Can anyone recommend a good financial planner in AB? helpful if they work with physicians

[AB.Med.]

Hi there, can anyone recommend a financial advisor for the following: I need to compare year by year expenses/earnings for potential family medicine career versus my current career. I need to calculate where the break even point is for pursuing medicine and make sure that I won't be setting back my family financially. I am a non-trad with a family & starting med school in my early 40s, so I need to make sure all the sacrifice will be worth it, ie. I won't be worse off financially in the long run. I have made my own spreadsheets, done yearly budgets, included losses while not earning, etc. But I'm stuck on how to value my current benefits, pension and what I could invest in RRSPs and how they would grow versus what I would invest as a family physician and how it would grow. Also, it's very difficult to estimate potential physician earnings since I know the averages you find online are skewed, i.e. don't know how many hours the gross billings represent. Because of my family, I know I won't be able to do 5d/week and OT, which many would do to help pay back loans...don't get me wrong, I'm a hard worker, but if/when you have young kids, you understand how precious time with them is. I am hoping that a physician financial planner might be able to help with some of these income estimates?? or maybe this doesn't exist.

Anyway, I've always been terrible at financial planning and don't know how to make calculations surrounding investments or interest. For the comments of along the lines of not to going in to medicine for the money, I am not. But with a family to take care of, I cannot justify pursuing my dream if I'm not at least breaking even with my current career. I'm in a tricky spot because I have always wanted to do medicine.

Maybe my needs and questions are too specific and these services don't exist - but I figured I would ask here if anyone has suggestions or has an advisor that they can recommend. Thanks!

[offmychestplease]

it would help if you stated your age (Being 40 would make the math much different than being 49) and how much you make per year 

Without knowing that though I can say that family med training is 6 years (4 year MD + FM). You will be earning 60-65K for 2 years as a FM resident but for 4 years you have to pay tuition, living expenses while not making any money. 

I would say if an FM doctor makes at least 1.5x what you currently make it would be worth it..but if not, financially no. 

[bearded frog]

You might be looking for an accountant more than a financial planner, there are some that work with MDs and might have the understanding of what you're looking for. I'm only aware of MNP but I'm sure there are others.

[LostLamb]

Yea you need an accountant. 

Not applicable to you, but for others it is helpful to know that MNP does your taxes free as a med student and resident and this helps you build a relationship. I had one person to start and ended up switching to another because of this opportunity to get to know one and detect one did not fit well. 

[AB.Med.]

On 3/10/2021 at 12:24 AM, bearded frog said:

You might be looking for an accountant more than a financial planner, there are some that work with MDs and might have the understanding of what you're looking for. I'm only aware of MNP but I'm sure there are others.

Ok great, thanks - helpful to know that I should be looking for an accountant and not a financial planner! I will look in to MNP, thank you for your input!

[AB.Med.]

On 3/9/2021 at 2:50 PM, offmychestplease said:

it would help if you stated your age (Being 40 would make the math much different than being 49) and how much you make per year 

Without knowing that though I can say that family med training is 6 years (4 year MD + FM). You will be earning 60-65K for 2 years as a FM resident but for 4 years you have to pay tuition, living expenses while not making any money. 

I would say if an FM doctor makes at least 1.5x what you currently make it would be worth it..but if not, financially no. 

Thank-you! I earn around 110k gross, with amazing holidays. I would be starting practice at 47yr. I'm able to do basic calculations, but I have never been good at financial matters  and that's why I was hoping to hire someone.

Interesting that it might be worth it at 1.5x, that's good to know.  Hopefully an accountant can help me figure it all out!

[frenchpress]

24 minutes ago, Deferred said:

Thank-you! I earn around 110k gross, with a bit of consultant work on the side (I get amazing holidays and could scale up the consulting) and about a 2% annual increase. I would be starting practice at 47yr. I'm able to do basic calculations, but don't really know how to consider growth of potential investments, implications of keeping money in the corporation if I'm incorporated, how to value a defined benefit pension plan, those sorts of things - I have never been good at financial matters  and that's why I was hoping to hire someone.

Interesting that it might be worth it at 1.5x, that's good to know. I was thinking that because of my shortened career, I would need to earn double after overhead/before taxes to pass break even and make it worthwhile. Hopefully an accountant can help me figure it all out!

I think you might need both an accountant AND a financial planner. In my experience, accountants tend to be a bit more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of corporations, how to maximize your deductions etc on a year to year basis but their knowledge about broader financial planning can be somewhat narrow (mileage I’m sure varies by accountant). While a good financial planner may be more likely to be able to give you advice about growth and maximizing investments, how to balance different kinds of income, when to start taking cpp, etc. I know one person who incorporated on the advice of their accountant alone, only to regret it years later after working closely with a financial planner on retirement planning and realizing that because of their specific financial goals and spending habits, they would have actually been better off in the end to not incorporate. 

[AB.Med.]

On 3/14/2021 at 1:21 AM, frenchpress said:

I think you might need both an accountant AND a financial planner. In my experience, accountants tend to be a bit more knowledgeable about the ins and outs of corporations, how to maximize your deductions etc on a year to year basis but their knowledge about broader financial planning can be somewhat narrow (mileage I’m sure varies by accountant). While a good financial planner may be more likely to be able to give you advice about growth and maximizing investments, how to balance different kinds of income, when to start taking cpp, etc. I know one person who incorporated on the advice of their accountant alone, only to regret it years later after working closely with a financial planner on retirement planning and realizing that because of their specific financial goals and spending habits, they would have actually been better off in the end to not incorporate. 

Thanks for your reply - sounds like maybe I do need both. And maybe throw in a career counsellor to help me decide! 

That's good to know about being Incorporated, I didn't realise that it might be beneficial to avoid that. Thanks.

[guy30]

Not guaranteed and it might make your calculations a bit more difficult but there's a chance family medicine residency length may be extended to 3 years in the future.  

 

The college is doing a review I believe given that Canada has one of the shortest family medicine training times in the developed world.

[AB.Med.]

On 3/24/2021 at 12:05 AM, guy30 said:

Not guaranteed and it might make your calculations a bit more difficult but there's a chance family medicine residency length may be extended to 3 years in the future.  

 

The college is doing a review I believe given that Canada has one of the shortest family medicine training times in the developed world.

Thank you for your post, this would definitely make a difference to my decision-making and it is a good point.  I cannot find any further information about this. A march article in CFP discusses that change is needed, but it does not actually state whether or not they plan to extend the residency. I wonder, would CCFP not need to provide some advanced warning, such "this will apply to anyone starting medicine 202X or later"? I just don't see how they could change it without letting people know before they enter medicine. If it was three years, some (albeit few) would actually choose not to pursue this path. Also, I cannot find any final report related to this review (Outcomes of Training Project, i believe it is called). However, i might not be looking in the correct places - do you know if they have actually made a firm decision? Thanks for your input, much appreciated.