Episode 20 - Money, Mindset, and the Hidden Mental Load Lawyers Carry

David Shepherd helps high-earning professionals make sense of financial planning when their work, family life, and lack of time make long-term decisions easy to defer. His perspective comes from both sides of the financial world: the technical, markets-driven environment of investment banking, and the more personal, long-range work of financial advice.

David began his career in investment banking, working with organisations including Santander, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, and Barclays. He was drawn to the numbers, but over time realised that the work he valued most was not just analysing markets or managing financial detail. It was helping people make clearer decisions about their future. After a serious back injury forced him to step back and reassess what he wanted from his career, he retrained through the Chartered Insurance Institute exams and moved into financial advice.

Today, David works with professionals who are intelligent, ambitious, and often time-poor. He has a particular focus on lawyers and city professionals, along with successful business owners and people who have exited multi-million-pound businesses. A recurring theme in his work is that capable people can still neglect their own planning because they are busy solving complex problems for everyone else.