I thought I would keep this short and sweet, for the busy med school grad.
Don’t buy a house. I did, and wrote about why it wasn’t a great idea. Many other doctors can say the same.
Figure out your student loans. This isn’t easy. I pulled several links together a few weeks ago. The Physician Philosopher wrote a recent article as well. If you can get this done before July 1, you are ahead of the game.
Make a budget (ahead of time). I’m partial to my suggestions using the 50/20/30 budget, but really, any reasonable plan will do. Reasonable means you live on less than you earn. I’m sure someone will remind you that you already make more than 50% of people working in the USA.
Save a little for retirement. If you get a match through your residency program, that is awesome. Otherwise, you might want to think about a Roth IRA. It may not be able to support all your needs in retirement in 30-40 years, but it should help provide a few luxuries. My Roth account will fund my coffee shop bills.
Automate everything. Bill Pay is your friend when you have been up all night, and you can’t find a clean coffee cup, let alone your electricity bill and a check book. If you trust a company to pull the correct amount from your checking account, great; if, like me, you aren’t sure about that, set up an automatic payment each month, and change it (if necessary) when you get your bill. Paying $25 to $35 as a late fee is no fun.
What do you think about this list? Do you have other suggestions for incoming interns?