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.

How physicians can retire early: 7 steps to follow

James M. Dahle, MD

Physician Finance

January 21, 2019

Retiring early as a doctor is surprisingly difficult given the typical doctor income. There are four main reasons for this – the heavy debt load to enter the career, the very late start to earning a significant salary (most physicians leave residency at an age older than some FIRE bloggers retire at), the temptation of a high income, and the “doctor factor” I’ll get into later. Despite those challenges, it …

Your financial mindset is a baseline for financial success

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

January 21, 2019

It’s easy to judge when you don’t experience the same difficulties that others do. The classic scenario in medicine is an internist, who runs marathons and bikes to work, tells his morbidly obese patient to lose weight. How would the scenario work if the doctor were mildly overweight, or has a body mass index of 30.5?

The same judgment is frequently seen in the online financial blogosphere. Why does a doctor …

Physician income shouldn’t be what determines your level of success

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

January 15, 2019

Too many doctors today believe that their income is what determines their level of success. This is a fallacy that is hurting way too many doctors. We hear things like, “Become a specialist so you can make the big bucks,” or “Now that I’m an attending, I can afford the payments on a new Tesla,” or “I’ve lived in an apartment too long, now is the time to get my …

How physicians can successfully wind down their practice

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

January 14, 2019

A retirement plan isn’t usually a top priority for fresh doctors looking for their first jobs, whether that final date is in five years or thirty. Perhaps knowing when to hang up your hat is immaterial so early in your career since most doctors will end up leaving their first job within the first five years anyway. However, I do wish that I had some inkling about the career paths …

Investing in the stock market is like playing that game of rock-paper-scissors

Wall Street Physician, MD

Physician Finance

January 11, 2019

Rock-paper-scissors is a game that nearly all of us played as children.

It is a game with incredible opportunities to play mind games with your opponent.

There is no luck in rock-paper-scissors as with card games.

The game does not have complex rules like chess.

You simply have to figure out the patterns of your opponent (or induce patterns into them) and take advantage accordingly.

Can you beat the New York Times computer bot?

Back in …

A financial checklist for the pregnant woman physician

Bonnie Koo, MD

Physician Finance

January 11, 2019

Women physicians are disheartened when they discover the financial implications of having children. Most of us will not get paid leave. Many of us are the breadwinning partner. And most of us will not become stay at home moms so we will need to pay for high-quality childcare or have a stay at home spouse.

Certain things should be in place prior to becoming pregnant. So even if you’re single, I …

What physicians should know about turnkey real estate

Passive Income, MD

Physician Finance

January 8, 2019

If you’ve done any research into real estate investing, you’ve likely heard the term “turnkey real estate.” Businesses calling themselves “turnkey companies” claim to take care of all the hard parts of real estate investing – helping you with all aspects of purchasing and managing a rental property – leaving you to sit back and collect passive income.

That sounds great, but surely there’s a catch, right? Well, …

What physicians should know about umbrella insurance

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

December 28, 2018

Asset protection is a term that gets tossed around quite a bit when we discuss how long and difficult the journey is for doctors to establish their careers. You always want to protect what you’ve worked hard for, right? The principles for asset protection apply not only to doctors but essentially anyone who wishes to have some sort of security for their assets. The key is to make sure you don’t over …

Personal finance strategies to combat physician burnout

Physician on FIRE, MD

Physician Finance

December 28, 2018

Career burnout is becoming increasingly common and is a hot topic lately, particularly for physicians and other health care workers.

The causes are many. Increased demands. Decreased reimbursement and recognition. Longer hours and lower benefits. The feeling that you’re just another wheel in the cog.

In medicine, it’s the ever-thickening red tape. Clumsy electronic health records (EHRs). Prior authorizations. In-baskets that fill up with dozens or hundreds of messages any time you’re …

5 reasons why physicians are prized financial targets

James Turner, MD

Physician Finance

December 24, 2018

Doctors are notoriously bad with money. Part of this has to do with the fact that the schools that prepare our future doctors are ill equipped to teach them about money. When I was a fourth-year medical student, my school had a financial group come and talk to us about money. Not only was their advice conflicted, but the lawyer who owned the financial group would later end up going to …

A physician’s defense of active income

James M. Dahle, MD

Physician Finance

December 24, 2018

There are many blog posts, books, and podcasts out in the world celebrating “passive” income. I’ve even got a partner blog in the WCI Network completely dedicated to passive income. It’s time somebody stood up for the other side — active or earned income. Is it really all that bad to have earned income? Of course not. Let me explain why.

#1 It’s called opportunity

Thomas Edison famously said, “Opportunity is …

Read more…

A physician’s defense of active income

How physicians can play the credit card reward game

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

December 19, 2018

We’ve all heard about credit card points and miles by now—put enough of your expenses on plastic and you’ll be flying first class airlines all the time, right? We are actually fortunate in American (sorry for those of you residing in, let’s say Japan, who still are stuck in a mostly cash-based society) to be able to have incredible amount of credit card options to squeeze out every penny.

While the …

7 sources of financial anxiety for physicians

Wall Street Physician, MD

Physician Finance

December 19, 2018

Life is full of potential worries. Personal, professional, and other stresses can make us anxious and reduce our happiness and quality-of-life.

A major source of anxiety in our lives can be financial. A recent survey found that 85% of Americans are at least “sometimes” stressed about money and 30% of Americans state they are “constantly” stressed about it.

In order for physicians to reduce their financial anxiety, they first have to …

Retirement from medicine is more healthy than the way this physician used to live

DocG, MD

Physician Finance

December 18, 2018

It must have been about a decade ago. It was another snowy day like today. I awoke at the break of dawn, and rushed out the door to the hospital that was several miles away. Leaving so early in the morning, the expressways hadn’t even been plowed yet. I did this often. Jumped into the car during inclement weather. While most were waiting out the storm, I was cruising to …

Doctors vs. executives: the spending power of $1.5 million

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

December 12, 2018

The general consensus among physicians who have a solid grasp on their finances is that they are realistic about their earnings and expenses. Ins and outs. Just like in nephrology, except a net positive in your finances is considered a win. One would expect that doctors ought to be generally conservative in their expenditures, since medicine is a generally conservative profession. But life is unpredictable, and that’s why there are …

4 financial stages of physicians

John Dameron

Physician Finance

December 11, 2018

As a medical student, you are thrilled to start your residency and to put your four years of studying and clinical rotations to the test. Now the time has come to begin earning a paycheck. This is the beginning of the financial stages of physicians.

As an attending who has transitioned into practice, you may be stressed and wondering if you are on track to meet your financial goals. You are …

Read more…

4 financial stages of physicians

Is it possible for physicians to oversave? And what can you do about it?

James M. Dahle, MD

Physician Finance

December 10, 2018

Have you ever thought about doing a post on oversaving? I realize most docs probably have the opposite problem, but I bet there is a subset of the FIRE crowd that this may apply to. Does this ever come up in all the interactions you have?

It was no surprise to see this question come in as a direct message on the WCI Forum, rather than an email …

Disability can be a devastating outcome to a doctor’s career. Here’s how handle it.

Smart Money, MD

Physician Finance

December 9, 2018

Disability can be a devastating outcome to a doctor’s career and self-image. Think about it: You busted your butt to learn how to do a Whipple procedure, end up getting into a skiing accident that ends your career right there. No worries, because you purchased the appropriate coverage of own-occupation disability insurance, right?

Having disability insurance certainly provides a protective cushion, especially you are the sole breadwinner. This is a no-brainer, …

What a physician would tell his younger self about the use of debt

Cory Fawcett, MD

Physician Finance

December 5, 2018

As Christmas approaches, I have begun seeing ads for things our family “must” have this Christmas. Overspending in December is a common problem I often find when I do a financial makeover for doctors. There is a huge push to buy things during the Christmas season, whether they can afford it or not. Those who choose to overspend, end up with a big headache when their January’s Visa bill arrives.

Overspending …

7 reasons why you should prioritize retirement savings over college savings

James M. Dahle, MD

Physician Finance

December 4, 2018

It is widely recommended in the financial world that you prioritize your retirement savings over college savings for your children. I agree with this advice. Yet, I run into people all the time who are not following it. Perhaps it is because college often arrives a decade or more earlier than retirement so it seems natural to save for college first and then turn your attention toward …

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