poor MD

Medical Resident and Student Personal Finance Tips

This is a running list of money saving tips that I've practiced or have seen other colleagues practice in attempt to save, plan, and invest. New ideas and suggestions are appreciated and will be added to the list, with the most recent tips found at the beginning of the list:

  1. With applications and interviews coming up, read PoorMD's tips on how to save money during the process.
  2. Carpool and cut your gas bill significantly.
  3. Use a gas rewards credit card to save even more at the pump.
  4. Stop doing your grocery shopping at McDonald's. Learn how to cook and eat out less. Allrecipes.com is my favorite cooking website.
  5. Buy staple foods in bulk. I eat cereal everyday. Therefore, when I see that Albertson's is selling my favorite cereals for $1 a box, I buy until my car is full and then I go back and buy some more.
  6. Super Walmart will price match groceries.
  7. Find yourself living paycheck to paycheck? Start saving habits now by saving 1% this month and increasing the amount saved by 1% each month. In 12 months you'll be saving 12%.
  8. Never have lazy money, keep your money in a high interest savings account and make it work for you.
  9. Everyone has a cell phone these days, do you really need to pay for a land line? If you need a local phone number, try Google's free phone service Google Voice.
  10. Realize that a big tax return is a bad thing! Stop loaning interest-free money to Uncle Sam.
  11. Your library carries most class and rotation required texts. Check them out, it's free.
  12. Borrow books whenever possible, buy used books if you have to buy.
  13. Sell books when you are done with them. If there is no reason to keep a book, get rid of the dead weight and make money off of it while the book still has value.
  14. Military scholarship kids have all the books and equipment. Make them your "friends with benefits."
  15. Stop paying for cable TV when you have free options like Hulu.com and Joost.com to watch your favorite shows like Lost, Heroes, The Office, The Simpson's and more. Read more about "Cutting the Cable" in our "Cheap or Frugal" series.
  16. Paying for a gym membership when your school/hospital has gym facilities?
  17. Save on utilities by taking long, hot showers at school/hospital/gym instead of at home.
  18. Do your research before making any large purchase. Use the internet to price compare, find coupons/discount codes, and read reviews. For sites I like, read our deal hunting article.
  19. Think twice before buying any extended warranty. It's a huge money making scam for retailers. Find out if your credit card offers extended warranties on products purchased with their card-- most do.
  20. Car rental insurance is another scam. Check if you credit card covers this as well.
  21. Drug reps are your friends. Eat their food, go out to dinner with them, take their pens. If you have moral objections to this understand that in a free market society, no matter how good a product you have, if it's not marketed, then no one knows about it. If no one knows about it, then no one buys it. If no one buys it, then the company stops making the product and researching for future products ends. If research stops, then there's no new drugs for the future.
  22. If you really hate drug reps, stick it to them by eating their food and never prescribing their medications.
  23. If you have kids, realize that student loans do not count as income and that you may qualify for government programs like WIC.
  24. Contribute to a retirement fund. The more you have for retirement, the earlier you can retire.
  25. As a classmate of mine put it, "Every day in every hospital in America, there is a free lunch. It is my job to find it."
  26. After paying off a long-term loan like on a car, continue to put the same monthly payment into a high interest savings account using direct deposit and watch your savings grow. Now that next large purchase can be paid with cash.
  27. Decrease or stop money spent on negative habits like tobacco, alcohol, gambling, and pot.
  28. Protect your most valuable assest and get disability and life insurance. For those with families, make sure they are cared for if anything were to happen to you. For you single guys and gals, at least have enough to cover the funeral. At this stage, go with simple term life insurance-- it's the cheapest.
  29. Do you have any other money saving advice? Please share.