I set two financial objectives when I completed my training and began making more money. First, get out of debt as soon as you can, and then start on the road to financial independence. Using a combination of aggressive payments and loan forgiveness programs, the first objective was met. The second was more difficult. I resolved to treat my family’s financial well being like that of any patient I would take care of at work. I would educate myself as much as I could, seek advice from professionals, develop a strategy, and exercise caution. Time traveling to discover the next Apple or hot cryptocurrency wasn’t in my calculus.
The following is a summary of all of the books I’ve read over the past ten years, which I would include in an UpToDate article on smart investments for aspiring physicians. You will not outperform the market. Instead of trying to get rich quickly, spend your time practicing medicine.
There is no Gordon Gekko in you. I’ve discovered that the best things can be used to build wealth in the absence of a time machine. a steady income, patience, and low-cost index funds. Don’t waste your retirement savings on a stock or other volatile investment that could put your money at risk. While we can’t completely eliminate risk, we can certainly spread it out and increase the likelihood that our money will grow consistently over time.
You can take advantage of the market’s growth over time by owning index funds, which are available from Vanguard, Fidelity, or any of the major brokerage firms and have almost no ownership fees. Buy it and put it away. Over the course of a 30-year career, there will be good and bad years, but growth is almost certain. I watched colleagues get distressed during the market downturns of the pandemic and sell, only to buy back at much higher rates a year later.
The comfortable income afforded to physicians allows you to be patient. Hitting singles might not be as sexy as hitting homeruns, but being able to retire early is a heck of lot more appealing to me than extending my career because I had big losses in the market. You don’t need a futuristic explorer dressed in an aluminum foil suit to know this. The next Google wasn’t discovered by wealthy futurists.
Instead, they opened a Vanguard brokerage account and began investing in index funds. You are on the wrong blog and, to be honest, in the wrong field if you want to quickly become wealthy through investments. You should look at people with squinty eyes if they say otherwise. Hit singles is the key if you want to shorten the time between now and the day when you won’t need to work for money. It will hold true both now and in the future.
