As a medical professional, you face unique struggles as you manage your finances. Your time is extremely limited, yet making the right financial decisions for yourself, your family, and your practice are crucial to your current and future dreams.
You may be new to the profession and trying to figure out your priorities: pay off school loans, start building a nest egg, save for a first home. Or, you may be well into your career and have many choices to make regarding the retirement plan options your employer offers you. Perhaps you are running your own practice and are facing employee benefit decisions. Later in your career, you will need help maximizing your contributions and minimizing your taxes. As you approach retirement, you will have many decisions to make regarding rolling over your 401(k), 403(b), or other qualified accounts. It is hard to keep track of all your accounts, but we are here to help you organize your financial “junk drawer” of assets. Having a total portfolio view helps us keep our eyes on your long-term goals and not get distracted by the piecemeal way of viewing your assets through mental accounting.
The average doctor may be more likely than the average widow to elect to become an enterprising investor, and he is perhaps more likely to succeed in the undertaking. He has one important handicap, however—the fact that he has less time available to give to his investment education and to the administration of his funds. In fact, medical men have been notoriously unsuccessful in their security dealings. The reason for this is that they usually have an ample confidence in their own intelligence and a strong desire to make a good return on their money, without the realization that to do so successfully requires both considerable attention to the matter and something of a professional approach to security values.”
Intelligent Investing understands that your time is valuable, which is why we streamline our processes to save you time. We strive to make every step electronic so you don’t have to make an extra trip to the office to sign some paperwork. If we need to, we can meet you before or after your shift, to give you the flexibility you need.
Dentists
As a dentist, it is important to select an advisor who understands your unique career and all of its challenges. Intelligent Investing knows there are experiences that only apply to you–things like equipment and real estate financing, practice transitions, practice profitability analysis, corporate and personal retirement plans, staff benefits issues, disability insurance, and liability protection. These dental-related and practice-related specific issues affect your retirement in ways that a generalist financial planner simply can’t see. This comprehensive advice can often help you save money and improve the coordination between your practice and your personal financial goals. Just as you want to take x-rays to see what can’t be seen on the surface, we also want to help you see and plan for the unknown risks that you and your practice may face. You also understand the value of regular checkups, and we offer annual or more frequent checkups to ensure you are on track with your life-long goals.
Doctors and other Medical Professionals
Doctors and similar medical professionals have a high-stress work environment. The last thing a doctor wants to worry about is his retirement and all the options that come with planning. Intelligent Investing understands that you are constantly bombarded with salespeople that target you due to your high-income earning capacity (from variable annuities with severe surrender periods, whole life/universal life insurance, and the latest financial is selling). At Intelligent Investing, we are fee-only, which means we do not sell or push any product on our clients. This independent and unbiased advice means that we act as fiduciaries and make decisions with your best interest in mind. As doctors, you also understand the value of an annual physical, and we offer annual or more frequent checkups to ensure you are on track with your life-long goals.
Greenville Hospital System Medical Professionals
Greenville Hospital System (GHS) has a lot of options for you to consider when it comes to your retirement. We can help you manage all your accounts and options to give you peace of mind that you are on track with your retirement and personal goals. Intelligent Investing understands that GHS offers all employees the opportunity to save for retirement with tax savings advantages. However, there are many decisions that need to be made that can have a long-lasting impact on your financial future.
GHS information is as of 1/1/2017. (Please verify with employer for accuracy and up-to-date information)
403(b) Plan
A 403(b) retirement savings plan is similar to 401(k) plans available to for-profit organizations. At GHS, all employees (including PRN) are automatically enrolled in the 403(b) Retirement Savings Plan. Your initial contribution is approximately 3% of your eligible earnings. Newly hired employees are enrolled 30 days after their first paycheck. Your contributions are deducted from your paycheck before federal and state taxes. You can opt out or make changes to your contribution amount at any time.
You also may be able to contribute to the Roth option. Roth contributions are deducted after federal and state taxes.
Matching Contributions
GHS may match your contributions to the 403(b) Plan. The match amount will depend on GHS’ financial performance during the previous fiscal year.
401 (a) Plan
All employees are enrolled in the 401(a) Plan. GHS makes an annual employer contribution of 3% of your eligible earnings. If you have contributed to the 403(b) plan, any matching contribution also is made to this account.
Vesting
The Employer Contribution has a three-year vesting schedule. This means that you must work at least 1,000 hours in each of the three plan years before you are vested. The matching contribution is vested immediately.
Bon Secours Medical Professionals
Bon Secours has a lot of options for you to consider when it comes to your retirement. We can help you manage all your accounts and options to give you peace of mind that you are on track with your retirement and personal goals. Intelligent Investing understands that Bon Secours offers all employees the opportunity to save for retirement with tax savings advantages. However, there are many decisions that need to be made that can have a long-lasting impact on your financial future.
Information as of 12/31/2016 (Please verify with employer for accuracy and up-to-date information)
The Bon Secours Health System, Inc. Health System Office Retirement Savings Plan (HSO 403(b) Plan) offers outstanding convenience and a variety of investment options.
Immediate tax savings. Your pretax contributions are deducted from your pay before income taxes are taken out. This means that you can actually lower the amount of current income taxes you pay each period. The good news is that your contributions are automatically deducted from your paycheck.
Investment options. You may need help in choosing amongst all the investment options that Bon Secours has selected. The options range from more conservative to more aggressive, making it easy for you to develop a well-diversified investment portfolio.
Automatic annual increases. Save a little more each year, the easy way — the Annual Increase Program gives you the option to automatically increase your contribution each year.
Catch-up contributions. If you make the maximum contribution to your plan account, and you are 50 years of age or older during the calendar year, you can make an additional “catch-up” contribution of $6,000 in 2016.
