Special Needs Trusts Explained If you are a parent of a special needs child, one question likely keeps you up at night: “What will happen to them when I am no longer here to help?” Because this question creates so much anxiety, it is easy to set it aside and focus only on the day-to-day challenges that need our more immediate attention. But the earlier you prepare for that inevitable transition, the less painful it becomes, for all of those involved. Building a lifetime

Defining your personal savings rate One of the most common questions I hear from physicians is simple: “How much do I actually need to save to retire?” The frustrating answer is usually some version of “it depends.” But that doesn’t help you decide whether your current lifestyle is sustainable or if you need to make changes. In this post, I’ll show you how to think about that question and give you a tool to calculate your own answer. First, some principles Everyone is differe

What is an ABLE Account? Welcome to Special Needs Planning Insights, my new blog focused specifically on financial and life planning for families with special needs. As a parent of two adult children with special needs myself, I understand firsthand the constant search for trusted information related to the needs of my child. There are many stages to navigate, and each comes with important financial, legal, medical, and practical decisions. You are planning not only for y

Your dream house should not become the reason you lose financial freedom. Physicians tend to be detail-oriented and data-driven folks. You have to be if you want to be a great clinician, surgeon, or medical researcher. And, in my experience, that mindset often spills over into their investing style, especially for those who enjoy doing it themselves. Paying attention to those details is important, absolutely. It can save a lot of money over the long run. But it is also s

Of all the alternative investment options marketed to physicians, real estate probably gets the most traction. And I understand why. Doctors tend to have more discretionary income, even after maxing out their 401(k), and the smart ones are looking for ways to leverage that income for their futures, rather than just spending it on a fancier lifestyle. Because of that draw, a whole industry has emerged—physician real estate investing. And with any industry that involves mon

One of the most common questions I get from physician clients who own their own practice is simple? How can I reduce my tax bill? When your income climbs into the high six figures, taxes are no longer just a nuisance—they’re one of your largest expenses. And unlike W-2 physicians, small-business owners have significantly more control over how much they pay. One of the most powerful ways to reduce taxes, while simultaneously building long-term wealth, is through a well-designe

I recently wrote an article on Doximity.com about what I felt after the death of one of my medical school classmates. He died of metastatic pancreatic cancer at the age of 58. It forced me to pause and reflect on what is truly matters, starting with meaningful relationships, especially with those closest to us. It was a stark reminder that despite our best planning, life does not always unfold that way we expect. When that happens, we have the choice: succumb to our circu

One of my clients asked me to review a proposal for long-term care insurance for him this past week, and the result was instructive. I thought it would make a good post. First let me start with a few points: Although I am not a fan, in general, of commission-based financial advising as a compensation model—I think the conflicts of interest are too strong to be truly fiduciary—, I have nothing against the people who work for insurance companies. I think that most of them fe

In my last blog post, I mentioned that I was on the precipice of retirement from medicine. Well, a couple of weeks ago, I officially worked my last shift. My personal perspective on the transition is still fresh, perhaps still too fresh, but that may be precisely what makes it worth examining. So, let’s dive a little bit deeper into some thoughts as I look forward to the first post-medicine year. Maybe I will revisit it a year later with the perspective of looking back. It

Why leaving clinical medicine can amplify volatility — even if your math works. Sequence risk is typically framed as a retirement math problem. But it’s often a life-timing problem. The real danger isn’t just poor early returns — it’s when volatility collides with income reduction and identity shifts. Anyone familiar with me from my website, blog articles or podcast appearances knows that I am a second shifter. "The Second Shift" is the name of a new podcast that I am co-hos

Donor Advised Funds: A smart tax strategy In my last post, I spoke about a great tax strategy for charitable giving called a Qualified Charitable Distribution, or QCD. QCDs allow you to lower your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) dollar for dollar and still take advantage of the standard deduction (or itemize if it makes sense) for further reduction of your tax bill. The main problem with the QCD strategy is that it is available to a relatively small demographic: charitably min

This week is Christmas, which feels like the perfect time to write a post about charitable giving. I recently worked with a retired client couple who were excellent candidates for a Qualified Charitable Distribution (QCD): are charitably minded, still have relatively high income (pension/social security/part-time employment), are required to take RMDs, and hold a meaningful balance in a traditional IRA. I introduced the concept to them and was able to save them thousands of d

When most of us think about saving for retirement, we often start with a net worth goal—a number generated perhaps by a formula like the 4% rule or financial planning software. Once we hit that number, we figure, the work will be done. So, we put our heads down and earn, save, and invest diligently to achieve our retirement goal. These working years can also be called life’s accumulation phase. Well, the reality is that life doesn’t stop at retirement, and neither do the

When most people think about “investment strategy,” they immediately jump to asset allocation—the mix of stocks, bonds, and alternative investments that matches their risk tolerance and time horizon. But there’s a second, equally important concept that rarely gets discussed outside of professional planning circles: Asset location. If asset allocation is what you invest in, asset location is where you place those investments. And getting this right can add tens of thousands o

You’ve worked hard your entire career and made the right financial decisions to build a solid nest egg and to be positioned to retire on your own terms. But the accumulation phase in life is only half of the story. Now you have to start distributing and living off your assets. First, are you ready for that shift in mindset? It turns out that it is harder than you think. Second, do you know how to access your money in a logical and tax-efficient manner? These are common qu

One of the most powerful tools in the financial planning toolbelt in terms of tax strategy is called a Roth conversion. It is simply moving money from your pre-tax retirement accounts to your tax-free (or Roth) retirement accounts after you have stopped working and when you are in a lower income tax bracket. Let’s review how it works. Nest-egg buckets As you save, invest, and grow your retirement nest egg, there are three possible destinations, or buckets, where those asset

I’ve been a DIY investor for nearly three decades, and a financial advisor for almost three years. I’ve always enjoyed learning about investing and managing my own finances and, honestly, never seriously considered hiring a financial advisor before I became one myself. So why the career pivot? After many years in emergency medicine, I wasn’t mentally ready to retire — but I was ready for something different. I decided to dig deeper into my passions and see where that led. For

In my last article, I talked about the basic types and terminologies of bonds. We learned about terms like coupon rates, par values, and maturities. The thing that used to confuse me most about bonds is their pricing. I would hear on the news that interest rates were up, and bond prices were falling. That didn’t really make sense to me. Wouldn’t higher interest rates make bonds more attractive? Actually, it’s the opposite. Today, I’ll explain how it all works. The two

I was aware of bonds early in my investing career but will admit that I didn’t really know that much about them or how they actually worked until I took a basic financial management course as part of my master’s program in finance. I just knew that they paid out interest, were less volatile, and had lower growth potential than stocks. I was comfortable with the risk of the stock market and wanted the growth, so I didn’t have much interest in bonds and had very few in my por

We all know that we need to invest to achieve our long-term financial goals, right? But are we confident in knowing how to invest? My last several blog posts have been about making smart decisions with your portfolio that will help you maximize your return, minimize fees, and manage your risk. Today, I’m going to talk about bonds—not the nuts and bolts of how they work, but how to decide if your selections are meeting your goals. Stocks or bonds? When we think about portfol