General Principles

When we started medical school, we knew we were taking on debt. What we did not fully appreciate was just how much, or what that number actually means for your life once you graduate. Most people have a vague sense that medical school is expensive. But the specific numbers are worth looking at directly, because […]

We have talked a lot on this blog about why budgeting matters during medical school. But knowing you should budget and actually doing it are two different things, and a big part of what makes the difference is having a tool that is easy enough to use that you will actually stick with it. We

One thing that surprised us when we started learning about personal finance in medicine is how different the financial journey of a doctor looks compared to almost every other profession. Most people graduate, get a job, and start earning a real income in their early twenties. Doctors do not. We spend years accumulating debt before

Financial planning is one of those things that sounds like it is meant for people who already have money. When we first started hearing about it, our instinct was that it did not really apply to us yet. We were students living on loans, not people with salaries and investment portfolios. What was there to

This is one of those concepts that sounds simple when you first hear it but takes a while to actually sink in. We learned about compound interest early on when we started reading about personal finance, and honestly our first reaction was something like — okay, so your money grows over time, got it. But

When we started medical school, investing was the last thing on our minds. We were too busy trying to survive anatomy and figure out how our student loans actually worked. Nobody around us was talking about it, and nothing in our curriculum came close to covering it. But the more we started learning about personal

When most people think about the cost of medical school, they focus on tuition. And while tuition is certainly expensive, it represents only part of the total financial investment required to become a practicing physician. The true cost of becoming a doctor extends far beyond what appears on your financial aid statement. It includes hidden

The short answer is yes. Medical students can start investing. But whether you should start investing while in medical school is a more nuanced question that depends on your individual financial situation. When most people think about medical school and money, the focus is typically on student debt—how much you’ll owe and how long it

Budgeting sounds boring. We get it. When you’re trying to survive anatomy lab and memorize the Krebs cycle, the last thing you want to do is sit down and track every dollar you spend. But here’s the thing—not having a budget is way more stressful than having one. Without a budget, you’re constantly wondering if

Medical school is hard enough without adding money stress to the mix. But the truth is, a lot of us make the same financial mistakes during our training—mistakes that cost us thousands of dollars and years of unnecessary stress. We’re not talking about small things like buying coffee or ordering takeout once in a while.