Why do we rare hear of heroic cardiothoracic surgeon saving the life of patient with AAA rupture but we hear about doctor scandals with such as a M.D. overdosing from medication or another swindling cancer patients out of their living days and life?

Why do Hollywood celebrities in skimpy clothes make way more money than similarly attractive female doctors, NP, nurses?

Why do NBA players get so many fans and makes millions than doctors with equal caliber physical and mental stamina and prowess?

Since when do patients and the rest of the society turn against their very own health-care providers?

While we unfortunately get bad press as health care providers due to a few rotten apples, which happen in every walk of life/line of profession, I want to speak up for us and reveal some facts perhaps unknown to the non-white-coats.

1. We chose medicine though it clearly is not the path of least resistance.

When I look around me, I am astounded by those surround me in medicine, from technologists, nurses, NP’s, PA’s, residents, fellows, to attending physicians. Any of them would be incredibly successful and wealthy if they had chosen a better paid career, NBA players, Hollywood, modeling, business.

With the exception to a few nerdy-looking people like myself, there are an overwhelming amount of good looking gals and guys in the health care profession.  Just scroll through the Staff/resident/fellow pictures at UA/BUMC, I’d say there are few girls who would have made it big in Hollywood if they chose so.

Ironically, the play doctors in Popular TV show “Scrubs” are much better compensated financially & socially than real docs and nurses. Yet look at these Hollywood material girls training and working so hard to be real doctors, working 80-100 hours weekly through their golden 20’s or 30’s, 4 of these years in medical school, paying 50k/year tuition for the privilege to work every day that ends in day.

Another example, have you ever wonder about the neurosurgeon who just finished a 18 hour surgery? Such physical stamina could fuel success and excellence in any line of sports. How about the work ethic of health care providers? Anyone with the dedication to study or work 16+ hours/ day and sustain this intensity for 10-20 years would have easily made it as a CEO of any fortune 500 company.

Turning down opportunities such as NBA players, Hollywood celebrities, or fortune 500 CEO’s, we strive and struggle our way to put on our white coats and to serve fellow human beings. We too are human, and we too need love and support.

We care about the well-being of another individual beyond our loved ones and ourselves. We pay our way, finically, physically, mentally, psychologically, socially, and relationally, for the privilege to serve.

2. We make inhuman sacrifices.

Look around us, how many marriages, relationships are broken as someone go through their medical training, from medical school to residency, well into attending physician stages. The amount of stress from all fronts, physical fatigue, mental exhaustion, financial stress (with 300-400k of student loans snowballing at 7%), shaken confidence (from being tested/evaluated repeatedly in small and large intervals), is simply inhumane.

Now why would you treat the natural bleeding hearts of our society (those who care enough a stranger to serve them and to carry the weight of someone else’s life or death on his/her shoulders) with such inhumane demands and expect nothing less than bedside manner and stellar test scores?

Something’s ought to give.

Unfortunately, for those of us who chose to put another human being’s wellbeing above our own needs, we are taken for granted.  We are expected to not crumble like any other human being would under extreme pressure and run the code and bring an acutely dying patient back from the cold arms of death.

3. We are tested and charged in every way possible.

When we signed up for medicine, we signed for a lifelong privilege to be tested, evaluated, and examined into our 80’s if we choose to practice until then. From pre-SAT, MCAT, DAT, PCAT, to USMLE step I/II/III, general medicine boards, specialty medicine boards, to interval recertification/licensure exams. We are the most tested profession on earth. What’s worse, the people who made the laws to test us throughout our entire career are not health care professionals. This makes little sense to me. Additionally, these examinations are incredibly expensive.

USMLE Examination Fees 2017

COMLEX-USA Exam Fees

2015 & 2016 Fee Schedules

I was inspired by Passive Income M.D.’s post on Why Doctors Live Paycheck to Paycheck (P2P) and would like to offer some suggestions to live the other end of the lifestyle spectrum of P2P.

I lived P2P once, in college and in medical school. These are times when my full time work is to study and learn while paying a hefty tuition to do so (50k/year for 4 years of medical school). I was able to pay off my student debt a few months after graduating medical school because I always had a plan and I was diligent and disciplined (mostly) about it, even though my cash flow was quite limited and expenses were high as a student in a Bay Area medical school with annual cost of attendance between 80-100k.

Now that I no longer pay 50k a year just to learn and study 80 hour week per week but instead enjoy a wage of 60k annual salary as a radiology resident, I continue to have a plan and stick with it.

What I have found is that not only am I not living P2P, but also, I’m accomplishing my financial goals much faster than what I had planned.

So here are some ideas on stopping the vicious P2P (paycheck to paycheck) cycle.

Set a goal.

In fact, data from the Harvard MBA program showed that the 3% of graduates with formal written goals earned 10 times as much as the combined 97% of those without.
A goal may simply be:

• I will pay off my student loans in 5 years.
• I will max out my Roth IRA, 401k, and my kid’s Roth IRA starting this year.
• I will pay off my home in 15 years.
• I will save $100 bucks more this month.
• I will do everything I can to get my company match this year.
• I will save 30% of my income this year.

Track expenses.

This may seem painful at first. But do it so that you know where you money goes. Identifying your expenses is the 1^st step to evaluating whether these expenses are truly worth the money you spend.

Make a budget.

My rules for making a budget includes:

• Pay myself first by making my saving/debt pay down goals as my #1 non-negotiable expense.
• I don’t spend money on anything that doesn’t bring me joy.
• Things usually don’t make me happy.
• Experiences, learning, and serving others do.
• Spend a little on things/causes that make me happy. For me, these include Mini wise money (my 8 year old)’s pilot and equestrian lessons, a little vacation fund for the family, and sponsoring Mariela in El Salvador.

Actually pay yourself first.

Do this by sticking to your budget where you commit to how much you want to pay yourself (build your net worth), either paying down debts, buying producing assets like index funds (low cost).

If you find that you’ve cut out all the fat in your budget but still in the red at the end of the month, then consider the following:

Do you have too much house? Too much car? Too much vacation funds? Eating out too much? Do you really need cable? (hint: you don’t.) Is your high speed internet really necessary? Can you use work internet and just stick with phone internet after work? (Why are you on the internet rather than spending time with your loved ones anyways?) Spending too much on mobile phone services? (check out FutureProof MD’s article on reducing cell phone bills)

Get out of the trap of paying everyone else first and give yourself what’s left. You deserve more than that.

Surround yourself with like-minded people.

It’s difficult to explain to my friend who’s ecstatic from her 5^th coach bag why that doesn’t make me happy and why saving money for my family’s future make me happier. It’s difficult to quit smoking, no matter how much you know it’s bad for you, if all your friends are chain smokers.

You can still love and care for those who are not taking care of their finances and future, but definitely seek out those who have successfully practiced the way you want to live.

Passive income.

YouTube. Blog. Books. Share your knowledge, expertise, and experience via these channels where once you put in the time to create the product, you could be sleeping or vacationing while the product generates income for you. Passive Income M.D. has lots of great ideas on doing this!

Smart credit use.

Ever thought of making money with credit cards on your necessities such as groceries? How about lowering your interest rate to help you pay of debt faster? When you dedicate $2000/month to pay down a debt/liability, without increasing your payment dollar amount, you can pay off that same debt sooner if you switch it from a 7% student loan to a 0% interest credit card balance, right?

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.