Episode 128: New Attending Money Map – Where Your First Savings Dollars Should Actually Go

In Episode 128 of Doctor’s Wealth and Wellness answers the natural follow-up question from new attendings who are ready to start saving: exactly where the first $1,000 should go. It lays out a practical Money Map for the first one to three years—first capture the full employer 401(k)/403(b) match (an instant 50–100% return), then build a modest one-to-three-month starter emergency fund in a high-yield savings account in parallel, and finally direct additional dollars into a taxable brokerage account for maximum flexibility on goals such as a house down payment or career break. The episode stresses that directing early dollars to these highest-impact places—and protecting them from lifestyle inflation—gives compound interest the cleanest possible runway, and it challenges listeners to take one concrete step on the map this week. Examples in this episode are hypothetical and not representative of a specific individual.