Is it actually too late to catch up if you did not start investing seriously until later in your career?

In this episode, Dr. Jim Dahle answers a listener's honest question about starting late and wanting to retire within a couple of years. He walks through why there is no real shortcut, the math works the same for everyone, but there are still concrete levers you can pull: tightening your budget, making sure your accounts and investments are actually optimized, reconsidering your asset allocation, and in some cases taking on a reasonable amount of leverage.

Jim also covers tools that can help someone with limited time before retirement stretch their income further, including single premium immediate annuities and TIPS ladders, both of which can lock in guaranteed income and reduce sequence of returns risk. He explains why working just a few extra years can dramatically improve nearly every part of the retirement equation at once, more savings, more compound growth, higher Social Security payments, and a shorter retirement to fund.

The episode also covers a contract review correction, an introduction to turnkey real estate investing for out of state properties, and a detailed breakdown of tax loss harvesting, including when long short direct indexing might or might not be worth the added complexity.

Starting late does not mean it is too late. It just means the plan has to be built around the time and resources you actually have.

Today's episode is brought to us by SoFi, the folks who help you get your money right. Paying off student debt quickly and getting your finances back on track isn't easy, but that's where SoFi can help — they have exclusive, low rates designed to help medical residents refinance student loans—and that could end up saving you thousands of dollars, helping you get out of student debt sooner. SoFi also offers the ability to lower your payments to just $100 a month* while you're still in residency. And if you're already out of residency, SoFi's got you covered there too.

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The White Coat Investor Podcast launched in January 2017, and since then, millions have downloaded it. Join your fellow physicians and other high income professionals and subscribe today! Host, Dr. Jim Dahle, is a practicing emergency physician and founder of The White Coat Investor blog. Like the blog, The White Coat Investor Podcast is dedicated to educating medical students, residents, physicians, dentists, and similar high-income professionals about personal finance and building wealth, so they can ultimately be their own financial advisor-or at least know enough to not get ripped off by a financial advisor. We tackle the hard topics like the best ways to pay off student loans, how to create your own personal financial plan, retirement planning, how to save money, investing in real estate, side hustles, and how everyone can be a millionaire by living WCI principles.

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WCI #485: What to Do If You Are Behind on Retirement Savings

White Coat Investor Podcast

WCI #485: What to Do If You Are Behind on Retirement Savings