Seeking Financial Well-Being for Your Physician Family

By Julie Petrera

(Originally published in Physician Family Magazine Spring/Summer 2021)

Physician families face unique challenges including frequent moves, abnormal work hours and fluctuating finances. Surveys conducted for the general population in the USA and Canada report that between 72% and 80% of North Americans feel stress about at least one aspect of their finances. For those under age 35, this figure was 90%. In fact, 25% of people in one survey even reported money as the number one cause of stress. To put this in perspective, people worry more about money than their personal health, their work, and their relationships. When asked what specifically about money stresses them out, those over age 35 listed debt and saving for retirement as the most stressful factors, while those under 35 listed debt and job security.

For physician families these statistics are concerning. Both groups cited debt as a major source of stress. The average physician ends training with about $240,000 of debt and carries that debt for several years into practice. Physicians also enter the earning years later in life compared to other professionals due to the long training period to become a doctor. This leaves them with a shorter timeframe to save for retirement, which is another stressful factor according to North Americans. The stress of carrying debt and having to save for retirement is amplified for the tens of thousands of unemployed and unmatched physicians in North America. The top money-related stressors of all North Americans are therefore amplified for physicians. And as readers of this publication know first-hand, these stressful factors impact the entire family.

Physicians remain at a high risk for burnout, depression and suicidal ideation, with almost half of those practicing in the US reporting these feelings. That number is 150%-200% higher among trainees. Stress and burnout can show up in different ways; including health issues, reduced productivity, family conflict, substance abuse and depression.

There is a strong correlation between money stress and physician mental health. Those with higher debt, lower job certainty and no plan for retirement report significantly higher levels of stress. Physicians spend many years not knowing what their next move will be: if and where they will match to residency, to fellowship, or if they will obtain a job in their specialty in their preferred location. Add high debt loads and having to fund their own retirement in a shortened period of time to this and the stress multiplies.

This theory is further supported by the fact that emotional, social and psychological well-being in physicians later in practice (31 or more years) is 85% higher than those earlier in practice. Typically, physicians in this life-stage are debt-free, have secure jobs and are well on their way to funding their retirement. Overall, uncertainty is eliminated, and the associated stress is reduced.

Currently, only 14-15% of the physicians admitting to stress and burnout seek treatment, despite 81% of them knowing how or where to get help. When asked why they don’t seek assistance, physicians reference stigma and potential career risk as reasons for not seeking support. The good news is that these barriers don’t exist to seeking financial help.

By financial help I mean a financial plan. Financial planning is much more than just investing: it includes goal setting, cashflow planning (debt-repayment planning and budgeting), retirement planning, tax minimization, risk management and estate planning. It is the development of a roadmap based on your family’s unique goals and circumstances that is as individual as you are. While money issues are not the only cause of stress and burnout for physicians, they may be the easiest to address.

The opportunity to reduce stress is also quite significant. Ninety-six percent of Financial Planners agree that clients they work with feel more confident and secure about their financial future when they have a cashflow plan. As physician families with higher-than -average incomes, you are not immune to the benefits; 56% of high earners are concerned about whether they are saving enough money to support them through retirement. A financial plan can answer this question for you and get you on track if you are not.

Two-thirds of adults are not currently working with a planner, yet 54% of those who are not acknowledge they should and would benefit from doing so. I recommend working with a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) as they will have a good understanding of the unique needs of physician families and have a duty to put their clients’ interests first. You also don’t need any financial knowledge to work with one. That’s what they’re there for.

A CFP can help. And so can physician family members. While there are many stress-causing medicalsystem issues you cannot help with as a family member, financial planning is an area in which you can take the lead. In fact, in many physician families the spouse or partner handles the finances, including both the day-to-day money management and the long-term planning.

The outcome will be not only a long-term financial plan, but it could also result in reduced stress right away. When asked about financial stress, people are almost twice as likely to say they have no financial stress when they work with a financial planner, compared to those that don’t. Getting started with a planner will not only help with debt repayment and saving for retirement over time, but it may also help increase confidence, comfort and peace of mind right away!

Julie Petrera, MBA, CFP, CIM, FCSI, is the National Lead, Financial Planning Insights at MD Financial Management Inc. in Canada, a firm committed to working solely with Canadian physicians and their families. The views expressed in this article represent her own.

Julie Petrera, MBA, CFP, CIM, FCSI, is passionate about learning and teaching all things financial; Julie’s expertise has spanned across the financial services industry for almost 20 years in various roles including planning, education and strategy. When not working at her full-time job at MD Financial, or teaching high school or university students about finances, she is often speaking and writing for physicians and the general population, explaining complex financial planning strategies in way that is easy to understand and apply. As the manager of finances in her own physician household, Julie understands firsthand how physician households are exceptional financial outliers—and what can be done about it! Twitter@petrerajulie