Here’s what they know you don’t know

Achieving financial freedom and retirement on your own terms requires a strategic plan. This is especially true for many doctors, who end up with a significant amount of student loan debt and don’t start earning high salaries until later in life.

Despite these obstacles, some doctors aspire to early retirement. We explore how doctors deal with their debt and save for retirement as well as how other people can adopt these principles to achieve financial independence.

Doctors: busting myths and facts

There are a lot of misconceptions about doctors. Most commonly, doctors are wealthy and have large net worths. But this is not always the case.

The reality is that it can take more than a decade to become a doctor in the United States. Being in school too long often leads to a significant amount of student loan debt, with the average medical debt burden reaching $216,659 in 2025. This also means that most doctors do not start their careers until their late twenties or thirties if they are specialists.

Doctors are required to complete a residency, which can take between three and seven years, depending on the specialty area, with the average first-year resident salary being $63,000.

Many of them face significant debts and delayed income

Doctors face many financial hurdles during their residency. This includes the burden of student debt with accrued interest, as well as their living expenses. But their earning potential increases after they complete their residency.

“It’s a balancing act of doubling their income overnight, while juggling significant student loan debt, starting a family, buying a house, and becoming a great doctor,” said Chad Chubb, founder and certified financial planner at WealthKeel.

Because they start late in their careers, many doctors have to think about saving aggressively so they can achieve financial freedom, Chubb told Investopedia. This includes paying off their debts and saving for retirement.

Smart saving rules that everyone can follow for early retirement

The late career start and physical demands of the job can take a toll on many doctors. Financial burdens add to this pressure. One way doctors can have financial flexibility is to participate in a movement called FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early). The goal is for doctors to save as much money as possible immediately after completing their training.

“I generally recommend that doctors try to maintain their resident lifestyle for two to five years after completing residency training,” said Dr. Jim Daly, an emergency room practitioner. Doctors can achieve this by using the difference between a treating physician’s income and a resident’s lifestyle to quickly reach their financial goals, says Dahley, founder of The White Coat Investor, which provides doctors with personal finance resources.

This allows them to repay their student loans, meet other financial obligations, save for retirement, and avoid job burnout. According to Dahle, 25% of doctors reach their mid-60s with less than $1 million in net worth, which he thinks is “pretty pathetic” when you consider they’ve earned between $5 million and $15 million over the past 30 years.

This may be because doctors do not have the advantage of having double duty, unlike other professionals. That’s why Dahley suggests that doctors start saving as soon as possible. Chubb has some ground rules doctors can follow to reach financial freedom and early retirement.

Even if you’re not a doctor, you can also follow these tips to try to achieve early retirement as well:

• Running numbers: Find out how much you’ll need to cover your annual expenses in retirement, and multiply that by 25 or 30 to get a rough total of how much you should aim to save. For example, if you need $100,000 in expenses per year, you’ll need to save $2.5 million to $3 million for retirement.
• Start saving as soon as possible: For example, when you’re younger and training, you can probably save between 10% and 15%. If you wait until you’re older, you’ll likely have to save more money.
• Use tax-advantaged accounts: Save in 401(k), 403(b), Roth Individual Retirement Accounts (Roth IRAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and max out your contribution limits whenever you can. If your employer offers you a match, you’ll get “free money,” and your contributions will lower your adjusted gross income (AGI).