The Physician's Guide To Financial Wellness

When it comes to investing, one of the principles for success is to avoid letting your emotions creep into your decision-making or behavior. Apart from maintaining a proper perspective about how the stock market has historically behaved, one of the best ways to do this is by proactively engaging in "lifeboat drills." These involve imagining the next stock market pullback, or bear market, and think...

One of the common questions we hear is how (or if) you should change your investments over time, especially as you get closer to retirement. Most people know the way they invest in their 50's and 60's should probably be different than the way they invested in their 30's, but aren't sure what this looks like in practice. In this episode, we tackle this question and share our thoughts. We cover the...

It's common to accumulate one or more old retirement accounts throughout your career. Perhaps you have a 403b from residency, another 403b from fellowship, and now a 401k with your current employer where you plan to stay. Regardless of how it happens, having old retirement accounts "floating" out there can be frustrating, not only from a logistical standpoint but also from the perspective of tryin...

For anyone with a pension benefit through their employer, you know how confusing it can be trying to understand the value of your benefit and comparing the different options for how to collect it when you retire. In this episode, we share some background on pensions, talk about how the pension system has changed over time, and break down the various pension options and how to think about each. Spe...

While unfortunately there's no silver bullet to avoid paying taxes entirely, there are a number of things you can do to reduce the amount of taxes you do have to pay. In this episode, we share our year-end tax planning checklist and walk through some of the different areas to consider and specific strategies you can implement. We cover employer retirement plan contributions, Health Savings Account...

Social Security can be a confusing topic with a lot of moving parts and options, scary headlines about its future, and generally speaking a great deal of misinformation and misconceptions. In this episode, we provide a comprehensive overview of Social Security. We explain what the system is and how it works, talk about the different claiming options and how to think about which strategy is right f...

Managing your cash can be a tricky balancing act. On one hand, you want to make sure you have enough for any potential near-term needs and to help you sleep well at night, while on the other hand, you don't want to keep too much when you know you could be doing other, more productive, things with it. In this episode, we share our approach for managing cash. We cover the entire process, from figuri...

When it comes to mortgages and refinancing, there's no shortage of details and questions that come up. How much should I put down for a down payment? What length of mortgage should I choose? Should I do a variable rate or fixed rate? Is it better to escrow property taxes and insurance or not? How do I know whether or not it makes sense financially to refinance my mortgage? In this episode, we dive...

For most employer retirement plans, such as a 401k or 403b, you have the option of making either Roth or pre-tax (also known as traditional) contributions. However, not everyone understands the difference between the two types of contributions, let alone the significant implications for their lifetime tax bill (or that of their heirs). In this episode, we dive into a discussion of Roth versus pre-...

Open enrollment can be a confusing process. While employers often provide a lot of information regarding your employee benefits, they don't always provide as much in the way of guidance or interpretation of that information. In this episode, we share an open enrollment "checklist." We start by providing some high-level background on open enrollment, then walk through the most important employee be...

Investing can be an emotional process and successfully managing your emotions is one of the keys to realizing a positive long-term investment experience. In this episode, we dive into the emotional side of investing and share some thoughts and tips for how to win the emotional element of it. From understanding the purpose of investing and knowing what you're investing for, to having the right pers...

In this mailbag episode, we answer three different questions:  #1) I don't feel comfortable with investing and don't check my investment accounts, but I'm worried I might be missing something or not taking advantage of everything.  #2) I like to spend a little more money and my spouse is a saver and thinks we aren't saving enough, and we're trying to find a good compromise. Any tips?  #3) I'm wond...

This is our first-ever mailbag episode. In it, we answer three different questions we've received:  #1) I'm not sure if I'm doing everything I can to minimize taxes – is there a way I can check this or what should I be considering?  #2) I've built up quite a bit of cash in my savings account that I don't know what to do with and I'm nervous about investing now after the market has gone up.  #3) I...

The world of financial advice and financial advisors can be confusing. Given the industry jargon and huge variability in types of advisors, the way they work with clients, the quality of the advice they give, their experience and credentials, and what they charge for their services, it can be hard to tell one from the next. In this episode, we share the five most important questions to ask when in...

When it comes to personal finance, there's no shortage of advice and opinions out there. Along with that, there also are a lot of myths and misinformation about managing your finances. In this episode, we tackle five of the most common myths we come across, including: 1) I need to change my investments based on XYZ headline, 2) Once I have $XYZ portfolio value, I'll be content, 3) A tax refund = g...

Healthcare is a key financial planning item in retirement and one of the many areas that changes dramatically compared to your working years. Specifically, there are two key healthcare planning windows to consider in retirement: 1) prior to Medicare eligibility at age 65 (assuming you retire before then), and 2) from 65-onward once you become eligible for Medicare. In this episode, we discuss thes...

Financial planning is an always-evolving process as life changes and you receive new information. In this episode, we walk through a blueprint for what to cover in the annual "review" of your financial plan. From revisiting the big picture and your goals to checking in on cash flow and your investments, to keep up with changes to legislation and tax laws, by consistently following this process yea...

While we never recommend donating to charity solely for tax purposes, if you're giving to charity anyway, why not maximize the tax benefit of your donations? In this episode, we share five different strategies for donating to charity in a tax-efficient manner. These include donating appreciated investments rather than cash, "bunching" your gifts, using a donor-advised fund, making qualified charit...

For anyone who dislikes budgeting (ourselves included), this episode provides a great alternative – the reverse budget. By switching your focus from tracking monthly expenses to hitting specific savings targets, it makes it easier to stay on track with your financial goals while at the same time reducing the legwork involved along the way. In this episode, we explain how to implement the reverse b...

In this episode, we talk about pursuing early financial independence and what all goes into it. We explain what it means to be financially independent, how to calculate how much you need in savings/investments to become financially independent, and how to figure out how much to save and invest each year to reach that number within your desired time frame. We also talk about some of the potential t...

In this episode, we talk about retirement accounts and how to prioritize which ones to save to and in what order. Each physician has certain retirement accounts they're eligible to contribute to. However, since different accounts have different features and tax treatment, it can be hard to determine how to order them when allocating your retirement savings. In this episode, we provide a blueprint...

This episode is a follow-on to a previous episode we did on the basics of investing (episode #5). In that episode, we explained the foundational principles to focus on first when it comes to investing, using the 80:20 rule (or Pareto principle) as a guide. In this episode, we take it a step further and share some of the additional things you can do to further improve your investment experience. We...

This is a follow-on episode and the second installment of a two-part series on how we manage our own finances. In episode one, we covered organization and tracking, managing debt, and prioritizing/allocating cash flow. In this second episode, we discuss investing, risk management (estate planning & insurance), and the big picture and putting it all together. Hopefully, our discussion provides some...

When it comes to managing your finances, there isn't always a "right" or a "wrong" way, and the exact approach tends to differ depending on the person and their unique circumstances. In this episode, we demonstrate this by walking through how each of us manages our own finances. You'll see similarities and differences in the way we handle things and understand why the best course of action doesn't...

The concept of vital signs is second nature for physicians. When it comes to personal finance, the idea is that these indicators not only provide a snapshot of your current financial life and help identify potential areas of concern, but they also give you a baseline from which you can then assess progress and improvement over time. In this episode, we discuss three financial vital signs, explaini...