Leslie Christian -- Money Whiz Traded Piece Of The Action For Peace Of Mind

-- Name: Leslie Christian

-- Age: 43

-- Position: Starting up financial-planning business

-- Focus: Give something back after successful Wall Street career

-- Quote: ``At 40, your priorities shift. What is life all about? Making money doesn't have the same appeal.''

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Everything's relative. If, as Leslie Christian did, you make $8.50 an hour after not earning money for a year or two, that might not seem so bad.

If, again as Leslie Christian did, you made in your former position more than $250 an hour - something like a half-million dollars a year - well, $8.50 an hour might not be so hot.

But if you are finding peace within yourself and a new, exciting direction in your life, maybe the sacrifice of so much money is a reasonable price to pay.

Beginning Feb. 1, after three years of re-evaluation, rest, recuperation and a few trial-and-error tests, Christian, 43, will open her own financial-planning operation in Seattle.

That's a long way from Wall Street, where for five straight years in the mid-1980s Christian racked up earnings on the order of $500,000 a year, give or take a few dollars.

``At 40, your priorities shift,'' Christian said. ``What is life all about? Making money doesn't have the same appeal. I have no objection to making money. I just want to help others, too. It was important for me to do something socially different.''

Christian returned to Seattle because she is a native of this area. After her return, she spent time studying art history. An accomplished pianist, a former English major, a holder of a master's degree in business administration and a Wall Street pro, her interests are eclectic.

``She's the Renaissance woman,'' said Fred Steck, a sales manager in San Francisco for the Goldman, Sachs brokerage, one of her former bosses and one of a legion of admirers.

But to achieve a full-fledged career in art history required a commitment in years Christian was not prepared to pledge. What she really wanted was to help someone else.

So she volunteered to work at an agency assisting battered women.

``It was almost like a religious conversion,'' Christian said. After several months of straight volunteer time, ``I took the job as administrative assistant, and took a fund-raising course at the University of Washington. The job paid $8.50 an hour - I took a small pay cut.''

Years of training, of scaling the ladder, prepared her for Wall Street. Emerging from that with confidence and cash may have given Christian a false sense that paying dues is the only criterion for instant acceptance.

``I realized at the shelter that just because I know how things can be, everyone will embrace me,'' Christian said. ``I can't go in and be named head of the shelter. I didn't feel I was really happy. I began to question if that's where I really wanted to be.''

All along, Christian only suspended her previous career. She wanted to use her financial knowledge to help others. She began consulting work on fund-raising for a Seattle organization, People of Color Against AIDS Network. P. Catlin Fullwood, director of that group, said the ``very small stipend'' made it clear the work was principally volunteer.

``She's been such a help,'' Fullwood said. ``She's been everything you could hope for in a fund-raiser.''

At the same time, Christian continued to nurture the seeds of a financial-planning career.

A person who began her professional life as a school teacher, Christian's interest in education persists. Despite her already extensive financial background, she has been taking courses to make her an accredited financial planner.

Next month, allying with the Financial Network Investment Corp., Christian will focus her financial-planning career on women. She will charge hourly fees and collect commissions. She said she would like to have a varied clientele across the financial spectrum, but she hopes to specialize in women making $30,000 to $50,000 a year.

``I've always felt really strongly about women's rights,'' Christian said. It was common for her to be the first woman in some of her working groups. Institutional and overt sexism were also common.

That's why she wanted to work for battered women. She was not a victim herself, having come from a loving home. But the knowledge that other women couldn't get a start because of home trouble compelled her to volunteer assistance to battered women and made her eager to target women of moderate circumstances for financial-planning aid.

``She had a very large social conscience,'' said Dick Leahy, a managing director at Salomon Brothers in New York who hired her for Salomon in 1978.

Leslie was the oldest of five children of Phyllis and Dean Christian. Her father, who died in 1986, was an accountant, teacher and musician, among other things. That makes an interesting parallel to his eldest daughter.

Being the first-born, she said, meant she carried some baggage.

``I was always an overachiever, always striving to be the best,'' Christian said.

Christian moved through Tacoma's public schools, including Wilson High, and spent two years at Pacific Lutheran University before graduating from the University of Washington with a degree in English. She then spent two years as a junior-high English teacher in Federal Way.

The overachiever factor crept in. By 1971, she was involved in teller instruction at Washington Mutual Savings Bank. She wanted more. She enrolled in Washington Mutual's management-training program.

J.D. Field spotted her.

``Leslie came in because we needed someone to manage our Treasury-bill account for us,'' said Field, then at Washington Mutual and now a vice president at Frank Russell Co. in Tacoma. ``She was a very bright lady who figured she had more to offer than training tellers.''

At a time when it seemed regulations prevented banks from offering money-market accounts, Field started Flexifund, using Treasury bills. The fund proved a huge hit.

Christian's next stop was Crocker National Bank in San Francisco, where she spent 1974-77 learning more about Treasuries and a new product, Treasury futures. She didn't let her education fall behind. As she worked, she attended the MBA program at the University of California at Berkeley.

``Given the tremendous demands of business, that is dedication,'' said Steck of Goldman, Sachs. ``Her work habits were extraordinary.''

Christian's next boss was Steck. She switched from Crocker to Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette, a brokerage with San Francisco operations. She sold Treasuries and developed her own active account. She became so good at it, she quit to trade for herself.

``I lost all my savings,'' Christian said. Later employers saw that as a plus mark.

``The fact that I did that, had the courage to strike out on my own, made me multiples of what I lost,'' Christian said.

She rejoined Donaldson, this time in New York. She wasn't there long when Leahy summoned her to Salomon. The go-go '80s were under way.

Leahy became a leader in developing new options and futures products that became giant hits. His division made a lot of money, and with bonuses thrown in, big six- and even seven-figure individual payouts became common annual events. (Leahy and Christian, incidentally, are two of the very few Salomon employees who received favorable mentions in one of Wall Street's big book sensations in 1989 and 1990, Michael Lewis's ``Liar's Poker.'' See p. 157 of the paperback.)

``I joined in 1972 and had modest expectations,'' Leahy said of the huge salaries. ``I had always tried to counsel Leslie to save her money. When she decided to leave, she thanked me for giving her that advice.''

So in late 1987, Christian decided to come home, with seed money to sort out her thoughts and make a final decision on what to do.

``I had a fortune - not just money, but living conditions, everything,'' Christian said. Without family or other more or less permanent bonds, it made sense to depart.

So young, so wealthy, so mobile, Christian had made her share of relatively good decisions.

Profile appears weekly in the Business Monday section of The Seattle Times.