Читать книгу Start & Run a Medical Practice - Michael Clifford Fabian - Страница 38

As mentioned earlier, many people in the general public believe being a medical doctor is synonymous with being rich — but this is not always the case. Certainly doctors are in the upper-income bracket for earning potential, but there are easier ways to make money. Not everyone in medicine has the money they would have liked or thought they would have had. Money should not be a primary motivating factor for doing medicine.

Let me give you an example to further outline this point. You are a man who has just finished a public-health specialty-training program. During the course of your training program, your family has expanded in size and you now have two small kids — both children are younger than the age of three. You and your wife have decided that she is going to stay home for now and be there for the upbringing of the children — childcare during the day was the alternative and you have collectively decided against this. Your wife was working as a dental hygienist for two years and was significantly contributing to the income of the family. You have a hefty student loan and are carrying a balance on two credit cards.

A dream job has just become available for a junior medical officer in a government-based, public-health agency. While the salary is a lot more money than you have ever earned, it is a far cry from the big bucks your friend, who started working a couple years earlier as a family physician in private practice, is making. In fact, your high school friend who has a successful plumbing business is way ahead of both you and your family practice friend in terms of finances and comfort.

You and your wife decide that you are going to pursue this job of your dreams and continue living within your means and not increasing your debt load any further. You stay in your rented apartment for now, do not get a second car, and start to slowly pay off the loans and clear the credit card balances while working in this modest-paid position.

Realistically, it might be another few years before you can buy your own home and go on some exotic vacation. However, these material things are less important as all involved seem to be content with how things have transpired. You are happy going to work every day, and that joy is evident in your personal and professional life. This shows that money has been a secondary issue all along.

However, if you have entered into this career path to make lots of money, a situation like this will be extremely frustrating for you. Even worse, if you have chosen another area in the medical field in which a higher income is possible, and chosen it just for the sake of making more money, then you are likely well on your way to a miserable and unfulfilled career.