Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

R E A D : Put First Things First. With your new income, there are many things you need to add to your financial life. Many of these things are to finance your future, and their importance may not be immediately visible. Things you can see now, like a new car, are likely to take over your life if you don’t become intentional about how you spend your income. What are those important things? Earlier you made a list of priorities. Go back and read it. These are the areas you feel are important. It’s the things you can’t see that you will need to take special care to incorporate into your financial plan. If you don’t, you will be like many physicians I speak with who are 50 years old and realize they have never started saving for retirement. Now they are behind the eight ball. This was something they should have prioritized early in their career. What should you do first? Start maxing out your retirement plan, set in motion a plan for paying off all your student loans within five years, establish the right amount of term life insurance to protect your family from financial ruin if you die, purchase own occupation disability insurance to protect your income, and establish a reasonable housing plan. Be sure to revisit our chapter on Financial Life Planning for more detailed information and guidance on these challenges. These important things must be addressed before you begin to spend your money and your time on extravagances like a Tesla. If you tell me, “but I really love cars and I want it,” I would ask to review your budget. If your budget includes all of the items in the paragraph above, and all your financial priorities are met, and your family priorities have already been accomplished, and you have the cash to pay for the car, then maybe you can get the Tesla. But I bet a Tesla is not even on your priority list. R E A D : Setting Goals Now that you have your priorities straight, you can set some goals that will fit within those priorities. Have you ever set goals and not achieved them? I have. The key to successful goal achievement is to set SMARTER goals. If you follow this acronym, you will find your goals begin to come to fruition. Life, Money and Career Priorities 145 WWW.PHYSICIANCAREERPLANNING.COM