Christine Lagarde left home at 17. She went from northern France to an all-girls school near Washington as an exchange student. Her father had just died. For months she missed home. Then she found a synchronized swimming team, a taste for American peanut butter and better English. That year in Bethesda, Md., opened a career of nearly five decades. Now she's 70, and she's starting over.
The Journal's Chelsey Dulaney, Jenny Strasburg and Noemie Bisserbe report that Lagarde decided this past week to step down early as head of the European Central Bank. She leaves in February. She told colleagues she could no longer stay neutral on what's happening in France, people familiar with the decision said. France is in a rough patch. Young people have rioted, and its bond market has swung hard. A presidential election comes next year. Marine Le Pen and Jean-Luc Mélenchon are the front-runners. Lagarde says she isn't a candidate for Macron's job. Leaders on both sides accused her of leaving early so the election's winner won't pick her successor. We report that, and take no side.
The likely next job
One option is chairing the World Economic Forum, the group behind the Davos meeting each January. BlackRock's Larry Fink and Swiss billionaire André Hoffmann have co-chaired it since founder Klaus Schwab resigned last year. Lagarde, a trustee, is the favorite. A vote is expected by the end of the year. Some trustees wanted someone younger with tech experience. Most backed her. Asked about running for office, she told a French paper in late September that it takes energy and sacrifice, and "I'm 70 years old." On speaking out, she said "whether people will listen or not is another story."
Her resume is long. Twenty years as a corporate lawyer, rising to Baker McKenzie's first female global chair. French finance minister under Nicolas Sarkozy. A 2016 conviction for negligence over a payout to a businessman, with no punishment. The IMF, then the ECB. Frederik Ducrozet of Pictet Wealth Management says she belongs to a former generation of leaders. Analysts say she isn't well known in France after 15 years mostly abroad. She wakes between 5:30 and 6 a.m. and wears an owl brooch, a symbol of rising above the hawk-or-dove label.
Our read
This is a Retirement · M10 story, with a Fixed Income · IN02 footnote. The footnote first. A central-bank chief leaving early, while France's bond market is already shaky, adds uncertainty to euro bonds. That's a reason to know what your international fund holds. Vanguard FTSE Europe (VGK) is held at weight in 11 books, and iShares MSCI Eurozone (EZU) in 3. Nothing added. Now the main point. Lagarde is 70, and she isn't stopping. She's picking a second act that uses what she knows. Most people retire with a number and no answer to the question of what they'll do all day. The money plan and the purpose plan are the same plan.
Here's the connection to your own plan. Your retirement plan has a stop date on it. Look at it this week and ask what the first Monday after that date looks like. Write one sentence. A role, a project, a volunteer post, a job on your own terms. If you can't fill the sentence, that's the gap, and it's as real as a shortfall in the account. We build it into reviews because people who know their next act spend less chasing it. You find the umbrella before the sky changes, and the next act before the last day.