Doctor Financial Independence Blogs
Doctor Financial Independence Blogs
Tomorrow’s podcast episode, The Why Of Dr. FI, includes a panel of four physician financial independence enthusiasts. While from the outside you wouldn’t expect, there are numerous doctor financial independence blogs. The field is growing rapidly. Over 75 and counting. That’s a pretty large number if you think about how small a percentage of our population is doctors.
So why do doctors feel the need to talk about personal finance on the internet? You don’t see such a large number of lawyers or accountants. As a profession, we physicians are over represented.
Why is that?
High Income
Well there is the obvious. Physicians make money. A lot of it. Most doctor financial independence blogs tackle high level topics such as how to invest, save, and take part in the real estate asset class.
Unlike most of the population, capital generation is not the primary problem. There is more of a need to understand what complex financial instruments can serve this capital heavy group.
There are also lots of pitfalls. A common feeling that we, as physicians, have large targets on our backs. There are many industries and professionals trying to take advantage of us. And it is easy to hide under the cloak of respectability. Of course physicians need life, health, and disability insurance. But do they need whole life?
Maybe they need a financial advisor, but do they need one that will put them in pricey managed mutual funds and heavy single stock allocations?
There is easy money to be had.
Debt
It is hard for those outside of medicine to understand the crushing pressure of medical school debt. Many come out of training with hundreds of thousands worth of loans. A two doctor couple could hover close to a million dollars in debt.
Doctor financial independence blogs have sprung up quickly to help people understand how to manage this debt. This is no longer a simple process, and with all sorts of loan options and refinancing available, it helps to have a reassuring and knowledgeable voice to reference in times of confusion.
Many people, furthermore, fall prey to the Dr. Jones phenomenon. They let lifestyle inflation lead them astray even as they struggle to pay off educational debt. They often take on even more in the form of real estate and car loans.
There are many traps to fall in.
Burn Out
All the reasons above, however, pale in comparison to the concept of burnout. The burnout rate in this profession is exceedingly high. At any given time, there are many looking to leave medicine completely or at least to cutback significantly.
Doctor financial independence blogs have arisen as a form of empowerment. When physicians take hold of their finances, they break away from the indentured servitude of the modern medical practice.
They take all the stress and fear out of the profession and replace it with control. Side hustling. Half retirement. Alternative medical careers. All of these are topics that have come about as a means to lessen the burden of the modern day physician.
Like it or not, many are leaving the rat race behind. They are forging new career paths that are less stressful and more sustainable. And doctor financial independence blogs are showing them how.
Final Thoughts
The personal finance and financial independence community are growing. One of the fastest moving segments is the doctor financial independence blogs. Doctors are looking to take control of their lives by putting their high wages to good use, paying off debt, and avoiding burnout.
Will we see this same proliferation in other professional fields. Maybe. But it seems to me that the current health care calamity is the perfect storm to create such activity.
I’m looking forward to this episode even though I’m not a doctor. As a patient, which we all are sooner or later, this topic should interest us all. It also represents trends in our society in a more exaggerated way, like student loans, long work hours, and Jones mentality.
It’s a fun conversation. I hope you enjoy it.
I think there are two primary drivers:
1. Clinical medicine is getting harder. Doctors are getting burned out. Many think they can’t sustain their work for 2 more decades.
2. They want to learn how to make their money work for them better and teach others a way out too. Thanks to WCI posting his online income every year prospective MD PF bloggers saw a possible way out and a source of “passive” income for themselves.
Some will succeed and thrive (like yours). Most of them won’t succeed financially. Blogging or other online work is very difficult and time-consuming. Jim made it look easy but it isn’t.
Yes. It’s hard to make a real flow of “passive income” from blogging. Only a few will.
How about it’s a hobby. All of this is always so deadly serious. Did you shave 2 bp on your mutual funds????? Did you become a real estate Mogul and buys some crappy crowd fund? How about the triple dumbbell bucket portfolio? Ya ya that’s the ticket! Spread around the name William Bernstein a couple dozen times and the ever popular if you won the game quit playing. You can read a couple bogglehead books learn to talk the lingo and become an “expert” in just a couple months. Then there’s the entrepreneurs who market their brands to the rest of us “hobby-nistias” I don’t think physicians are particularly over represented at all except in a small circle of people who make up the echo chamber.
I think there are definitely more doctor financial independence blogs than most other professions.
I do agree with some of what Gasem is saying (although I’m guilty of all the things he listed).
At this point, for me – blogging is a creative outlet and a hobby.
It is a bit of an echo chamber.
The comments left on my blog are usually 100% other physician finance bloggers. I do wonder if anyone else is even out there.