About

I am a practicing, board-certified emergency physician just a few years out of residency. Although I’ve always been interested in personal finance and investing, I really started diving into the field as a resident when I discovered my financial adviser was ripping me off. Not only was I paying an annual fee, but I was also being directed into high-load, high expense ratio funds and being sold as much high-cost, high-commission insurance as I would buy. I read book after book, some good, some bad, and eventually realized that this stuff is far simpler than practicing any medical specialty. But unlike medicine, there is no one out there willing to teach it to you. As a general rule, those who know even a little of this stuff use their superior knowledge to take advantage of you to make a buck.

Finance people don’t choose their field for the same reasons as kindergarten teachers, social workers, and nurses. When they apply to school (if they went to school at all) they most definitely do not put in their essay that they “just really want to help people.” They are in it for the money, and as a general rule, their training is in sales, not finance. When they graduate they do not stand and recite their version of the Hippocratic Oath. Physicians, accountants, and yes, even attorneys, have a duty to their clients that few financial advisers and asset managers even consider. As professionals, they have a duty to put their client’s needs first. I’m not saying that attorneys or even doctors always have impeccable ethics. You know as well as I do that they don’t. But the ethical bar for financial advisers is so low, most of them wouldn’t trip over it by stealing from their own grandmother.

Being a physician is far too hard to be poor while doing it. The required IQ and work ethic, the late start caused by 10-15 years of low (or even negative) income, the constant liability concerns, and the large amount of care that is simply donated out of the goodness of your heart merit a high income. But a high income is not enough, especially since the average physician income will most likely continue to shrink in the future. The public perception is that doctors are rich. They deserve to be, but the truth is that far too many of them are not. This website will help you turn your high income into a high net worth. It won’t happen quickly. There are no get-rich-quick schemes here. But if you manage your financial affairs prudently, you will have a robust lifestyle now free from financial stress, the option to retire or cut back early if you so desire, the ability to help others financially, and a comfortable retirement.

Now that pension plans (AKA defined benefit plans) are being phased out by corporate America and even the public sector in favor of 401Ks and other defined contribution plans, more and more Americans are being handed a second job, one which they are little qualified to do. Doctors have been in this situation for a little longer, but too few of them realize that they have a second job as their own personal pension fund manager. It is your job to determine how much income to save in any given year. It is your job to decide how to allocate your assets to reduce risk of loss and maximize rate of return. It is your job to negotiate the salaries of those who manage your money. And it will be your job to deal with the consequences of any financial catastrophes caused by your own bad decisions or simply ill luck. Yet you have received almost no training to assist you in this. No one will teach you this. You must teach yourself. The good news is that you can learn all you need to know to do this yourself in less time than you spent on dermatology as a second year medical student. Even if you don’t want to do this stuff yourself, it is important to know at least a little about it so you can evaluate what your adviser(s) is telling you. So let’s get started.