One of the Most Powerful Wealth-Building Moves a Woman Can Make: A Midcareer Pivot

Do you feel like you won't be able to sustain what you're doing for the next 20 years? Maybe it's time to take an honest look at what's draining you, what energizes you and what kind of life you want 20 years from now.

By Tracy Byrnes, CDFA®

published 18 February 2026

in Features

A mature woman lifting weights at the gym

Most financial advice is aimed at people just starting out or those already planning their exits into retirement. But for millions of women, the real pressure point sits squarely in the middle.

Your 40s and 50s are what I call the messy middle. You're often at your peak earning power just as your financial responsibilities — college tuition for your kids, mortgages, aging parents, rising health costs and the emotional toll of being everyone else's safety net — explode.

(I'm exhausted just typing all that.)

From just $107.88 $24.99 for Kiplinger Personal Finance

Become a smarter, better informed investor. Subscribe from just ~~$107.88~~ $24.99, plus get up to 4 Special Issues

CLICK FOR FREE ISSUE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/y99mlvgqmn1763972420.png

Sign up for Kiplinger’s Free Newsletters

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice on investing, taxes, retirement, personal finance and more - straight to your e-mail.

Profit and prosper with the best of expert advice - straight to your e-mail.

It's no wonder so many successful women feel financially stretched, even when their incomes look impressive on paper.

This is also the decade when a quiet realization tends to creep in: "I can't do this for another 20 years."

That's when many women have the idea of a midcareer pivot — launching a business, changing industries, scaling back or finally building a life that feels aligned instead of exhausting.

About Adviser Intel

The author of this article is a participant in Kiplinger's Adviser Intel program, a curated network of trusted financial professionals who share expert insights on wealth building and preservation. Contributors, including fiduciary financial planners, wealth managers, CEOs and attorneys, provide actionable advice about retirement planning, estate planning, tax strategies and more. Experts are invited to contribute and do not pay to be included, so you can trust their advice is honest and valuable.

This is my story. In my 50s, one more kid in college, parents getting up there, etc., and I decide to take (another!) leap and join an independent financial advisory firm that aligned with my values.

Scary? Heck yeah. But am I happier? Oh, heck yeah.

Here's the thing most people miss: A midlife pivot doesn't have to be a financial setback. When done correctly, it's one of the most powerful wealth-building moves you can make.

These years are your hinge years. What you decide now doesn't just shape your next job; it can reshape the next 30 or 40 years of your financial life.

The traps that derail career pivots

Most pivots don't fail because the idea was bad. They fail because there wasn't enough financial planning.

A pivot isn't just a job change — it's a cash-flow disruption. The biggest mistake pivoters often make is not building a true bridge fund.

You need a financial runway that allows you to make smart decisions instead of desperate ones. For professionals, that usually means six to nine months of expenses. For new entrepreneurs, it can easily be 12 to 18 months.

Then there's the hidden cost of losing corporate benefits. When your employer disappears, so do subsidized health insurance, disability coverage, health savings account (HSA) contributions and, sometimes, life insurance.

Replacing those benefits can quietly add thousands of dollars a year — money many people don't account for when they plan their leap. (Not speaking from experience or anything.)

The most dangerous trap, though, is hitting pause on retirement savings. Missing even a couple of years of contributions during your highest-earning decade can permanently reduce your future nest egg by hundreds of thousands of dollars.

If contributions must slow down, they should be offset later with aggressive catch-up strategies and smart portfolio design.

Why your pivot is really a tax strategy

A midcareer shift isn't just about income — it's also about tax control.

When earnings become unpredictable, taxes become one of the biggest risks. Self-employment tax, quarterly estimated payments and the timing of the Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction, which lets many small-business owners deduct up to 20% of their business profits before calculating their tax liability, all start to matter in ways they never did before.

But pivot years can also create rare opportunities. A temporary dip in income might allow for Roth IRA conversions at lower tax rates, locking in tax-free growth for decades. In other words, the same income disruption that feels scary can become one of the smartest tax moves of your lifetime — if you plan for it.

Be sure to talk to your accountant or tax preparer.

Your five-year money map

A pivot is not a one-year event. It's a five-year financial arc.

It starts with a life audit, an honest look at what's draining you, what energizes you and what kind of life you want 20 years from now.

From there, you build your capital stack, not just cash, but skills, relationships and emotional resilience. These are assets, too, and they often matter more than money during a transition.

Year one is about stabilizing your finances and sharpening your skill set.

Years two and three are when income starts rebuilding, and benefits get replaced.

By year four, you should ramp investments back up.

Year five is when you start shifting from survival to legacy — thinking about wealth, family and long-term impact.

A midcareer pivot isn't a crisis; it's a power move

Women today are reinventing themselves more than any generation before them. Time after time, the women I advise say the same thing: I only wish I'd done it sooner.

Your future isn't locked in. Your next chapter is yours to design.

Get out there, change it, and reap the benefits.

Disclaimer

This article was written by and presents the views of our contributing adviser, not the Kiplinger editorial staff. You can check adviser records with the SEC or with FINRA.

TOPICS

Tracy Byrnes is Vice President, Women and Investing, at Lebenthal Global Advisors, where she leads the firm's efforts to support and advise women investors and high-net-worth families. A former financial advisor at UBS, Ms. Byrnes previously spent nearly a decade as an anchor and reporter at FOX Business Network. She began her career as a senior accountant at Ernst & Young and holds an economics degree from Lehigh University and an MBA in accounting from Rutgers University.