I have two Achilles’ heels. Two mental health issues that continually challenge me no matter how introspective and self-aware I become. One is food. I have talked before about how food was my money. As annoying as that can be, I feel like I have a good hold on that one. With the right intentions and self-control, I no longer have to wrestle with this demon as frequently. …
A physician’s experience with time stress
I had a strange thought that both delighted and frightened me in my intern year: I was sitting in my parent’s living room, exhausted. I had been fortunate enough to complete residency near my parents and visited with them pretty regularly. I realized that being a doctor is like no other job because you eat, breath and sleep medicine, it becomes your life. You are a doctor when you are …
Physicians are more than their jobs
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
When searching for a new job, building strong relationships is an important part of the process, especially when you’re working with a physician recruiter. The relationship you create with your recruiter will set the tone for your job search and ultimately have an effect on whether or not you …
6 ways to better work with physician recruiters
Anger. Jealousy. Envy. Frustration. I was feeling all the emotions when NYU announced in August that their incoming and subsequent classes would be tuition-free into perpetuity. One consolation: at least I wasn’t one of the chronologically unfortunate that graduated from the school just months, or a year, before that announcement. For them, the time difference was small, but the difference in loans was vast — one year of tuition costs …
You shouldn’t worry about public service loan forgiveness
I have talked in the past about how I try to tackle the philosophy of financial independence. Part of the reason is that there are so many other amazing voices that manage the mechanical side. The other part is my profound belief that the grand majority of Americans can either cleave a path to financial independence or at least substantially improve their economic situation. Yet, the majority don’t. …
3 hurdles to financial independence
By this point, a lot of people have heard the famous Dave Ramsey quote, “If you live like no one else, later you can live like no one else.” Ramsey is known for being a proponent of attacking debt aggressively when people ask, “How should I pay off my debt?”
He proposes one method that I think works for the vast majority of Americans, but today I’ll argue that method isn’t necessarily …
How should physicians pay off their debt?
Financial freedom means different things to different people, but to me, it’s when you can quit your day job and be able to cover your expenses with other sources of income. The dollar amount depends on your unique situation, where you live, and the lifestyle you lead.
I believe all physicians can attain financial freedom, but some encounter obstacles that delay them from reaching that point and sometimes keep them from …
What does financial freedom mean to you?
Gender politics aside, let’s talk about why the way doctors get paid matters to you as a patient. Female physicians don’t just get paid less because they prioritize their families, they get paid less because they prioritize patients. In the fee-for-service model, doctors are paid per patient visit, so the more patients they see, the more they get paid. This means that the worst doctors are paid the most. Health …
Female physicians prioritize patients over profits
Some of us like to micromanage. Obviously, this trait is useful only for certain tasks that you need to accomplish. Managing money can take some attention to detail, but fortunately, many issues work themselves out if you follow broad principles. How much you should micromanage your daily expenditures really depends on your own tolerance and your individual financial situation. We’ve all seen discussions about the cost of daily artisanal cups …
How much is micromanagement of your time worth?
On a Saturday morning, Michael, a physician, was making his way through the hospital atrium after his weekend rounds. On his way out, he noticed a family he knew well. They were talking quietly and appeared distraught. He asked them if they were okay. They said that the husband’s mother had been admitted overnight with a malignant pleural effusion, and since all beds on the oncology floor were full, she …
Should a HIPAA-questionable good deed go unpunished?
Within the medical community, there seems to be a prevailing belief that when it comes to business and finance: Well, we’re just not very good at it. Some chalk it up to the lack of financial training we received in medical school. Others say it’s simply not in the physician’s DNA – that our brains are wired differently.
I would disagree.
In reality, I’ve seen many, many physicians become successful …
Physicians have the skills to be entrepreneurs
Necessity is the mother of invention. If you need something badly enough, you are more likely to find a way to obtain it. This proverb clearly rings true in all aspects of life. The key is really knowing how badly we need it. I knew someone who wanted to become a dermatologist. After several additional years of research after medical school and applying to residency, she eventually achieved her goal. …
The majority of physicians will never experience the vast upper echelons of wealth
There’s a lot of financial information out there. Some of it is helpful, and some of it is unhelpful.
I’m sure many of you take notice when the Dow Jones falls 1,000 points in two days.
And even if you don’t usually follow the stock market on a daily basis, when the stock market is dropping, the financial news media will let you know about it.
Because when the stock market is crashing, …
Don’t watch too much financial news
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I was sitting across from a new acquaintance at the CampFI Midwest and he was telling me about his next budding venture. He had a brilliant business plan. An idea which no one had capitalized on before. He was in the middle of gathering investors and beginning the long process of due diligence. I probed further. I am always wary of what I call the financial independence …
The financial independence wild goose chase
This article is sponsored by Careers by KevinMD.com.
Whether you’re looking for a new position or just wanting to connect with colleagues, LinkedIn is a great resource to advance your career. As a healthcare professional, having an online presence can understandably make you uneasy, especially when it comes to concerns about privacy or potential HIPAA violations. However, in today’s technological …
6 ways physicians can improve their LinkedIn profile
I want you to do me a favor. Pretend we’re meeting each other for the first time. You have to describe who you are in 10 words or less without mentioning any relationship to another human being. You can’t cop out and say: I’m Anne’s husband, Paul’s mom or Mike’s oldest child. Who are you? Who and how do you identify yourself?
For most doctors, a few of those ten words …
Why you’ll never escape being a doctor
Physician financial literacy is dismal. In the past, many physicians got their first introduction to finance from insurance salesman or financial advisors who give presentations over a free steak dinner.
My medical school’s attempt at teaching us personal finance was to have a financial advisory firm give a half-day lecture about student loan management, budgeting, and investing. While the advice wasn’t inherently bad, I don’t think many of my classmates retained …
A simple solution to rapidly increase physician financial literacy
By the time you read this, I will have completed a transition to working half-time. Now, I know a lot of docs out there think emergency docs are already only working half-time, so perhaps I ought to start with explaining why that isn’t the case, even if emergency physicians work fewer hours than many other physicians.
Let’s start with the fact that most Americans consider 35 to 40 hours a week …
7 reasons why this physician works half-time
As we get older, time becomes are more valuable commodity. I clearly remember that as a college student, I was more than willing to wait in line for over an hour simply to get a free sandwich promotion. Nowadays, I’m not even too interested in waiting 20 minutes to be seated at a restaurant. Our priorities evolve.
One interesting aspect of time that remains relatively unchanged over time is our tolerance …
The impact of commuting on your financial plan
I don’t want to be unclear here. I don’t want to mince my words. But I’m mad about an interaction I had on Facebook. I was commenting on the Physician Side Gigs group page when someone riffed on one of my statements. They mentioned that my opinions could be a slippery slope towards a future where doctors no longer see patients. The insinuation was that we as physicians owe it …
When doctors leave clinical medicine, don’t blame the victim
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