Essential Money Lessons from the Doctor Who Wrote the Curriculum

What are the most critical personal finance pillars that have the greatest impact on our financial wellbeing?

In this episode, we sit down with Dr. Steph Zhou, the creator of the mandatory financial literacy curriculum for medical students at the University of Toronto. Dr. Steph shares the core components she identified through her research that have the greatest impact on our financial well-being.

What You Will Learn in This Episode

• The Core Pillars of Personal Finance: Discover the critical components of financial literacy that we should all focus on mastering.

• The Power of Expense Tracking: Why budgeting and/or tracking your expenses is essential, regardless of whether you are a lower-income earner or a highly paid professional.

• Practical Systems for Busy People: How Dr. Steph manages her finances as a doctor and mother, and the exact strategies she teaches her students.

• Debt vs. Investing Frameworks: Practical approaches to answer the classic question of whether you should pay off your debt first, invest, or do a combination of the two.

• Rethinking the Emergency Fund: How to best view your emergency fund, especially if you struggle with the opportunity cost of leaving cash on the sidelines instead of earning a higher return in the markets.

About Dr. Steph Zhou

Dr. Steph Zhou is the founder of the annual Physicians Financial Wellness conference, a national philanthropic event focused on financial education and practice management for physicians. Her work in improving economic mobility through financial literacy earned her Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women award and the Ascend Canada Social Impact Award. You can find more of her financial education content on her popular Instagram and YouTube channel, Breaking Bad Debt.