4 Reasons MS & PGY Should Start Building Wealth Today

Many of us have our mind set on starting to build wealth when we finish training. Some say, “I’ll be making so much more money that what I save now will not matter in comparison.” Others say, “I just can’t squeeze out anything, we are maxed out on our current income. There’s nowhere to cut.”
The truth is if we set our mind to It, there are always more solutions than problems. If most people have pre-determined that they will Not set any financial goals while in training, then there will not be creative ways to accomplish those goals.
I hope the reasons I listed will encourage us med students and residents to take action today to build our net worth. Your older, more tired, more taxed self would thank you tremendously if you start saving in training.

1.       Develop and practice good habits.
One of my finance heroes Robert Kiyosaki (author of Rich Dad Poor Dad), said that people with money trouble on little income, will only have more money trouble on high income. A larger paycheck is not the solution money problems, more money only accentuate one’s bad money habits.
A bit counterintuitive, but there are way too many sad live examples. 60 year old with 500k saved after 30 years of making ½ million per year. Then you have a janitor who left 1 million behind for the school he cleaned and served for 3-4 decades.
Be faithful and multiple what you consider little income today (50-70k) in MS/PGY’s, you will find the same principles you live by compound your wealth exponentially when you get that 3-4 pay raise.

2.       Invest in your greatest asset: your mind.
If you are going to read one money book in your entire lifetime, do it today. The sooner you read it, the more dividend it will pay you over your life time.
Learn about money, it’s so much easier than medicine. If you ever pick up a 2nd money book, you will see repeating themes. One good investment book where the basics are covered is all you need to successfully DIY your personal finances. Look here, this money guru who read 250+ great investment books and live and breathe money matters, have a 3 fund investment portfolio I could come up with while still on the ½ of my first investment book.

3.       Dollar invested today works longer for you. 1-2 more doubling time.
A dollar invested as MS1 has 1-2 more doubling time compared to that more-than-a-decade-later-invested dollar in your first few attending years.

4.       Lowest tax bracket going forward. Buy investment on sale.
If you invest this MS1 dollar in post-tax vehicles such as Roth IRA, the tax savings is incredible since you will be paying the cheapest taxes as a MS1 (I made less than 15k as a MS1) as opposed higher tax brackets as attending physicians or retired physicians.

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

Dear Colleagues, We are Here to Help

I recently read a white coat investor post about a couple who’s in their mid-40 with 5 kids, 2 in college, with 300k debt still and little aggregate savings. It broke my heart and motivated me to work harder to reach more of my colleagues so that they can avoid or get out of these dire financial circumstances.

 

First off, I think this couple did a few things right:

  1. Their hearts have been in the right place, serving their community.
  2. They have built their children one of the greatest inheritance there is, siblings.

 

For those who find themselves in similarly dire financial situation as this couple (and I agree with WCI, their situation is not at all uncommon), the first step is to record a snapshot of liabilities and assets, as WCI call it add up the damage.  Then setting goals and plans to accomplish them. Downsizing is really not as bad as we all think, upgrading is not as great as we believe. I wrote and recorded the 30 day mindful financial practice YouTube videos to invite everyone (struggling or not) to join me on a journey to master their money and accelerate building net worth (decrease debt and/or increase assets).

 

Trimming off the fat and focusing on saving and paying down debt is actually incredibly rewarding and freeing.
When we look at the rest of the world and appreciate how $38/month can support a child’s every need in El Salvador, we actually may find spending (on a worthy cause) harder than saving money. If there’s no worthy cause, saving money can be the natural “default.”

 

For those of us who are fortunate to have learned from WCI or other mentors early on (in med school) and become debt free and on track to early financial independence, it behooves us to reach out and help our colleagues.

 

And for our colleagues who are struggling financially, please don’t feel shame or guilt, ask for help.

 

We walked in the same shoes, faced the same challenges (high tuition, high interest, kid, etc.), and have only managed a little differently, leading to different results today. We’d be more than happy to share what we’ve learned: our mistakes, failures, and successes.

 

Don’t despair, you’ve accomplished much harder things in life already including medical school and medical practice, and raising a family. Money matters are simple. It’s just a matter of practicing a few boring, simple, and old principles.

 

I like the quote, “When money is lost, nothing is lost; when health is lost, something is lost; when character is lost, everything is lost.”

 

You’ve got character, and hopefully you are healthy too. We can take the money issues on together. By “we” I mean you, your family plus many successful physician or non-physician financial masters like WCI, PoF, Futureproof MD, Passive Income MD, and a whole host of financial independence/money bloggers. Let’s take heart and build a better future starting today. No matter how little a step, taking the first step here and now is the only way to start our journey.

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.

10 Heart & Wallet Healthy Habits

 

  1. Make and drink organic fruit/veggie/seeds smoothie.

Daily organic smoothie is way cheaper than Starbucks Latte and does incredible things for your bowels, energy, and health.

smoothie

  1. Cook at home.

Cooking with your spouse can be the start of a romantic date. Cooking with your kids is a great way to get them excited about eating healthy wholesome non-processed foods.

  1. Massage your spouse.

Talk about getting a work out and occasionally getting the reciprocated massage is an added bonus.

  1. Walk your dog.

Explore nature, your neighborhood with your curious dog is quite refreshing.

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  1. Create something (with your kid).

Teach kids to create rather than consume: you are raising and wealthy entrepreneur rather than a poor consumer. It’s incredible that kids derive more joy from building a castle from cardboard boxes with their parents than getting a $400 Disney Princess castle.

MWM found a great youtube video teacher who taught her how to draw an eye :)
MWM found a great YouTube video teacher who taught her how to draw an eye 🙂 We started this together, after the initial challenge, MWM finished it on her own and enjoyed a wonderful send of fulfillment from tackling something new.
  1. Home Yoga with YouTube instructors.

Mindfulness on Yoga mat is useful for all aspects of life, from professional, psychological to financial. Staying fit saves a lot of money. For example, I fit perfectly into formal dresses purchased when I was 18. 14 years later, I did not have to upsize my wardrobe at all, saving me thousands of dollars easily annually.

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7. Write.

Writing is a great way to process our experiences, reflect, learn, and solve problems. Not to mention if you submit your articles to forum like Physician’s Money Digest, where your articles become passive sources of income and great way to reach out and help others.

8. Read.

I’m the person who reads the least in our family from my parents, my sister, to my 8 year old kid. But I do notice reading 1-2 pages of a good book gives 5-10 ideas/solutions. I’m still reading Rich Dad and Poor Dad, and have applied what I learned from the book in innumerable ways already.

work to learn

  1. Use high quality meat as flavoring.

People say cut out meat from your diet. I love meat so much I can’t even though I know I’d live longer if I’m vegetarian. Then I realized I don’t really enjoy eating chunks of meat, in fact the most delicious part of a rack of baby-back rib is the bed of caramelized onions under the rack of ribs from the 3-5 hours of slow cooking. So 1 rib with lots of caramelized/rib flavored onions, with roasted vegetable medley on red quinoa and rice is not only heart healthy but also wallet friendly J Not to mention what you’d save from medical bills dealing with potential gout and CV disease if you eat chunks of meat rather than savoring it with lots of delicious, flavorful vegetables.

ribs 240
Brought these dishes to work for a weekend call. Everyone told me the caramelized onion was incredible, even better than the tender baby back rib with meat falling off the ribs.
  1. Watch good documentaries on Netflix.

Feed your brain and heart good foods like you feed your body. Since watching a movie is a passive pastime, make sure it is good quality, educational, and add to your life rather than leaving you empty, in want, tempted to consume more food or material objects. We love watching documentary about health, foods, education, parenting and sports. These documentaries inspire, empower, and uplift us. And it costs nearly nothing considering the Netflix subscription is $7.99/mo. (even cheaper if you split between households with multiple login names.)

11. Bonus:

Financially fit people are usually less stressed out and enjoy greater (heart) health. People with robust cardiovascular system, probably have better cerebral perfusion and make logical wallet friendly choices. See the positive feedback loop?

 

5 Job Titles Instead of Saying You Are a Doctor

Don’t tell me you’ve never done this: deliberately avoid revealing that you are doctor. Whether it is like White Coat Investor, who rightfully thinks that he may get a better deal if the sales person doesn’t know he’s a doctor, or it is awkward at a dinner party after a crowd just made a series of doctor jokes (not suspecting that there is a doctor in their mist.)
I’ve deliberately concealed the fact that I was a doctor while shopping for houses.
So here you go, I think these job titles are ring true to much of what we do. Technically, we are not lying when we saying, “I am a __________” from choices below. I’m sure you’ve come up with more creative and funny alternate job title for practicing medicine.

Ø  Customer satisfaction specialist
More and more nowadays, especially with the health care provider ratings all over the internet, patient satisfaction is paramount to compliance, health outcomes of patients, and ratings and corresponding reimbursement for doctors.

Ø  Teacher
Doctor means teacher in Latin. We teach ourselves, each other, and our patients’ day in and out. We are in the business of life-long learning, and teaching.

Ø  Solutions Specialist
We diagnose problems, and then propose solutions. We solve problems all days. We love the challenge of identifying and solving problems.

Ø  Secretary
The amount of paperwork required by insurance company is ever-increasing, eating up 1/6 of doctor’s time. We can pretty much call ourselves paperwork junkies by slang.

Ø  Indentured servant
Medical students today have 3 choices, pay medical student loans for 25 years on IDR (income driven repayment) and receive taxable forgiveness for the remainder, for 10 years on IDR (income driven repayment) while working PSLF-eligible job and receive tax-free forgiveness for the remainder, or refinance to a lower interest rate and pay it off aggressively.

Regardless of which way they chose, it’s a lot of money before the debt is paid off or forgiven. When 5k per month of income go towards paying off student loans, or 10k+ monthly if one’s more aggressive, it does approximate indentured servitude.

 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.

5 Lessons a Harvard-Stanford Trained Radiologist Taught Me

I recently had to see a dear mentor off, as she leaves UA medical imaging to join her family on the East Coast. She was a gem in our program. Many people were really sad to see her leave, but we are happy for her choice to be closer to family.

She has been an inspiration to me the day I started radiology residency in July 2015. Not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, but her empathy and her work ethic are among the best that I’ve ever come across in my personal and professional life.

I’d like to share the top 5 things she taught me by example.

1.       Work hard.

Given her academic/professional stature and shear intellectual prowess, she can choose the path of hardly working rather than working hard. Yet she persists to work the hardest she can. Her work ethic inspires and reminds me that effective leaders lead by service and example. The best way to increase the efficiency of your team is to increase that of your own and thereby setting an example/standard for others. Because of her example, I decided to become more aggressive with grabbing studies and working harder than ever. When any resident who “likes to take it easy” is on service with me, instead of complaining about additional workload, I see it as a golden opportunity for me to work harder, grab more cases, and learn more. She was totally right, working hard in the end benefits me more than anyone else because the more I do, the more I learn, and the better/stronger I become as radiologist and an individual.

2.       Don’t take kindness and generosity for granted.

As I began to furnish my 2nd/dream home (while my partner keeps our first home in Tucson), she gifted me so many things. I felt so grateful when we picked up the wonderfully cared for household items/furniture from her home. During our last trip to her home the night before her flight, she even made dinner for us. By all standards, she went above and beyond to help and nurture me, one of her 36 residents at University of Arizona during 2015-2016. I was speechless to receive such undeserving acts of kindness from her. Seeing how she has given so generously to me and many others, I also see how not everyone realizes how lucky they are to receive her graciousness. So this taught me to appreciate those rare creatures like her. Before I take someone else’s kindness for granted, I will remember her, and remember to pass on and reciprocate acts of kindness.

3.       Love and give to others as much as you can.

While we live in a world of competition, exclusion, envy, and scarcity, she builds an oasis of love, inclusion, admiration, and abundance starting from herself, reaching out to those around her. She gives and gives and gives tirelessly. Though it could be disappointing to see some take her kindness for granted, she manages to become an inexhaustible source of positivity. In a tight radiology job market, she got job offers from multiple prestigious institutions within a month when the word got out that she was leaving for Tucson. She was surprised at how much people from all over the country love to have her join their respective teams. Yet it’s clear to me how her loving, positive disposition compounded with her work ethic makes her an incredible asset to any hospital/academic institution.

4.       Respect everyone.

She’s always kind and respectful to everyone: colleagues, technologists, residents, patients, and visiting scholars. Even if she does not agree with a person’s work ethic or decisions, she still treats him or her with respect. I find this the hardest to practice. As I work hard and love working hard, I find laziness/sloth despicable and have low tolerance for it. So I find it amazing that she could accept someone at the other end of the spectrum from her end. I do though understand why she respects everyone. She values each human being intrinsically, regardless of their character traits.  Her respect for others speak greater to her character than those around her.

5.       Always do and be the same even when no one is watching.

She’s absolutely right on this. Whenever she says this, I recall the times when I cut around the corner with a U turn to circumvent a red light and other little acts that I won’t do if the authority is around and I can get in trouble. In the end, I might have saved 1 minute on my commute to work or had some other short term short-sighted small gains, it truly isn’t worth it. It’s just easier to be consistent and hold myself to the same standard whether someone else is watching or not. Plus, I do serve someone greater than myself. My God is always watching; He knows my every act. At the end of the day, being able to sleep at night and be at peace knowing I have done my best with everything is worth maintaining the same standard in all circumstances.

I think the top 5 things she taught me by example will make me happy and successful in all aspects of my life: personal, professional and financial.