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Slow but steady can win this race as I have discovered after 23 years of clinical practice. From an inflation standpoint my income has minimally changed from my initial starting salary of 115 K until the present time. Yet I have been able to obtain a Steve Austin net worth, that's Colonel Steve Austin not Stone Cold Steve Austin for you young folks. Compound interest is our friend.
I have had help along the way, but my advice is not much different than others have mentioned.
1. Go to a low cost school and get out of debt as quick as possible, and it helps to have parents who had planned and helped pay for their children's education.
2. Marry someone with similar financial goals and if they can work even part-time, their retirement savings can be substantial.
3. Maximize all of your retirement vehicles as soon as possible and then add even more into an after tax account, you will need that if you retire young.
4. Start saving for your kids’ education when they are born, 529 plans did not exist for mine but a $500 monthly investment for each covered their education and satisfies #1 for their future.
5. To succeed with #3 and #4: Live like a resident, do not by an expensive house, high end cars or join a country club. The house will be paid off before kids go off to college, expenses will stay controlled and the now enormous pile of marshmallows can be eaten slowly for the rest of your life.
With investable assets enough to cover my expenses at a <2% withdrawal rate, and hoping future health insurance costs will not surpass 50 K per year, the rip cord will be pulled this year.
Why not keep working part-time? Well, I have tried going part-time by reducing from 4 days a week down to 3-1/2 days a week but have found minimal reduction in workload, still 45-50 hours per week. This has been the curse of building a large patient population after all of these years and has resulted in an avalanche of messages, refill requests, consultant notes to review and an unimaginable variety of forms that will not end unless I am gone. Hours of time at home and vacation time has been spent managing the never-ending In Basket of EMR.
My desire to exit the field of medicine and enjoy life to its fullest has been hastened by first-hand knowledge of Time > $. Having a sibling die in their early 40s from heart disease can be strongly motivating. It also emphasized the importance of estate planning and asset protection. Despite the current tax laws there undoubtedly will be future changes in power which may revert estate tax exemptions to their frightening lows, as they were only a decade ago. His work in a small fruit company in California required a 500 large payment to Uncle Sam, a hard check to write. So my advice to others would be to watch out for any future estate tax changes and make plans before you die.
As I have been announcing my impending retirement later this year I have been met with almost universal anger, disdain and dejection by my patient population with the words "you are too young to retire" echoing endlessly through the halls. This is a somewhat disappointing end to a career as the congratulatory statements are few and far between, making that last day not soon enough. I look forward to moving on to the rest of my life and will look back fondly on the lives I have helped through it all and hope for the best for this next generation of doctors.
I have had help along the way, but my advice is not much different than others have mentioned.
1. Go to a low cost school and get out of debt as quick as possible, and it helps to have parents who had planned and helped pay for their children's education.
2. Marry someone with similar financial goals and if they can work even part-time, their retirement savings can be substantial.
3. Maximize all of your retirement vehicles as soon as possible and then add even more into an after tax account, you will need that if you retire young.
4. Start saving for your kids’ education when they are born, 529 plans did not exist for mine but a $500 monthly investment for each covered their education and satisfies #1 for their future.
5. To succeed with #3 and #4: Live like a resident, do not by an expensive house, high end cars or join a country club. The house will be paid off before kids go off to college, expenses will stay controlled and the now enormous pile of marshmallows can be eaten slowly for the rest of your life.
With investable assets enough to cover my expenses at a <2% withdrawal rate, and hoping future health insurance costs will not surpass 50 K per year, the rip cord will be pulled this year.
Why not keep working part-time? Well, I have tried going part-time by reducing from 4 days a week down to 3-1/2 days a week but have found minimal reduction in workload, still 45-50 hours per week. This has been the curse of building a large patient population after all of these years and has resulted in an avalanche of messages, refill requests, consultant notes to review and an unimaginable variety of forms that will not end unless I am gone. Hours of time at home and vacation time has been spent managing the never-ending In Basket of EMR.
My desire to exit the field of medicine and enjoy life to its fullest has been hastened by first-hand knowledge of Time > $. Having a sibling die in their early 40s from heart disease can be strongly motivating. It also emphasized the importance of estate planning and asset protection. Despite the current tax laws there undoubtedly will be future changes in power which may revert estate tax exemptions to their frightening lows, as they were only a decade ago. His work in a small fruit company in California required a 500 large payment to Uncle Sam, a hard check to write. So my advice to others would be to watch out for any future estate tax changes and make plans before you die.
As I have been announcing my impending retirement later this year I have been met with almost universal anger, disdain and dejection by my patient population with the words "you are too young to retire" echoing endlessly through the halls. This is a somewhat disappointing end to a career as the congratulatory statements are few and far between, making that last day not soon enough. I look forward to moving on to the rest of my life and will look back fondly on the lives I have helped through it all and hope for the best for this next generation of doctors.
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