Stanley Liu is a self-employed cardiologist and a flat-fee-only, 100 percent fiduciary financial planner who has passed the CFP examination. He is the founder of DocEmpowered, LLC, a financial planning firm dedicated to helping physicians gain the financial power to serve their patients, families, and communities on their own terms.
Dr. Liu combines his clinical and financial expertise to help fellow doctors pursue greater wellness, autonomy, and alignment in their personal and professional lives. Clinically, he practices in locum tenens and value-based care settings on his own terms. He also serves as advocacy chair of the Maryland chapter of the American College of Cardiology and is an award-winning medical educator.
Drawing on both personal experience as a physician and professional training in financial planning, Dr. Liu helps other physicians build careers and lives that prioritize health, marriage, family, patients, and community. He shares more at DocEmpowered, LinkedIn, Facebook, and X.
Many physicians believe they can’t escape burnout or an unsustainable career until they’ve become financially independent. Thankfully, it’s not true.
The idea of financial independence (FI) is simple: build enough wealth such that earned income becomes optional. For financial planners, financial independence is a mathematical problem to solve. I might be able to run your numbers in a Monte Carlo analysis and demonstrate you have, say, an 84 percent chance of …
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The sweet spot before physician financial independence
What if pursuing wealth and pursuing purpose aren’t competing goals, but two essential components of a fulfilling career and life? When I speak to fellow physicians about their financial lives, the conversation usually focuses on either:
- The strategies and tactics of building wealth
- The purpose to which we would devote our lives if money weren’t a factor
It is rare that I have a conversation that encompasses both. And it’s not …
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Financial freedom for physicians starts with purpose
Most of the time in my work as a financial planner, my job is to help fellow physicians think long-game so they can craft a sustainable career and life they love. Today is different. We are going to focus on the short game and introduce a financial concept I call the “Courage Fund.” If you are hoping to create a more flexible career, and you cannot wait years to develop …
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Unlocking career flexibility with a Courage Fund
Suppose you were offered the following two work opportunities. Which would you choose?
Career A: an acceptable opportunity that pays slightly more than your current job; you’re guaranteed never to make less than you do today.
Career B: a dream opportunity that sings to your soul but comes with no guarantees. While you may make much more than you do today, you could also potentially take a six-figure pay cut.
In other words, …
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Physician career choices come down to risk tolerance
It keeps us up at night. We pay thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars a year to protect ourselves from it. Our hospitals or practices have entire departments dedicated to managing it.
It is “Risk.”
Avoiding risk is an inherent part of modern medicine. Every day, we practice CYA documentation, ensure our patients sign informed consent forms, and do everything we can to minimize the risk that someone will sue us …
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Physician financial risk: Balancing capacity and tolerance
When graduating residents and fellows begin their careers as attending doctors, there is a wealth of financial advice out there. Grow into your salary slowly. Don’t buy a house right away. Get disability insurance. Plan ahead for the tax bomb that always takes attendings by surprise during that half-trainee/half-attending year.
Today, we won’t discuss any of those. We’ll focus instead on a business lesson that you must unlearn …
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The business lesson new doctors must unlearn
In 2025, I celebrated a monumental milestone: I saw a patient within 20 miles of my home. While this may be a daily occurrence for most physicians, it was something I could not do for 18 months due to a non-compete clause from my previous job.
When I left my position as an academic cardiologist, I was bound by a non-compete clause that prevented me from practicing cardiology within …
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5 steps to ride out a non-compete without uprooting your family
