The Top 5 Financial Challenges (And Opportunities) Doctors Will Face In Their Lifetime

With healthcare reimbursement shifts shaking up the career futures for doctors around the country, there’s never been a better time for even the newest physicians to sit down and take a look at their financial horizons.

This is a complex topic since doctors face not only unique challenges but specific opportunities to get their money to do the most work possible for them. We want to review a few of these to help you get the most out of every dollar you earn throughout your career.

Putting Out Those Student Loans

While other financial obligations might loom larger, medical school debt is still nothing to scoff at, especially since it hits at the beginning of your career, when physicians are most financially vulnerable. $164,800 (the average medical school debt amount in 2017) might not be a big deal to an established physician, but to a new graduate who’s navigating residencies, establishing a practice, and starting a life, it can be a dark cloud.

That’s why it’s so important for doctors to stay on top of tips like these…

• Don’t defer debt during your residency
• Consider refinancing your loans to get a better interest rate
• Investigate loan forgiveness programs specifically for doctors
• Toss in a couple of extra loan payments
• Maintain a leaner standard of living
• Put your physician signing bonus toward your debt

It can take up to 10 years before you start making the kind of money needed to whittle away at your loans, and even then, it can take 30 years to finally pay them off. That’s a serious investment and something you should address strategically up front.

Thankfully though, we’re seeing some positive changes around early career physician debt, like Sallie Mae offering competitive financing to help doctors get through their residencies.

Taming Your Practice’s Finances

Your personal financial health isn’t the only thing you’ll need to consider here.

An unhealthy practice can leave you stressed, frustrated, and facing even deeper challenges in addressing your personal debts and lifestyle. That’s why maintaining a financially healthy practice will be incredibly important. With the questions of MACRA, MIPS, and other value-based care initiatives layering themselves on top of other practice such as patient retention, marketing, and efficient staffing and technology decisions, it’s almost never too early to consider what health will look like for your practice and start investigating solid practice management resources and alternative funding sources.

Living Your Best Lifestyle

The lifestyle question really doesn’t get covered enough. Bad spending habits and living beyond your means can destroy even the most lucrative medical career.

At FundingDocs, we are always seeking solutions for our clients to better assist their businesses and life choices, and have been lucky to come across The Medicus Group, a solutions-focused personal advocate for medical professionals that helps physicians create “life maps” to help them assemble the building blocks of a lifestyle that fits their earning potential over time. Small adjustments and smart choices in leisure, home buying, and asset management can help make sure your lifestyle fits comfortably with the money you make.

Mastering Retirement

Retirement is a big question for any doctor, especially when it comes to figuring out where the money will come from. Most likely, that means a combination of Social Security, personal savings, investments, and retirement plans. There are a lot of options within those categories though, so understanding and getting the most out of a 401(k), annuities, and IRAs will take some time and likely, sitting down with a qualified professional.

Whatever route you take, know that committing to your retirement goals is a big decision and one that you should start at least considering pretty early in your career.........Click Here To Continue Reading