The First 90 Days
Chambers can tell you what you've billed and what you're owed. This is how you find out what you can spend and save.
A 3-month high-touch partnership combining a Done-For-You Financial MOT with targeted coaching, to turn irregular income into a monthly income you can rely on and wealth that builds.
I'm Philly. I've worked in wealth management since 2011, managing multi-million-pound portfolios. Today, I focus on the numbers alongside the behaviour, because addressing both together is what actually creates long-term wealth.
Book a Discovery Call →Not ready to talk yet? See the barrister hub for where to start and what to read first.
The ledger looks healthy, the current account tells a different story.
You earn well, possibly more than almost everyone you know, and yet:
- "I don't quite know what I can spend."
- "I earn all this money and I have no idea where it goes."
- "I've been meaning to sort this out for years."
These are the kinds of things barristers say to me on a first call. If you could have said them too, this is for you.
At the Bar, the problem is rarely the income, it’s how it comes in. Fees arrive months after the work is done, in amounts that have nothing to do with the month you're living in. A large receipt lands and feels like money to spend, when a good part of it is already owed in tax. Then a quiet month follows, and you're wondering whether you can afford what you've already committed to.
So you manage it the way most barristers do. You move money across when the current account looks low, you carry a rough figure in your head for what's still to come in. You watch January and July approach and hope there's enough there to cover them.
It works, more or less, until someone at home asks "can we afford this?" and you can't give a straight answer. You're probably not bad with money, you've just never had a number to answer with.
The Bar trains you to be excellent at the work, but nobody takes you aside to explain how to run a household on an income that looks like this, and the people you'd normally ask don't have the same problem. So money stays an area of your life where you don't feel in command.
The good thing is that it's fixable.
The missing piece
Everyone around you covers part of the picture, and each of them stops before it reaches your own household:
Chambers runs the practice side
Your clerks know what's been billed, what's outstanding and which aged debt needs chasing. That part is handled. But the ledger tells you what you're owed, it doesn't tell you what you can live on.
Your accountant handles the tax
They'll tell you what's due and when. What they don't do is make sure the money is set aside as each fee lands, or tell you what's left to spend once it is.
Wealth managers only want money that's already built
Because they take a percentage fee on assets they manage, they aren't interested while your wealth is still tied up in your income.
Nobody asks why
Why you avoid opening the account, why money conversations at home feel tense, why you can earn what you earn and still not feel secure.
That leaves the personal side with you: the mortgage, the school fees, the renovation, the holiday, and the simple question of what you can spend this month without it coming back to bite you in January.
You need both: a structure that turns irregular fees into something you can plan a life around, and an understanding of why you do what you do with money. Sort the numbers without the habits, and the plan gets abandoned the first time a heavy case takes over. Build both together, and everything changes.
I work alongside chambers and your accountant, not instead of them. They look after the practice and the tax. I work on what the income becomes once it reaches you and your family, so that side feels as well run as the practice.
While I don't sell investment products or recommend individual stocks, I teach you how investing works and help you build the foundation to do it properly. We get your habits, cash flow and strategy sorted so you feel completely confident taking those next steps.
What the three months look like
Six sessions across three months. These threads run alongside each other rather than one after the other, so in a single session we might go from where a pattern came from, to how it's showing up in your spending this month, to what we're doing about it.
Month 1: Where you actually are
Call 01: Your money story · Call 02: Your Financial MOT
Before we start, I go through twelve months of your bank and credit card statements, line by line. For a barrister, that means seeing what actually arrived and when, what you moved across to live on, what went to tax, and what the household really costs to run. We work from money that has landed, not from what the ledger says you're owed.
You'll see everything you own and owe clearly in one place, perhaps for the first time. You'll have your own Financial Dashboard, so "can we afford this?" becomes something you can answer yourself in five minutes.
At the same time, we unpack why you do what you do with money. By understanding the inherited patterns driving your decisions, you can catch them before they take over. No shame or judgement, and we strip away all the "shoulds". Most people expect to be told off, many find they're in better shape than they feared.
Month 2: What matters, and the system to get there
Call 03: Values, vision, and priorities · Call 04: Your cashflow set-up
You work relentlessly and want to enjoy what you earn, but it's hard to enjoy money you're not sure is yours to spend. This month, we define what actually matters to you, so your spending lines up with your real priorities.
Then we build the engine. Instead of moving money across whenever the current account looks low, you pay yourself a fixed monthly amount, like a salary, from the account your fees land in. When a fee arrives, you know exactly what happens to it: a set percentage for tax, this much to the buffer that carries you through the quiet months, this much to the ISA or a specific goal. And a dedicated spending amount that is yours to enjoy without checking your balance or feeling guilty.
It isn't particularly complicated, it's just that nobody has ever sat down to build it with you, around an income that doesn't arrive monthly.
I don't do restriction. If you're a spender, we work out what's yours to enjoy guilt-free. If you're a saver who can't let go, we work out what's safe so you can start spending on what brings you joy. Either way, there's freedom in the plan, because a plan with no joy in it doesn't last.
Month 3: Putting the money to work
Call 05: Your wealth strategy · Call 06: The road ahead
This is where the system goes to work. We build a clear strategy around how your income actually lands:
- Irregular fees: You'll know exactly what to pay yourself each month, so a quiet quarter or a slow-paying case stops being frightening.
- Tax: January and July become dates in the diary, because the money has been set aside as you went.
- Large receipts: You'll decide what a big fee is for before it lands, so a good year builds your wealth rather than disappearing into everyday living.
- Pensions and investments: You'll get complete clarity on what you currently have, what it's costing you, and whether it's actually working for you, so you know exactly what to focus on next.
You walk away from Month 3 with total clarity on your immediate priorities, a repeatable system for every fee that comes in, and complete confidence in your next moves.
How we work together
You start knowing where every pound is
Before we begin, I go through twelve months of bank and credit card statements, map everything you own and owe, and build your Personal Financial Dashboard.
Deep progress on both the numbers and the habits
Six 1:1 sessions across the 90 days (two 60-minute calls a month) to address both the practical set-up and the behaviour behind it.
Never stuck waiting for the next call
WhatsApp support between sessions for real-time decisions, quick sanity checks, and my Friday check-in on the week's wins.
You keep the whole system
Your Personal Financial Dashboard and a written plan with your exact numbers: what you pay yourself each month, what goes where when a fee lands, what's set aside for tax, and rules around larger sums.
The investment
Three months is a complete piece of work. You finish with your dashboard, your accounts set up and running, and a written plan for your money.
including VAT, in full or £1,200 a month
If we both feel it makes sense to continue working together, you'll be invited to move into Momentum, an ongoing monthly partnership to keep your plan current as your practice and your life evolve. We'll talk about it in our final session, so there's nothing to decide now.
What clients say
"Working with Philly has completely shifted my relationship with money. I've moved from a scarcity mindset and spending I couldn't quite explain, to catching patterns before they happen and making conscious, considered decisions. She combines genuine financial expertise with a really thoughtful understanding of the mindset piece, I'd recommend her wholeheartedly."Barrister, London
Questions barristers ask
I don't have a predictable month. Does a structure even work for me?
Yes, and unpredictable income is exactly what this is built for. The structure doesn't assume a normal month, because at the Bar there isn't one. It's built on twelve months of your real numbers, so it holds in the good months and the quiet ones.
Chambers already tracks my fees and aged debt. What's different about this?
Chambers looks after what's been billed and what's owed to you. I start where that stops. Once the money reaches you, what do you pay yourself, what do you set aside, and what can the household spend? The two sit side by side.
Where does my tax fit in?
Tax planning sits with your accountant, and nothing we do replaces that. Where tax shows up in our work is practical: making sure the money for it is set aside as fees land, so January and July stop arriving as emergencies.
What if I'm already behind on tax, or there isn't enough set aside for the next bill?
Then this is a good time to start, and there's no judgement attached. A looming tax bill is one of the common reasons people come to me. The Financial MOT shows exactly where things stand, so we can work out calmly what needs to happen first. Your accountant stays in charge of the tax itself, and I help you plan the cash around it.
Will you tell me what to do about my pension or investments?
I won't tell you what to buy, sell or hold, and I don't sell products. What we do is get clear on what you have, what it's costing you and whether it's working for you. I teach you how investing works, so the decisions are yours to make with confidence.
I'm not sure I want anyone looking at my spending.
Almost everyone feels that, and many people turn out to be in better shape than they feared. Everything in the MOT is an observation, not a judgement, and it opens with what you're already doing well.
When would we meet? My diary is at the mercy of listings.
We agree a rhythm on the discovery call that fits around court and chambers commitments. It's two 60-minute calls a month, with WhatsApp in between for anything that can't wait.
Ready to know what you can spend?
You don't need another good year, you need to know what the good years are doing.
Book a Discovery Call →A confidential 30-minute call to talk through where you are, where you want to get to, and whether this is the right next step for you.
So you can stop moving money across and hoping, and walk away with a monthly income you can rely on, tax that's already taken care of, and the self-understanding to build wealth with complete confidence.
A note on how we work: this isn't regulated financial advice, and I don't sell investment products. Having managed multi-million-pound portfolios in wealth management since 2011, I now focus on helping people build the habits and systems needed to actually grow wealth. Everything here is educational and coaching-based. My goal is to give you the insight and tools to handle your money with complete independence, with me right in your corner as you build momentum.