An excerpt from Clinical Trials: How Successful Doctors Navigate the Constantly Changing Medical System to achieve Financial Well Being.

There is a common assumption that following a successful medical career, the logical next step is to sail off into the sunset and enjoying a life of luxury. This may be the case for some, but what do you want out of life, including for your retirement? Many of these matters, even the non-financial aspects such as spending time with your family, have a financial implication. It is time to consider how to enable you to sail off into their sunset, whatever that may mean.

Working out your life priorities requires a defined objective. While this need not be exact or final, as this may change or evolve over time, the clearer and more defined the objective the better. Without this first step, the tendency is to focus on process and actions, and the ultimate goal can become the accumulation of wealth with no thought as to why and, importantly, no ability to calculate how much is enough.

As much as wealth management is about financial decisions, it is also really about personal choices and aspirations to live the “good life.” Of course, the good life means different things to different people and varies throughout the ages. Readers of the classics would recognize the divergence between Aristotelian ideals and aspirations whereby the satisfaction of desires and the acquisition of material goods is less important than the achievement of virtue, and those commonly held today. Asking such questions before retirement is helpful, as aside from financial matters, it provides time to think about other personal goals when the novelty of unrestricted golf starts to wear off. Although many people fall into retirement or have it forced upon them due to external factors, perhaps slowly winding down work is preferred. This chapter raises issues and questions that many who have been through this process have found beneficial.

It is often said that baby boomers will redefine retirement. Much of this is a superficial description of a commonly held stereotype. Baby boomers may redefine retirement in some ways, but not necessarily for the commonly cited reasons. When asking what doctors want out of life and retirement, there is a great diversity in their answers. The general impression from our discussions suggests that there is a shift away from thinking in terms of a definite end date for full-time work. Notably, we are having more and more discussions about philanthropy, volunteering opportunities and part-time work options, indicating a subtle shift to what to do in retirement rather than when to start retirement.

From our interviews, survey and informal discussions, we have regularly come across these comments about life priorities and the reason for working:

• private school education for kids
• university education (for children)
• helping kids buy their first homes and enter the housing market
• assisting elderly parents if they are less well off
• an example to kids: to teach them the value of money

Throughout the process of putting together this white paper and interviewing medical professionals, outside of the often unstated assumption of the desire to live comfortably, the main focus was family. This even extended to general comments around their grandchildren, and the desire for their professional and financial success to create a multi-generational legacy. Parents clearly want the best for their children, but the greater their success, the harder it can be for their children to achieve to the same level, both professionally and financially. Not wanting to see their grandchildren missing out on the opportunities they were able to provide for their children, there is often a desire to step in and assist with things such as private school fees and other activities where necessary.

In our discussions about personal financial organization, the focus on family interests and wellbeing was clear. However, there were not always longer-term plans in place. Most participants remarked that their career is highly structured and planned from almost the day they entered high school, with most other factors fitting in around these plans. The medical training experience contrasts with personal financial organization where one respondent reflected it was a “fend for yourself” type situation.

Various issues can arise if life after work is not considered or planned to the same extent as your career. The adjustment can be extremely difficult. The year or two prior to retirement may be cutting it fine, although it is certainly better to start then rather than not plan at all. By that point of your life, you may be running a department or successful practice and in charge of a number of junior doctors, all the while sitting on various panels. The adjustment phase can be particularly acute as many doctors have been defined by their work (status and prestige of a career in medicine), so what happens when you hang up the stethoscope or scalpel?

Unfortunately, depression for doctors is also prevalent in retirement. The beyondblue National Mental Health Survey of Doctors and Medical Students report contains information that shows depression is not limited to doctors in training or in practice. Of the retired doctors who responded to the survey, 8.1 percent were currently diagnosed with depression, a rate that was one-third higher than for their practicing colleagues. While the contributing factors for depression during medical school and when practicing medicine are becoming better understood (and discussed in a more open manner), issues surrounding depression in retired doctors is not that well known.

Associate Professor Peter Gonski, writing about a study which looked at pre- and post-retirement of medical professionals, noted that: “Retirement, if not planned, can be seen as a loss and sometimes a failure, particularly if there is an attempt to fill life with new ventures that are not really of much interest to the individual. Failure is not something many doctors are used to.”

The timing of retirement or perhaps just a reduction in workload is also a choice, but the options may narrow if the decision is left too late and appropriate preparation has not occurred.

David Hazlewood is a certified financial planner in Australia and author of Clinical Trials: How Successful Doctors Navigate the Constantly Changing Medical System to achieve Financial Well Being.