I started reading PoF and WCI within the last year and have thought about my expenses much more during this past year since they influence my ability to save for retirement and financial independence as much my income does.
I’m starting to get renewal requests for various professional society memberships and while I have noticed the last two years that the aggregate cost is expensive, it really hit home more this year given my personal finance reading over the past year.
I am not required to join any medical societies by my employer, but I do so to have the journals and CME hours that come with these memberships and to support the professional organizations that represent my specialties.
The main tangible benefit I get from these memberships is subscriptions to professional journals, which I can use to satisfy CME hours without spending any additional funds to attend meetings or to pay for online CME.
I suspect many physicians eschew these memberships because of the cost and the perception that these professional societies have been inadequate in addressing concerns important to physicians.