Financial Resolutions for 2024 Every Physician Should Consider

The new year is coming for everyone, including physicians. Doctors are just like everybody else in the sense that they are trying to balance their personal lives with their professional ones. They want goals to reach and they want to know the best ways to do that. No matter if you’re raking in the pay of a student doctor or earning a neurology salary, there are many financial obligations and New Year resolutions that you should consider when the new year begins. 

What are some of the biggest and most important financial resolutions that physicians in the year 2024 should keep in mind and seek to tackle? There are quite a few to choose from.

Budgeting

The most reliable piece of financial advice that anybody, no matter their profession, will get is to create and stick to a budget.

A detailed budget that keeps in mind all personal and professional spending will help track spending and then ensure that a physician can make the right decisions about how they are spending. This will be an assurance that they aren’t wasting money or being too stingy.

Emergency Fund

Not enough people have emergency funds built into their budgets. With the right amount of emergency funding, a doctor will be able to be sure that they will remain healthy and financially sound even if tough times suddenly hit unexpectedly.

A new year’s resolution should be building and reinforcing an emergency fund. Ideally, a physician should try to have at least six months’ living expenses covered by emergency funds.

Managing Debt

Another resolution for the new year is to create a plan that will pay off any and all debts, especially high-interest ones. A doctor, especially a young one, might still have a lot of student debt and credit card balances too. In the new year, the plan should allow a physician to explore refinancing options and consolidating debts so that they have better rates. 

Retirement Planning

It’s never too early to start thinking about retirement. This is especially true for physicians, who could be putting away a good amount of their money every month for their future retirement.

In the new year, a physician should adjust their savings and also maximize their contributions to retirement accounts, as much as possible. Their current 401(k) and IRAs should be paid attention to in the new year too. 

Side Income

Is it time for you to think about having a side gig that provides an additional revenue of income? The new year might be the time to study and think about that. Now is the time to think about opportunities for creating additional income, either through part-time work, investing in real estate, consulting at hospitals or practices, or any other option. 

Conclusion

There are plenty of reliable sites and outlets that will help physicians make and stick to New Year’s resolutions that will keep them healthy and safe from a financial standpoint.