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.
My mother, the accountant, threw out 10 million. An I just took it. Accepted it. Calculated the number of years, and I was off. But it didn’t feel right. So I asked my financial advisor. A few weeks later and after much information was solicited, I was given 85% chance of my money lasting through retirement. He went on and on about Monte Carlo and all sorts of other rubbish, and …
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A physician ponders early retirement and faces the wall of fear
Recently, I made the announcement that I am financially independent from medicine. As a quick recap, I’ll just say that I no longer have to rely on my physician’s salary as my primary source of income thanks to my other ventures, and yes, passive sources of income. Since then, the number one question I’ve received is this: “So, when are you going to retire?”
Retirement as a way of life
Well, the fact is …
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This physician loves being a doctor. He just wants to do it less.
The other day, I read a proposal about the government (taxpayers) giving newborn babies anywhere from $20,000 to $50,000 to help fund their future. I am not going to comment on the politics of this proposal, but it did get me thinking about how to set your kids up for financial success.
Give your kids a good home
If your kids grow up in a safe, stable, supportive home, they are more …
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How to raise financially successful children
Life insurance is one of the key foundations of a good financial plan. In this article, we will discuss the basics of life insurance.
Why life insurance?
While you might feel invincible and 100% healthy, as physicians we all know patients or colleagues who were diagnosed with terminal cancer or died suddenly because of an accident or health condition.
If someone is dependent on your income (usually your spouse or children), then life …
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A physician’s guide to life insurance
Q. Should I get back into the stock market?
I am 11 years out of residency and have made many of the mistakes you have listed on the site. The primary one was getting OUT of stocks entirely with the 2008 crash. Oi. Now I have all this cash and some bonds, and I want to reinvest, slowly, and think the market is overvalued. I hate the thought of getting back …
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This physician bailed on the stock market in 2008. What now?
College
I went to a fairly expensive college, George Washington University. I think at the time (1998) it actually was one of the, if not the most expensive schools. Why did I decide to go there? Well, my brother was attending the school and living in Washington, DC seemed amazing to a suburban boy from Tennessee. Sure, I had gotten into University of Tennessee with a scholarship, but adventure won over …
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Is private college and medical school worth it? One physician’s story.
In my last post, I told my story of how I got out of medical school with only $18,000 of debt. By the time I left residency, I had that whittled down to $6,000 at 3% interest. Then during the next three years after starting my practice, I had accumulated almost $500,000 of new debt.
Initially, I didn’t think anything of this new large debt, after all, I …
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How this doctor eliminated $500,000 in debt
I loved my Prius.
I’m not a car guy. I’m really not. But when my Prius started to fail after 120K miles, I took an active interest in picking my new mode of transportation. I had a few caveats. I was driving 100 miles a day. I wanted either a hybrid or fully electric car. And I needed something safe for the snow. Preferably four-wheel drive.
My first instinct was to get …
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The Tesla and a failure of stealth wealth
I’ve been thinking about mortgages and savings a bit more than usual lately, and with good reason. My father recently retired from his nearly 40-year career as a physician, and in trying to be a good son, I’ve been helping him prepare for the transition financially. This involved taking an account of what he has saved up, his investments, and his expected cash flow. For him, the future that many …
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Using a mortgage to force savings: a good idea?
The decision to retire is a difficult one for anyone, including physicians.
However, with everyone’s investment accounts so flush with money because of the bull market, a lot of physicians younger than the traditional retirement age of 65 have enough money to retire early. Some have chosen to do so; others have chosen to continue to work even though they are financially ready for retirement.
So what …
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When should physicians retire?
At some point in our lives, most of us have learned to live on very little. For example, if you’ve ever been a college student, you’ve mastered the art of living in the same house with a dozen other people, finding free meals, and using public transportation.
Back in the early 2000’s, when I was a college student, I estimate that I spent about $15,000 per year on living expenses (aside …
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Physicians: Beware lifestyle inflation
We are now almost 2 1/2 years into this parenting thing. It is a pretty amazing thing, raising a toddler. There are a lot of awesome days, watching him learn and explore his surroundings. The sentences that are coming out of his mouth now are pretty wild. He is funny, has a good amount of potty humor, and is all around a cool kid (at least I think so).
That is …
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What a toddler can teach physicians about the stock market
When I was a young lad, just heading off to college, I had no debt. I had no credit cards. My family didn’t use debt for purchases other than buying our house. I really didn’t have any knowledge about how to best use debt. My student loan package included a scholarship, a work-study program and $1,500 a year in student loans. I earned about $4,000 each summer working in the …
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The story of how this physician got into debt
My blog is called “DiverseFi” because my path to financial independence was not the typical one. Although I’ll talk more about this in another post, my journey neither started from humble beginnings nor was frugality my guiding principle. In fact, it was only after discovering the FIRE community, did I realize that I was indeed financially independent.
That changed my life. Changed my habits. I slowly became more …
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A physician cancels his life insurance policy. Here’s why.
So a new year is upon us! 2017 was a fantastic year for investors in general, so I hope it was a prosperous one for you. I believe that 2018 will be a great year as well and filled with multiple opportunities for everyone. A quick wish: May your 2018 be filled with much joy, great health, and hefty growth of your passive income streams.
Now back to the post – One …
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18 ways for physicians to invest $25,000
Donald Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 late last year. Americans and corporations are feverishly reading news summaries of the bill, trying to figure out how the new bill will affect their taxes.
In this post, I will summarize the major provisions of the bills as they apply to medical residents and fellows. I’ll then go through three case scenarios to see how the tax bill might …
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act: What does it mean for medical residents?
I am continually running into people who are confused as to what constitutes debt when we are doing a makeover with their spending plans. Wikipedia defines debt as money owed by one party, the borrower or debtor, to a second party, the lender or creditor.
I have clients who list out their accounts payable as personal debt. For example, they see the dentist, and he is going to send a $200 …
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Physicians need a new attitude towards debt
Never was I used to having money to invest; it seemed like I always found a way to make income equal expenses. Such was the life of the young, naive 20-something-year-old who had no idea how to build assets.
Going into my 30s, I began to read more, study more, and inquire more when it came to finances. This led me to finally figure out what this investing thing was all …
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This physician’s keys to financial freedom
