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True StoriesFredrick Finn: Life After Law
Graduating in the top 20% of his class from Fordham University Law School in 1973 (his studies interrupted by three years in the U.S. Army), Finn first became involved in the telecommunications industry as counsel to the National Cable Television Association, followed by a stint as VP corporate development for Microband Corporation of America. He went on to become a partner in Brown, Finn and Neitert Chartered in Washington, D.C., and also served as president of the Home Satellite Television Association. "Around my 40th birthday I realized that although I had no clue what I would be doing in five years, I knew for certain it wouldn't be what I was now doing. Fortunately my wife, who worked as a nurse in a Washington DC hospital, felt the same way. I knew I wanted to be more involved with a local community and feel that in some small measure I was working to make things better. It took us five years and some understanding law partners to find the right opportunity. As a result we changed careers and moved our family some 3000 miles to the state of Washington where I helped start an FM radio station. I later sold our interest in the radio station, then bought, expanded and sold several retail businesses. "Most skills and values are portable. Whether one is practicing law or nursing or mixing paint, personal service and the ability to communicate positively with people is important. One thing I am still learning is that just because I am not punching a clock does not mean that time is standing still. It isn't, and there are 'miles to go before I sleep.' "Now I have the resources to be engaged in the community. I no longer say, 'Oh, I can't do this or that because I do not have the time or the money.' Fred Finn is a recent past president of Big Brothers Big Sisters, currently vice chairman of the school board, and serves on the board of the Community College Foundation and various other community groups. He is also a real estate entrepreneur, and took and passed the Washington Bar in 1996 "as a challenge and in case 'the wolf comes to the door.'" "I guess I do not consider myself retired in a traditional sense. I am freed from the necessity of punching a clock everyday, of having to be at work at, and until, a certain time. I get up everyday between 6 am and 7:30 am because I choose to. In a way I am still looking for what I want to do when I grow up, only now I have the time to really explore. "Everyone's path is different. It is important, however, to find the thing or things that excite you or that challenges you to get out of bed in the morning; and then don't be discouraged if sometimes it doesn't work. The business opportunity which led me 3000 miles away was not the one that enabled me to 'retire' early. Wherever I am I hope that I am still challenging myself, enjoying new discoveries and the love of learning, a love that was first kindled by my sixth grade teacher Arthur Mark." (see True Stories for more about Mark) Getting Started Big Brothers-Big Sisters of America Home | True
Stories Copyright 2000 2Young2Retire.com, All Rights Reserved
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To attorney, businessman and community activist Fred Finn,
54, retirement used to mean "sitting by a pool with a cool drink waiting for a tee
time." Instead, Finn, who left a lucrative partnership in a telecommunications law in
Washington D.C. to go West in 1989, found a life with "more freedom to explore new
paths and spend more time with my family and community."