AttendingFinancial

Editorial library

The information physicians should have received in medical school.

Substantive articles on PSLF, contracts, retirement, and the financial decisions that compound across a physician’s career. Written by physicians who have made these decisions and watched others make expensive mistakes.

52

Articles in 2026 editorial calendar

10,000+

Physicians reading per month (projected)

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Forever cost to read every article

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The guides

What they don’t teach in residency

The Paycheck Series · 8 min

Your Paycheck Decoded

You earned one number. Your bank account saw another. Here is where the rest went — and what you can do about it.

The Paycheck Series · 11 min

Tax Brackets for Physicians

You are not taxed at your bracket. You are taxed up to your bracket. This distinction is worth thousands of dollars.

The Loan Playbook · 19 min

Student Loan Repayment: The Complete Playbook

The interest math, the income-driven plans, PSLF, and the refinancing decision you can never take back — the whole strategy in one place.

Contract Mastery · 9 min

Reading Your Contract

The clauses that matter most — and what to ask about each one.

Contract Mastery · 12 min

wRVU Compensation Explained

Your hospital runs these numbers before your offer. Here is how to run them yourself.

Wealth Building · 14 min

The Backdoor Roth IRA

Congress closed the front door. Physicians use the back door. Completely legal. Worth $7,500 of tax-free growth per year — forever.

Wealth Building · 16 min

Disability Insurance for Physicians

Your ability to practice medicine is your most valuable asset. Most physicians are underinsured.

Wealth Building · 12 min

Building Wealth on a Physician Timeline

You started 10 years behind. The math of closing that gap — and why compound interest still works in your favor.

Wealth Building · 9 min

Net Worth: Understanding Your Number

Most physicians in their thirties have a negative net worth. This is normal. Not knowing it — and not tracking it — is the problem.

The Paycheck Series · 11 min

Moonlighting and 1099 Income

1099 income is taxed differently than W-2. Most residents who moonlight get surprised by a tax bill. Here is why — and what to do about it.

The Paycheck Series · 12 min

Your First Attending Paycheck

The 12 months around your residency-to-attending transition contain more financial decisions than the rest of your career combined. Here is what to do, in order.

Money Foundations · 8 min

Where Cash Should Live

Checking, savings, high-yield, money market, CDs, T-bills — five parking spots, wildly different yields, same insurance. Most physicians use the worst one.

Money Foundations · 10 min

Stocks, Bonds, and the Funds That Hold Them

ETFs, mutual funds, index funds, expense ratios — the four-word vocabulary lesson medical school skipped, and the fee math that pays for a house.

Money Foundations · 7 min

Inflation: The Silent Pay Cut

Three percent a year sounds harmless. Over a physician career it cuts every unprotected dollar roughly in half — twice.

Money Foundations · 8 min

Credit Card Interest, Decoded

A 22 percent APR compounds daily, the grace period vanishes the moment you carry a balance, and the minimum payment is engineered to last decades. Here is the machine.

Money Foundations · 8 min

The HSA: A Stealth Retirement Account

The only account in the tax code where money is never taxed — going in, growing, or coming out. Most physicians use it as a debit card and waste the whole trick.

Money Foundations · 9 min

Your First $10,000: The Capstone

You know the vocabulary. Now run the decision: one pile of real money, five places it could go, and the order that beats every other order.

Wealth Building · 9 min

The Physician Mortgage — and When Not to Use It

0% down, no PMI, closes on a signed contract before your first paycheck. A genuinely good tool — pointed at the most expensive mistake of the first attending year.

Wealth Building · 8 min

Term Life and the Umbrella

If people depend on your income, the employer policy is a fraction of what they need — and the lawsuit policy costs less than your streaming subscriptions.

Wealth Building · 8 min

Estate Basics: The Five Documents

Not for the wealthy-someday you — for the parent you are now. Five documents, one of which isn’t a document at all, and the state’s plan if you skip them.

Latest articles

Recent publications

Lifestyle

529 plans for physician parents — how much to contribute and when

Physician parents face a sequencing question nobody else has — student loans, late-start retirement, and college savings all competing for the same dollars. Here is the order, the math, and how much 529 is enough.

9 min read·July 2026
Retirement

Defined benefit plans for physician-owners — when do they make sense?

A cash balance defined benefit plan is the largest deduction available to a physician-owner — and a costly mistake for the wrong practice. The fit comes down to age, income stability, and headcount.

10 min read·July 2026
Lifestyle

Term vs whole life insurance for physicians — why the answer is almost always term

Physicians are the favorite target of whole life sales pitches, and the pitch almost never survives the math. Here is the term-vs-whole-life decision with explicit numbers, plus the few legitimate uses of permanent insurance.

10 min read·July 2026
Lifestyle

Umbrella insurance for physicians — how much coverage do you actually need?

A personal umbrella policy is the cheapest insurance a physician will ever buy relative to what it protects. Here is what it covers, what it doesn't, and how to size $1–5 million of coverage to your balance sheet.

7 min read·July 2026
Lifestyle

Physician early retirement: how to know if you can actually afford it

Generic FIRE math was not built for physicians. Here is the version that was — withdrawal rates with stated assumptions, the pre-59½ bridge, sequence risk in plain language, and the PRN glide path.

11 min read·July 2026
Retirement

457(b) plans for physicians: governmental vs non-governmental rules

Academic and government-employed physicians often have a 457(b) alongside the 403(b) — a separate $24,500 deferral limit. The governmental vs non-governmental distinction determines whether that money is protected and portable, or exposed to your employer's creditors.

9 min read·July 2026
Retirement

HSA for physicians: the underrated retirement account

The HSA is the only account with a triple tax advantage. At a 35% marginal rate, the 2026 family limit of $8,750 saves over $3,000 in federal tax this year — and the long game is better.

8 min read·July 2026
Lifestyle

How much house can a physician actually afford in 2026?

A doctor mortgage will happily lend a new attending five times income. Affordability is a different question. A cash-flow framework with a full worked example for a $300K attending carrying $250K in student loans.

11 min read·July 2026

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