In most careers, carving out time away from work is possible, even if it’s an annoyance. For doctors, missing work could, quite literally, cost lives. But in between juggling patient care, administrative tasks, and other physician essentials, you have a personal life, too. If you overlook things like your financial health, it could run away without your direction.
So, how do you add one more thing on top of an already overflowing plate? Our first suggestion is to let an expert do the work for you. Although you’re highly educated and intelligent, you understand the demands of your job and the importance of outsourcing where necessary. In this case, call it an RX emergency and schedule 30 minutes to learn about and start an investment plan with a financial advisor today.
Once you understand the hows and whys, investing your money doesn’t require much of your time. In fact, it’s easy to automate the work and review the results in your, albeit limited, free time occasionally. We’ll show you how to get started here.
1. First, Decide Your Goals
With the massive variety of investment vehicles open to physicians, dipping your toes in the portfolio-building water can seem challenging. Yet, like choosing a specialist for your healthcare needs, recognizing your financial health goals can point you in the right direction for your ideal investment ventures.
While your goals are unique to you, we find that physicians often share many of the same targets and investing obstacles. This list may help you pinpoint your focus areas to hone in the best starting investments:
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- Limited time: You want to fill your portfolio with the easiest startup investments that require minimal effort on your part.
- Tax advantages: Your wealth puts you in a higher tax bracket, and you want to invest money in tax-deferred or non-taxable investments to reduce your taxable income.
- Personal preferences: Your risk tolerance level matters. Do you prefer lower risk and are willing to take a smaller reward with your investments? Are you in a hurry to reap your profits? Knowing whether you’re conservative or aggressive can help your financial advisor know which options are best for you.
- Risk management: How much risk are you willing to take with your investments? Are there assets you want to protect or debt you want covered in the event of your death? These topics are crucial to discuss with a financial advisor skilled in asset protection and trusts.
Your time is valuable. Before you meet with a potential investment expert, know your goals, and you’ll have a strong jumping-off point to begin the conversation.
2. Then, Get Familiar With the Top Investment Strategies
The financial planner will listen to your goals, evaluate your wealth situation, and make suggestions. If you know what they’re talking about, it will save time and let you make faster-informed decisions.
Some of the most common investment strategies include:
- Passive index fund investing: This is the typical stock market investing that most people envision. Passive index fund investing utilizes index funds to streamline your funds by following benchmarks and long-term market trends.
- Real estate investments: Real estate is the quintessential investment opportunity. It has always existed, and will always be around. This type of asset can be as hands-on or hands-off as you prefer, letting you invest in rental property, “flipping” homes, buying land, and even joining real estate investment trusts.
- Insurance and retirement contributions: Depending on your needs and goals, you may not have enough coverage in your insurance policy. Your financial advisor can help you decide if your life insurance death payout will cover your goals, if you’re contributing enough to your 401(k), IRA, and HSA fund, and other important insurance topics. This type of investment might seem like it isn’t as valuable as those that bring in a profit, but if your goal is to reduce your tax liability, life insurance retirement policies, done right, can be the easiest solution, as explained in this article by OJM Group.
No matter which investments you prefer, keep in mind that diversification is key. Diverse investments help you to mitigate risk and ride out fluctuations in the market. Talk to your advisor about investing in different asset classes and how this strategy could benefit you.
3. Finally, Make Your Choices and Watch Your Money Work For You
Armed with the knowledge you’ve gained from your research and meetings with financial experts, you can move forward with informed decisions. Once your investments are in place, the hard work is done. You can monitor how your wealth is performing using investment tracking apps whenever you have free time.
Ready to make changes? Email your financial advisor, or use the app to adjust your investments. The work is done in seconds, and you’re back to focusing on saving lives.
Conclusion
Your financial health is an essential part of your overall wellness, but, as a doctor, you don’t have the time to deal with the complexities of investing your money. With a little upfront knowledge and a skilled and trustworthy financial planner who understands the goals and demands of a healthcare professional, the health of your wealth can be on track for success with barely a hiccup in your schedule.