Physician financial literacy is dismal. In the past, many physicians got their first introduction to finance from insurance salesman or financial advisors who give presentations over a free steak dinner.
My medical school’s attempt at teaching us personal finance was to have a financial advisory firm give a half-day lecture about student loan management, budgeting, and investing. While the advice wasn’t inherently bad, I don’t think many of my classmates retained much from the talks.
The plethora of physician personal finance blogs, podcasts, forums, and Facebook groups are rapidly improving physician financial literacy among those who care about it, but many physicians are comfortable with simply hiring a “finance guy” to handle their finances. The quality of this financial advice ranges from excellent to horrendous.
Even if you rely on an advisor to handle your personal finances, you should still be an informed investor and understand and make the final decisions about how your money is handled.
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