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Achieving millionaire status by our early 30s wasn't just a product of hard work, but the result of being fully aligned in our financial goals and strategies. My husband and I discovered early on that harmonizing our financial actions as a couple was crucial not just for marital harmony but also for effective wealth building. Here, I share the key strategies that helped us navigate our finances together and build our wealth rapidly.

Creating a Shared Financial Vision

The foundation of our journey was a shared financial vision, crafted through in-depth conversations about what we truly wanted from life. We asked ourselves: "What does financial independence mean for us?" and "How do we want our retirement to look?" These questions helped clarify our aspirations, like extensive travel or working part-time by choice, guiding our overall financial strategy.

Choosing Our 'Investing Rate'

Once our vision was clear, we focused on how to achieve it through strategic financial planning. ...

Part of being a savvy investor means not losing all of your potential returns to fees. Investing fees come in various forms, and today we're going to cover the top two fees that medical professionals often face and the implications for long-term portfolio growth if you incur these fees.

Expense Ratio: The Hidden Cost in Your Funds

The first fee to watch out for is the expense ratio. Every single fund you invest in has an associated expense ratio. It's basically the cost of owning the fund, expressed as a percentage of your returns. For example, if a fund has an expense ratio of 0.3%, you'll pay $30 for every $10,000 you have invested in that fund each year. This might not seem like a lot of money, but these fees can make a huge difference in your portfolio over time.

Imagine you have a $10,000 initial investment, add $10,000 each year, and get an 8% return compounded annually. With a high expense ratio, your after-fee returns will be significantly reduced over the years. My pe...

As a medical professional, you work tirelessly to care for your patients. Your income is hard-earned, and the last thing you want is to see it vanish into thin air due to stock market ups and downs. It's completely understandable to feel hesitant about investing, but let's break down the fear and explore how you can build wealth while navigating market volatility.

I've been in your shoes. As the founder of Strive Coaching, I've helped countless medical professionals turn their six-figure incomes into seven-figure net worths. I’ve also personally experienced the gut-wrenching feeling of losing over $25,000 in a single day in the stock market. Trust me, I understand the fear.
  

Zooming Out for the Big Picture

Right now, the market might be feeling a bit rocky. You might be wondering if it's even worth starting to invest or if you should pull out your money altogether. Let's take a step back.

While short-term market fluctuations can be scary, history tells a different story. Over...

If you're a healthcare professional, especially one who worked through the pandemic, the traditional idea of working until you're in your late 60s  might not be appealing. Constantly seeing patients can take a toll, and the thought of being work-optional—where you don’t have to work for a paycheck unless you want to—can be very enticing.

But achieving this freedom isn’t about age; it's about reaching a specific financial milestone known as your financial independence number or financial freedom number. If you aren't sure what your financial freedom number is, click here to get it in <60 seconds. This means having enough assets to live comfortably without needing to earn another paycheck- something to look forward to, right?

I’m a critical care PA who worked through every wave of the pandemic in an ICU. Even before the pandemic, but especially by the end of it, I knew I didn't want to work until I was 65. So, I dove into figuring out how to become work-optional much sooner. My init...

When you're planning for your financial future, one big decision is choosing between a Roth and a Traditional 401(k). It's a common question - don’t worry - especially for medical professionals who are looking to maximize their retirement savings.

Let's break it down in a way that’s easy to understand and apply to your own situation.

The Basics

1. Traditional 401(k): Contributions are made with pre-tax dollars, which means you get a tax deduction now. However, you will pay taxes on the withdrawals during retirement at your ordinary income tax rate.
2. Roth 401(k): Contributions are made with after-tax dollars, so there is no immediate tax benefit. But, the withdrawals during retirement are tax-free.

It's All About Taxes

Remember, choosing between Roth and Traditional doesn’t change the actual investments you make. It only affects how your contributions and withdrawals are taxed.

A Simple Guideline

Here's a quick rule of thumb:

• Choose Roth if your current tax rate is ...

I'm a firm believer of automating most aspects of personal finance, but I also believe that what gets measured gets improved and managed. Over the years, I've developed end-of-month and end-of-financial-quarter routines that have guided me from paying off $161,000 in student loan debt to reaching millionaire status through investing. Today, I'll break down my monthly routine that ensures long-term financial success.

If you have any debt with an interest rate above 10%, you need to snag this free checklist before you implement the CLAP system
 

CLAP: A Simple, Effective System

To remember this routine, I use the acronym CLAP. It's catchy and easy to remember. Here’s what each letter stands for:

C - Categorize

Start by categorizing every single financial transaction into appropriate buckets. Whether it's on your credit card or debit card, each transaction needs a specific category. This helps you track where your money is going and prevents any single category, like "miscella...

If you're a medical professional aiming to build long-term wealth, a simple monthly cash flow tracking system might not be enough. To truly secure your financial future, you need a comprehensive approach. I've used a system called BANG to go from $161,000 in student loan debt to becoming a millionaire as a PA. This routine, done at the end of each fiscal quarter, ensures that the big, impactful financial moves are made. Let me walk you through it.

(Before I do, you may notice that this routine is heavily focused on ensuring you manage your debt AND build assets. If you're not sure how the two fit together, watch this free video training.)

B - Bring Your Financial Partner

First, Bring your financial partner into a scheduled, genuine sit-down conversation. If you handle your finances solo, consider an accountability partner, like a trusted long-term friend, to discuss your goals without sharing specific account details. If you have a long-term partner or spouse, this should be a...

Unless you plan on seeing patients until the day you drop dead, you need to read this.

Having an understanding of how much money you need invested in order to retire is a basic requirement of success.

What’s the Right Amount to Retire from Medicine?

If you don't know where you're going, you will definitely not get there.

Let me break down but it looks like to figure out your "financial independence number". First things first, retirement is not an age. It is actually a mathematical destination where you can live off of your investments. We all need to hit this mark (hopefully at least by 65), but some folks (like myself) set themselves up to hit it far sooner. 

So what's your number? 

1) Calculate how much money you spend in one month. Unless you have a budget, you likely do not know the answer to this question. In my experience with working with thousands of medical professionals, when people attempt to guesstimate this number they typically guess a number about 20 to 30% less tha...

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For many medical professionals, the roadblock to successful investing is just knowing HOW. Understanding what accounts to use, how to select funds, and what fees you are paying are the foundation to becoming a saavy investor - and future Millionaire in Medicine.  

Broad Categories of Funds

When you go to select your investments within your 401(k), other retirement account, or miscellaneous investments, how do you know what investments you're choosing? Remember, a 401(k) or Roth IRA is simply a tax designation for an investment. The tax treatment matters greatly, but so does what you choose to invest in within it. 

HAVING A BASIC UNDERSTANDING OF YOUR INVESTMENT SELECTIONS WILL EMPOWER YOU TO MAKE BETTER CHOICES.

Let's review a few basic investments types:

1. ACTIVELY MANAGED MUTUAL FUNDS
- When you select a mutual fund to put your mo...

If your plan is to retire early, you need to make sure you don't have your numbers all wrong.

Is Your Investment Portfolio Ready for Early Retirement?

Retirement has nothing to do with age. I actually prefer the term work optional, as I think it more adequately describes the financial circumstances that create your ability to retire. When you are able to live off investments indefinitely, you are "work optional". At that time, you have the option to retire.

When you decide to quit earning an income and live off your investment portfolio, you're deciding to use a portion of it each year. So how much can you use without running out of money?

For those retiring at 65, the classic answer is 4% of your portfolio per year.

This means that having $1,000,000 invested will provide you only $40,000 per year to live off of. My suspicion is that this may be a lot less than you thought.

Most of the data behind this is relatively old, and there are plenty of critiques on the methodologies used. ...