Financial Advisor

[MrsC]

We're three weeks away from DH starting his first job as an attending and student loans kicking in.

I want someone on hand to help us out with the financial side of things as DH is hopeless when it comes to this. I'm already cringing at the thought of it. If I hear one more comment about "knocking out" this loan or that loan....he just doesn't get that you need a concrete plan for such things.

So, where do we find a good financial advisor? Ask around? Is it important that they deal with medical professionals?

[medpedspouse]

We found ours through word of mouth and have been very happy with him. We have been with him since DH was a PGY2. IMHO - I think it helps to work with someone that specializes in working with physicians. Ours had much insight as far as what we could expect, where we should be financially, etc. from having worked with other physicians. If you are interested, PM me and I'll give you his info.

[MarissaNicole]

I have a guy who used to work in a med school financial aid office. He will help you manage your loans.

I actually got his info from someone on here. PM me if you are interested. It may not be what you are looking for.

[houseelf]

I was mildly opposed to hiring one, but I have been impressed. If anything, our financial advisor acts as a neutral third party counselor to get our goals in sync. We work with the Larson group out of St. Louis which caters specifically to physicians. If you want more specifics, let me know.

You do need to get on this quickly because one of the things a good financial advisor will advise you on is purchasing disability insurance before training is over. It is important but pricy. We received a lifetime 10% discount for signing up before fellowship ended. Additionally, we had some say about how/when to characterize some of the bonus checks and it was good to talk to receive advice on minimizing the tax implications before they were characterized as a certain type of payment.

Best of luck,

Kelly

[Amiens]

We went with someone through Dave Ramsey's website. We have been really happy with him.

[medpedspouse]

I
You do need to get on this quickly because one of the things a good financial advisor will advise you on is purchasing disability insurance before training is over. It is important but pricy. We received a lifetime 10% discount for signing up before fellowship ended. Additionally, we had some say about how/when to characterize some of the bonus checks and it was good to talk to receive advice on minimizing the tax implications before they were characterized as a certain type of payment.

Best of luck,

Kelly

This is very true. Pricey now but will save you in the future. Our advisor had us set up way before DH was out of training, his firm also reviewed all contracts & helped us negotiate. They then reviewed the contract when DH was ready for partnership.

The first year out of training, I felt like we were hemorrhaging money and we were not saving enough, managing our money well, budgeting, etc. etc. I find our advisor to be a calming influence that can give me the bigger picture. He gave me a timeline where I would continue to feel this way. He was sooo right. I freaked out again 6 months ago when we began to look at Long Term care for our parents, and he too gave me the facts and addressed all my worries.

[Vishenka69]

We have met with one we found through DH's partners (he's the son-in-law of one and manages money for several others), but haven't hired him yet. Our initial meeting was helpful in a sense that he backed me up on what I've been doing so far (keep DH away from finances :P). He said to let him know when we've build our nest egg back up and then have some funds to "play around" with. So we're working on this now.

I think if I wasn't comfortable handling our finances, we'd definitely hire him to even help with monthly budgeting and such.

[Meenah]

We use the one that the most financial savvy doc in our hospital uses!!!!

[MrsC]

Great, thanks for all the suggestions! I think we'll be asking around and finding someone local after we move. Unfortunately it's way too late to get it sorted before we move, (10 days). I hadn't even thought of that.