{"id":239754,"date":"2025-10-25T18:41:09","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T18:41:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/239754\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T18:41:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T18:41:09","slug":"is-a-residency-retirement-match-really-that-valuable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/239754\/","title":{"rendered":"Is a Residency Retirement Match Really That Valuable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"By Dr. Josh Daily<\/a>, WCI Columnist<\/p>\n

Over the last couple of years, I\u2019ve noticed a new kind of question cropping up from fourth-year medical students in the personal finance class I co-direct. Just before Match Day<\/a>, they\u2019ll approach me, spreadsheet in hand, and ask:<\/p>\n

\u201cShould I rank the program that offers a retirement match higher?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a good question\u2014and not one I ever considered when I was applying to residency. Back then, an employer retirement match for residents or fellows was practically unheard of. But in recent years, a slow but noticeable shift has occurred. I don\u2019t know of any national data that tracks how many residency and fellowship programs now offer a retirement match, but anecdotally, the number seems to be growing. Still, these programs remain in the clear minority.<\/p>\n

As someone who spends a lot of time thinking about financial wellness in medicine, I wanted to understand the real value of a residency retirement match. So, I ran the numbers.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Financial Power of an Early Match<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s suppose your residency offers a 10% employer match on your salary. That might not sound like much\u2014after all, PGY-1s earn around $67,000 a year\u2014but small contributions made early can grow massively over time.<\/p>\n

Assume a resident earns $67,000 annually and receives a 10% employer match throughout training. What\u2019s that worth by retirement?<\/p>\n

Using current AAMC resident and fellow salary data and conservative assumptions, I modeled the future value of those employer contributions by age 67. All figures are adjusted for inflation and presented in 2025 dollars, using real (after-inflation) investment return rates of 3%, 5%, and 7%. I looked at three-, five-, and seven-year training paths. The results are shown in the figure below:<\/p>\n

\"future<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see:<\/p>\n

A three-year residency match will grow to $132,375 with a 5% real return by retirement.
\nA five-year residency\/fellowship match will grow to $219,869.
\nA seven-year training path would yield $305,752.
\nAt a 7% real return, the value of a seven-year match exceeds $600,000.
\nIf the resident also contributes 10% of their salary and receives the full match, the combined total could exceed $1.2 million.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s a serious head start on retirement savings\u2014especially for money you didn\u2019t even have to earn yourself.<\/p>\n

More information here:<\/p>\n

Financial Benefits During Residency That Are Vastly Underrated and Overrated<\/a><\/p>\n

How Personal Finance Influenced My Residency Rank List<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Use Roth Contributions to Maximize Value<\/p>\n

Most residents are in the lowest tax bracket<\/a> they\u2019ll ever see in their careers. That\u2019s why employer-sponsored Roth retirement plans (like Roth 403(b)s or Roth 401(k)s) are especially valuable during training.<\/p>\n

If you have access to a Roth plan and your institution offers a match, this is the perfect time to take advantage. Not only do you get the match, but your own contributions grow tax-free for decades. Even if you can only contribute a few thousand dollars a year, the long-term impact is profound.<\/p>\n

Think of it this way: a dollar saved in a Roth account during residency could be worth far more than a dollar saved later as an attending.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Should You Choose a Residency Based on a Retirement Match?<\/p>\n

Now for the big question: Should a retirement match affect how you rank programs?<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

My take: all else being equal, yes, go with the program that offers a match. But of course, all else is rarely equal.<\/p>\n

As a fellowship program director myself, I would strongly encourage students to keep the bigger picture in mind. The quality of training, alignment with your long-term goals, culture, and location (especially proximity to family or a support system) matter far more in the long run. A strong program that sets you up for a fulfilling and well-compensated career will more than make up for any missed employer match during residency.<\/p>\n

That said, the match does matter. And it\u2019s not just about the money. Offering a retirement match signals that a program views its trainees as true employees, that they’re worthy of the same benefits offered to attendings and staff.<\/p>\n

More information here:<\/p>\n

From Fourth Year to the Real World: Transitioning from Med School to Residency<\/a><\/p>\n

From Fourth Year to the Real World: An $80,000 Wedding Causes a Downward Spiral<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beyond the Dollars: Behavioral Benefits Matter, Too<\/p>\n

Importantly, the impact of offering a match extends beyond the dollars saved. It encourages earlier participation in retirement savings, reinforces long-term investing habits, and allows residents to gain market experience while the stakes are relatively low. These early lessons\u2014compounding, dollar-cost averaging, staying the course<\/a>\u2014are powerful. And though these behavioral benefits aren\u2019t captured in the financial modeling above, they likely enhance the overall value of retirement match programs considerably.<\/p>\n

\n\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Bottom Line<\/p>\n

I hope we one day reach a point where all residents and fellows are offered the same retirement benefits as their supervising physicians. The cost to institutions is relatively modest, but the long-term benefit to trainees is enormous.<\/p>\n

Until then, if you\u2019re a med student reviewing your rank list\u2014or a resident advising those coming up behind you\u2014know that a retirement match during training is more than just a perk. It’s far more valuable than a better call room, free meals, or premium parking. That said, it should still take a back seat to the quality of education, mentorship, and clinical experience a program offers.<\/p>\n

In the hierarchy of residency benefits, a retirement match is one of the few no-strings-attached investments your future self will thank you for\u2014again and again.<\/p>\n

What do you think? Were you offered a retirement match in residency? How did it affect where you went for training? How much could it have affected your financial journey?\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Dr. Josh Daily, WCI Columnist Over the last couple of years, I\u2019ve noticed a new kind of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":239755,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[112989,45,49,48,133,112990,131,132,59510],"class_list":{"0":"post-239754","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-applying-for-residency","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-ca","11":"tag-canada","12":"tag-finance","13":"tag-financial-calculations","14":"tag-personal-finance","15":"tag-personalfinance","16":"tag-resident-physician"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239754","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=239754"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/239754\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/239755"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=239754"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=239754"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=239754"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}