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Money matters

Financial security is key to your feeling of wellbeing and being able to achieve your personal and professional goals. As part of looking after the interests of members, which is fundamental to MIPS, we recognise that money does matter so we are providing members with on-demand financial literacy education to meet the needs of healthcare practitioners during their career journey.

Finance knowledge

Living longer in a complex world with a multitude of financial and investment decisions makes it necessary for each of us to develop some fundamental financial knowledge and skills so we can make better financial decisions and be able to understand and weigh-up the financial advices and choices that confront us.

Mastering money management is crucial. Learning how to formulate and live within a monthly budget, planning for future financial needs, creating wealth and understanding how insurance products work are all key areas that need to be addressed.

Most healthcare students and practitioners are inundated with ‘eye-catching’ or ‘alluring’ credit offers with many fully understanding that taking up these offers will impact their credit score and may later negatively impact future loan applications. Responsible lending is predicated on ensuring that credit being offered is appropriate and suitable for the borrower.

Access to good objective financial advice and appropriate financial and credit solutions is critical for healthcare practitioners throughout their careers. Whether funding the incidental costs associated with starting your first job through to purchasing a vehicle or equipment for your practice – informed decision making is essential.

Improve your financial literacy

These on-demand financial literacy education units have been commissioned by MIPS and designed for members of any age or stage of career in conjunction with Kaplan, a leading provider of financial education.

Choose from MIPS’ on-demand financial literacy education.

  • 20 minutes per topic
  • Earn CPD
  • At no cost to members

Debt management

  • Topic 1: Fundamentals of borrowing
  • Topic 2a: Consumer lending
  • Topic 2b: Commercial lending
  • Topic 2c: Debt as an investment
  • Topic 3: Debt strategies
  • Topic 4: Building wealth
  • Topic 5: Risk management

 

 

Get started

Budgeting and Cash Flow

  • Topic 1: Setting your financial goals and objectives
  • Topic 2: Preparing a budget
  • Topic 3: Preparing a cash flow statement and calculating net worth

Get started

Understanding insurance

  • Topic 1: Types of insurance
  • Topic 2: General insurance
  • Topic 3: Life insurance

Get started

 

Case studies

Case study: Relocating

Following her dream to become an obstetrician, Jenny acquired a job with a view to entering the registrar program at Royal Perth Hospital. However, she lived and worked in Melbourne in a share-house with two friends.

Jenny saves some of her income but recently enjoyed a holiday and has been prudently putting some extra money into her superannuation. This meant she had just a few thousand dollars in savings left when she received the job offer. Thinking ahead, Jenny foresaw she’d have expenses in her move to Perth such as transport, storage, bond payment, travel, appliances and furnishings.

Jenny accepted the job and applied and received a loan for up to $20,000. This allowed her to pay for all upfront costs for the move; pay off her high-interest outstanding credit card balance and still have some money left over to put towards upgrading her car to get to and from work.

Once in Perth, she started receiving her regular salary payments from the hospital and quickly began paying off her personal loan repayments.

Case study: When you need a new car

Gökhan is a PGY4 and has been working hard in his job at the hospital as a medical officer. He is ambitious and wants to earn a higher income. To date, he hasn’t been able to secure a registrar position in anaesthesia, his chosen speciality, so intends to continue in his current role for the time being.

To increase his income Gökhan took on locum after-hours work with a home doctor service in addition to his work at the hospital. This meant he had to drive his own car from home to home some evenings and weekends where he wasn’t rostered on. Gökhan’s car broke down one evening when returning from seeing a patient. Fortunately dad came to the rescue. After this incident, Gökhan resolved to purchase a newer, more reliable car.

Gökhan, considered a variety of finance options for buying a car and decided on acquiring a secured -car loan with a 2 year term so he can pay off the debt quickly. In this way, he can choose the car he wants. Gökhan applied for and received a secured car loan.

Case study: Equipment for a dental surgery

Jason spent 10 years working as a general dentist before he decided to make the leap to owning his own practice. He was already working largely independently in a small practice which was part of a suite of serviced offices in a high-rise building. He was one of only two dentists and had taken on the majority of work – the other dentist worked part time and the owner, a former dentist, had retired from dentistry and managed the business largely from home with no intention to either sell the business or invest in a necessary refurbishment.

A vacant office became available in a nearby building and after Jason had ensured that there were no legal restraints he created plans to fit it out to become a dental surgery. He approached a financial institution to assist with his finances.

The institution provided Jason with a loan for computers, office furniture and surgery office fit-out  of $30,000. He also acquired a $300,000 equipment loan (chattel mortgage) for a dental chair, x-ray machine, tools and autoclave as this would prove a tax effective option as the interest payments and depreciation are tax deductible operating expenses.

General advice statement

We hope that the information and general advice we provide will help you make a more informed decision. The information on this website is for general information only and does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs. MIPS is not a financial advisor. You should consider seeking independent legal, financial, taxation or other advice in light of your own circumstances and read the relevant product disclosure statement and financial services guide before you acquire any financial product. If you decide to apply for a product you will be dealing directly with that provider and not with MIPS.