06:46):
careers of millionaires willencourage you. You are
definitely in the rightprofession, but profession alone
is not enough to become amillionaire. Something more is
needed. Now that you know whatis possible, what do you think
has been holding you back fromthe prosperity available to you?
What habits, behaviors, andbeliefs are you clinging to that
(07:08):
no longer serve you? What ifsomething else were possible?
What if there were people outthere who could help you solve
the problems that are keepingyou stuck, earning less money
than you could be, and investingless of that earned income
instead of spending it. WealthyWoman Lawyer has helped hundreds
of women law firm ownerstransform their law firm
(07:29):
business to wealth generatingmachines so they can fully
embrace a millionaire lifestyle.If you would like help
transforming your own law firmbusiness, then I highly
encourage you to sign up for myupcoming training.
It's called The WealthGenerating Law Firm Business
five Secrets to Create theProfit, Impact, and Flexibility
(07:50):
you desire, and I'll be hostingit live on May 15 at 11AM
Mountain Time. The link toregister is in the show notes.
Click on it now and reserve yourspot as spaces are limited. I
hope this week's episode of TheWealthy Woman Lawyer podcast has
got you thinking about where youare in life and asking questions
(08:10):
about where you want to be andwhat action is needed to start
moving you in that direction. Ifyou enjoyed it, please leave us
a five star review on ApplePodcasts and share with another
woman lawyer with similardreams.
I'll be back next week with morecontent tailored specifically
for women lawyers on a missionto become millionaires and live
(08:32):
the life of their dreams. Thanksfor listening.
Intro (08:35):
If you're ready to create more of what you truly desire in
your business and your life,then you'll want to visit us at
wealthywomanlawyer.com to learnmore about how we help our
clients create wealth generatinglaw firms with ease.
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