As a medical student, I feel oftentimes like student loans will one day control my life. As someone who has no background in personal finance, I’ve tried to find ways to expedite my learning and start getting on the right track to financial wellness day by day, taking it one step at a time. I am in the learning process, and not an expert of any sort at all.

Just a poor med student trying to find ways to reduce my med school loans and come out debt-free someday. Here are five things I am doing right now on the path towards financial wellness. All of the things below I find that anyone can start doing today if they set their mind to it.

1. Spending Tracker / Budget

Before starting medical school I tried to make a nice budget excel spreadsheet with theoretical spending categories and analyze where my money would end up going and how much I would be spending each year. This was great to have a rough estimate and a big picture overview but didn’t really help on a daily basis. You can get access to my yearly budget template here.

Now what I use is a spending tracker that I input all of my daily expenses into. The moment I buy something, I put it into my app, and I update my monthly recurring expenses like rent or utilities. This keeps me super accountable because I can see where every single dollar goes every month, I have instant access on my phone so when I make a purchase I have trained myself to enter it in the moment. At the end of the month, I can see where I might be overspending and what I can cut out. The app that I use is called “Spending Tracker.” It is super simple and easy, but I’m sure there are many other spending trackers, find the one you like and stick to it every day!

2. Zogo Finance

I think this one is super simple as well, especially for medical students who have minimal background in finance. Growing up, my parents didn’t know much about financial wellbeing, so I didn’t even understand the basics of credit cards, savings accounts, investing, or more. I started using Zogo Finance about a year ago and it has been a great gamified app that teaches me about the basic concepts of financial literacy and allows me to win gift cards for Amazon as I’m learning. The way I see it, it’s a win-win situation. I’m learning and I’m making some money. Playing on the app for even 10-15 minutes a day, every single day has really made a big dent in what I know now versus before regarding finances. Instead of scrolling through Instagram when you’re bored or waiting, whip out Zogo instead.

Help me earn 500 Pineapples on Zogo! Use my code: JAYV6 when you make an account! **https://zogo.app.link/f4kHUPdaklb**

3. The White Coat Investor Books & Podcast

I ran across the White Coat Investor a few years back and started reading his blog and then listening to the podcast. Once you know a bit more about the basics of personal finance, the White Coat Investor focuses on personal finance in the sphere of medical professionals. Although he can discuss topics at a higher level that are more applicable to residents or practicing physicians, it’s great to learn about these topics during medical school so you know what is to come ahead. He touches on topics like addressing student loans, investing, saving, real estate, negotiation contracts, and more!

You can check out the White Coat Investor blog, or the podcast if you like to listen on the go. But, if you’re just a med student like me, who knows almost nothing, I recommend starting from the books!

This is the latest book catered specifically towards medical students and will be the best place to start —> The White Coat Investor’s Guide for Students: How Medical and Dental Students Can Secure Their Financial Future

4. Acorns Investing

Alright, I know what you are thinking. What on earth is investing? Don’t you need to be earning money to do this? I can’t start now. It’s risky. I know nothing.

I felt this exact same way. Overwhelmed. I felt like I didn’t understand the basics of investing and I don’t have any money to put into it. So, that’s why I got started with the Acorns App. The app will ask for your preferences and do the investing for you. But, the great thing is that this is a good place for beginners to start because the app will sync to your credit card and every time you make a purchase it will round up your cents to the next dollar and take that small amount and invest it for you.

I like this for a few reasons. First, it is taking my cents and investing them automatically without me having to think or remember to do something. Second, it is rounding up my purchase to the next dollar and investing only a few cents here and there for me. What this allows me to do, is learn about the basics of investing and see how my money is growing, but it isn’t some huge investment that will lead to tremendous loss. I am using this as a learning tool during medical school to get a better sense of what the market does with my cents so that when I do start making an income during residency I am better prepared to manage that money. Once again, I’m not a financial expert, I’m just making mistakes and learning along the way!

You can learn more about Acorns and how easy it is to invest for your future. Join me and you’ll get a free $5 investment!

5. Apply for Scholarships!

I think this is my favorite tip because absolutely anyone can get out there, search for scholarships and start applying. If you don’t try then you will absolutely never get a scholarship. But if you apply to as many as you can, something will hopefully eventually come through! And if not, at least you learned more about yourself by reflecting on your applications along the way and you’ll be even better prepared when applying for residency.

Medical schools will often offer some internal scholarships to their students, but what I’m talking about is external scholarships. There are many scholarships out there, but they can be particularly hard to find and target for medical students. You can end up spending hours trying to dig through the depths of the internet scavenging for something. So, I’ve decided to do the leg work and share it with everyone! I’ve built a database of close to 100 scholarships and counting! Anyone can access it, quickly search through the eligibility criteria, figure out which ones you are eligible for, and apply! I truly hope this makes scholarship opportunities more accessible for students with the goal of reducing the burden of medical school debt.

You can request access to the scholarship database here.