Coast FIRE Calculator for Doctors
Doctor income and work schedules can change substantially between training, full-time practice and reduced clinical work. Model those stages with your own pay, loan and retirement inputs without relying on specialty salary assumptions.
Your Doctor Coast FIRE Plan
Enter your actual clinical schedule, debt payments, and spending.
Enter net take-home from your pay record rather than a national specialty average.
Loan payment reduces current cash margin; loan balance is not subtracted from Coast assets.
Your Doctor Coast FIRE Position
At age 60, your planned spending of $120,000/yr requires a target portfolio of $3,000,000. With 28 years of compound growth, $924,727 invested today will grow to that target with zero further contributions.
Doctor Coast FIRE Path by Clinical Schedule
Compare portfolio trajectories from age 32 to 60
What If You Reduce Clinical Work?
FTE & Schedule ReducerCompare full-time clinical practice with a reduced schedule (e.g. 0.8 FTE, 4-day week) using your actual contract pay.
FTE Guardrail: Compensation does not automatically scale 1-to-1 with FTE due to admin duties, call stipends, and contract minimums. Enter your actual expected pay.
What If You Stop Taking Call or Extra Shifts?
Call & Shift ModelerIsolate the financial effect of call stipends or moonlighting shifts from your core clinic schedule.
What Changes After Training?
Trainee ProgressionModel investment growth during residency/fellowship and the step-up in contributions as an attending doctor.
Why Use a Doctor-Specific Coast FIRE Calculator?
Doctors can enter retirement saving later after medical school and residency, and compensation may depend on clinical FTE, shifts, call or productivity. This calculator separates those career variables from the Coast FIRE target so you can test changes without assuming a national doctor salary.
Doctor Careers Can Have Multiple Financial Stages
Medical training, attending work and reduced clinical schedules can involve different income and retirement-contribution patterns. Modeling those periods separately avoids treating a doctor career as one fixed salary from today through retirement.
Student Loans Affect Cash Flow Differently From Retirement Assets
A required loan payment can reduce the amount available each month for other goals. The outstanding loan balance is kept separate from the Coast FIRE portfolio so the calculator does not mix a liability with retirement assets.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I model going from 1.0 FTE to 0.8 or 0.6 FTE as a doctor?
Yes. Enter the actual take-home pay and retirement contribution for each schedule. The calculator should not assume doctor compensation changes in exact proportion to the FTE percentage.
How do I model dropping call without reducing my clinic schedule?
Keep the clinical schedule unchanged and remove only the take-home income and retirement contribution associated with call. This isolates the financial effect of the call-pay change.
I am still in residency or fellowship. Should I enter an assumed attending salary?
No salary estimate is required for the Coast FIRE target. Use your current investments and optionally enter your own expected post-training contribution scenario rather than a national attending-income assumption.
Should medical-school loan debt be subtracted from my Coast FIRE investments?
Not automatically. Keep retirement investments and loan balances separate. Use the required loan payment in current cash flow, while the Coast FIRE portfolio contains only assets designated for retirement.
How should I model PSLF if I reduce hours or change doctor employers?
Use current information from Federal Student Aid to verify employer eligibility and qualifying-payment status. The calculator should not predict whether a future employment arrangement will satisfy PSLF requirements.
What if part of my doctor compensation depends on RVUs, productivity or bonuses?
Keep base and variable compensation separate. Run a base-only scenario and another using the variable take-home amount you choose instead of treating future productivity income as guaranteed.
Can I model moonlighting or locums income after reducing my main clinical schedule?
Yes. Enter the expected take-home income and months worked separately. The calculator can show its cash-flow and contribution effect without assuming the work or income will continue.
Verified Sources & Methodology
Physicians and Surgeons occupational entry requirements, residency duration, and variable clinical hours
Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) eligibility rules, eligible loans, and qualifying employment
Federal annual retirement limits and separate elective deferral rules for healthcare practitioners
Medical student education debt data, repayment resources, and physician financial profiles
Fisher equation real return compounding and living expense cash flow modeling
Use the Right Calculator for the Next Question
Move between the main calculator, focused tools, and plain-English guides without changing the site experience.
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