Number 10 should be Number 1. My spouse and I never planned anything financial (except his contributions to SEP IRA), and after 38 years, he was wondering if he was ever going to retire.

He got smart and researched about financial planners. He reached out to a financial planner who works almost exclusively with physicians, and it was the best decision he/we made.

After taking into account all of our financial data using a very long questionnaire, he concluded my spouse will be able to retire in less than a year. We never would have thought that.

Wish we would have been smarter decades ago. It would have saved a ton of anxiety, frustration, and perhaps even a bit of depression.