When it comes to finances, physicians are unique. Despite earning high salaries many graduate medical schools with significant debt. Then must navigate pivotal career choices such as whether to specialize, enter private practice and more. Unfortunately, these decisions significantly impact their financial future. However, many doctors, while focused on patient care, lack the formal business skills needed for successful financial management. This underscores the need for professional financial expertise. In fact, a recent Doximity poll of 2,087 doctors revealed that 53% already work with ..read more

First Quarter 2024 in Review The U.S. economy has decelerated from the 4.9% rate of growth in the third quarter of 2023 and is on track to expand at a rate of about 2.8% in the first quarter of 2024, according to the GDP Now forecast from the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta. Inflation is running a bit higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% target, or roughly 3.2% year-over-year in February. In addition, the economy added approximately 250,000 jobs per month in 2023 and looks to continue this pace of job creation so far in 2024. As a result, investors have begun to anticipate a relatively good ec ..read more

When it comes to finding a financial advisor staying local can make all the difference. Unlike a large national chain or the impersonal nature of online platforms, a local financial advisor provides a level of personalization and service that’s hard to match. In fact, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), demand for personal financial advisors is expected to grow at a faster than average rate of 7% through 2028. By hiring a local financial advisor, you can benefit from individualized, insightful and community-oriented financial planning services that many national firms may not pr ..read more

For some people, retirement cannot come soon enough. They long for an end to the daily grind of working. Others can’t imagine not working — they may dread the idea of not being active and engaged in their profession. Still others don’t see a definitive end to their work or business and may wonder, “what is retirement anyway?”  If you are in any of these camps, read on. We will address how the answer can be different for each. What will my income sources be in retirement? The first step to answering the question of how many years until you can retire is to know what your income sources wil ..read more

As if there wasn’t enough to worry about online, another scam has become increasingly common and a growing concern for financial institutions. SEO scams hijack your search results and take you to websites that look like familiar (especially financial institutions) sites but are not. A New Type of Fraud Scheme Charles Schwab & Company recently notified advisors who work with them that they have seen an increase in Google search results pointing to fraudulent websites that mimicked Schwab’s website. The problem is that these are often the top search results, so people using search websites t ..read more

Doctors are often considered high earners in society due to their specialized skills and knowledge. However, for some physicians having a high income does not necessarily guarantee financial security or success. In this article, we’ll explore the paradox of why some doctors go broke, despite their seemingly lucrative careers, including factors such as student loan debt, lifestyle inflation, and inadequate financial planning or investment strategies. Diagnosing common problems While becoming a doctor is rewarding, it comes at a high cost — nearly a decade of schooling and training, and hundreds ..read more

Quarterly Investment Review At the beginning of the year, there was something of a consensus that a recession was possible sometime during 2023. As it turns out, that was not the case. The economy grew 4.9% in the third quarter alone and is on track for roughly 2.4% growth for the full year, though slowing in 2024 to around 1.5% or so. At the same time, inflation has cooled from 6.4% at the end of 2022 to just 3.3% by the end of 2023. Solid growth with slowing inflation is what the Federal Reserve has been hoping to achieve since they began raising interest rates in early 2022, though the impa ..read more

Retirement planning is an important step in your financial journey. A physician with family responsibilities may have many retirement savings options, and finding what best suits your unique goals may seem daunting. The key is to save aggressively, and to diversify your retirement income sources. Imagine your financial stability as a sturdy stool. Each leg represents a particular source of income. Diversifying income sources is akin to adding more legs to the stool, which makes it more stable. Similarly, your financial situation will be more secure with many streams of income in retirement. Ph ..read more

While America is often dubbed the land of opportunity, a surprising number of people are under the impression that a high income or inheritance is a prerequisite for making it to millionaire status. However, the perception that you need to be born into wealth or earn a high salary to accumulate substantial assets is often contradicted by empirical data. A recent study of millionaires debunks some of these pervasive myths. For example, 80% of millionaires in the study made at least a portion of their wealth by investing in their 401K. How else did these millionaires achieve their financial goal ..read more

With three major pieces of tax legislation passed in the last four years, we enter 2024 with more nuances, more inflation adjustments, more expiring tax breaks, and more rules to follow. Here are the highlights. To see all the details, please see our Key Financial Data summary.  Tax brackets, deductions increased In 2024 the tax rates will be the same as in 2023. However, the tax brackets that determine how much income is taxed at each rate are indexed to inflation. This means more income will be taxed in lower tax brackets than last year. The tax rates on capital gains and dividends are ..read more