“Burnout” has been a buzzword circulating in the medical community quite a bit lately. The World Health Organization has just recognized the term as an official medical diagnosis as part of ICD-11.
One moment you’re graduating medical school, full of hope and excitement for residency. The next moment, you’re overly stressed and working insane hours every week. Honestly, it isn’t a huge surprise that nearly half of all physicians …
Two incomes are better than one, right? As we all know, the answer isn’t clear cut. If we have to actively “work” to generate income, we have to balance exchanging time for money. Nothing comes for free. When you throw in a tax system to convolute matters, certain households are actually punished for going into the workforce. There is a delicate balance between each income-earning member and what each profession …
A large percentage of doctors end up switching jobs within the first five years of practice. This really isn’t surprising given that the medical training experience doesn’t necessarily correlate with the medical practice experience. Many doctors work hard throughout their entire training only to realize that their expectations do not necessarily align with reality. Is it our fault that we don’t really know what we got ourselves into?
Perhaps taking q3 …
Most Americans live their lives on borrowed money, constantly spending a little more than they make, leaving them with a growing debt. These debt payments, and the added interest they must pay on their debt, decreases the amount of money that they have available to spend on future needs. Paradoxically, borrowing to buy depreciating items, decreases one’s net worth.
Stop the madness this year. No more spending more than you make. …
I recently graduated from medical school and will soon start residency. Yay! Although I’m happy with my decision to become a doctor, I can’t help but notice that there are several ways that going to medical school and becoming a physician helped — and hurt — my ability to build wealth.
Ways it helped me build wealth:
1. I will have a high income. Most of us doctors will make at least …
Whenever I tell people outside of medicine how bad doctors are with money, they are always shocked. Almost universally, they wonder why we don’t save enough money. They understand that – to become a doctor – you must be hardworking, intelligent, and dedicated to the cause. These are the same attributes – when they are applied correctly – that result in financial success. How in the world can …
As an incoming resident physician, I need disability insurance. Although a group policy is offered through my employer, it doesn’t provide enough coverage to adequately cover my monthly expenses or insure my future income. Thus, I purchased an individual long-term disability insurance policy. This is what I discovered:
1. Disability insurance is expensive. A substantial number of people use disability insurance, so companies raise the price to cover the payouts and ensure …
If you’re planning on applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) and spending the first ten years of your career in academic medicine or working for 501c(3) employers, this scheme could mean paying off your loans six months sooner, saving you an average of $30,000.
Consolidate your loans with your loan servicer and begin one of the income-driven repayment plans (IBR, RE-PAYE, ICR, or PAYE) immediately, foregoing any deferment or grace …
Financial planning is comprised of the six decisions people make with their money. Physicians need to make decisions as to how you earn, spend, save, borrow, give, and protect yours. Home buying typically touches on all of the six money decisions.
Home buying often begins with a mortgage, so you will have to make decisions about borrowing money. You also must earn money or at least have the potential to earn …
Wealth accumulation can follow many trajectories, depending on discipline and external factors like stock market health or economic fluctuations. With a proper financial plan, doctors can stick to a game plan that should allow them to reach financial milestones rather predictably. The adage that wealth begets wealth certainly does hold true most of the time, but it doesn’t necessarily guarantee financial victory. One of the issues with wealth accumulation is …
Geographical arbitrage is a huge component to being able to build wealth in a timely manner. For doctors, the formula for rapid wealth accumulation calls for geographical arbitrage even more strongly as our salaries do not have wide ranges across the country. A doctor in Texas will probably command a similar salary in Arizona (maybe slightly less). A doctor in the midwest might earn more, spend less, and work less …
As resident physicians with a tight budget, one of the last things on our mind is paying for added insurance. Trust me; I get it. However, as a [future] high-income earners, long-term disability insurance is essential. It may not be at the top of our priority list, but it should be.
What is it and who needs it?
Unless you are already financially independent or were lucky enough to have a trust …
Whenever I discuss matters of money and business with medical students and residents, I‘m surprised by the responses: “Zilch, nothing,” or “Are you kidding?” Sadly, our doctors-in-training still receive little to no education in this arena.
There’s a stigma surrounding physicians and money, based largely on fact, which has become a beacon for all sorts of disingenuous, exploitive people who view doctors as over-stuffed pinatas, belly-full of money, ready to be …
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If you’ve ever tried to learn about student loan repayment plans, you might have felt overwhelmed and confused. Instead of spending days researching information — as I did — here’s a summary of the different repayment plans to help you choose the right one.
1. What is the standard repayment plan?
With the standard repayment plan, you will pay off your student loans in 10 years by making “fixed” monthly payments. The …
As someone who can’t stop talking about passive income investments, I inevitably end up having a lot of conversations about investing in real estate.
I’ve heard countless stories of how real estate investing has helped people achieve their goals, but from those who don’t invest, I often hear this objection commonly voiced, “I don’t want to be called in the middle of the night to unclog a toilet.”
What I …
There are only three valid reasons to file an extension on your taxes, which changes your required filing date from April 15th to October 15th. Unfortunately, I see many people who have filed an extension incorrectly or for the wrong reason that end up getting billed by the IRS for interest and penalties. There is no reason anyone should have to pay penalties for late tax filing since correctly filing for …
There was a recent news brief stating that the average internist generates about $2.4 million annually for the hospitals that they work for. While it’s no surprise that doctors help others make money, seeing a figure to your worth hammers home how much we sustain the health care system, often at our own expense.
This means that a hospitalist making $240,000 …
Many physicians are looking for alternative sources of income and are looking for ways to diversify their investment portfolio from the volatility of the stock market. Some have heard of real estate syndications, but what exactly is a syndication? For those who have not heard of it, real estate syndications can be an attractive investment vehicle for busy professionals who do not have the time or experience to actively manage …
I’m a graduating fourth-year medical student, and as most physicians know, this has been one of the best years of my life. I just matched into my top choice residency and am one step closer to becoming a primary care sports medicine physician, my dream job. Many of my classmates have capitalized on this time of excitement by making the controversial decision to buy a home before they start residency. I have not. …
There are some milestones that need to be appropriately celebrated. For the 80% of physicians who graduated with student loan debt, paying those loans off certainly qualifies as such a moment. Everyone has a different way of tackling their student loans. Today, I want to outline how we paid off $200,000 in student loans in 19 months, and then discuss what our plans are to rid ourselves of the rest …
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