Student Loans
PSLF, income-driven repayment, refinancing, aggressive payoff, and how attending income changes the decision.
For residency & fellowship programs
Give trainees a better financial start before attending life begins.
Practical, physician-specific financial education for the transition from training to practice — built around the decisions residents and fellows are already trying to make.
Physician-specificExamples and decisions reflect the realities of training and early attending life.
Practical over theoreticalBuilt to help trainees know what to do next, not memorize financial vocabulary.
Educational firstA resource your program can use as part of transition-to-practice education.
Why this matters
The financial learning curve gets steep right when clinical training is ending.
Residents and fellows can go from a relatively simple financial life to a six-figure income, a new benefits package, major debt decisions, insurance needs, taxes, and a home purchase in a matter of months.
Most trainees are making those decisions while interviewing, moving, finishing boards, and preparing for a new job. The information is available, but it is scattered — and generic personal finance advice rarely accounts for physician-specific issues.
The Attending Playbook is designed to give programs a practical way to introduce the right financial topics before those decisions become urgent.
Before signingContract terms, compensation, benefits, and insurance
Before graduationStudent loans, PSLF, cash reserves, and relocation
Before paycheck #1Withholding, retirement elections, and cash flow
During year oneHousing, investing, lifestyle creep, and bigger goals
Common workshop topics
Choose one focused topic or build a broader transition-to-practice session.
Sessions can be tailored around the stage of training, specialty, and the financial questions your residents or fellows are facing most often.
Disability Insurance
Why timing matters, own-occupation coverage, employer benefits, riders, and common gaps for physicians.
Taxes & Withholding
What changes with the income jump, bonuses, moonlighting, multiple jobs, and a spouse’s income.
Benefits & Investing
How to approach 401(k)/403(b) plans, 457(b)s, HSAs, Roth decisions, and investment basics.
Home Buying
Physician mortgages, affordability, down payments, cash flow, and avoiding a house that crowds out every other goal.
First Attending Paycheck
A framework for deciding what happens first when income rises dramatically after training.
Life Insurance
Who needs it, term versus permanent coverage, how much protection to consider, and when to put it in place.
Lifestyle Creep
How to enjoy the attending raise while still making meaningful progress on debt, savings, and long-term goals.
Ways to use the playbook
Fit the education into the program you already have.
The page is designed around flexible delivery rather than a one-size-fits-all curriculum.
01
Grand rounds or resident conference
A focused session on one high-impact topic or a broad “financial transition to practice” overview.
02
Senior resident / fellow transition session
A practical walkthrough of what to handle before graduation, before the new job starts, and during the first 90 days.
03
Shareable guides and tools
Give trainees access to plain-English resources they can revisit when a financial decision actually arrives.
04
Custom topic series
Build several shorter sessions across the academic year around loans, insurance, benefits, taxes, home buying, and first-year planning.
What trainees leave with
A clearer sequence for the decisions ahead.
The goal is not to turn residents into financial experts. It is to help them recognize the major decisions, understand the tradeoffs, and know which ones deserve attention first.
Know what is urgentSeparate decisions that need attention before graduation from those that can wait until attending life settles down.
Ask better questionsUnderstand the terminology and tradeoffs well enough to evaluate benefits, loans, insurance, and outside advice.
Avoid expensive defaultsCatch common mistakes around withholding, PSLF, coverage gaps, home affordability, and retirement elections early.
Have a next-step checklistLeave with concrete actions instead of a pile of concepts that are hard to apply after the session.
Built for the transition
Useful across the last stretch of training.
The emphasis can shift depending on where your trainees are in the process.
Residents
Build the financial foundation, understand student loans and insurance, and prepare early for future contract and benefits decisions.
Fellows
Work through the attending transition before compensation, relocation, housing, and benefit elections all arrive at once.
Chief residents & graduating classes
Use a concentrated transition session to map the highest-priority financial actions for the months immediately ahead.
Bring it to your program
Tell us what your trainees need help with.
Share your program, audience, and the topics you have in mind. We can use that context to shape a session around the financial decisions that are most relevant to your residents or fellows.