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?

No idea. My good friend is a pediatric neurologist. She is far from rich.

Anonymous wrote:One nice thing about medicine is that you can almost always make a little more money if you are willing to work more hours, particularly if you are willing to drive a couple of hours to cover a vacation or a hospital shift in a rural area.

We live near a large military base with its own hospital. Many of the military doctors moonlight on weekends by going to rural areas in our state or flying to places like South Dakota to provide coverage there. Or they read scans remotely when they’re deployed. I also know an ER doc who works weekends in ski towns and gets free lodging and meals.

Anonymous wrote:one major value of being a doctor is that your employment is practically guaranteed for life and you have great geographic flexibility. It shouldn't be underestimated. Doctors never have to stress about having a good job. To me, this is priceless.

True for plumbers, various trades workers. You can start your career at 18, build a small business and semi retired at 40. A good friend did exactly this.
You don’t need to be a physician to land a recession proof career or earn a 7-figure income.

...if not a kid, definitely not a normally functioning adult.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP is a weirdo.

I think OP is a kid.

I was going to say exactly this.

one major value of being a doctor is that your employment is practically guaranteed for life and you have great geographic flexibility. It shouldn't be underestimated. Doctors never have to stress about having a good job. To me, this is priceless.

I work in a hospital in the area. Our 990 has the highest paid employee an obgyn at 3 million. After that there are ortho (joint and spine) and plastics. Those are above 1 million.

We do have primary care making $500k. They must be hustling though.

More patients, procedures = more $$. No different than any other pro profit business here. Sadly much of this comes at cost of good patient care. I would say that specialists dentists can earn much more than docs these days, including specialists.

Anonymous wrote:Yes. My husband and I are both doctors, and we have plenty of money. We aren’t DCUM rich, but I’m always surprised when people ask if we can afford things like an evening babysitter or a week of summer camp.

I have found this to be a uniquely DMV perspective.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Hand surgeons are a fairly high paid sub-specialty.

More info - you can do it through plastics or Ortho. They make ~$500-600k

Don't you actually HAVE to do it through plastics or ortho? Is there another option?

Anonymous wrote:Hand surgeons are a fairly high paid sub-specialty.

More info - you can do it through plastics or Ortho. They make ~$500-600k

Hand surgeons are a fairly high paid sub-specialty.

One nice thing about medicine is that you can almost always make a little more money if you are willing to work more hours, particularly if you are willing to drive a couple of hours to cover a vacation or a hospital shift in a rural area.

Anonymous wrote:OP is a weirdo.

I think OP is a kid.

I suspect they just aren't as willing to be creative about it, PP.