Money Meets Medicine with Ryan Inman and Dr. Jimmy Turner

Even though we’re self-proclaimed money nerds, it doesn't mean we don't make mistakes. 

Physician finance isn’t your run-of-the-mill financial strategy. We have certain exceptions and special circumstances to watch out for. And sometimes even the most seasoned pro can make money mistakes. We’re still human, after all.

So let’s normalize the idea that we’ll run into snags and learn new lessons as we work to figure out our personal finance goals.

Tune in as Alicia and I share all the gory details of the financial mistakes we made in 2022.

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Make sure you check out Medical Degree Financial University: MDFU.CO

Disability Insurance for Docs: physicianfinancialservices.com 

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → MDFU.Co

A lot of us have an idea of what we should do with money that we earn on a regular basis from our physician jobs. Oftentimes it goes towards our typical cost of living expenses: bills, debts, savings, investments. But what about money you get that you weren't expecting?

Because yes, most of us will, at some point, get at least a little money that we didn't expect. Regardless of the source – whether it’s an inheritance, a tax refund, or a bonus at work – we end up with one question.

To get the disability insurance you need as a physician or to have an independent review of your current policy visit physicianfinancialservices.com

When it comes to doctors retiring early because of F.I.R.E. (financial independence retire early), there’s an inevitable argument made against it and why it’s ethically wrong for physicians to do.

That argument says unless you practice medicine until the day you die, it's unacceptable.

Whether it’s citing a physician shortage that doesn’t really exist or feeling as though doctors shouldn’t retire early because we’re doing something good for society, some feel like we should give of our time, skills, and talents as long as possible, discounting the sacrifices that doctors have already made up until this point. 

They don’t realize that a 30 year career is actually 40 based on the amount of hours most physicians work in a week.

But… Why even have this conversation? Are doctors actually retiring early? 

Doximity’s 2021 study found that 21.8% of physicians considered early retirement due to overwork. Around 25% of women physicians considered early retirement, and 40% of medical groups saw doctors retire early from their medical group.

These numbers are not small.

So let’s explore some of the possibilities around F.I.R.E. for physicians that can make life feel more liveable and enjoyable again. 

Disability Insurance for Docs: physicianfinancialservices.com 

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → MDFU.Co

2021 Doximity Early Compensation Report

Physician disability insurance is something you have to get right.

If you were to learn only one thing from me, this might be the one thing that I would want you to know. It’s the reason that Money Meets Medicine exists, and why I started The Physician Philosopher. 

Your most important financial asset is your ability to earn an income. You work hard to get your training protecting this asset, and your ability to accumulate an income and everything else we teach you doesn't matter if you don't make money first. This is why physician disability insurance is so important. 

But there are a lot of misconceptions about disability insurance, and our goal here is to clear some of that up.

Disability Insurance for Docs: physicianfinancialservices.com 

Nine things to know about disability insurance on KevinMD.com (Lisha’s post)

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → MDFU.Co

What if I told you that maybe you shouldn't save for your kid's college education? 

There are tons of questions we have to ask ourselves (not just as parents, but as investors) about the concept of covering our kid’s entire college education. Are we really getting the value from this investment? Maybe tuition is worth $100,000 dollars, but is it worth a quarter of a million dollars? And how much am I willing to contribute? 

To me, it’s an obvious choice if it comes down to saving for your kid’s college education versus your own retirement (retirement all day), but it’s a choice that gives a lot of physician parents heartburn. 

Good news, though: there are more than just these two options.

Set for Life Insurance → www.setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → MDFU.Co

We’re pleased to be discussing the book Die With Zero by Bill Perkins. Bill isn’t a financial advisor (a plus if you ask us), but he offers a lot of insight and perspective on personal finance and financial independence that got us thinking about our approaches to money in a new way. 

It’s especially applicable to us as doctors. On one end of the spectrum, we have the doctors who are in a race to reach financial independence and rarely take time to stop and smell the roses. On the other end of the spectrum, we have those who spent years delaying gratification to get through medical training who are living in full YOLO mode without enough planning for the future.

Die With Zero is an interesting book because it bridges these two ends of the spectrum.

Set for Life Insurance → www.setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → MDFU.Co 

The personal finance industry is meant to help you manage your assets, but particularly for doctors, many questions remain around what that kind of support actually means. 

Does your financial advisor have your best interest at heart? Do you know how they get paid? Are they transparent in their disclosures about how their company actually works? Where are the conflicts of interest?

Because you can rest assured there are conflicts of interest. It’s just a matter of how they show up. And once you can say “Show me the money” and find them, that’s when you can make intentional, informed decisions regarding your personal finance. 

Set for Life Insurance → www.setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → MDFU.Co

Does tithing or charitable giving play a part in your personal finances? Should it? As usual, we’re not shying away from taking a deep dive into a very personal topic. Personal finance is personal, maybe never more so than when it comes to deciding how you want to give back.

In tackling this topic, we wanted to acknowledge the two main reasons you may be considering your options for charitable giving, especially as a high-earning physician. 

One is that you may have religious convictions that make you feel more inclined to give. Even if you don’t hold to the same belief system that we do – specifically around tithing and the historical background of that concept – giving to your community is very valuable. Not just for the recipient, but for you, the giver. 

This leads us into reason two, which is that giving money (or other valuable resources) and helping others has been shown to increase long-term satisfaction and fulfillment in your life.

There’s also a practical side of financial charitable giving to consider, which are the tax advantages you can use to create the most bang for your buck - literally. 

Looking for physician specific disability insurance → Check out www.setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → thephysicianphilosopher.com/MDFU

You’ve done it - your training is complete and now you’re finally getting a paycheck fit for an attending physician. You think, “I’ve arrived! I’m going to start making so much more money.”

Famous last words. If you’re not prepared, that is. 

Seemingly unassuming, everyday expenses still have the potential to wreck your new paycheck and your budget. I’ve seen it many times over the years: you try to be careful, but you (understandably) want to enjoy your hard-earned money. Costs creep up on you, things snowball. Suddenly, your post-tax paycheck is no different than it was in residency.

You thought you knew how to spend money wisely, but now you wonder, “What was the point of all my hard work to get here?”

Don’t worry. You can still enjoy the money you make while being aware of five main money traps that a high-income earner like you could be susceptible to if you’re not paying attention. 

Looking for physician specific disability insurance → Check out www.setforlifeinsurance.com 

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → www.MDFU.co 

Advocates of FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) often talk about the end result of using their model: freedom with your time, money, and resources. And far be it from me to argue with those concepts. I am not anti-FIRE – after all, I want you to find financial freedom so you can practice medicine because you want to and not because you have to.

However, what we’ve found is that FIRE proponents don’t often talk about the actual path to financial freedom – the how of it all, and what it actually looks like once you reach your early retirement goal. 

Specifically, how do you even access your retirement funds ahead of time? Because there’s a 10% tax penalty for early retirement withdrawal before you reach age 59 and a half. And that’s on top of the amount you’re already set to be taxed for using pre-tax funds. 

So… what gives?

If you want to retire by age 45 or 50, you have to know how to bridge that 10% gap. So we’ve compiled several different options you can research (because personal finance is personal) and make educated choices towards your own early retirement goals.

Looking for physician specific disability insurance → Check out www.setforlifeinsurance.com 

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → www.MDFU.co 

If you’ve thought about getting financial advice from a professional but weren’t sure who to trust or how to start, you’re not alone – and your concerns are not unfounded.

Our aim isn’t to make every doctor in our listenership into a financial guru, but to avoid being so reliant on a financial advisor that you don’t know what’s going on with your money.

When it comes to finding a truly helpful financial advisor for doctors, certain criteria need to be met that might not need to be taken into consideration in other professions. To that end, I have a list of traits to share called The Four Fs, and it’s been really impactful in helping physicians find a financial advisor that makes sense for them.

Looking for physician specific disability insurance → Check out www.setforlifeinsurance.com 

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → www.MDFU.co 

Looking for physician specific disability insurance → Check out www.setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → www.MDFU.com

Because of Lisha and my personal journey with personal finance, I know that there are medical professionals out there who want to provide personal finance lectures to others around them or maybe even create a personal finance curriculum if they are in academics. So if you are that resident or doctor interested in creating a personal finance curriculum for doctors or maybe just teaching friends and family about money, today’s episode is for you. Today we are going to be talking about how you can start teaching other doctors and medical professionals about money. 

Looking for own-occcupation disability insurance check out → setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → thephysicianphilosopher.com/MDFU

Everyone has heard of a backdoor Roth IRA, but what’s the big deal with Roth IRA’s anyway? Today, Dr. Lisha Taylor and I are going to be talking about Roth IRA money for physicians. This is an important topic because doctors often need to use any tax-advantaged space they can get their hands on since we normally have a high savings rate. So join us today to learn what a Roth IRA is and why you should seriously consider one as a physician. 

Looking for own-occcupation disability insurance check out → setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → https://MDFU.co 

You might be looking for tax loopholes for doctors as we enter everyone’s favorite time of year. The truth is there are tips and tricks that you likely are not taking advantage of as a doctor that will help you reduce your taxes. In this episode, we will give you the top things you can do now (and for the future) to save money on your taxes as a doctor. 

Looking for own-occcupation disability insurance check out → setforlifeinsurance.com

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → thephysicianphilosopher.com/MDFU

One thing we can agree on about today’s topic is this: doctors historically are under-savers. 

But when it comes to physician money management, exactly how much doctors should be saving is hotly contested. How much and how you save is going to depend on your own financial goals and your current situation - the status of your student loans, whether you’re married or have kids or plan to start a family when you want to retire, etc.

In this episode, we’ll give you two different options for figuring out how much money you should save - regardless of your situation.

Looking for own-occcupation disability insurance check out → setforlifeinsurance.com

Doc, are you thinking about making some New Year’s resolutions that involve your personal finances? Hopefully that is a loud YES. Well, today on the podcast we are talking all about financial goals for the New Year that you likely have as a physician. Goals like how to create an emergency fund, save more money, increase your financial literacy, income, pay off student loans, and more. We are diving all in, so join us so you can make 2023 your best financial year yet.

Looking to increase your financial literacy this year even more?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → thephysicianphilosopher.com/MDFU

Let’s be honest… we all love learning from other people’s financial mistakes. It is like a slow-motion car accident. You just can’t take your eyes away. Money mistakes are going to happen, and we are going to discuss a few common financial mistakes that doctors make. 

Come join Lisha and I as we discuss our share of financial mistakes, and some of them are very common and might resonate with you on episode 98 of Money Meets Medicine.

PS -Get 10% off your contract review by going to thephysicianphilosopher.com/resolve and using code 10OFF

Chris Voss Book - Never Split The Difference (affiliate link)

With all the recent changes surrounding student loans, it’s easy to fall out of the loop. If you’re not up-to-date on public service loan forgiveness (PSLF) and other rule changes related to repayment of your medical school loans, you’ll want to tune into our conversation.

We’re answering this question from a Money Meets Medicine listener:

“Once I refinance my student loans, how can I get student loan forgiveness if I change my mind?”

You’ll hear what we have to say about that.

Other questions answered:

• What are the new PSLF requirements and when do they take effect? 
• I missed the waiver that expired in October 2022. Am I really out of luck?
• I submitted my PSLF form, but still haven’t heard back yet. When will my payments be updated? 
• Can I get the $10,000 forgiveness and get PSLF? 
• Did the Biden administration make a change to the student loan forgiveness plan that excludes some borrowers from relief? 
• When should I consider refinancing my student loans?

Looking to increase your financial literacy?  Check out Medical Degree Financial University → www.thephysicianphilosopher.com/MDFU