Doctors should automatically transfer 20% of gross income on payday before spending anything else. Use it first to pay off debt, then build a 3-to-6-month emergency fund, then invest for long-term wealth. Automated transfers actually happen; manual ones don't.
Someone will say, oh, what if I'm in debt? I said, that is what that 20% is for. So basically, it's for buying your freedom. You've got 20% of your income is going to pay off your debt. Now, if that debt is crushed and you're paying it automatically, it's 20% is going out of your account before you pay anyone. It's happening on the first day. If you're going to pay others, at least pay yourself automatically. Why are you paying your water bills, light bills, council tax, BMA, automatically, and then you want to pay yourself when you remember to transfer. The bills that are automated get paid. The bills that are not automated get forgotten. Because budgeting is great, but I've never done any budgeting in my life, and that's like a blasphemy for a personal finance guy. If that 20%— okay, you can start at 10%— if it's gone out, it's going for paying off your debt. If you have no debt, what do you do? It's going for saving up your emergency fund. If you save up your emergency fund, you've got 3 to 6 months worth of your living expense. You can stop saving now and start investing.
