Editorial Policy

Who writes this

FIRE in Scrubs has two cofounders. One is Mo, a board-certified emergency medicine attending who writes under a pen name and also runs RetireAt40MD. The other is Brion, RN, a registered nurse who reviews the nursing pages and writes for the site.

Each guide’s byline says who wrote it, and “My take” on a page is that writer’s opinion. Neither of us is a financial advisor, CPA, attorney or insurance agent. More on the about page.

Where the facts come from

We check facts in this order:

1. Primary sources

   The IRS, the Department of Labor, the Social Security Administration, StudentAid.gov, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the law or regulation itself.

2. The documents that govern your money

   Plan documents, insurance contracts and your employer’s benefits guide, because the contract beats the brochure.

3. Reputable secondary sources

   Surveys from professional groups for nurse anesthetists (AANA), PA certification (NCCPA), pharmacy schools (AACP), dental schools (ADEA) and dentists (ADA) for pay, debt and work patterns, and trusted explainers to check our reading of the rules, never to replace them.

Survey numbers come with their limits stated. For example, the federal pay data for dentists leaves out self-employed practice owners, and there’s no national survey of CRNA student debt. When a number is our own arithmetic from a source, we say so.

Numbers you can rebuild

Every table lists its assumptions underneath it: the return (usually 5% a year after inflation), whether figures are in today’s dollars, and what’s left out, like taxes, fees or Social Security. We recompute the tables before publishing and again when we update a page.

Dates and fast-moving rules

• Each page says when its numbers were last checked.
• Contribution limits, brackets and phase-outs change every year. When the IRS publishes the next year’s figures, we update the calculators and the pages that quote them. We don’t publish projected limits as facts.
• Rules in motion, like the 2026 student loan changes, court cases over loan forgiveness and the overtime deduction for 2025 through 2028, get an “as of” date and a check every few months.
• When we’re not sure how a tax or legal rule applies, we say so and point you to a CPA or attorney instead of guessing.

Opinions are labeled

When something is a judgment rather than a fact, like which account to fill first or whether to count a dental practice in your FIRE number, it starts with “My take.”

Calculators

The calculators give estimates, not filing figures. Each one lists its assumptions and what it leaves out. They run in your browser, and the numbers you type aren’t sent to us. The privacy policy has the details.

How the site makes money

Through affiliate links. When a page links to a financial product or service that pays us a commission if a reader signs up or buys through that link, here’s how we keep that from steering what you read:

• Every affiliate link is labeled on the page where it appears, next to the link itself, so you never have to find this page to know.
• Commissions don’t change the math. The tables, the order of the accounts and every “My take” come out the same whether or not a link pays us.
• Free options stay in. If something free or cheaper fits most readers better, the page says so, even though it pays nothing.

When either of us shares the site or a product on social media, in email or in person, we say that we run FIRE in Scrubs, and that a link pays us if it does.

If the site ever adds ads or sponsored content, this section will say so, and they’ll be labeled on the page the same way.

Corrections

If a page was wrong, we fix it and note the date and what changed at the bottom of that page. If a rule changed after we published, that’s noted too, as an update. To report an error, email retireat40md@gmail.com with the page and the line.

Review

Brion, RN, reviews the pages written for nurses. Each page he has reviewed names him and gives the date. He’s a cofounder, so this is an inside review by a nurse, not an independent one.

For NPs, PAs, CRNAs, pharmacists and dentists, no one from the profession reviews pages yet. We’d like that to change. Outside reviewers will be named, with their permission, on the pages they review.

Everything on FIRE in Scrubs is education. It isn’t personalized financial, tax, legal or insurance advice. Talk to a professional about your own situation.

Last updated October 2026.