Information You Should Know About Physician Financial Planning

By Paulette Mason


Every boston ma doctor should take careful steps to ensure they have enough money saved for the future. This involves forming a savings and investment plan from the time you start working until you retire. Learning about physician financial planning can prevent you from running into problems later on.

Financial planning is a means to achieving financial independence. Financial independence means having the freedom to practice whenever and wherever you want. The secret to achieving this is to live below your means. This is sometimes difficult for new doctors you have studied hard and accumulated a lot of student debt. In addition, because doctors are presumed to earn a lot, people expect them to spend a lot. So there may be a lot of pressure to buy a big house, fancy car and take luxury vacations as soon they are qualified doctors.

The first thing you need to be aware of when planning your finances is to diversify your investments. Most financial advisors recommend that you not keep all your investments in one class, for instance, all bonds or all equities. Having a good balance across all classes can protect your portfolio if the market experiences a bear session.

If retirement is several decades away, then most advisors generally recommend you to invest more aggressively. If you are retiring shortly, then then will probably advise you to keep your investments on the more conservative side. This is so that if the market goes down and you need the money soon you will not suffer as great a loss with less time to recover.

Remember that when you are planning how to invest your money, you need to think in the long term and not just for the next couple of years. You need to find the right mix of investments to keep your money growing throughout your working life and into retirement. To do this, you need to monitor your investments very carefully.

Aside from having savings and investments, you should also purchase life insurance. It is important to have life insurance if you are supporting a spouse and children, so that if anything happens to you, they will not be left penniless without your income. Most advisors recommend purchasing a policy that is ten times your annual income. You can normally buy a twenty year term insurance policy for this coverage.

When you are ready to invest, make sure that you understand the various levels of risk tolerance and where you feel comfortable. Generally, the younger you are, the more risk you can assume. As you get older, you may become more conservative with your money and choose safer investments, such as treasury bills and bonds.

You should also consider setting up an automatic investment plan so that you do not have to think about it every month. Many people choose tax-efficient investment vehicles such as the 401(k) or Roth IRA. Remember to pay attention to the fees on your investments, as some fund managers charge high maintenance fees that eat into your investment returns.




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