18 March 2023 |

The Resident’s Guide to Personal Finance

By workweek

I’ve heard countless horror stories about physicians mismanaging their money right from the moment they receive their first residency paycheck. I don’t want this to happen to me or my peers.

To address this issue, I’ve spent the past several months studying personal finance and creating a personal finance guide specifically designed for incoming and current residents.

In this article, I’ll discuss how personal finance is taught in medical school (spoiler alert: it isn’t) and share some insights about the guide.

The Deets

A financial advisor from the West Coast once gave my medical school class a 50-minute lecture on personal finance. Unfortunately, it turned out to be a sales pitch aimed at encouraging us to use their services. The presentation had strong “car salesperson” vibes. I doubt other institutions fare much better when it comes to teaching personal finance to medical students, many of whom will soon receive their first paycheck.

The absence of robust financial literacy education in medical school is likely why physicians have a reputation for being “bad with money.” However, physicians are known for their intelligence, so why not teach them?

In my opinion, there’s a lack of comprehensive, succinct, and practical personal finance resources tailored to the physician community. That’s why I created The Resident’s Guide to Personal Finance.

The Guide

The Resident’s Guide to Personal Finance distills lessons from top personal finance resources into a concise guide that covers everything from the basics of personal finance to practical applications. I wrote it specifically for graduating medical students and current residents, and as a graduating medical student myself, I understand the challenges we face.

The guide is divided into three parts:

  • The Basics: net worth, interest, debt, taxes, and net income.
  • Spending, Saving, and Investing: spending allocations, budgeting, debt repayment, insurance, spending tips, savings vehicles, HSAs and FSAs, the importance of investing, retirement funds, and investment strategies.
  • Getting Started: Tips and tools to help you apply the lessons learned in the previous sections.

Each section includes a Google Sheet with pre-made formulas for calculating your net worth, compound interest, and automated savings plan. You can download and customize it to better visualize your financial situation.

This affordable 20-page guide, written in plain language, equips you with the knowledge and practical skills needed to embark on your personal finance journey. Start learning now before life gets even busier.


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