Most physicians have little to no formal business training. The only negotiating we do is with our patients, trying to convince them to take a statin to bring that total cholesterol value back under 300.
On the other hand, those that prepare our contracts often have business degrees. They negotiate contracts for a living, and their incentives and interests are rarely aligned with yours. It’s not a fair fight.
Fortunately, there are physicians and physician advocates looking to level the playing field, arm you with the data you need, and help you negotiate a deal that falls in your favor.
When I graduated from my residency in OBGYN in 2017, I went from making $49,000 per year to $250,000. If my math is correct, that’s around a 500% raise?! I was thrilled, to say the least.
Understanding how differences in income can impact our lifelong wealth and ability to achieve FIRE is critical. Especially in my field of OBGYN, we’re a field heavily dominated by female physicians. Female physicians are historically known to have drastically lower salaries than our male counterparts and women are also known to be less likely to negotiate.
I’m not talking about your value as a human; we know there is no price tag on that, but as a physician, there are metrics and expectations that have a monetary value, and we should be compensated appropriately to reflect that.