Dr. Andy Grim argues that "invest in index funds and forget it" doesn't work for doctors, who spend their 20s in training and often don't reach peak earning until their 40s or 50s. That timeline creates different retirement risks and requires tailored allocation with bonds, income assets, and diversification beyond standard index funds.
May 11, 2025.
Over 20 years.
Three years ago.
Three minutes.
It's very sunny out here. So doctors, you've probably heard, just invest in index funds, sell it and forget it. It sounds simple, right? Well, that's the popular advice all over and it sounds like it makes sense. But your financial journey is not typical. It's not like everyone's. I know being a doctor myself, most advice assumes that you started anywhere in your 20s, but we spend our 20s basically training, doing residency and all that. And most doctors don't hit their financial stride till they are in their 40s or 50s, I mean a few in their 30s. So the advice to put away 10 to 15% of your incomes, putting it away into an ISA and investing index fund, that might not work for most people. And what if you're 10 years from retiring? Imagine you're 10 years from retiring and someone says invest in index fund and if your horizon is long, it might be that you're worried about the market going down just when you decide to retire. And in that case you might be thinking about things like do you need bonds, do you need gils, do you need more fear increased income assets? So that's why for doctors that generic advice of just follow what everyone does might not always work. And of course you've got like some senior consultants, private doctors who earn a bit more and want to invest more than 20k. Some people want to do beyond just regular index funds and they want to learn other assets, they want to learn how to diversify. So a lot of the financial advice out there, especially financial education and YouTube, TikTok and all of that, doesn't tend to consider the fact that fact that product that careers are a little bit different, our earning capacity is a little bit different. And that's why it's really important for you to understand your own financial plan, your own financial goals. And at the end of day, the clarity beats the hype. If you're wondering, I'm Dr. Andy Grim, I'm the founder of Money Wise Doctor and we help doctors make smarter financial decisions. I've been an investor for over 20 plus years and that helped me to leave my salary job as a GP three years ago. Look, if you're not sure where to start, you can just check the link in the description below and get my free investor score. You check your investment safety score, it's totally free, three minutes, go through the question and you can tell you area that you have gaps that you can actually start to feel and it's absolutely free. All right, tell me what you think. Do you think doctors should invest the same way as the regular population. I like to hear your opinion. All right, then, cheers.
