Welcome to another Doctor Money Matters episode. This is a great episode. I interviewed one of the superheroes of physicians and finance, the Physician on Fire, the anonymous anesthesiologist who started the very popular financial blog by the same name.

In this episode we talk about how he decided to go down the FIRE (financial independence, retire early) path, his plans now that he has reached FI (financial independence), and his advice for those who are interested in following this path.

We also get into some detail about how he calculated the numbers to determine he had achieved his goal. We also took some questions from social media and discussed his brewery investment and his own personal beer brewing hobby.

A couple of the concepts discussed in this episode:

• Geographic arbitrage — Practicing in a low cost of living area while making a great income allows you to save more faster.
• Sequence of returns risk — The idea that what happens to your assets (the total returns) around (immediately prior to and immediately after) retirement can determine how comfortably you can withdraw from your overall asset pool.
• Savings rate — how much you should be saving as a percentage of post tax income. He challenges people to live on half your take home pay if you want to reach FI sooner. He has now reached a 75% savings rate after reaching FI as he doesn’t have a mortgage or doesn’t need to pay for disability insurance
• Donor Advised Fund — An investment account that set up can make charitable contributions to via donated stock or other assets. This account can then continue to grow via the market and you can choose to make your charitable contributions over time.

Clearly this mindset has resonated with many people as the FIRE community has exploded. PoF’s website has demonstrated significant growth over its 2 year existence and he has provided valuable resources for those interested in these topics.

I want to thank PoF for joining us on the podcast. I encourage you to visit his Physician on Fire blog where you can get very valuable information.

Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

You can follow me on twitter @drmoneymatters

Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues.

Some other physician hosted podcasts that I recommend are:

Docs Outside The Box

The Hippocratic Hustle

The Happy Doc

Doctors Unbound

The White Coat Investor

There are many others, so please support your physician colleagues.

Episode 23 Doctor Money Matters.

Welcome to another Doctor Money Matters episode. In this episode I talk with Eric Tait, MD, MBA,  an internist and asset manager who started his own investment firm. We discuss why physicians need to achieve financial independence. Dr. Tait’s has a very well thought out perspective on the future of medicine and we talk about how he separated his financial success from the practice of medicine.

Eric was influenced by his work for an insurance company while obtaining his MBA. This experience helped him realize how physicians are viewed as just another labor cost center. As physicians we generally don’t think about how we are viewed by the people who pay us. (Remember for most of us it’s not the patients who pay.) He then realized he had to become financially independent as soon as possible and developed a systematic approach to achieving this. We do this when doing a procedure or reaching a diagnosis and I think its valuable in the investment world also.

Eric Tait, MD MBA

Ultimately he chose to use real estate to achieve his goal of financial independence but he talks about how he analyzed different asset classes and arrived at this decision.

We also briefly talk about his views on cryptocurrency and then how his fund works.

Finally we discuss some of the successes and mistakes he has made as an investor.

It’s great to see fellow physicians taking charge of their own financial future rather than having it handed to them.

As always the discussion on this show is for your education and entertainment only and is not personalized investment advice. Please do your own diligence prior to investing in anything.

I want to thank Dr. Tait for being my guest on this episode of Doctor Money Matters. I hope he inspired you to analyze your own mindset about your investments and your financial future as a healthcare professional.  Ultimately, I will still lean towards simple investment approaches but I enjoy learning about different options.

Eric’s company can be found at Vernoville.com and he just started his own podcast recently called The Physician’s Road. Please be sure to check it out.

Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

Episode 22 Doctor Money Matters.

Welcome to another Doctor Money Matters episode. This episode is about taking control as a physician and learning your value. Many doctors don’t understand their dollar value as practicing physicians. It’s not discussed formally in most training situations and we generally are happy with the increase in salary we get from residency/fellowship to becoming attendings. My guest today Dr. Ali Chaudhary had similar experiences as many of us as he transitioned from training.  However, he decided to do something about and start his own locums company when he realized how much these agencies were making on top of what they were paying him.

In this episode we talk about how he did this, why he did this and how his experience can help other physicians discover their own value. We also discuss the pros and cons of going independent. Whether you are happy with your current employment situation or are itching for a change, being aware of your value will place you in a better position for the future.

We also talk briefly about angel investing and Ali’s experience with it. He is from the Silicon Valley area and so it comes in his DNA. It’s a high risk, high reward type situation that has become more accessible for physicians recently. I’m not recommending it for most of us, but we should be aware of all the investment possibilities out there.

I want to thank Dr. Chaudhary for being my guest on this episode of Doctor Money Matters. I hope he inspired you to take control of your own career and learn more about your financial value as a physician. Doctors need to help make the healthcare system more effic

ient. This is one way to bring down overall healthcare costs while keeping those who provide the care paid appropriately.

Ali’s company can be found at locumsunited.com

Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

You can follow me on twitter @drmoneymatters

Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues.

Some other physician hosted podcasts that I recommend are:

Docs Outside The Box

The Hippocratic Hustle

The Happy Doc

Doctors Unbound

The White Coat Investor

There are many others, so please support your physician colleagues.

Episode 21 Doctor Money Matters.

Welcome to another Doctor Money Matters episode. I would like to thank you for listening. It’s been a year since I started this podcast and creating it has been a great educational experience for me. I really appreciate all my guests for participating and joining me on this journey and I hope you the listener have gotten something out of it as well and my ultimate goal is to help physicians and other health care professionals reach financial independence earlier by avoiding the usual pitfalls that has tripped them up previously.

I have made many of these mistakes including buying a house in Las Vegas right out of residency at the height of the real estate bubble. I didn’t listen to my own instincts and bought a house even though I knew the price was too high. Well within a few months, the prices dropped and kept dropping for 4 years till prices were 60% less than my purchase price and 70% less than the peak. It was an expensive lesson that has definitely affected my views on personal real estate.

My guest on this episode is Dr. Peter Kim, an anesthesiologist, entrepreneur who helps physicians with one of the biggest purchases they have, their home. Peter is the founder of Curbside real estate which we will talk about on the show.

We discuss his approach to buying your own home, what a physician loan is, the status of the real estate market. We also discuss how is able to juggle being a physician, father, entrepreneur and his advice for medical students and residents.

I want to thank Dr. Peter Kim for being my guest on this episode of Doctor Money Matters. Buying a home is one of the largest purchases most of us will make, but it can be made easier by getting good advice. My advice is that a personal residence is not an investment but rather an expense item. It can turn out profitable but I wouldn’t rely on it to appreciate.

Peter’s company can be found at Curbsiderealestate.com

Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

You can follow me on twitter @drmoneymatters

Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues.

Some other physician hosted podcasts that I recommend are:

Docs Outside The Box

The Hippocratic Hustle

The Happy Doc

Doctors Unbound

The White Coat Investor

There are many others, so please support your physician colleagues.

Episode 19 Doctor Money Matters.

On this episode, my guest is Dr. Bonnie Koo, a dermatologist/finance blogger who is helping educate physicians about the essentials in personal finance. Since we recorded this episode, Bonnie has had many changes in her life including becoming a mother, moving from NY to Philadelphia (Super bowl Champs) and changing her practice type from employed to private practice.  

Many of you may have heard Bonnie on the Hippocratic Hustle podcast hosted by my fellow physician and podcaster Dr. Carrie Reynolds.

In this episode, we talk about some of the issues for those in high income areas, how Bonnie transitioned from a different field into medicine, and how she became interested in finance. She is well on her way to achieving financial success despite a later start in the medical field than most.

Since the last episode, the stock market had a minor correction. It’s important to not let the swings in the stock market change your overall investment mindset. This is just noise and it should not deter you from investing. If anything, consider the recent drop which has partially recovered, a small sale. Cryptocurrencies on the other hand have had a major correction, which also have partially recovered. I am not going to give any recommendation on those however.

Bonnie’s Blog is at www.missbonniemd.com

Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

You can follow me on twitter @drmoneymatters

Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues.

Some other physician hosted podcasts that I recommend are:

Docs Outside The Box

The Hippocratic Hustle

The Happy Doc

Doctors Unbound

The White Coat Investor

There are many others, so please support your physician colleagues.

Episode 18 Doctor Money Matters.

On this episode, my guests are Drs. Steven and Jenny Bepko, 2 retired Air Force Physicians who are now traveling around the world with their children. In this episode we talk about their careers in the military, the nuances of the military medical

system,  their experience with finances and deployment. Finally we talked about their world tour with their children this year.

I hope this episode gives you an insight and appreciation of military medicine. I also hope that more of us use the Bepkos example to do something interesting and unique while you are young. It’s not just about saving to reach higher and higher net worth.

Thanks for listening to this episode. I want to thank the Bepkos for talking with me and I wish them continued safe travels.

At the time of recording, they were in Argentina, but have since gone to Africa, the middle east, India, and are now in New Zealand, I believe. They are now slightly more than half way through the trip.

The Bepkos have a blog documenting their travel at bepkosgoglobal.blog.

Please let your friends know about this podcast by sharing it on text, whatsapp or whatever social media platform you are on.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

You can follow me on twitter @drmoneymatters

Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues.

Some other physician hosted podcasts that I recommend are:

Docs Outside The Box

The Hippocratic Hustle

The Happy Doc

Doctors Unbound

The White Coat Investor

There are many others, so please support your physician colleagues.

Episode 17 Doctor Money Matters.

On this episode, my guest is Valerie Jones, MD an OB/GYN physician who decided to retire from medicine at age 37. We talk about her background and what led her into and eventually out of medicine. We also discuss how she was financially able to retire at such a young age and advice she has for other physicians. Listen also to how she dealt with criticism from other physicians when she announced her decision.

Dr. Jones currently blogs at www.obdoctormom.com and also has written some articles for the Kevin MD website. I think many physicians will be able to relate to the stressors that led to this decision in their own practice or that of their colleagues.

Key points include living off of one income, rapid loan paydown, and non extravagant living.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple

 Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only) and Facebook.

You can follow me on twitter @drmoneymatters

Please consider joining the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

Thanks for listening and please leave us positive reviews and continue to share this podcast with your colleagues.

Tom and Kim Rairdon

How do you balance finances and family? It’s a challenge for most physicians, particularly with school age children.

In this episode I talk with Tom and Kim Rairdon of the High Income Parents blog. They focus on many of the financial and family issues that physicians with children face including college savings, retirement, balancing work and family.

Tom is an anesthesiologist in Texas. He and Kim have 5 children, whom she home schools. Listen to the episode and how they talk about how they decided on taking this approach to their children’s education. They also have good ideas about children and allowances.

Thanks for listening to this episode and for the continued downloads of this show. The numbers are growing and I really appreciate it. Thanks to Tom and Kim for joining us today. I really enjoyed hearing about the success and challenges they have with getting to financial independence with 5 kids. I’m sure with their determination, they will achieve this sooner than they expect.

What about you, where are you in your plans for financial independence? Message me on Twitter or join the Doctor Money Matters Facebook group.

You can read Tom and Kims blog at HighIncomeParents.com and you can follow them on twitter  @HighIncParents

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com and Apple Podcasts, Google Play, Stitcher, etc. All episodes are also now on YouTube (Audio only)

Thanks for listening and please continue to share with your colleagues.

In this episode I talk with Dr. Eric Levi, an ENT surgeon who created a viral article recently relating to physician burnout and lack of job satisfaction called the Dark side of doctoring. Eric wrote this article based on his experience as a specialist nearly completing the long process of training in Australia, but I think his experiences are comparable with listeners in the US and other western nations.

He has a series of these articles that I encourage to you read on his website.

While this particular episode is not necessarily a financial discussion, physician burnout if it leads to leaving the profession obviously will have major financial consequences.

Many physician colleagues are talking about these issues today and I think what Eric wrote about and what we speak about on this episode will sound familiar but he is hopeful that the system is now ready for change.

There have been a number of physician suicides that led him to write these articles. I want to encourage those of you who are listening to this show to speak with your colleagues and maintain the social relationships that help us deal with our stressors. I think Eric makes a point in our discussion about the demise of the informal support groups that used to be more common in the past, such as going out for coffee or drinks. Let’s make it a point to engage our colleagues in these relaxed social activities.

One other point that he makes that should hit home is if you can find 20% of your work to be meaningful, you will have greater job satisfaction even if the other 80% is monotonous. By continuing to learn new skills in your field, teaching students or residents, or branching into leadership positions, you can improve satisfaction.

Finally I know many physicians and administrators don’t have the best relationships, but remember at the end of the day, both groups work for the patient. Lets remember that.

You can read Eric’s articles at EricLevi.com and you can follow him on twitter @drericlevi

The article The Dark side of doctoring is linked here.

More episodes of this podcast are available at www.doctormoneymatters.com

Thanks for listening and please continue to share with your colleagues.