I earned my accounting degree from North Central College in Naperville and jumped into financial services in 1996. I spent 15 years building my own advisory practice, learning the hard way what actually helps clients and what just sounds good in theory. Then our family grew, and something had to shift.
Eric Degnan, my husband and teammate, and I merged our practices in 2010 after our third child arrived. I stepped away from the advisor role, but still remained involved in the practice. It turned out to be the right move and lets me focus on what my degree was actually in - accounting. I help clients think through distribution strategies and the accounting foundation I built decades ago still drives everything I do.
Working with your spouse is strange, I won't lie. We talk through client situations constantly. Strategy discussions happen over dinner. Our kids grew up hearing more about Roth conversions than most. But now that they're adults finding their own way, I have bandwidth I haven't had in years. I'm putting more energy back into supporting the practice, and it feels good to be fully engaged again.
The team calls me when tax questions come up. I work with a network of CPAs when things get complex. It's collaborative, which suits me. Outside of work, I'm plotting my return to something I loved before parenthood consumed everything: scuba diving. I used to dive regularly, earned certifications in night diving and nitrox, and now I want to become a dive master. After spending years managing everyone else's lives, having a goal that's purely mine feels overdue.