Nuts & bolts of finance

[Lacuna]

I'm a rising 4th year med student. I'll admit that I am clueless when it comes to personal finance. I'm thinking about having a second gig later on (owning a practice, small business) and managing my finances. How can I learn some basic personal finance, taxes, investing and marketing on my free time? Do I...

a) Take some night classes at a local business college
b) Take online courses
c) Read "self-help" books on investing/ finance
d) Do nothing and have fun in 4th year... sweat that stuff later

Thanks!

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[Strength&Speed]

Great question. I'd like to know the answer too. "personal finance for dummies" didn't quite cut it.

 

[mshheaddoc]

Calling all personal finance gurus!
good books
Recommendations for books on personal finance
What books to read for investing?
Financially clueless
Just read rich dad poor dad
Investing books

just search "books" in this forum. I should add this to the sticky.

 

[Quadratic]

You can probably read books to find out what you need to know, but in my experience taking courses reinforce the material more. I'd do about two courses in accounting. Marketing would probably be a waste of your time and money (it isn't too hard to create business cards and hand them out. Also, yellow pages, internet available, etc). Course on investing? Probably way too technical and if you own your own practice, majority of the material you won't need. I'd research mutual funds if I were you, and I'd encourage you to contribute your money toward growth mutual funds.

Good luck.

 

[AndyFromMDTAXES]

How can you learn about personal finance, taxes, investing, marketing, and other non-medical related topics?

Great question. So far, you've spent all your time and effort learning about science and medicine. I bet none of your courses included any information on these other topics.

I would suggest that the best way to learn about these other topics is to spend a little time reading about them each day. If you decide to run a marathon, you don't just go out and run 26.2 miles. Instead, you start by running a few miles each and every day as you build up your base.

As you're well aware, there is a ton of info posted on-line each day. Find a few sites that write business articles geared towards your experience level. Most sites write about a broad range of subjects, so it's a great way to get your feet wet and find out which topics you find the most interesting. (Investopedia, Fool.com, WSJ.com, Yahoo! Finance to name a few.)

I also recommend that you subscribe to Money Magazine. It's generally a relatively easy read on a variety of practical personal financial planning topics.

And when it comes to taxes for doctors, why not subscribe to the monthly e-newsletter at www.mdtaxes.com? We write 2 timely and original articles per month about various tax issues affecting you and your colleagues. (Sorry for the shameless plug.)

Good luck on your quest.