Advising on dreams instead of anguish Ex-psychologist helping families grow financially
Each month ''Transitions" profiles an individual who has significantly changed his or her work life and highlights the techniques used to make the changes.
Paul Bruchez, 54
Career transition: From clinical psychologist to financial consultant
What he used to do: Team leader, pediatric mental health, Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
What he does now: Founder and financial consultant, Bruchez & Associates
Making the switch: Paul Bruchez is a man others turn to for advice. Once sought out for his clinical therapy skills, working primarily with children and families facing mental health issues, clients now turn to Bruchez for aid on their financial portfolios.
''I'm still listening to people's lives," said Bruchez. ''But instead of dealing with their emotional issues, I'm dealing with their financial ones."
Sitting in his office, two walls of which display the diplomas and credentials of his two professional selves, Bruchez traced his interest in both investments and psychology to his school days. He cited a junior high teacher who held an investment portfolio competition and a science teacher who taught a senior year psychology elective.
After graduating from high school in Winter Park, Fla., Bruchez went to Emory University in Atlanta. After several summer jobs in hospitals, ''I knew I wanted to do something in the medical field."
He gravitated toward psychology, but by the time he graduated in 1972, Bruchez had also managed to squeeze in a course on investments. He was always investing on his own on the side. Moving north for a graduate fellowship at Rutgers University, Bruchez came to Boston for a summer ''externship" at Children's Hospital. He was granted his doctor of psychology in 1978.
After a five-year stint at the South Shore Mental Health Center in Quincy, where he had risen to be director of the child and family practice, Bruchez moved to Harvard Vanguard in Wellesley, becoming team leader for pediatric mental health. During his 16 years there, Bruchez was also appointed supervising psychologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center as well as clinical instructor in psychology at Harvard Medical School.
Meantime, he nurtured his interest in investments by working part time for a friend in the field and taking several continuing education courses on the subject in the mid-'90s.
Then, in 1999, Bruchez's life abruptly changed. Harvard Vanguard downsized and Bruchez was among its victims.
''There was a lot going on in my life at that time," including a divorce, Bruchez said. ''I took advantage of everything the outplacement firm had to offer," he said, referring to the employer-funded transition services that were part of his severance.
''The field of psychology was under siege," recalled Bruchez, who said he and fellow mental health counselors were not as valued as they previously had been. Moreover, he knew a psychologist's heavy afternoon and evening hours would not fit well with his new role as a joint-custodial parent.
''I knew there had been a reason to keep the financial interest going," he said, and then decided to interview for positions. An article he penned for a local paper on procrastination and taxes ''was critical" in garnering interest from several large firms. Then near the end of 2000, he received ''an attractive offer" from PaineWebber, part of the UBS group. He grabbed it.
His transition, though, was tough. ''There was a process of grief I went through in the early period," he said, recalling that he asked himself, ''What am I doing?"
He characterized his move to this new world as ''like joining the French Foreign Legion." But instead of wizened war veterans, he was surrounded by much younger colleagues -- mostly recent college graduates. Another reminder of his changed circumstance: ''I also traded a corner office with 'Dr. Bruchez' on the door for a desk in a hallway," he said.
But Bruchez made the most of it. In 2001, he started a night program at Boston University and earned a certificate in financial planning in four years. PaineWebber also sent him to an intensive training program at the Wharton business school at the University of Pennsylvania.
But after three years and several different managers, it became clear to Bruchez that PaineWebber was not the right environment for him. ''They were interested in selling more, and I was interested in developing relationships with clients," he said. ''That's who I am. That's what I love. So we had a parting of the ways."
It was another tough move for Bruchez. One confidant felt strongly that he needed another year or two with a large firm before going out on his own. But another trusted adviser urged him to proceed.
So he set up his own shop two years ago, becoming part of the LPL Financial Services network of independent financial consultants. Friends advised him to prepare to face tough times.
But now, his client base is strong and growing and Bruchez said the new counseling is more energizing than his previous work. ''Instead of being involved with people's agony and depression, I'm involved with their excitement and dreams."
Seeing others who are going through a career transition, divorce, or other major life change, Bruchez can say: ''Been there, done that. I just don't recommend doing it all at once, like I did."
If you have a career transition story you would be willing to share, please write to transitions@bostonworks.com. Include your name, phone number, e-mail address, and a brief description of your career change. 