Blog
If you're a physician seeking a better way to receive financial advice or just gather financial planning information without an embedded sales pitch, this is for you!
Why M Advisor Exists: A Mini Manifesto
As fiduciaries, our job is to listen and learn about your life. Until we understand our clients’ perspective, we have no advice to give.
Read More$2,000 = $1,000,000
“Good habits will make time your ally. Bad habits will make time your enemy.”From Atomic Habits by James Clear Depending on your life goals and financial goals, saving money early might be beneficial if accumulating a...
Read MoreAccount Types (Chart)
Use this chart to identify a few of the most common account types with a brief description about how they are taxed, how they can be used, and how they pass after death.
Read MoreUnderstanding Investment Account Types
Choosing the proper account type is a fundamental task in financial planning that shouldn’t be overlooked. If you can gather some basic knowledge on how each account works, and then pair that with your stated financial goals, you...
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Unused 529 Plans can be Rolled to Roth IRAs
SECURE Act 2.0 paved the way for unused 529 college saving plans to be rolled into Roth IRAs. While this headline looks groundbreaking, there are some fine details that make this ruling less impactful than it sounds.
Read More2023 Roth IRA Updates
The basic rules of the Roth IRA haven’t changed too much from 2022 to 2023, but the contribution limits have been adjusted slightly.
Read MoreRetirement Matching Contributions into Roth Accounts
Late last year, the SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act 2.0 was enacted, which brought about changes in many retirement plans. The actual bill is over 4,000 pages in length, so while the bill is...
Read MoreRetirement Plan Contributions: Traditional vs. Roth
One of the more fundamental financial decisions a person makes is contributing to a retirement plan. In most hospital systems, the retirement plan options are 403(b)s (and 457 plans, although 457 plans technically are not retirement...
Read MorePSA: Get Your "Stuff" Done (VIDEO)
What you choose to do -- or not do -- passes directly to the next generation, for better or worse.
Read MoreA Term Life Insurance Mistake
I feel like I downplay the importance of life insurance all too often, but the reality is that life insurance is an extremely important component to financial planning. Getting the insurance component correct can be the difference in a...
Read MoreBuy or Lease a Car?
Many cities in the US require cars to commute to work, get kids to school, and go explore. A car is an essential tool in our lives, and I often get asked if it’s a better decision to buy a car or to lease one. Here are some...
Read MoreBack to School with Your Finances
Put the "Back to School" in your financial planning by getting back to the basics in your savings plan. Your savings plan can elevate your future with a little structure.
Read MoreThe Media and Your Financial Plan
Have you ever read a news headline and immediately felt uneasy or even a sense of doom? Then after reading the article, the report barely fits with the headline! The headlines I see for financial markets are guilty of this tactic. It...
Read MoreInfographic: How to Apply for PSLF
An easy, step-by-step infographic chart showing the steps needed to apply for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program.
Read MoreHow to Apply for PSLF
The steps for applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) can be intimidating. Please use this guide as way to utilize potential benefits available to certain student loan borrows.
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Tax Consequences of Selling a Personal Residence
Selling your house is often an adrenaline rush of excitement, mixed with leaving behind the nest in which you’ve stored memories of friends and family. It’s such a weird mix of happy and sad. It’s such an emotional...
Read MorePSLF: Why Are Student Loans Being Forgiven?
Why are student loans being forgiven through Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)? Can we trust the student loan forgiveness program? Here's a quick opinion on student loans and the economy.
Read MorePros and Cons of W-2 Income vs. 1099
W-2 income and 1099 income each have benefits and drawbacks. Here is summary of a few of the pros and cons of each for the financial planning of physicians making job, income, and investment decisions.
Read MorePhysician Mortgages
Physician mortgages can be a great tool for physicians to purchase a home, but it's important to understand how a physician mortgage works.
Read MoreHow Good are Health Savings Accounts (HSA)?
Aside from funding an HSA and paying health expenses on a tax-free basis, HSAs have some additional benefits. Any leftover funds in an HSA are carried over to the next year, and the funds stay invested until utilized.
Read MoreYou're Not Bad With Money
Money is emotional, and many people don't fully understand their relationship with it. It's possible that mishandling money could be a sign of a deeper issue.
Read MoreYour Financial Plan in 2022
Make a new year resolution in 2022 to prioritize your financial plan. Here are a few tips to help!
Read MoreLooking Ahead: Are Roth Conversions Going Away?
Backdoor Roth contributions are going away in 2022. What else is changing with Roth IRAs in 2022?
Read MoreEnrolling in Benefits
It’s time to be thinking about enrolling in benefits. For many companies, benefit enrollment begins in October or November, so now is a great time to look ahead at 2022. Benefits enrollment gives you a chance to review what did...
Read MoreMaximizing Your Monthly Savings
Once you have identified your budget and minimum amount of savings you need to put back each month, your bank account should continue to grow accordingly. The next step is to determine the account balance you need for your cash and...
Read MoreYour New Budget
Knowing your basic expenses is a critical component to financial planning. To a certain extent, a budget helps to keep expenses down; however, at certain levels of income, depending on monthly overhead, a budget can become somewhat...
Read MoreA Guide to Understanding Capital Gains Tax
Understanding capital gains taxation is critical to success in financial planning. In its most basic form, capital gains tax is straightforward: where there is monetary gain realized, a tax is due. I think one of the more confusing...
Read MoreLife Insurance Decision-Making
September is Life Insurance awareness month, so to be festive, here are a few quick observations on decision-making and life insurance. 1. The amount of life insurance is more important than the type of life insurance: There are...
Read MorePublic Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)
Please share this with a resident physician! If you haven't already, you should consider applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF)! Here's the application. Feel welcome to reach out for help! The PSLF program allows certain...
Read MoreHow to Assign a Beneficiary
There are simple tasks you can do to practice some basic estate planning endeavors which can have a huge impact on your loved ones. One of the easiest and most fundamental tasks you can complete is to check your beneficiaries on your...
Read MoreTime Value of Money
Time Value of Money is an important concept. Here is a brief description.
Read MoreDifferences Between a Mutual Fund and an ETF
On the outside, mutual funds and Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) look quite similar. Both mutual funds and ETFs are basically prepackaged groupings of stocks, bonds, and/or possibly alternative investments. In fact, a mutual fund and an...
Read MoreLife Insurance Dos and Don’ts
Why is purchasing life insurance so confusing and complicated? For many, purchasing a life insurance policy is an important decision. It’s often the first step taken in estate planning, and it involves a complex thought process...
Read MorePros and Cons of 457(b) Plans
There’s not a perfect financial planning vehicle in existence. Salary deferral plans, like many retirement plans and 457 plans, carry pros and cons. Many hospital systems have a combination of 401(k), 403(b), and 457 plans. The...
Read MoreA Financial Plan Prioritizing Children
I’ve had several conversations with physician families who wanted to make sure their children’s needs came first in their financial planning considerations. This is the case so much that the desire to create a savings...
Read MoreWhat House Can You Afford?
From online calculators to mortgage approval rates, there’s so much information published about how much you can spend on a house. With all this information available, I always get asked how much can someone spend on a new house....
Read MoreEvidence-Based vs. Case-Based Financial Planning
In medicine, evidence-based research is the standard by which the best care is achieved. Evidence-based information points to proof that something works in a given situation. When it comes to biological pathways, the human body often...
Read MoreShould You Max Out Your Retirement Plan?
Quite often, I get asked from physicians if they should max out their retirement programs through their respective hospital systems. With benefit elections right around the corner, it's a good question to be asking. Here's quick video...
Read MoreHow Should a Physician’s Financial Plan Adapt to the World Today?
Without question, 2020 has been tumultuous to say the least. There is still unknown fallout from the covid-19 pandemic, and there’s a great movement demanding social justice. The stock market has seen unprecedented volatility,...
Read MoreThe Importance of Vacations
For physicians specifically, a break from work, and having something to look forward to is an invaluable commodity. With covid-19 enforcing restrictions on both interstate and intrastate travel, the actual importance of physically...
Read MoreEnd of Life Discussions
In a topic that’s generally avoided at all costs by most people, my wife and I had a very deep discussion about our own end of life preferences a few weeks ago. For us, it’s never been uncomfortable to discuss this topic,...
Read MoreCovid-19. Now What?
It’s unreal how threatening germs can be; a single infection quickly escalates into a worldwide pandemic. Hospitals overflowed, economies halted, and markets cratered. We live in some crazy times. Stress continues to be a concern...
Read MoreFinancial Planning During Uncertainty
With covid-19 well underway and impacting everything from the economy to everyday life, here are a few financial planning strategies during a crisis. 1.Understand your budget. During uncertain times, spending usually reverts to a...
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It's All Just Chess Anyway
At my chess club in college (how cool is that?), we played each player for about 30 minutes or so in a blitz-style (quick game) format, so it resulted in playing about 2 games in each 30-minute round. One time I got paired up with a...
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The Most Important Aspect to Young Doctor’s Financial Plan
In a young physician’s life, financially speaking, the single most important aspect to financial well-being has nothing to do with money; it has nothing to do with investments; it has nothing to do with budgeting and saving. I...
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Think Differently of Your Emergency Fund
When it comes to doctors, having an emergency fund is nearly always a good idea. An emergency fund is a liquid – or accessible – reserve of money in the event a larger-than-normal sum of money is needed. Generally, these...
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"Too Much" is Just as Devastating as "Not Enough"
In medical school, residency, and fellowship, there’s really no such thing as too much, financially speaking. It’s all a grind to pay bills, feed your family, and make it to work on time. After training, there’s a...
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Happy Thanksgiving
With family and friends traveling to be together for the holidays, I think it’s important – at appropriate times – to understand what family members are doing with their money and estate planning. As the kids get...
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When to Hire a Financial Advisor
While nearly everyone could benefit from a financial advisor, not everyone is able or willing to use one at certain times. Additionally, not everyone who uses a financial advisor would use him or her at the same capacity as others....
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The Doctor’s Budget Remastered
About a decade ago I had my first doctor client, and part of what they wanted to discuss was budgeting in order to save more. They just got new jobs and wanted some general planning for the sake of making good decisions. Software for...
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5 Financial Mistakes Medical Residents Make and How to Avoid Them
Medical residents and fellows have always been in an interesting situation. It's a kind of "stuck between a rock and a hard place" type of situation. Residents and fellows are embarking on the foothills of their career and obtaining...
Read MoreAre You Working with a Salesperson or an Advisor?
Lately I’ve been introduced to clients with wildly unsuitable products and recommendations that have been implemented. It’s as if financial advice is solely intended to sell products, even if there is no need for products....
Read MoreHave You Ever Received Good Advice on Your Student Loans?
Most of the individuals I work with are young physicians, so I ofetn guide people through their student loans. I’ve spent months trying to understand the government student loan repayment logic (depending on the loan servicer,...
Read MoreFree Advice to Ask Your Car Insurance Agent – Try This!
One of the biggest secrets in the world of insurance is an “Umbrella Insurance” policy. It’s a secret for three main reasons: Consumers aren’t actively educated about it because the insurance marketplace is so...
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The Turtle and the Curb
I was driving home the other day and I saw a turtle on the side of the road. It had made it all the way across the street, only to be stopped by a curb. The turtle obviously couldn't jump the curb, so even though it completely crossed...
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