Financial Planning for
Physicians & Attendings

The Attending Transition

Five Mistakes Most
Physicians Make Early

You're over the income limit for a Roth IRA — but there's a legal workaround most attendings don't know about. And if you rolled your residency 401(k) into a traditional IRA at any point, you may have accidentally broken it without realizing.

The backdoor Roth is the most commonly discussed strategy. The pro-rata rule is the thing that silently kills it. We walk you through both — and check whether your current IRA setup creates a tax problem on conversion.

For loans: PSLF may be worth more than aggressive payoff if you're at a nonprofit institution. The math often points to investing the difference rather than paying down low-rate federal debt.

Physician Planning Areas

• Backdoor Roth — setup, pro-rata rule check, mega backdoor strategy
• Student loan strategy — PSLF vs. aggressive payoff vs. refinancing
• 403(b) and 401(k) audit — expense ratios, fund selection, contribution order
• Attending income planning — investing sequence for the first 5 years
• 1099 income tax planning for moonlighting or private practice