Disclaimer: This site contains affiliate links. Clicks may result in a commission paid to support this site's charitable mission.
“If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” -My Dad Sometimes, it’s just that simple. If you have a desire, you need to make it known. Usually, the worst response you can get is “no,” and you’re right where you were if you hadn’t asked at all. You might be surprised when the answer isn’t “no,” but instead it’s a “maybe” or even a “yes.” As my friend Dr. Dawn Baker tells us in today’s guest post, there are tactics that […]
» Read more
Welcome to the newly updated 2019 Student Loan Resource Page! For several years, I’ve been reading and compiling articles from around the web on all things related to student loans. It can be overwhelming, and there’s a reason a small industry has been spawned to help debtors best deal with their student loan balances. Most of the time, you will be best off doing one of two things: pursuing Public Service Loan Forgiveness while making the lowest monthly payment possible […]
» Read more
Last spring, my family and I enjoyed a meaningful trip volunteering on a surgical mission in Honduras. After I returned, I wrote a lengthy recap, describing what each of us did in our week there. I also asked my readers to join me on a followup trip a year later, and several of them did. Among them was the Doc of All Tradez, an anesthesiologist from the midwest who turned out to be an absolute pleasure to work with and […]
» Read more
Employed physicians may not have a lot of autonomy, but they don’t have to think much about the billing side of medicine, either. It’s a jumbled mess of ICD-10 codes, relative value units, and if you work in anesthesia like I once did, ASA units and CPT codes. Every payer offers different rates for the various charges, and your ability to negotiate fair rates to cover expenses and pay yourself appropriately can be the difference between a thriving practice and […]
» Read more
Is it wrong for doctors to retire early? That’s the question posed by Dr. James Turner in today’s Saturday Selection. It could be that people have always had strong opinions on this topic (and virtually any topic under the sun), but in this age of social media and comments sections, people can more easily share their opinions with the whole world with the click of a mouse or the tap of a phone screen. I know there are plenty of […]
» Read more
If I’m the average of the five people I spend the most time with, I’m about to get a lot shorter and sassier. Note that the sass comes from my kids and the short stature comes from all three. I would never publicly accuse my wife of being sassy even if she… nevermind. Dr. Peter Kim is saying that, as a physician, you’re the average of the five physicians you spend the most time with. In that case, I should […]
» Read more
The decision to attend medical school, assuming you have the grades, scores, and experiences to gain entry, is not one to be taken lightly. The costs in terms of time, youth, and opportunity cost are enormous. Jake Tabbot of Med School Tips reached out after running some numbers to try to determine whether or not it might be worthwhile from a strictly financial perspective. Obviously, there are many other non-monetary reasons to pursue the profession, but the question posed is […]
» Read more
When you get tired of doing the same thing day in and day out and are ready to do something different, a side hustle can give you the outlet you need, while creating some income on the side, as well. Sometimes you have to seek out that side hustle. Other times, it finds you. I thought I might enjoy writing on a blog of my own, and within a year, I had a legitimate side gig. My friend Travis Hornsby […]
» Read more
Choosing a medical specialty is no easy task. You’re faced with this task as a third year medical student trying to look good on every clerkship while working long hours and often with only the view of what the specialty looks like from an academic perspective. At one time, I thought I might enjoy pediatrics, but then I did a 180 and considered radiology. Somehow, I landed on anesthesiology, which I think was actually a great choice for me. Today, […]
» Read more
We recently covered disability insurance and the mistakes that doctors make. Today, I’d like to look at another insurance product that is important for many high-income professionals: term life insurance. This is the good kind of life insurance that exists for one reason. It ensures that anyone relying on your income will be financially secure if you suffer an untimely and early death. There is no investment component. Like home, auto, and umbrella insurance, it’s important coverage to have, and […]
» Read more
Before we start to talk about what we get wrong with disability insurance, I should tell you that I personally do not carry disability insurance. It’s true. If I were no longer able to perform my duties as an anesthesiologist, I would no longer earn a paycheck. And yet, reviewing the list below, I don’t believe I’ve made a single mistake regarding disability insurance. You see, I did once buy a true own-occ disability insurance policy from a reputable company […]
» Read more
Dr. James Turner has an important question to ask you today. Who are you? It’s a simple and seemingly harmless question, but it’s important to know the answer. And that answer needs be more than “I’m a doctor,” or “I’m a lawyer,” “I’m an important cog in the big machine.” As you’ll learn in today’s tale, putting too many identity eggs into one ego basket can be very problematic if that basket is taken away. For much of my adult […]
» Read more
I spent eight years living in Minneapolis in the 1990s and early 2000s. There were billboards all over town advertising major retailers, auto dealers, amusement parks, and confident-looking lawyers. I don’t remember seeing larger-than-life physicians overlooking the freeway exits back then, but when I visit the city now, they’re everywhere! By the time I get downtown, I’m trying to decide between a facelift with local anesthesia, a vasectomy reversal, or a same-day joint replacement. I’m still undecided, but I do […]
» Read more
Some call it physician burnout. Others focus on prevention, citing physician resilience as an important preventive quality. Some reject those terms in favor of more accurate depictions. Dr. Zubin Damania, a.k.a. ZDogg MD recently produced a video describing the epidemic as the result of moral injury. However you want to frame the issue, it’s a real problem. Disillusioned physicians become overwhelmed, disempowered, and disengaged. I’ve suggested monetary solutions — there are situations that can be helped by both saving and […]
» Read more
In The Millionaire Next Door, physicians are not painted in the most positivite light, At least, not when it comes to money management. In fact, Drs. Stanley and Danko discovered that physicians were twice as likely to be in the lowly UAW (under accumulator of wealth) group than the prestigious PAW (prodigious accumulator of wealth) cohort. Dr. Peter Kim thinks we’ve got what it takes to turn that around, and he makes some insightful observations on the things doctors have […]
» Read more
My wife will be the first to tell you being married to a physician isn’t always easy. There’s the toll stress can take on the doctor. The missed dinners and lost weekends. Single parenting and the frequent chirp of the pager at all hours of the night on a regular basis. When I’m on call, we both suffer. One thing we don’t have to worry about is the impact on her career. Although she’s got a few degrees hanging on […]
» Read more
Last summer, an enterprising urologist reached out to me with an interesting story to share, and he offered to write up his story for me to share. I often quote or paraphrase Henry Ford’s saying: “Whether you believe you can do a thing or not, you are right.” And as my Dad says, “If you don’t ask, you don’t get.” Today’s guest author believes he can and he’s not afraid to ask. Five years into his career, he’s worked his […]
» Read more
Personally, side hustles were the furthest thing from my mind as a medical student. I may have sold a little bone marrow for stem cell research, but I just don’t think I had the drive or the time to do much else. About the closest thing I had to a side hustle (besides the bone marrow aspirations) was buying a couple kegs and some mardi gras beads and setting out an empty fish bowl to collect donations to recoup some […]
» Read more
I was finally a doctor. A real doctor! The year was 2002 and I had just graduated from medical school. After a one-year internship living in resident housing in La Crosse, WI, a small city famous for having the most bars per capita of anywhere in the U.S., I would be heading to The University of Florida to spend the remaining three years of my anesthesia residency as a Gator Sedator. Gainesville, a college town and something of a party […]
» Read more
A common stereotype of the anesthesiologist (which both Passive Income MD and I happen to be) is that we like to end our days early to hit the golf course before the rest of the physicians finish clinic and crowd the links. I’m being truthful when I say that I’ve never canceled a case in order to make a tee time. I did, however, make a 1 p.m. tee time on the day I took my USMLE Step 3 test […]
» Read more
Coach Carson's Real Estate Start School open NOW through 3/22!
