Ask DOctors, “Why is Building Wealth Important?

Here are some answers you might hear.  

​Financial security impacts every part of a physician’s  personal and professional life.

• Financial security opens doors to professional possibilities. Wealth gives doctors more choices as you consider how they position themselves yourself for success in the era of the Affordable Care Act.

• Financial security helps them avoid distracted doctoring. Money worries serve as a constant source of distraction.  Just as you wouldn’t text and drive, so, too, doctors should avoid distractions about financial security.

• Financial security helps doctors put their family’s needs first. A colleague decided to cut back on her ER shifts when her children became adolescents. She knew she wanted to be there to guide her kids through this tricky stage of development. She also  knew that she could afford it.

• Financial security immunizes doctors from burnout. Insufficient income is one of the top five risk factors for developing burning out.  Further, insufficient savings and debt correlate with burnout. 

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• Financial security helps doctors treat burnout. They may decide to cut back on your hours, create a specialty focus in their practice, or launch an entrepreneurial venture like writing a blog or building a company around a medical invention you made. 

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• Financial security helps put the patients’ needs first. You may remember the case of the Michigan oncologist who was found guilty of a $35-million Medicare fraud scheme. Dr. Fata harmed, and in some cased killed, his patients by administering chemotherapy they did not need for his own financial gain.  I remember the hushed whispers about the orthopedic surgeon performing surgical procedures only marginally indicated because he needed the income. 

• Financial security helps doctors serve in a bigger way. The greater your wealth, the greater impact you can make in the world.

• Financial security helps leave a bigger legacy.  The greater your wealth, the greater impact you can make for your family and causes about which you’re passionate.

• Financial security helps doctors leave a bigger legacy.