Finance – Page 3 – Physician In Numbers

4 Pieces Of Advice For Those Starting Internship

Another school year has come to an end.

Graduations are pretty much done.

That means the first days of internship are approaching fast.

I thought a few pieces of advice, and encouragement, might be appropriate at this time. As I prepare to meet my new interns on my next rotation through the hospital.

Why I Like 529 Plans For College

Going through old mail on my first day of vacation, I realized that I had not deposited any money into my niece and nephews’ 529 plans this year.

I dug out the quarterly account updates, with attached contribution forms. The plan helpfully shows the current totals in each account, and, on another page, the contributions to date.

Reviewing these numbers, I thought it might be worthwhile going over why I think putting money in a 529 plan is worthwhile, even if my strategy isn’t perfect. As a side note, they also show why investing over time is a great idea.

Six Lessons From My Mother, A Mother’s Day Reflection

Readers of my blog might think that my father was the only parent who taught me anything about finances.

It’s true that he and I spoke often about money and investing.

However, it would be absolutely incorrect to think that I learned nothing about personal finance from my mother. It’s just that many of her lessons were not so explicitly about money.

In honor of my mother’s contribution to my financial knowledge, here are six lessons I have learned from her that are (or can) be related to financial health.

The Best Financial Advice I’ve Gotten From A Book

It’s that time of year, when people seem to be asking more questions about how to manage their money.

I suppose it has to do with the turning of the (academic) year, as medical students graduate, and start earning an income; as residents and fellows graduate and look forward to earning a much larger income; and as new attendings finish their first 1-2 years, and wonder where all their money went.

I thought I would share the best financial advice I’ve ever read, and talk about why I think it makes the biggest impact on someone’s financial health.

Why I Update My Net Worth Every Year

Every year, at the end of the year, I calculate my (liquid) net worth, and review my spending for the year that is finishing up.

I have done this for over two decades, and have come to realize that I don’t do this (only) for the pleasure of seeing an ever-increasing number. Especially for 2022.

There are a few other valuable aspects of this exercise, which have benefited my finances greatly over the years.

I will review my annual spending in another post, but in this one, I will go over my net worth update, and offer some thoughts about why you too might benefit from such a practice.

Chasing The First Social Security Bendpoint

A few weeks ago, Mr. PiN surprised me. He announced that he wanted to earn some more money, in order to boost his Social Security paycheck.

I had brought this up a few years ago, when I first read this post from Physician on Fire about the Social Security bend points.

My takeaway at the time was that, for people with a lower earnings history, Social Security is set up to replace more of the income. Because the benefit is calculated on lifetime earnings, if you were in the workforce long enough to qualify for benefits, but didn’t earn tons, you can get a pretty good return on your efforts if you work and earn a bit more.

Future Me, March 2023

Not long after the start of this blog, I cut my hours very slightly, and wanted to make sure I didn’t waste the extra time I was paying dearly for.

I had started reading about preparing for retirement in non-financial ways, and I realized that it was time to start (re-) building a life that didn’t revolve solely around medicine.

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018 with lots of big goals, but even at the beginning, knew that I couldn’t follow all those dreams all at once. Every few months, I try to look at what I have accomplished, and see if I can adjust course to focus my free time in the directions I wish I would go: increasing fitness, building (or maintaining) connections with friends, family and community, engaging with the arts, and, lately, keeping up with financial tasks.

My last update was in early October 2022, and I had planned to update more frequently, hopefully a quarterly basis. However, everything was upended with my father’s illness, and eventual passing. Catching COVID in the fall wasn’t so great either.

I suppose now is as good a time as any to look back on the past 3, 4, 5 months, and think about what would be reasonable goals between now and my Summer post.

To make future posts on Future Me easier–and to keep me a little more focused on my goals, and to celebrate my wins–I may start writing about them monthly on my Friday posts (stay tuned).

Lessons Learned From My Spending As A New Attending

Match Day has come and gone. It’s time to think about next steps as everyone still in training moves on to the next level.

Fourth year medical students know where they will be going in June.

Residents who are going on to fellowship have known about their next destination for a few months.

Those finishing training in 3 months will (hopefully) be moving on to a practice that excites them. And pays a lot more than a resident salary.

The move from resident to attending salary holds plenty of opportunity: to spend more, to save more, to make plans that can affect your financial life for years to come.

When I graduated residency, I did not have a very clear plan for my finances. There really wasn’t much out there to guide people who were going to see a large increase in income.

I muddled along, making some good moves, and some not-so-good moves. I periodically look back at the choices I made, and I thought I might share some lessons I take away from my spending at that time, in the hopes it helps you make your own plans (or maybe let you know you are not alone if you have made similar choices yourself).

Random Money Thoughts From January

The blog was quiet in February, but that doesn’t mean I had stopped writing altogether. Below is a post that was mostly finished in January, but had to wait for its final edit.

When you think and write about personal finance, every day life provides plenty of grist for the mill. Here are a few examples I noted from the end of the month.

Money Lessons From My Dad, Redux

In memory of my Dad, I am republishing this post from 2021. I expect the blog will be quiet for a few weeks.