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We were unable to process your request. Please try again later. If you continue to have this issue please contact customerservice@slackinc.com. Back to Healio Key takeaways: Women physicians have large student loans and face a potential $2 million gender wage gap during their career. A financial strategy that accounts for all resources can build wealth while fostering joy. Brittne Halford, MD, MPH, paid off $138,000 in medical school debt in 2 years and 9 months without feeling (terribly) deprived of the good things in life. \u201cI am from a family that\u2019s rich in culture and community and support, but not as far as passing down wealth. My parents could not afford to send me to college, but I was able to acquire enough scholarships to pay for undergrad and matriculate to medical school,\u201d Halford, an internal medicine physician and financial coach, told Healio. \u201cLike many individuals, I had a lot of graduate school debt, and I saw how it was impacting me personally. So, I committed to paying it all off aggressively, and while doing that I also realized that there\u2019s a lot more that I could do with my finances if I educated myself.\u201d
She began to share what she learned on social media and eventually founded More Joy More Wealth, a company that helps clinicians understand finances. Ahead of her presentation, \u201cCreating financial systems not just goals,\u201d at the Women in Medicine Summit, Halford spoke to Healio about student loan debt, using nonfinancial resources to avoid \u201cretail therapy\u201d and the importance of financial literacy. Healio: You\u2019re speaking at the Women in Medicine Summit, is there advice you give specifically to women in medicine, as opposed to men or people in other professions? Halford: There are some specific challenges women in medicine face that other people in medicine or in other professions do not. Women in medicine still face a gender pay gap that over the course of a career could be $2 million. That\u2019s substantial not only in terms of the amount of money, but in what that money can afford, the opportunities it presents. Compared with men, women in medicine also have fewer investments and more student loan debt. They also tend to manage the household and carry the mental load of caring for kids. Other literature shows that women in medicine, women physicians, don\u2019t have the same longevity benefit over men as women in many other types of professions. All these things impact how a woman, and particularly a woman in medicine, experiences her career and her financial stewardship. If you\u2019re dedicating time to your patients and to your family, there might be little time to engage in your finances and attain that financial literacy that makes you feel confident to navigate this portion of your life well. Women often defer to someone else to manage their money. There\u2019s an assumption that a financial advisor is doing the right thing on their behalf, but there\u2019s a lack of awareness and confirmation. Healio: Your website is called More Joy More Wealth. How do you think about joy connecting to wealth? Halford: There\u2019s literature that shows when you focus on joy, you actually have more wealth. Wealth can be defined as the numbers in the bank account, but it also includes other forms of wealth: emotional, physical and social wealth. I want women to think about what wealth means from a holistic perspective and how they can get there. When I was paying off my student loan debt, it felt like a cloud around me. But when I decided to pay it off aggressively \u2014 $138,000 in 2 years and 9 months \u2014 I also decided I would do it without completely depriving myself of everything else that brings me joy for this one goal. I can have joy and experience life while achieving this goal. I want women to know that they have permission to experience joy while seeking wealth and to understand that if they do, they will actually have more wealth. There\u2019s an opportunity cost there. If you focus on the things that matter for you, you won\u2019t feel deprived and you won\u2019t be unnecessarily spending on retail therapy. You can invest that money and pay down your debt or achieve other life goals. Healio: What is the main takeaway of your presentation? Halford: The main takeaway is to spend on systems. When we think about money, we think about what money can do and also about spending. Spending is the use of money, but also the use of other types of resources \u2014 time or mental energy or other types of resources. Instead of just spending on trying to get yourself to a specific goal, I want women to invest in the systems that will help to create sustainability for themselves, to prevent burnout and to sustain their abilities to achieve goals. We set new goals all the time, but we don\u2019t want to have to recreate the financial system for every goal. You can invest in systems \u2014 whether that\u2019s the people or resources around you, the schedule that allows you to monitor your resources, invest in yourself by spending time with a therapist so you can understand some of the fears and things you might be trying to put a bandage on by using your money. That\u2019s the big picture. I walk people through a feedback loop to look at their inputs, the process, the outputs and the feedback, and how they can apply a familiar framework to their finances. Healio: Do you have an easy example of that? Halford: One easy example: An input can be your income. 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