Doctors are considered God in India; it is one of the noblest professions. To become a doctor, years of hard work, dedication and money is invested. Doctors devote an extensive time to hone knowledge, expertise and thereafter to practice. Having said that, their income much like the market conditions can go through ups and downs throughout the year. With erratic work schedules, inconsistent work-life balance and constant need to keep up with changing practices, doctors find it hard to keep their finances in check. To ensure their income instability is not impacted with a financial drain or sink in the long run, financial planning becomes even more crucial. 

Here are a few steps a doctor can consider in their financial planning.

• Professional Indemnity Cover – This is an insurance plan that financially protects a doctor against professional risk such as wrong diagnosis, negligent treatment, etc while rendering their services.  This will safeguard the doctor’s savings against spending it on legal cost. The new indemnity policies also cover the cost of hiring the services of an advocate. 

• Repaying loans – Acquiring a medical degree and constantly skilling yourself needs a lot of investment – of time and finances. Most of them take an education loan and it takes them longer to repay as they start their earnings much later than other professions. Ideally, it is advisable to repay the education loan before applying for additional loans – housing, starting a practice, etc. Carefully planning can make this achievable and with the help of a financial advisor, it can be easier in your busy schedule.

• Investment Planning – Like any other profession, doctors also need to plan their short term and long term goals. Just like how each patient requires different diagnosis and treatment, investment planning also differs from person to person. Depending on your personal goals and ambition, a financial plan with different investment options should be done.

• Retirement Corpus – Everyone irrespective of their profession needs to plan for their retirement. For a medical professional it may be later than others because as long as they are physically and mentally fit, they can continue to practice.  Nonetheless, if there is a plan in place to get a retirement corpus, you can take the decision to retire when you want rather than depending on circumstances. The added advantage here is a medical professional has additional time to let his/her money grow compared to others.

No Ad-hoc or hearsay investments – Just like how you as a doctor would advise against self prescribing, buying over the counter medicines for any ailments; it isn’t advisable to invest in funds, schemes on word of mouth or hearsay. Proper research and analysis is needed before you invest your hard earned money into any random fund or shares.