5 Reasons I’m Hard Working & Happy Wherever I Go

If you are not into details, skip straight pass the blue texts, which provide the background incident that inspired me to write this post. But the 5 points are listed in the black texts following the blue ones 🙂

I was recently reminded that misery loves company. During a weekend double shift (covered by a PGY3 8a-8p and PGY2 7a-4p), which can be easily manned by a second year radiology resident (PGY3), hence most PGY3 would send the PGY2 home after the PGY2 is done with his/her dications. I could say that this is one PGY3 shift because I just came off of a 3 day weekend 8-8 call as a fresh new PGY3.

 

Anticipating I would be working 12+ hours for 4 weeks straight with just 2 days off, I was looking forward to leave the weekend shift when I’m done with dictation as a PGY2. The PGY3 was on his last day of PGY3 year and the exams were coming in slow enough that he could dictate whole reports when only impressions/preliminary reports were required of him.

 

His immediate response when I said I was hoping to leave when I get done with my dictations was a lecture how I better get used to working hard. He then proceeded to tell many people including my program director that I asked to leave early on his weekend call.

 

I was deeply hurt… I felt so blemished. But it was my fault, I gave him the opportunity to “reveal” a fact (I left early on the Sunday) to others. While I at peace with being not the smartest kid in my program,  I’m certainly one of the hardest working PGY’s in my program. In fact, because I blog/write/speak on personal finance, I work extra hard in radiology residency on day to day duties and academic research to ensure that I don’t put the “cart in front of the horses” so to speak.

IMG_2789
look how harmoniously these creatures live with one another. that’s how I like to see myself and others on this earth. supporting and helping one another.

Getting burnt this way lead me to think hard about my medical practice and interactions with my medical colleagues.

 

I realize the biggest difference between him and I is that I am happy when I work hard and I need not drag someone else along with me.

 

My positive attitude  in the face of increasing workload and responsibility is not a completely natural tendency. Yet with practice and intention, I enjoy working hard, knowing that I’m making a difference in someone’s life.

 

Here are 5 concrete reasons why I’m happiest when I’m working the hardest.

 

I’m working for knowledge and service to others, not for money.

 

As I stated before, medicine has an extremely high opportunity cost, there’s definitely innumerable easier ways to make money. For instance, as I try to calm down a frustrated clinician, explaining why a particular radiologic study might not be the best for a patient, my employees (post-tax dollars in my Roth 403b/IRA index funds) are hard at work, making more money for me. When I work 12+ hours for 3 days on July 4th weekend shift, I’m working for knowledge, to sharpen my mind so I can better serve my patients and the clinicians from all specialties who collaborate with medical imaging.

 

Since I’m working for knowledge, the harder and the more work, the more knowledge I get. Whereas someone with a sense of entitlement and is working for money, the paradigm is completely opposite, the harder and the more he works, the less his making per hour or per unit of effort.

 

Hence, the harder I work, the better radiologist I become, the happier I am i knowing that I’ve given my all to serve my patients.

I empathize with others.

 

I put myself in someone else’s shoes. This is especially easy if I just walked in those same shoes a little time ago. I’m known to be the resident who loves sending other residents (radiology or visiting clinicians) and medical students home whenever I could, even if sometimes that just means I suggests to the attending that the med students could use free time to study for boards, or PGY’s can get ready to move, etc.

 

Opposite of empathy is what some of the American founders did to those who followed their footsteps, trying to immigrate from Europe in search of religious freedom. These people who just came from Europe themselves put up tremendous barrier against those coming shortly after them. Sad. That’s all I have to say.

I build people up, not tear them down.

 

I believe in praising, in front of the person and in his/her back. I don’t believe in criticizing (no matter how subtle) anyone, particularly behind his/her back. Simple rule that my kid knows, “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything at all.”

I treat others the way I wanted to be treated.

 

Goes without saying, a kindergartner knows this.

I’m way more productive when I’m positive.

 

Time to me is the most precious resource I have. That’s why, I’ve long decided not to chase after money with my time. Instead, I follow what I love, medicine, radiology, my kiddo, yoga, and allow money to follow me (by setting up fool-proof, emotional-proof, passive investment style.) Since I only have 24 hours/day and now 16 hours/day (2 hours less than the last 15 years as I finally started sleeping more than 4 hours), I do not want to waste my breath to put any negative energy into this universe.

 

The only person I keep prisoner when sh*tting on others is myself.

5 Doctor-Proof Tips to Great Wealth: S.P.E.C.T.

Medicine is a profession of acronym, so here is one for your money and wealth. S.P.E.C.T. stands for Simple, Passive, Emotionless, Cheap, & Time.

As physicians, we know our trade well, naturally, after spending an average of 23-27 years studying and training for our profession, not to mention the additional learnedness of the M.D. PhD MBA multi-degree docs among us.

From our life experiences, which could be slightly limited given we spend most of our time studying, taking exams, listening and caring for our patients, we tend to project our level of training onto the non-medical professionals.

Let’s just get that out of way right now. The insurance agent who try to sell you whole life insurance has 2 weeks of training, most of which focused on sales techniques. Instead of paying a money doctor (financial adviser), here’s a super easy way to DIY-grow your wealth.

 

S.P.E.C.T.  Simple, Passive, Emotionless, Cheap, & Time

 

Simple

Simplicity is beauty. Keep your investment simple. There are innumerable investment portfolios with quantum gradation of asset allocation schemes. But it’s really not necessary. Index funds are by definition diversified. Some really successful investors have all of their nest eggs in one index fund, Vanguard total stock market. Want to spice it up? Go for 5 index funds. But seriously, why make it more complicated especially when complexity does NOT guarantee higher return!

 

Passive

Invest money passively, time actively. This is because money makes money and sky is the limit, yet your time is limited, as limited and as abundant as Warrant Buffet’s time, exactly 24 hours daily.

Automate your investment by paycheck withdrawal or scheduled regular withdrawal from your checking account. You pay yourself first by these automatic deductions from your cash flow, and find yourself pleasantly surprised by when you occasionally check the exponentially-growing numbers on your nest eggs.

 

Emotionless

The market goes up, the market goes down. Not in your control, and you didn’t waste any time or energy timing the market, because you know it is the time “In” the market that matters.

Don’t get emotional. It’s just numbers after all. Don’t bother logging in to check your numbers if that gets you emotional. Know that by maximizing your savings rate, you are guaranteeing yourself the fastest wealth accumulation.

Optimize what’s in your control and omit thoughts and energy for what’s not in your control.

 

Cheap

Don’t pay a money doctor 13 million for sitting his as* on your nest eggs. Go for the lowest fees possible, boost your investment/savings rate and get the lower expense ratio by hitting the higher investment threshold. Pay the cheapest taxes possible on your investment. Buy stocks on sale whenever possible: whenever there’s market down turn, buy it up. For some, dollar cost averaging through a correction is great way to go. Stash post tax/Roth money away or convert traditional to Roth IRA whenever you are in the lowest tax bracket prospectively.

Be cheap (but honest) with Uncle Sam, investment fees, and your purchase of investment by minimizing taxes, investment fees, and persistently buying (dollar cost averaging) in market corrections. Buy on the way down and on the way back up.

 

Time

Whether you are in med school, residency, or early attending years, today is the day to start building wealth if you have not started 10 years ago.

Don’t wait.

When looking back, most people regret investing and/or saving late. Few regret living frugally or creating extra sources of income (without working like a dog for money) to invest in their future.

The decade you spend in medical school and residency is key to (early) financial success. Investing today, no matter how little the dollar amount always beats catching up later.

 

If you practice S.P.E.C.T., there’s no way that you don’t become debt-free sooner and ultimately financially independent sooner than if you don’t practice S.P.E.C.T.

Why pay a money doctor with 2 weeks-2 years of training to sit on and play with your nest eggs with no guaranteed increase ROI (return of investment), when it is this simple to DIY to great wealth?

If you like this article, you might enjoy other DWM articles on Personal Finance, Investing, Retirement, Practice Management, & Lifestyle.

All articles by DWM are for informational purposes only and not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a professional accountant, financial adviser or lawyer, before making financial decisions.

Morbidly Obese & Morbidly Malnourished

Today, we did (6 moths ago) a fluoroscopic upper GI series on a patient, my age, who’s 700 lbs. I was so depressed when I saw her entire bare back with excess subcutaneous adipose tissue hanging in rolls behind her as she walks the hall into the fluoroscopy room. I rushed up to try to tie her hospital gown so she was not so exposed in public, but I was not very successful and she told me it’s alright. I looked down at her feet, and saw that her legs were red and scaly, likely from chronic venous insufficiency, and the flesh on her ankle literally spilled over out of her shoes. I felt so bad. I felt angry too. Angry at our government and schools for not educating us on healthy food and lifestyle choices.

Angry that our law makers are in the deep pockets of the big corn, big wheat, super processed food industries. Misinformation on what truly healthy diet is and purposeful lack and negligence on information against how harmful process foods are.

I’m certain that this 32 year old young woman has tried to lose weight, but how could she? When our government tells us that fat is bad and allowing all the food manufacturers to hide glucose everywhere in all the process foods from white bread, to chips, to sugary drinks.

Go to supermarket, notice how you are greeted with colorful boxes of food-like products (so processed that they are depleted of vital nutrients, and so enhanced that they are loaded with fatal toxic chemicals) that could last a lifetime with the amount of carcinogenic preservatives (some listed, some not even listed in ingredients, as FDA has allowed food companies to Not list ingredients < than a specified threshold percentage or weight.)

She is so young, she could have such a life. She did not become 700 lbs overnight. She must have tried, I know she did to shed weight. But she told me she thought fresh foods and vegetables are more expensive the than the ubiquitous process foods. It probably didn’t help her at all to have to walk to the every end of the supermarket just to buy some fruits and veggies, even when she was ½ her weight. She would have suffered quite a bit discomfort including joints pains from weighing 350 lbs and my height, 5’5”.

We modified the exam protocol for her because there is no hospital table that could bear 700 lbs. She had to stand while we use C arm to take images. She requested to sit down after standing for 2-5 minute interval. I felt her pain, only it wasn’t in my joints, it was in my heart.

After we finished the exam, I wished her good luck on her bariatric surgery and I shared that it would be great to watch a few food documentaries such as Food Matters, Fed Up. I told her how the food industry hooks us with sugar and use many toxic chemicals to stabilize their food-like products. I encourage her to go the fruit and vegetable sections and cook a few things.

I recently learned from the food documentary Hungry for Change that modern western people are not able to shed weight because they ingest so many toxic chemicals and their bodies natural response is store adipose tissue to buffer against the toxins and to protect vital organs from the toxins. Many of these preservatives, food stabilizers are fat soluble chemicals, in other words, fat can isolate the toxins from the blood (mostly water) and from the rest of the body. So when a human body is loaded with toxins, the body holds onto the fat or even make more fat whenever there’s an energy source, in order to store the toxins, away from the rest of the body.

So for those who try to work out really really hard, they are only burning some fat, against the body’s natural instinct to retain fat when there’s toxin around, and exposing themselves to toxins simultaneously.

Not only is it way harder to get the fat off, as one works against his/her body, but also the impact of losing some fat is not positive on one’s overall health.

So to achieve a healthy weight one should eat healthy, cleanse the body of the toxins from process, nutrition-less foods. When the toxins are gone, the body lets go of the fat it uses to buffer against the toxins. Additionally, when we stay away from the process foods and eat simple, wholesome fresh produce and protein sources, our bodies send signals of satiation as it gets the vital nutrients it needs. By switching from process foods to foods from Mother Nature, our body lets go of fat and let us know it’s happy and fed. Losing weight becomes a by-product of nourishing our bodies and protecting our bodies against toxins.

I hope the documentaries will empower her with knowledge to nourish her body appropriately. I pray that she will enjoy a full life as she is so young and has much to offer our society when she can get on her feet.

“There is in fact a stunning parallel between our physical morbid obesity and our financial morbid obesity.

We have expanded our lifestyle beyond control as a nation, 95% of sharing 5% of the national wealth,

and a great percentage of the 95% majority Americans are becoming the consuming poor,

forever buying, ever trapped in worsening poverty.”

It’s the same as the 700 lb 32 year old girl who was over-fed yet incredibly malnourished simultaneously. As a nation, we ought to start making healthier food, lifestyle, financial choices.

Don’t consume for consumption’s sake. Know the true value of what we consume, with our money and with our bodies. Our ultimate pursuit in life is happiness, joy, peace, of lasting qualities. Not fleeting sugar high followed by debilitating sugar crash, not the rush of endorphin from paying to possess a $500 purse. Let’s get back to our roots, create with our minds, help a neighbor out, gratefully take from Mother Nature, stop short-changing our bodies and ourselves with short cuts/processed food-like substances.

While we are conscious with our food choices and generally eat pretty healthy, homemade food from fresh produce and good protein sources, we give into our addition to process foods sometimes. We have lots of room to improve too. Will update you in a month on how we are doing.

4 Ways to Tax-Free Money Everyone Should Try

1.       Cash back from credit cards.
We all need to eat. Buy your groceries, and in fact all your necessities with a credit card with good cash back. While most people settle for cash back of 1-2%, with a little google search, you can easily find cards that will give you10%-30% cash back. I got 20% cash back from discover it + 10% off gift cards from Sprouts farmer’s market on 4k worth of grocery gift cards.
Right now, you can still manage 10% cash back from discover credit cards. Sign up or find an even better card yourself.

2.       Up your loyalty for even more cash back.
Banks like to have ALL of your money. So the more banking products you sign up and the greater your total assets reside in one bank, the more rewards you get such as better mortgage rates, faster turnaround time on your deposited checks, and greater % of cash back associated with purchases.
For example, when I get my measly 1% cash back from my BOA cash rewards VISA card, I can get additional 10% cash back on that cash reward by depositing it into my BOA checking account.
But when I have more than 20k in my BOA accounts, that additional 10% cash back jumps to additional 75%, which means each dollar I charged on my BOA VISA card, when deposited into my BOA account now earns me 1.75% cash back.
This can especially work to attending physicians’ advantage.

3.       Fund bank accounts with credit cards.
Some banks allow you to open new bank accounts and fund these accounts with credit cards. I used to open Citibank online checking accounts and then fund it with my BOA visa cash back reward card. Each time I open a Citibank and fund 50k from my BOA credit card, I make $550 tax free money (because it is cash back associated with “purchases.”)
In 2015, I made over 3k with just over 2 hours of my time by opening a few Citibank checking accounts.  What I love the most about this is that it’s completely tax free. Not because I did anything, just because BOA credit cards processed my action of “funding Citibank account” as a purchase and cash back associated with purchase are tax-free.

4.       Pay your high interest debt.
It’s tax free and guaranteed. I like being the bank and don’t like paying anyone interest unless I know I’m leveraging a debt for higher return on investment elsewhere. So if you have >6% interest rate debt such as student loans, I highly recommend that you pay it off.
When facing the pay down debt or invest, I’m somewhat of an extremist, I didn’t start my Roth IRA until I completely paid off my 6.8% student loans because I really liked the guaranteed ROI when paying such a high interest debt.

 If you like this article, you might enjoy other DWM articles on Personal Finance, Investing, Retirement, Practice Management, & Lifestyle.

All articles by DWM are for informational purposes only and not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a professional accountant, financial adviser or lawyer, before making financial decisions.

 

2017 New Year Gift to Self: Not Clothe-Shopping for 3 Years

I recently stumbled upon Mrs. Frugalwoods and was very inspired by her.

I thought that I had a ridiculously high savings rate, allowing me to retire by 2023, within 2.8 years of finishing fellowship. Most (soon-to-be) radiologists look at me like I’m some sort of weirdo who derives pleasure from “beneath-average-physician-standard-of-living” and obsessed with saving.

Reading Mrs. Frugalwoods articles produced as a stay-at-home mom on their 66 acre ($400k) homestead in Vermont reminds me why I am so happy and not the least deprived living the standard of living I enjoy today.

Furthermore, she inspired me to save more and cut out all the silly purchases.
Effective today 7/20/2016, I will not buy clothes for myself for 3 years. I’ll check in periodically and fess up if I falter for the next 3 years.
Here are 10 reasons off the top of my head why I think this vow is a natural next step in my life.

1.       I have all the clothes I need.
2.       Everything (other than food) I’ve purchased in last 12 months did not increase my quality of life.
3.       I only use 10-20% of what I currently own.
4.       I dislike clutter. I love space.
5.       I have no time to shop. I’m a resident/blogger/tutor/mom/author/lecturer.

For 5 more awesome reasons to my shopping ban, you may read the remaining article here, published on Physician’s Money Digest.

Then make comment or ask questions on this blog; I usually answer them within 24-36 hours.

 Personal Finance, Investing, Retirement, Practice Management, & Lifestyle More articles like this on Physician’s Money Digest.