Money Talk For ER Docs™

Bitcoin. It's popping up in headlines more and more often. Many of the ER Docs we work with have come to us wanting to know more. Questions we hear include: Am I missing out? Is this a fad or the future? Why is Elon Musk, Warren Buffett, and even the US Treasury Secretary talking about it?

We break it down so you know enough to be dangerous when the topic comes up with colleagues or family, and provide the answer to: Should this be a part of my retirement portfolio?

Emergency Physicians change jobs more frequently than other medical professions. EPs also hold an average of 2.5 different jobs, at the same time. COVID seems to have only propelled changes within emergency medicine.

There are 5 financial areas that you will NEED to juggle, in addition to all the personal stress that comes from change. What's more: neglecting or maneuvering the wrong way can have tremendous consequences.

Everyone has wondered if they can save money by going the variable route, whether it's with student loans, mortgages, or insurance. And variable can be sweet... If you can get it right. But there is POWER in predictability, as was showcased in Texas this past week with variable electricity rates that shot up 9,000X the alternative fixed rates.

So, where and when can variable rates rule? We explore the decision tree that exists in a slew of other financial areas.

Taxes are a pain. Ripe for procrastination. Rightfully so; there are so many areas to trip up on when there are over 70,000 pages of tax code!

New legislation this year—more to come next year: we go over the most relevant areas of consideration for ER Docs. We'd hate for you to miss a deduction or a deadline, so tune in! And like everything that you don't specialize in, it's usually in your best interest to get help.

Are you abiding by the 20/20 rule? On average most ER Docs surprisingly are. If you aren't, START SOMEWHERE. The easiest way to figure out your starting point is to dissect your cash flow. Really do a deep dive into where your income is going each month and assess if your outflows align with your values and goals. Then, prioritize saving money before secondary expenditures.

But even if you are saving enough, and saving it early enough, you will still fall short if you aren't putting your money to work. Wrong accounts, wrong investments, and bad behavior are the typical culprits. Make sure you are maximizing the efficiency of your savings. It is too costly not to.

Thinking you may be missing out on life-changing wealth from GameStop stock? Unsure what exactly is transpiring and how you can benefit from it? We'll give you the rundown of what is going on, how you should approach it, and how to draw the line between speculating and investing.

Distractions in everyday life can deter or even prevent us from reaching our goals. Investing is no different. Building true wealth is typically slow, boring, but highly effective when done right. Knowing that, don't get caught up in a moment that could take years to recover from.

Kids are expensive. We hear that all the time. What comes to mind are things like food, clothing, maybe even a first car at 16. The reality is: all of that pales in comparison to the cost of education. It's sticker shock every time we go over the numbers with clients.

If there is anybody that understands the cost and value of education, it's you. So in this episode, we discuss saving for college. When to start, to what accounts, how much you will reasonably need to save per month, and everything in between. We also focus on finding the balance between saving for college and your retirement.

Our goal for this episode is to lay out all of the retirement accounts that you might be eligible for, including some lesser known options that can be extremely advantageous for an ER doc. If you want to be financially sound, you need to not only know what might be available to you, but likely contribute to a combination of these accounts.

It can be complex and overwhelming understanding the retirement landscape. EPs tend to experience frequent change in their employment status for instance, but knowing how to take advantage of all that is available to you has a life-changing compounding impact.

Would you rather have $1M invested, growing at 7% per year or a $1M home, mortgage-free? If this question causes pause, that's understandable. On this episode, we discuss how there is a purely numerical answer to this question, but even so, that may not be the conclusion you arrive at. Like everything in finance, the psychological impact cannot be ignored.

In any event, with all-time low interest rates, perhaps a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity is sitting in front of you. We discuss physician loans, the counter-intuitive notion of paying down debt quickly, and provide numerical examples to help illustrate the difference.

On today's episode, we speak with our first guest – Dr. Julia Huber. Julia is a wellness advocate and coach for EP's utilizing her unique vantage point as an EP herself to define burnout and moral injury, and to address some of the current thinking on both individual and systemic issues.

EM is already a high-stress career. COVID has only amplified that. It is so easy to ignore problems and unhealthy stress as it is happening. This procrastination or ignorance can have a profound impact on your career longevity and overall life purpose and happiness. That goes for both financial wellness and general well-being… and as Julia showcases, both are intertwined.

We hope this episode can serve as a reminder to take a second to really evaluate how you are feeling right now and take steps to ensure you aren't proceeding down a path of hazard, both financially and in all other facets of well-being.