Tess Zigo, CFP, CPA-Emerge Wealth Strategies

05/19/2026

When your attending paycheck finally hits…

…and U.S. Treasury already took its cut.

05/18/2026

Happy Monday!!
I see you...😀

Thanks for all the Dentists for taking care of our oral health.

And remember, your financial health is our priority!! 🫶

05/15/2026

Fairly accurate?

05/15/2026

🩺Physician Starter Pack

• Student loans
• Coffee
• Scrubs
• Pager alerts at 2AM
• IRS forms
• “I’ll start investing once life settles down”

Then the attending paycheck finally arrives…

and you realize...
✔ taxes (Did anyone tell you you'd be giving up almost a third of your earnings between F**A taxes, federal and state tax?)
✔ daycare (no wonder so many folks quit their job to care for their kids, right?)
✔ mortgage payments
✔ disability insurance (no, not the place to nickel and dime)
✔ retirement savings (welp, social security is simply not going to be enough to pay for retirement)
✔ student loan payments (aka another mortgage)

Most physicians spend years becoming experts in medicine, but almost no time learning how to coordinate all the moving parts of their financial life.

And honestly? That overwhelm is completely normal.

Financial planning for physicians isn’t just about investing. It’s about creating clarity in the middle of a very busy life.

Physicians… accurate or not? 😄

05/14/2026

"Nobody cares how much you know until they know how much you care."

True or false?

05/10/2026

Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there 🥰

05/06/2026

🚨 PSA for business owners: The IRS- yes, that IRS-will literally pay you to start a retirement plan for your team. Wild, I know!!

The same agency that audits you for misplacing a receipt from 2019 is over here handing out money like a wealthy aunt at Christmas.

But it's real, and it's called the Retirement Plans Startup Costs Tax Credit. Here's how it works:
✅ Got 50 or fewer employees? The IRS covers 100% of your eligible startup costs — up to $5,000 a year, for THREE years. That's potentially $15,000 just for setting up a 401(k), SEP, or SIMPLE IRA.
✅ Add auto-enrollment? Bonus $500/year for 3 more years. Free money for checking a box. 📦✔️ (but your employees are now enrolled in the plan, so if you have a Safe Harbor Plan you are forced to contribute).
✅ Make contributions to your employees' accounts? You can get up to $1,000 PER employee back as a tax credit in the early years (with phase out over the 5 years to 0 at year 6).
✅ Hire a military spouse and put them in the plan? Yep, additional credit for that too. 🇺🇸

The catch? You actually have to implement A PLAN.
So basically: take care of your employees' future, build a benefit that helps you attract and keep good people, AND get paid by Uncle Sam to do it. This is the rare triple-win where everyone — including your future self — wins.

📚 Don't take my word for it, read straight from the source: https://www.irs.gov/retirement-plans/retirement-plans-startup-costs-tax-credit

(File Form 8881 with your taxes. Talk to your CPA and your Financial Advisor). 💌

Eligible employers may be able to claim a tax credit of up to $5,000, for three years, for the ordinary and necessary costs of starting a SEP, SIMPLE IRA or qualified plan (like a 401(k) plan.) A tax credit reduces the amount of taxes you may owe on a dollar-for-dollar basis.

04/02/2026

In almost every couple I work with, there’s a dynamic like this:

One partner tracks every dollar, wears the same clothes since 1999 and saves 30% of their income.

The other has daily Amazon deliveries. 🥳

And then they marry each other.

Tag the spender in your relationship 🤣

04/02/2026

One of my dental clients made about $350K last year (Sole prop, Schedule C, no employees).

We maxed out their 401(k) at $23,500 as employee deferral.
Using a strategy called the Mega Backdoor Roth, we moved an additional $46,500 into a Roth account — on top of their regular contributions.

How? Your solo 401(k) has a total contribution limit of $72,000 (for 2026). Most dentists only take advantage of pre-tax contributions. The gap between that and $72,000 can be filled with after-tax contributions, then converted to Roth.
$47,500/year at 8% over 30 years = roughly $5.38 million. Tax-free.

AND Contributions made on a Roth basis are not tax-deductible; therefore, they do not reduce QBI. You won't get an immediate tax break on the contribution itself, but you preserve the full 20% QBI deduction.

*Your plan document must allow both after-tax contributions AND in-plan Roth conversions for this to work.
*You also need to have the cash flow/excess cash to contribute at this level.

04/01/2026

The best part of my job isn’t investments.

It’s relationships.

Watching clients:

• pay off loans
• buy their first home
• grow their practice
• build real wealth so they don't have to trade time for $s

That’s the rewarding part.

So if you're still confused about whether to "index" or not and what "alpha" means, you need an advisor.