Physician Finance

Physicians writing on KevinMD about their own money and the business of practice: student loans and forgiveness, disability and life insurance, index funds and retirement accounts, whether to hire an advisor, financial independence and retiring early, side income and real estate, contracts and negotiation, selling a practice to private equity, and leaving insurance for direct primary care. Three maintained records draw on this archive: Physician personal finance: what physicians say about their own money, in their own words, Private equity and corporate medicine: what physicians say, in their own words, and Direct primary care: what physicians say, in their own words.

Physicians: Why you need a personal board of directors

Brent Lacey, MD

Physician Finance

December 31, 2019

Why do you need professional advisors?

If you were the CEO of a company pulling in $15 million in top-line revenue, you wouldn’t be managing that organization by yourself, right?

You’d have a team of trusted professional advisors in your “C-suite” to help you manage the business. You would have a director of human resources, a chief operations officer, a chief financial officer, and probably ten other people to manage different parts …

A physician’s favorite money quotes for the holiday season

Altelisha Taylor, MD, MPH

Physician Finance

December 12, 2019

This is one of my favorite times of the year. Thanksgiving dinner with my family, cool air that calls for cute winter clothes, and holiday festivities that invoke the spirit of love and positivity. As we embark on this season, inevitable holiday sales may tempt us more than we can imagine. In order to deal with this temptation and stay within our budgets, we may need a little motivation to …

5 tax moves physicians should make before December 31st

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

December 6, 2019

As physicians, we find ourselves in higher tax brackets than the majority of Americans. With the graduated tax system here in the U.S., the more we make, the higher the percentage of taxes we owe. That is not just because of the tax brackets, but also because many tax write-offs are phased out as income climbs, creating a compounding effect.

There are things we can do to decrease our tax burden. …

Physicians are usually adulting in every other aspect of their life except money

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

November 28, 2019

This week my wife and I celebrated our 31st wedding anniversary. It made me think about how my life has changed from when I was a single freshman in college. A time when I didn’t always do the right thing. I knew it was against both the law and school policy to drink alcohol at my age during a frat party, but I sometimes did it anyway.

We know we have moved …

3 reasons every physician investor should consider self-storage as part of their alternative investment portfolio

Kris Benson

Physician Finance

November 28, 2019

We talk with a lot of physicians every day who ask us a simple question. “Why should I invest in self-storage?” Obviously, as a self-storage operator, we are biased, but there are three data points that we believe make this a fantastic asset class for physicians to evaluate for their own portfolios.

Wait a minute, self-storage is a legitimate asset class? Some statistics on the self-storage industry that may surprise you. …

The problem with reducing physician salaries

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

November 18, 2019

Health care is big business, with medical practices vying for contracts, hospitals undergoing facelifts in order to cater to patient experiences, and insurance companies making deals with pharmacies. Some of these arrangements are negotiated in the name of reducing health care spending, but there has to be some skepticism when for-profit entities are implicated. Physician salaries aren’t exactly growing with inflation—some fields have had massive cuts in spending over the …

A physician’s guide to frequent flyer rewards

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

November 13, 2019

I recently read an article called “Inefficiency and luxury” in which the author stated that he has never tried to get any frequent flyer rewards, and in fact doesn’t even have a frequent flyer number. This statement left me a bit confused when I first read it. I’m not one who likes to leave money lying on the table. Then he …

Why physicians should never try to time the market

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

November 9, 2019

I read a Facebook post asking what people were doing about a recent market drop. As much as I watch the market (very rarely), I didn’t know the market had dropped until I read that comment. This question was raised on a site that is constantly teaching people that there is no way to time the market. Those who follow me always agree with this concept, until the market drops, …

How compensation can affect physician burnout

Sneha Mantri, MD, Andrew Spector, MD, and Nada El Husseini, MD

Physician Finance

November 7, 2019

Burnout in medicine has reached epidemic proportions. A recent systematic analysis found that the prevalence of burnout was as high as 80.5%. All medical specialties are affected, although prevalence rates of burnout vary widely between specialties.

Classically, burnout is defined as a triad of emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, and inefficacy. Recently, moral distress or moral injury has also been recognized as a potential component of Read more…

How compensation can affect physician burnout

The doctors guide to making a good real estate offer

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

November 4, 2019

An excerpt from The Doctors Guide to Real Estate Investing for Busy Professionals.

Only make offers on property you think would be good for you to own for 40-plus years. Don’t mistake this statement to mean if you are 70 years old then you shouldn’t buy real estate. Positive and …

What physicians should know about good debt vs. bad debt

Altelisha Taylor, MD, MPH

Physician Finance

November 1, 2019

As a young college student or post-grad, you may have accumulated credit card debt. I certainly did. However, somewhere in the process of “adulting,” you may have realized that having lots of debt isn’t a good thing. You may have even heard investment gurus like Dave Ramsey preach that all debt is bad and insist that people do any and everything to rid themselves of the terrible “D-word” as fast …

The gold standard of evaluating real estate investments

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

October 24, 2019

An excerpt from The Doctors Guide to Real Estate Investing for Busy Professionals.

Cash flow is the only method I use to determine the value of the property to me and is my decision-making tool.

This is how I determine the price I’m willing to pay. This is the only way …

Gold is pretty, but it is not an investment

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

October 20, 2019

I often hear people talking about their “investment” in gold. Then there are those who have a “diversified portfolio,” and gold is one of their forms of diversification. I’ve encountered people who have $60,000 worth of gold bars in their home safe, in case of a major financial crisis. We all see the celebrities pitching gold on national television ads with “now is a great time to buy gold.”

If you …

It is always a good time to buy real estate

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

October 15, 2019

An excerpt from The Doctors Guide to Real Estate Investing for Busy Professionals.

I left my 20-year general surgical practice at age 51, only 12 years after buying my first apartment complex. By then, my real estate investments were producing more passive income than I was spending. I no longer …

Physicians: Did you ever play the zero percent interest game?

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

October 13, 2019

Back in 2001, we paid off our last personal loan, our home mortgage. At that time, we decided to begin investing in real estate with the money that used to go towards digging us out of our personal debt. Our real estate was held in an LLC, and we acquired loans to purchase these properties. In fact, most of our real estate was purchased with 100% financing.

In 2002, the credit …

Should physicians pay down debt or invest? Here’s a Star Trek explanation.

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

October 8, 2019

I am often asked the question, “Is it better to pay down debt or invest?” It is uncanny how often this question comes up. This question is asked as if those were the only two options to choose from. I never hear, “Should I go on a three week trip to Paris or invest?” “Should I buy a new car or pay off my debt?” “Should I buy disability insurance …

Essential financial tips for new medical residents

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

October 4, 2019

The transition from medical school to internship is both an exciting and traumatic period for doctors. As a fully anointed “MD” (or DO), the new doctor has a well-deserved and distinguished title to her name. No more “student doctor” anymore. Most orders won’t have to be cosigned anymore. Want to place an order for 100 mg of Lasix? Prime those kidneys, and have at it. On the flip side, being …

Financial literacy is an escape hatch to physician burnout

James Turner, MD

Physician Finance

October 1, 2019

A friend invited me to dinner to meet his new girlfriend. I’d get to hang out with several other people from work and residency, too. So, I was looking forward to dinner.

We all sat down to eat. About ten minutes into the meal, I felt and looked like I had just gotten out of a swimming pool. I was sweating. A lot. I thought to myself, “Why do these people …

4 reasons why physicians should hire a financial advisor

Wall Street Physician, MD

Physician Finance

September 27, 2019

I’m a big proponent of do-it-yourself investing. In the age of index funds, many investors can manage their own investments at very low cost.

And fees you pay to a financial advisor could be used to invest and grow your nest egg.

But that’s not to say that I believe that no one should have a financial advisor. There are many situations where it can be beneficial to hire a financial …

Invest in real estate with money you have already saved for retirement

Vanessa Peters, MD

Physician Finance

September 19, 2019

So you’ve done your research and you are sold on the idea of investing as a limited partner in real estate syndications such as apartments, mobile home parks, or self-storage facilities.

“But,” you lament, “that means I need to have at least $25,000 just lying around!”

Once you have decided to start investing in real estate, it may take some time to save 25 to 50 grand. But you may already have money to invest …