Financial Success MD recently celebrated five years of retirement from his active practice, and looks back now on what has happened since then, what he has discovered, and a few surprises he encountered along the way.
My original target date for retirement was age 50. I set up my early retirement plan as a medical student. Although I reached financial independence by age 50, I did not actually retire until I had found a purpose for my life.
One of the biggest concerns I had when I retired was whether or not I would miss practicing medicine. Surprisingly, this has never been an issue. I developed a new passion for teaching physicians about personal finance .
My new mission in life has kept me busy enough that I have not missed my life as a surgeon. In fact, it is hard to remember what that life was really like.
I have been teaching personal finance for decades, formally by leading financial study groups and informally over the operating table or in the doctor’s lounge.
In addition to 3.9% distribution from my retirement plan, we also had our real estate investment cash flow from our four apartment buildings totaling 55 units.
We took our motorhome out to two nearby lakes with the kids last year. We also did one three-week cross-country motorhome trip. It was fun to get out again.