Thought I'd see if there's a discussion to be started here... I have no clue what to do with my money. Background, I'm a single resident, no student loans (thank god for scholarships), bought a place on the physician loan plan (monthly mortgage payment is much lower than monthly rent payment and no down payment required), and so I have extra money I can do something with. I'm not really the type of person who goes out and buys many things. I do love to travel, so any free time I get, my money can go towards that, but that still leaves me with enough that I should be doing something better with it in order to increase its value. I'm more of a sciencey/creative type, don't really know much (yet) about how to manage my money, but totally willing to learn. It seems like a lot of you are more knowledgeable in those aspects and successful in your own right. Any wisdom to share? I'd love specific suggestions as well as general strategy. I really do want to learn and while it's not of the greatest interest to me, I know it's so important to at least be competent. So fire away. I'll start. Is a 403b worth it? From my understanding, you put it away to avoid taxes so that you can take it out and pay on a lower tax bracket later on. But I don't make an exorbitant amount as a resident. Is there a better place for it to go?
Congrats on finishing med school and especially graduating without any student debt. Read "I will teach you to be rich" by Ramit Sethi. He makes a lot of great points about personal finance. Out of curiosity what is your residency in?
Thanks! Just downloaded a copy, will take a stab at it the next few nights. I'm a radiology resident. Maybe my side monitor could be used for day trading... haha.
I was in med school. Finished my Step 1 and started clinicals and didn't like it. I switched careers and now work on Wall Street. I sometimes have the urge to finish med school if they will take me back. I only needed about 30 weeks or so left to graduate. That being said trading is a difficult business. You will be competing against people who have been trading for over 20 years and longer. But it's a good practice to understand how financial markets work, because most doctors I've encountered have very little financial knowledge. They are medically smart but not when it comes to running a business or even personal finance. You will soon be earning major coin so it is imperative for you to understand how to manage your wealth. There are a lot of charlatans who try to manipulate doctors and people who don't know much about finance or the markets. Case in point is that Stanford Financial used to heavily advertise to medical doctors.
Brightside, is there any way you can message me through the boards? I have some questions if you have some time.
Suggestions Live comfortably within your means Keep a 9 month emergency fund in a liquid account Save at least 10% of what you earn WRT investing do not putt all of your eggs in one basket. See Lazy Portfolios. Get disability insurance (if you are self employed)
