Do you think doctors are rich people?

[Anonymous]

Why are you all bullying OP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Your husband has a unicorn of a job. Perhaps he is in laboratory information systems, molecular diagnostics or artificial intelligence/image analysis?

Exactly correct. He's a CP-only informatics/molecular genetics path. I can't say enough good things about the work/life balance from a spousal perspective.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, real estate in/near Boulder is super expensive. We would like to retire there but everything (almost) is a million dollars.

More like $2 million now for a single family home in the better neighborhoods close to the mountains in the city of Boulder. In my prime Boulder neighborhood prices for single family homes are pushing $1,000/sq ft. There are lots of very wealthy people in small houses here.

[Anonymous]

Why is this even a question?

My friend is a bariatric surgeon. He drove around in an Audi before switching to a Tesla. He lives in an apartment that probably costs $4500+ per mo. He takes women on trips abroad all of the time (he's single).

Rich doesn't mean just f you money, driving around in lambos, and having a mansion only. Well, actually I do know another plastic surgeon doc who drives a Lambo....

[Anonymous]

I forgot to add too that my bariatric surgeon friend has gotten offers for work for $1M per year in Montana.....he just doesn't want to do it though because he is still single and needs city life. I told him he was crazy for not doing it for just a few years and retiring.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I have this one friend and she married a doctor. He is a hand surgeon. They live in a very small house in Boulder, so no way they are rich. So my question would be why so many people consider doctors rich?

Lol that you think the size of someone's house is an accurate measure of their wealth.

I don’t think anything that’s why I am asking

You literally said their house is small so they can’t be rich. That’s an odd and probably incorrect conclusion.

Especially in Boulder. I live in that area and plenty of very wealthy people live in little homes and walk around in casual hiking/yoga clothes. Wealth indicators are not the same in CO as they are in other parts of the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I have this one friend and she married a doctor. He is a hand surgeon. They live in a very small house in Boulder, so no way they are rich. So my question would be why so many people consider doctors rich?

Lol that you think the size of someone's house is an accurate measure of their wealth.

I don’t think anything that’s why I am asking

You literally said their house is small so they can’t be rich. That’s an odd and probably incorrect conclusion.

Especially in Boulder. I live in that area and plenty of very wealthy people live in little homes and walk around in casual hiking/yoga clothes. Wealth indicators are not the same in CO as they are in other parts of the country.

Yep. My FIL has a 3,000 SF house in a ski town (around 2 MM) and the next door neighbor is a top guy at a famous tech company. They have a shared driveway lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Your husband has a unicorn of a job. Perhaps he is in laboratory information systems, molecular diagnostics or artificial intelligence/image analysis?

Exactly correct. He's a CP-only informatics/molecular genetics path. I can't say enough good things about the work/life balance from a spousal perspective.

PP, is your H the PhD/MD?

[Anonymous]

I think like many fields the pay for medicine is 2-tier. Boomer docs had low student loans, good reimbursement, and accepted buy-outs. Millennial docs get ridiculous student loans, decreasing reimbursement, extended training, and hospital employment with capped reimbursement. There will always be the exception like see young hot shot plastic surgeon bringing $1 Million, but the majority of doctors finishing training now will never see anything near that. That's fine I'm not trying to play the world's smallest violin just clarifying some misconceptions for people who are not in the field.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an attorney who has seen a lot of physician contracts. The more elite specialties - interventional cardiology, for e.g. - are over a million. So are many surgeons - e.g. ortho and eye - though income depends on the number of procedures and whether they are salaried for a hospital system or have an ownership interest in an ambulatory surgical center. I've seen surgeons who own their own ASCs make upwards of $7m.

In addition, many docs supplement their income with training, teaching, speaking etc. activities for drug and device companies. And surgeons can get involved in product development for device companies and get royalty streams. Bottom line is that doctors can still do very, very well if they are entrepreneurial.[i]

Being entrepreneurial is the source of wealthy in every and any field.

[Anonymous]

My friend is married to an ER doc at a hospital in a rural part of Maryland. She’s a SAHM. There is no family money and they are definitely not rich.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So I have this one friend and she married a doctor. He is a hand surgeon. They live in a very small house in Boulder, so no way they are rich. So my question would be why so many people consider doctors rich?

Lol that you think the size of someone's house is an accurate measure of their wealth.

I don’t think anything that’s why I am asking

You literally said their house is small so they can’t be rich. That’s an odd and probably incorrect conclusion.

Especially in Boulder. I live in that area and plenty of very wealthy people live in little homes and walk around in casual hiking/yoga clothes. Wealth indicators are not the same in CO as they are in other parts of the country.

Yep. My FIL has a 3,000 SF house in a ski town (around 2 MM) and the next door neighbor is a top guy at a famous tech company. They have a shared driveway lol.

+2. I went to college in Boulder and it’s a great town but it’s expensive and lots of very wealthy outdoorsy and yogi types live there. You can’t really compare the way people showcase their wealth there with the way people do in DC.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think like many fields the pay for medicine is 2-tier. Boomer docs had low student loans, good reimbursement, and accepted buy-outs. Millennial docs get ridiculous student loans, decreasing reimbursement, extended training, and hospital employment with capped reimbursement. There will always be the exception like see young hot shot plastic surgeon bringing $1 Million, but the majority of doctors finishing training now will never see anything near that. That's fine I'm not trying to play the world's smallest violin just clarifying some misconceptions for people who are not in the field.

I will take issue with majority of doctors training now will never see anything near that. They will. Student loans can kill. You have to figure out a way not to have them or you prediction will come true. Specialty. Ortho surgeon, cardio surgeon, etc. will keep doing great. But in addition to practicing they need to take risk and own practice or surgi center. Fertility docs make bank as do plastic surgeons. There is a lot that will do well always. Even primary care can be great if you can own the practice. It may not be as easy but the paths are still there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think like many fields the pay for medicine is 2-tier. Boomer docs had low student loans, good reimbursement, and accepted buy-outs. Millennial docs get ridiculous student loans, decreasing reimbursement, extended training, and hospital employment with capped reimbursement. There will always be the exception like see young hot shot plastic surgeon bringing $1 Million, but the majority of doctors finishing training now will never see anything near that. That's fine I'm not trying to play the world's smallest violin just clarifying some misconceptions for people who are not in the field.

I will take issue with majority of doctors training now will never see anything near that. They will. Student loans can kill. You have to figure out a way not to have them or you prediction will come true. Specialty. Ortho surgeon, cardio surgeon, etc. will keep doing great. But in addition to practicing they need to take risk and own practice or surgi center. Fertility docs make bank as do plastic surgeons. There is a lot that will do well always. Even primary care can be great if you can own the practice. It may not be as easy but the paths are still there.

I keep hearing about the student loan balance bogeyman and how that's preventing doctors from becoming rich. Come on! The average loan balance for doctors is less that their average 2-year salary. On top of that, it's probably the only profession where the risk of permanent job loss is minimal. Much like any other high paying profession, only a few specialties/doctors will become truly wealthy but for the most part, doctors as a profession, are rich. The average doctor is richer than the average any-other-profession. Period.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Taken as a whole, physicians still have the highest salaries of any profession:

Median income for attorneys: $123K
Median income for software engineers: $108K
Median income for physicians: $208K

And of course, some specialists will earn far more than that.

You have to take into account opportunity cost. Residency is low pay at 50-60k for around 7 years after 4 years of medical school which is 60-100k a year depending on where. It’s better to be at engineer and make 100k throughout your 20s. Also, Physician Assistant is great - only 2 years no residency and make anywhere between 100-200 k

Agree with all of this. In the overall financial picture, physicians do not come out ahead. Not to mention your 20s are spent studying and working insane hours.

Yes, agree too. And by the time you get out of residency or during, you are usually starting a family so as you start out you have child care expenses. And if you live beyond your means and don't save for college for the kids, by the time you pay off your loans, its time to pay for your kids college.