The 90 days between finishing residency and cashing your first attending paycheck quietly shape the next decade of your financial life. In this episode, Jimmy and Justin break down what new attendings actually need to do during that window — and where most physicians get tripped up.
They start with the lifestyle question. You can have the watch. You can have the car. You can have the bigger house. You just can’t have all of them and still retire when you want to. Once spending inflates, almost nobody walks it back.
From there, the conversation moves into the stuff nobody really teaches you in training. Why a taxable brokerage account deserves a spot in your plan from day one, not five years in. How to think about your student loans before the RAP rollout in July changes the math for a lot of borrowers. When the backdoor Roth becomes necessary, and when paying a CPA to handle it eats up most of the benefit anyway. Why credit card balances do not help your credit score, no matter what your friend told you.
Jimmy also shares a story about his own 457 plan and the 120-day waiting period that caught him off guard — a reminder that knowing your benefits matters more than people think. Vesting schedules, disability insurance increases, HSA rules. Small details. Big dollars.
If you are finishing training this summer, or know someone who is, this one is worth a listen.
Resources mentioned in this episode:
- 💵 Looking for a CPA that does more than just file taxes each year? Check out Gelt – the proactive Tax team that Jimmy Turner uses.
- 🎓 Residents & Fellows: It’s crucial to get disability insurance before you finish training. Get it from an disability insurance agency with the lowest denial rate for physicians in the industry: Money Meets Medicine Disability Insurance.
- 📘 Not sure where to get started on your financial literacy journey? Download a free copy of Dr. Jimmy Turner’s book: The Physician Philosopher’s Guide to Personal Finance.
Topics covered on this episode: new attending finances, first year attending, physician taxable brokerage account, backdoor Roth physician, physician student loan plan, lifestyle inflation doctors, vesting schedule 401k, financial independence physician, resident to attending transition, physician disability insurance.
