For those of you that are interested in giving, let’s try to do so as tax efficiently as possible! In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff walk through a few ways you can give money to the causes that are near and dear to your heart and pay a little less in taxes at the same time. Often, the larger the gift, the more tax benefits, but even small gifts can potentially have tax benefits.

A few ways to get tax deductions for charitable contributions include:

• Smaller gifts to qualifying non-profits if you already itemize on your taxes.
• Gifting appreciated stock from non-qualified accounts.
• Gifting money to donor-advised funds.
• Setting up private foundations.
• Bequeathing money from a potentially taxable estate.
• Setting up a trust specifically for charitable giving.

Some of your tax money may go to causes you support, but choosing your own causes can be much more rewarding and potentially lessen that tax burden. Listen to the full episode to learn more!

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

There is a lot of “common knowledge” in life that may or may not be right for you. In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff debunk some financial planning myths that simply don’t hold true for most people any longer. As always, you should take the specifics of your situation into consideration when making any financial decisions.

“Myths” discussed include:

• You can set up a financial plan once and then call it good!
• All debt is bad.
• Renting is a waste of money.
• Social security will go bankrupt (and there will be no remaining benefits) by the time you retire.
• The goal of investing is to get the best returns.
• And so many more!

As we start feeling a little more comfortable talking about money, we can learn a lot from the people and resources around us! But we can also gather information that is incorrect or just isn’t appropriate for your own plan. Take a little time to make decisions (especially big ones) with your personal goals and information in mind and don’t rely on “common knowledge”. Listen to the full episode to learn more!

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

Some investments are flashier or more exciting than others. But do you really need flashy and exciting to meet your financial goals? In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, hosts Corey Janoff and Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff talk about alternative investment strategies and whether you may need them as part of your investment strategy.

This episode covers some basics of alternative investments including:

• Advantages and disadvantages of these kinds of tools.
  • Advantages include diversification and potentially higher returns.
  • Disadvantages include potential for greater losses, higher costs, lack of liquidity, and less regulation than more traditional investments.
• Different types of alternative investments (hedge funds, structured notes, private equity, etc.)
• How to evaluate whether these may be an appropriate addition to your plan.

As always, whether a particular strategy makes sense for you depends on your financial status, goals, and even personality. Most folks will not need complicated alternative investments to meet their goals, but it can be something to consider for folks who are willing to take on more risks and costs to explore something a little different (and potentially exciting if you are successful).

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, hosts Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff discuss how our expectations adjust over time. If we continue to want more and more, how will we ever be satisfied with what we already have?

Discussions in this episode include:

• Nostalgia about the “good ol’ days”.
• Comparisons of expected standard of living in the middle of the twentieth century and today.
• How personal expectations change over time. Most folks don’t want to live like college students as working adults!
• The idea that rising expectations leads to more work and money to meet those expectations.
• Ways to potentially curb your expectations so you are less reliant on money and work.

Much of financial planning is behavioral. If you can adjust your behavior, it may be much easier to meet your goals.

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

Public Service Loan Forgiveness is a hot topic for many medical professionals still trying to work their way out of school debt. In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff walk through the current state of the program and whether or not it’s still worth pursuing.

This episode discusses:

• The basic parameters of Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF).
• Historical context of proposed changes to the program.
• The current payment plan drama, including where we are at with the SAVE plan.
• Possible next steps for folks with federal student loans.

As with everything, whether a particular path is appropriate for you depends on your individual circumstances. If you believed PSLF was a good fit for you previously, chances are that program is still a good “Plan A”. But just like other parts of your financial plan, it is always helpful to have a Plan B.

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors Finity Group financial advisors, Corey Janoff and Rachelle Vanderzanden, discuss a few ways you can work through how to value your own time.

Valuing your time:

• Why does it matter? This can help you decide all sorts of things! Such as….
  • How much to work (assuming you have the flexibility to decide)
  • Whether it makes sense to do something yourself or pay someone else to do it
  • How to discuss finances with family and loved ones
• Your time spent in training is an investment in future earnings, which are not simple to predict.
• As an attending, think about how much time you spend to be able to work. This includes time at work, getting to work, continuing education, and time at home spent on work tasks.
• If you know your total time commitment per year and your annual pay, you can get a basic hourly rate for yourself and use that to decide lots of things.
  • For example, buying this new car is equivalent to me working five hours per month – is that worth it to me?

Money isn’t everything. Some people work to live. If that’s you, take some time to consider how much work you are doing to support your lifestyle and whether that’s worth it to you. Other people love their work! If that is closer to your attitude, you may want to work more even if the pay is low. There are no wrong answers if you are making decisions that fit you and your family. Listen to the full episode to learn more!

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

Headlines, federal government funding issues, and stock market volatility can lead people to question how secure their own place is in the economy. How will this impact my job and my income? In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, Rachelle Vanderzanden and Corey Janoff, walk through a few things that MAY impact the job market for physicians and other medical professionals.

As always – It depends!

• Policy at the federal government level may affect your job, but this is so hard to predict ahead of time!
• Those effects could be a reduction in staff, changes in pay, or potentially just more work (if other staff is reduced).
• You may need to make some adjustments in the future if:
  • You are a federal employee
  • Your position is funded (even partially) by grant money from federal institutions
  • You have many patients on Medicaid and/or Medicare
  • You work for a hospital or university with non-profit status. This could be challenged in the future, which could potentially affect student loan repayment and your employer’s cash flow.
• These adjustments may be a change in how much you work, how much time you are spending on research, or even finding a different job entirely.

Keep in mind that as a medical professional, you generally have more job security than the average person. But it’s still important to have adequate emergency reserves and a backup plan no matter who you are.

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.

One of the questions our advisors get most frequently from clients is, “Am I on track?” In this episode of Financial Clarity for Doctors, Corey Janoff and Rachelle Vanderzanden, walk through a few ways to evaluate progress toward your goals.

Steps to assess your progress:

• First, decide on what you are trying to achieve! Goals are different for everyone.
  • This can be retirement, college savings, debt repayment, and many other financial goals.
• For debt repayment, if you have a plan and an end date, you can see if you are on track!
  • Simple debt calculators can help with this.
  • Decide on a time frame you’d like the debt to be repaid, enter in the interest rate, principle amount, and time frame and you will know how much you need to pay each month.
  • Could be anything from paying off student loans in five years to repaying your mortgage before you retire at Age 60,
• For college saving, this can vary dramatically depending on your goals.
  • Simple calculators for this online as well, but must use many assumptions about the costs and investment returns.
  • A little more challenging!
• Can be very challenging to assess progress toward retirement goals.
  • Think about the lifestyle you’d like to have, when you may want to retire, and how much you are able to save. These are things you can control a bit, whereas you cannot control investment returns.
  • Don’t pay attention to benchmarks online. This is different for you based on your career trajectory. Look at your individual situation.

Many young medical professionals are not “on track” based on common online metrics, because you are getting a late start! Do your best to focus on these goals early in your attending career, and you should be able to make progress very quickly. Then assess your progress over time.

For more financial planning tips from Corey and Rachelle, you can reach out to them at podcast@thefinitygroup.com. They would love to hear your questions and ideas for upcoming episodes.

Discussions in this show should not be construed as specific recommendations or investment advice. Always consult with your investment professional before making important investment decisions. Securities offered through Registered Representatives of Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., a broker-dealer, member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Cambridge Investment Research Advisors, Inc., a Registered Investment Adviser. Finity Group, LLC and Cambridge are not affiliated. Cambridge does not offer tax or legal advice.