Page 38 - Delaware Medical Journal - May/June 2019
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STOP PROCRASTINATING:
Tips for Successful Retirement Savings
Tina Irgang Leaderman
No one really wants to think about saving for retirement. It’s a natural human impulse to push away thoughts of old age,
from the end of your career.
because the lengthy (and expensive) nature of a physician’s training puts you at a disadvantage from the get-go.
“Physicians have undergrad years, then
four years of medical school, then three
nine years behind” other professions, says Christopher Burgos, CFP®, ChFC®, CFS®,
AIF®, a Managing Partner at Diamond State Financial Group in Newark. “That’s not including fellowship, which could be another one to four years. That’s working against physicians, so they can’t make a lot of mistakes.”
Once income does start rolling in, there’s the temptation to spend money on cars and other lavish lifestyle items, notes Hardik Shah, CFP®, ChFC®, CPFA, a Senior Partner at Diamond State Financial Group. “We have seen too many physicians making that mistake.”
Another problem from a retirement perspective is that physicians often marry and begin having children before their training is complete. Obviously, this adds to expenses and makes it harder to save, says
Kenneth Rudzinski, CFP®, CRPC, CLU®, ChFC®, CASL, CAP®, a Financial Planner with Heritage Financial Consultants, LLC in Wilmington.
Add to that the trend of more physicians being salaried employees who are boxed by their health systems. “Earlier, they not only paid themselves a salary, but got all more savings,” says Rudzinski. Your opportunities to maximize savings are
a bit more limited if you’re bound by an employer’s plan arrangement.
SO HOW DO YOU CATCH UP?
All these disadvantages notwithstanding, careful strategy can help you save enough to be comfortable in retirement. We but here are some tips to get you thinking about your strategy:
Come up with a budget. What are the essential monthly expenses you expect
to those, what items would you like to
for grandchildren.) As you compile your budget, make sure discretionary expenses add up to no more than 4% or 5% of your total savings, Burgos recommends.
Based on the budget, set a
monthly savings goal. If your overall retire, calculate how much you’ll have
to save each month to get there, Burgos goal and an 8% compounded rate of return, years to retirement, but would grow to to retirement. At 10 years to retirement, to make your goal. (See Table 1.)
Be smart about your allocation mix. You might think that because you’re behind, you should be as aggressive as possible and go for a high-risk allocation
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Del Med J | May/June 2019 | Vol. 91 | No. 3
