Episode 051
Episode 051: Managing Your Finances as a Student with the Physician Philosopher
One of the most important things a young student can do to help their future is to pay attention to finances when he or she is young. This means to focus on minimizing debt, living lean after you get a paying job to pay down the debt, and investing a sizable amount of your take home pay to achieve financial independence. These principles are even more important for medical students and resident physicians who command an average debt of $200,000.
Dr. James Turner, aka the Physician Philosopher, is an anesthesiologist and hosts a very popular financial website to help those in medicine to navigate the treacherous waters of finance. Although much of his advice in his new book is targeted towards those in medicine, it is universal and can apply to just about anyone in medicine.
The principles are:
- Minimize debt while in school. Paying this off will be very painful once you start earning money so whatever you can do to reduce your expenses, i.e., increasing your debt will be thanked by your future self.
- Look at loan forgiveness programs either through the state or military if that option works for you.
- Pay off your debt right away using The Public Service Loan Forgiveness program if you qualify. Otherwise, look into consolidation and possibly the Revised Pay as You Earn Program (REPAYE)
- Get term life insurance if you have someone relying on your present or future earning.
- Get disability insurance as soon as possible and while you're a 4th year med student. There are plans that are not reliant on your health.
- After you complete your residency training, continue living lean and put 90% of your new pay towards debt and then have fun with the last 10%.
- Finally, continue living lean until you are out of debt and use the money you were using to service debt to now invest.
Direct Download Link
show notes
Physician Philosopher: This is the website for all of Dr. Turner's investing advice, writings, and media appearances.
Episode 38: Dr. Fawcett describes how controlling your personal finances can lead to burnout.
Episode 33: Dr. Leif Dahleen is the Physician on Fire and goes over how to achieve financial independence and retire early.
YouTube for Paradocs: Here you can watch the video of my late son singing his solo on the Paradocs YouTube page.
Patreon - Become a show supporter today and visit my Patreon page for extra bonus material. Every dollar raised goes towards the production and promotion of the show.
