If you're a PA, NP, or pharmacist earning over $100K a year but your savings account still looks like it belongs to your student days... you're not alone.
I became a millionaire by age 31, not by winning the lottery or flipping housesâbut by mastering the basics: saving, investing, and being intentional with money. In this post, Iâll walk you through how to calculate your real savings rate, strategies to save more without sacrificing joy, and how to build wealth faster.
Most medical professionals have no idea what their savings rate is. If thatâs you? Letâs fix that.
To find your savings rate:
What if I told you that itâs possible to go from zero to over a million dollars invested in just 7 years on a PA salary?
No gimmicks. No crazy frugality. No lottery luck.
Just a clear, proven 3-step strategy any driven PA can follow.
Letâs break it all down.
This is where most PAs tap out, but itâs also where the biggest growth potential starts.
đ According to data from Marit Health, 1 in 14 PAs already earn over $200K/year.
Hereâs how to increase your odds of joining them:
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Choose a High-Earning Specialty:
Dermatology, critical care, cardiothoracic surgery, and PM&R consistently top the list. But itâs not just about the specialtyâitâs about where you land within it.
đĄ Specialties like dermatology, plastic surgery, and psychiatry have high intraspeciality variance in pay, meaning some PAs are crushing $200K+ while others are barely above average. Donât just switch specialties⌠switch to a better-paying role within your speci...
If you're a practicing PA, a PA student, or even considering PA school, you're probably asking yourself: Is the debt worth it? The good news? PA salaries are going up. The better news? You have more control over your income than you might think.
According to the latest AAPA Salary Report, PA earnings rose 5.5% in 2024 alone. MGMA data shows:
Sounds great for primary care, right? Not so fast. That percentage growth only tells part of the story. You need to look at absolute numbers and actual earning potential across subspecialties.
Using Marit Health salary data, these are the current top-paying specialties:
If you're a medical professional who feels like you're working nonstop but not moving forward financially, youâre not alone. We're already more than halfway through the yearâand if 2025 hasnât brought the money progress you were hoping for, itâs not because youâre lazy. Itâs because you donât have the right systems in place.
Letâs fix that.
This moneycheck-in will help you:
Everyoneâs checklist will look different based on where they are in the wealth-building process. Think of it like a continuum. Most medical professionals go through these stages:
Roth or Traditional 401(k)? Here's What I Tell Every Medical Professional
Choosing between traditional and Roth contributions to your 401(k) or 403(b) isnât just a random checkboxâit could mean tens of thousands of dollars saved or lost across your career.
Letâs break down what actually matters in 2025 and beyond.
The key thing to remember: Your 401(k) or 403(b) is one account, but it can have both traditional and Roth âbucketsâ inside. In 2025, your total contribution cap is $23,500âwhether you do Roth, traditional, or a mix of both.
And noâthis has nothing to do with your Roth IRA. Entirely separate thing.
Youâve seen the headlines. Youâve heard the stats.
But letâs get real⌠will AI actually take your job as a PA or NP?
And more importantly: what can you do right now to protect your income, career, and long-term freedom?
Letâs break it all down without the fearmongering.
AI is already shaking up industries, with projections estimating 85 million to 800 million jobs displaced by 2030.
In medicine, specialties like radiology and pathology are already seeing massive shifts.
But what about PAs and NPs?
Hereâs the good news:
You probably wonât be replaced.
But your job will changeâand those who adapt will thrive.
AI disruption isnât all-or-nothing. The most important question is:
How much of your job can be automated?
Examples of automatable roles:
Youâve probably heard it already:
âTrump wants to give your kid a thousand bucks.â
And if youâre a medical professional trying to build wealth for your family, youâre probably wondering:
Letâs break it down... money-first, politics-neutral.
This account is part of the One Big Beautiful Bill thatâs officially passed and signed into law.
The details are still murky, but here is what the Trump Account for kids plans to offer:
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$1,000 in seed money for kids born in a specific time window from the federal government
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Up to $5,000/year in parental contributions allowed
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Tax-deferred growth
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Tax breaks (specifically taxed at capital gains rates rather than ordinary income brackets) if the money is used for:
But if the money is used for anything else?
Ordinary income tax + a 10% penalty.
Sounds Good⌠But How ...
If you're a medical professional and either have kids or want kids someday, you've probably wondered:
Let me show you how weâre doing it.
Iâve set up a system where both of my kids will be millionaires by the time theyâre 35âand it doesnât require hundreds of thousands of dollars.
It just takes intention, a few monthly contributions, and the right accounts.
Let me be clear:
You donât need to hit millionaire status for this to be worth it.
Even if you can only do a fraction of this plan, you're still setting your kid up with a financial launchpad that most of us never had.
Even $100/month over time = six figures by adulthood. Thatâs still a huge win.
But if you do want to go all in, hereâs exactly how weâre making millionaire status happen by age 35:
We start with a UTMA account (Uniform Transfers to Minors Account)â
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Itâs flexible
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Itâs taxable
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And the mone...
The fastest way to wreck your finances as a medical professional?
Buying the wrong house.
Iâve seen it too many timesâPAs, NPs, and PharmDs rushing into homeownership, only to end up house-poor, underinvested, and stuck in golden handcuffs for decades.
So if youâre dreaming of buying a home in the next 1, 2, or even 5 years, letâs walk through what really matters when it comes to buying a house without sabotaging your future freedom.
Step 1: Donât Start With the House
Donât start by asking what kind of house you want.
Start with: âWhat can I safely afford each month?â
This is one of the biggest money moves youâll ever makeâespecially if youâre not planning to become a real estate investor. Youâve got to get this right.
Step 2: Calculate Your Max Monthly Housing Expense
Hereâs the formula I use:
1ď¸âŁ Take your gross annual household income (pre-tax)
2ď¸âŁ Divide by 12 to get monthly income
3ď¸âŁ Multiply by 0.2 (thatâs 20%)
That number = your max monthly housing cost
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If youâre buying:...
I recently asked a room full of medical professionals, âWho here wants to work full-time until theyâre 65?â Crickets.
No one dreams of spending four decades buried in EMRs and shift work. Most of us want optionsâwhether thatâs retiring early, reducing hours, or just being able to walk away if burnout hits hard. I find very few medical professionals donât have a desire to never do medicine again - they just want control.
But hereâs the truth no one tells you:
To have that freedom, youâre going to need a lot more money than you think.
Letâs break down what financial independence really takesâand how to actually hit that number.
Financial independence means your assets pay for your lifeâforever. Youâre not relying on your job, youâre not dependent on anyone else, and you get to decide how you spend your time.
You can build that a few different ways: