Early retirement is becoming a serious goal for more and more physicians. Whether motivated by burnout, a desire for flexibility, or the pursuit of something beyond clinical work, stepping away from medicine in your 40s or 50s—on your own terms—is an increasingly realistic ambition. But turning that goal into reality requires a disciplined approach to finances and lifestyle planning.
Rethinking Retirement
For physicians, “early retirement” doesn’t necessarily mean never working again. It might mean leaving full-time practice, transitioning to part-time or telemedicine, or shifting into teaching or entrepreneurial ventures. What matters most is clarity. Understanding what you want life to look like after medicine determines how much money you’ll need, how long it has to last, and how aggressively you need to save.
The Financial Hurdles
Physicians face a unique financial lifecycle. Most don’t earn a full salary until their early 30s, and that can come alongside a large student loan balance. Once income begins to rise, lifestyle inflation can follow. Pair that with high tax exposure and a late start to building wealth, and it’s easy to see why early retirement will require a deliberate strategy and disciplined following.
Adding to the challenge is the “retirement gap,” or the years before Social Security and Medicare eligibility when physicians must fully fund their own living and health care expenses. That makes tax-efficient investing, portfolio construction, and liquidity planning especially critical.
Saving With Purpose
A high savings rate is the foundation of early retirement. For physicians, that typically means saving 30% to 50% of income, well beyond traditional retirement benchmarks. This requires managing lifestyle costs and automating savings into a mix of tax-deferred accounts (401(k), 403(b), 457(b)), Roth IRAs (often via backdoor contributions), and taxable investment accounts that offer more flexibility before age 59½.
Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), if available, are another powerful tool. When used strategically, they can serve as a triple tax-advantaged vehicle to cover medical costs in early retirement.
Investing for Growth and Efficiency
Saving aggressively is only part of the equation. Your portfolio also needs to grow—and it needs to do so in a tax-efficient way. Low-cost index funds, tax-managed ETFs, and municipal bonds are often cost-efficient options for managing your investments. Asset location is just as important: tax-inefficient assets like bonds are better held in retirement accounts, while stocks and ETFs with lower turnover can go in taxable ones. A financial advisor can help you think through what an appropriate investment plan looks like for your individual circumstances and goals.
Planning ahead for how you’ll draw from your accounts is also key. Many early retirees use strategies like Roth conversions during low-income years or 72(t) distributions (SEPPs) to avoid penalties on early withdrawals. Others build a “bridge account”—a taxable investment portfolio that funds expenses before retirement accounts are accessible. The right advisor can also help you plan for how to approach your wealth draw down in retirement.
Don’t Forget Healthcare
One of the biggest unknowns in early retirement is health care. Without employer coverage or access to Medicare, early retirees must plan for private insurance premiums, high deductibles, and out-of-pocket costs. Budgeting for these expenses—and using HSAs or other tax-advantaged tools—can make a major difference in long-term sustainability.
Avoiding Common Mistakes
Even high earners can misstep. Underestimating expenses, ignoring tax planning, or assuming investment returns will stay high can jeopardize a well-crafted plan. Many physicians overlook how changing tax laws or their own career trajectories can affect their retirement timeline. Others forget to plan for the emotional transition that comes with stepping away from a long-standing professional identity.
Working with a financial advisor who understands the unique landscape of physician finances can help avoid these pitfalls and keep the plan on track through career changes, market cycles, and evolving goals.
The Takeaway
Early retirement isn’t about abandoning medicine—it’s about creating more options. For physicians, achieving it requires clarity, discipline, and proactive financial planning. It means saving with purpose, investing wisely, minimizing taxes, and thinking creatively about how you want your future to look. The sooner you begin that process, the more power you have to shape it.
If you have questions about financial planning for your goals and future, please reach out to a Curi Capital advisor today.
The opinions and analyses expressed in this newsletter are based on Curi RMB Capital, LLC’s (“Curi RMB”) research and professional experience are expressed as of the date of our mailing of this newsletter. Certain information expressed represents an assessment at a specific point in time and is not intended to be a forecast or guarantee of future results, nor is it intended to speak to any future time periods. Curi RMB makes no warranty or representation, express or implied, nor does Curi RMB accept any liability, with respect to the information and data set forth herein, and Curi RMB specifically disclaims any duty to update any of the information and data contained in this newsletter. The information and data in this newsletter does not constitute legal, tax, accounting, investment or other professional advice. Returns are presented net of fees. An investment cannot be made directly in an index. The index data assumes reinvestment of all income and does not bear fees, taxes, or transaction costs. The investment strategy and types of securities held by the comparison index may be substantially different from the investment strategy and types of securities held by your account. RMB Asset Management is a division of Curi RMB Capital.
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