Your financial x-ray is a look at every financial decision you’ve made – good or bad, right or wrong. It’s a financial overview that shows you what you own, what you owe. The difference between the two is considered your net worth.
Many physicians and dentists in training have a negative net worth due to student loans - this is typical and shouldn’t discourage you. The main reason to start understanding your net worth now is to see how it increases or decreases over the years. You can positively affect your Financial X-Ray by either saving money (adding assets) or paying down debt (decreasing liabilities).
It’s important to develop a budget early on as part of a strong financial foundation to increase your awareness of where your money is going and how much you are saving. It’s a common misconception that budgeting gets easier when you have more money. You've heard it: “Mo’ money, mo’ problems.”
A budget will help you develop habits of saving, even if just $20 a month at the beginning. Which is all a part of knowing your cash flow. No matter where you are in your career, your cash flow is key.
Protect your practice and those who matter most with an insurance plan that covers your needs. With most of your education behind you and a future full of potential earnings ahead of you, you need a plan to protect your future income.
We suggest a Detailed Needs Analysis (DNA) to assess these different types of protection to create a solid defensive plan: Disability income insurance; Life insurance; Personal liability like auto insurance, homeowners insurance, malpractice insurance, and health insurance.
Your Offensive Investment Plan consists of planning for your cash needs in the future. Depending on your stage of life, your offensive planning needs will vary. While in training, it is often best to focus on your short term goals. After you’ve completed training, it will be important for you to work towards medium-term goals (paying off student loans, purchase new car, kids education, etc), then reaching your long-term goals (retirement, dream vacation).
Once you have established your short-term, medium-term, and long-term goals, create a funding strategy. Establish a retirement distribution strategy, determine long-term retirement objectives, make key distribution decisions, calculate social security benefits, and navigate plan adjustments before retirement.
The easiest way to manage debt is to stay out of it, but that’s not always an option for residents and fellows. More than likely your current debt, although it may seem high, is probably at its lowest point. If you have $200,000 in student loan debt, but no mortgage, your debts are lower now than they will be if you eventually buy a home.
Considering questions like these can help you take control of your money: What is the best option to pay off your student loans? How much house can you afford? How much car can you afford? Understanding debt management now is important for putting yourself in the best position as you acquire more debt and create a plan for paying it off.
Ready to expand your financial knowledge? Our team of experts has compiled a library full of resources hand-selected to help you navigate some of the most important life decisions you will ever make. Here you will find blogs covering the latest pro-tips and financial trends, podcasts addressing common financial concerns in the medical industry, how-to videos, and more. 
They care about you as a whole - it’s not just financial planning. I’ve told many people about SDT because having a plan has saved us so many times. It has given us more financial freedom, allowing us to be smarter on the front end to be able to plan for the future.
