Cory Fawcett is a general surgeon and the author of The Doctors Guide book series.
Timeshares have an undeserved bad rap. I’ve owned and used my timeshare for great and cost-effective vacations all over the world for 30 years.
I believe one of the biggest reasons timeshares get bad press is the wrong people buy them. When they become unhappy because their lifestyle, amount of vacation time, or pocketbook doesn’t allow them to fully enjoy their timeshare, they spread negative vibes. When you learn how to …
Over the last 32 years, I have been following the literature concerning money, investing, and debt. In the last few years, I started writing about the topic as well as sharing my knowledge with other physicians through one-on-one financial coaching. Through the years, I have seen many people make the same mistakes when projecting financial goals, and they make them year after year.
When all of the answers are at our …
Summer marks a flood of young new attendings hitting hospitals all over the country. There will also be many doctors whose first contract is coming to an end, and they are moving to a new position. Both of these scenarios create an opportunity to make a first impression at a new job. The effects of that first impression will linger for years to come.
What lingering effects do you want to …
October is traditionally known as breast cancer awareness month. For me, seeing all the pink on social media is a stark reminder of my brush with the terror of breast cancer.
As I was about to scrub into an operation, I got a call from my office manager. She asked if I would be at my wife’s doctor’s appointment with my partner that afternoon. I told her I was busy, but …
The most common question I am asked when someone finds out I managed my own real estate while I was a full-time general surgeon is: “How could you possibly have time to manage your rental real estate while being a full-time general surgeon? General surgery is a full-time job. It’s not possible to fit a second full-time job into your schedule.”
The thing is, managing real estate is not a full-time …
Forums and Facebook groups abound with a frequently asked question that sounds something like this: “Should we sell our positive cash flow rental to buy (insert fun new toy), so we don’t have to attain a loan?”
When someone wants to buy a new car, boat or motorhome — but they have learned that buying toys with borrowed money is a bad idea — they start thinking about how they can …
I have been reading alarming tales of doctors who think they can buy their way into the hearts of their spouse and kids on the weekend to make up for not being there during the week. The reality is your kids don’t need your money; they need you to spend time with them. Quality time is needed at work; quantity time is needed at home.
Buying a vacation home to use …
Many physicians would like to use their skills on the mission field, but have a hard time finding an option that fits into their busy schedules.
Several years ago, I looked for a medical mission, but I couldn’t find one that would work for me, so I came up with the idea of setting up a medical mission experience in my own town. A local mission meant I wouldn’t need to …
When I speak to medical students and residents, their number one question is, “Should I follow my passion or choose a specialty that pays well?” With so many students finishing their training deeply in debt, they are feeling a push to go into a specialty that pays better than average, thinking that it will solve their debt problem. But is that a good idea?
Since we can pick anything we can …
Out of the blue, a new virus popped up, and ten weeks later, it is a pandemic. Within the last ten weeks, doctors have identified this new disease, figured out how it is transmitted, identified what body fluid we need to test to determine who has contracted the disease, developed a test for it, mass-produced that test, and distributed the tests all over the world. What an incredible response we …
In December of 2011, I made a career move that changed my life. My life as a surgeon was getting stale. Doing the same old thing for two decades was getting old, and I was looking for something to breathe new life into my surgical practice.
I decided to look into doing a short term medical mission. I thought it would be fun and rewarding to travel to a new place …
School has gotten back into full swing, and thus we begin another cycle. Will this cycle be better than the last? Every year we find ourselves in this same spot. Summer’s over, big vacations are in the bag, back to school shopping is complete, and we start recovering from our summer spending.
We often haven’t yet recovered from the summer splurges before it’s time to start Christmas shopping. Then we begin …
Here are eight things to do as a new attending that I didn’t learn as a resident (and wish I had).
Establish a budget
There are two times when a budget is a very important tool: when you are struggling financially and when you have a large income or expense change. Now that you have graduated to your new attending income, it’s important to intentionally decide how you will invest, save, pay …
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. …
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 …
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 …
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, …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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