"Forced, voluntary, and planned forms
of retirement may not all be self-controlled,
but when retirement becomes a serious
objective for you to consider, it may be
too late to make your family retirement
an objective either."
There aren't many physicians, starting on day one of their new practice or day one of their employed position, that would have the perseverance to save 10% of all their net income monthly for the rest of their medical career. Let's say 30 years in practice. Suppose that your salary or net income per year was $100,000. By saving 10% of that each year for 30 years one could accumulate a retirement fund of $300,000.
It would be a rare person who could do that. As you know, that amount is ridiculously low for having any reasonable retirement, let alone pay for the college education of three kids. By present day standards this process would require your family to live on $90,000 a year for everything--and that is a low middle class range of income for any professional.
Doubling these figures gives you $600,000 in your fund. In today's economics, this would not do much better for you. If you then retired and lived on $50,000 per year, close to the same as some on social security recipients live on, you would run out of money in 12 years.
Since people are living lots longer now, and physicians are retiring earlier now(60 or sooner), you might need enough money to live comfortably for 30 to 40 years of retirement. And this is assuming you haven't made much money in the stock market or investments, paid for college costs for your children, or supported your kids who are forced financially to move back home.
Something else has to happen to make this retirement worthwhile for a 60 year old physician
and spouse...
So, what are the alternatives for you if you are thinking about retirement...
- Never retire
- Create a 3 million dollar retirement fund--at least
- Create an affluent medical practice in a high paying specialty
- Create and maintain another business outside your medical practice
- Have a rich uncle who left you a few million dollars
- Win the big lottery
- Marry a very wealthy spouse
The last 3 are rare resources, and worthless to rely on. The most common response is to never retire, but even that is risky and not really dependable. Most doctors are probably not enthusiastic about becoming a plastic surgeon to accomplish this goal.
The bottom line here judging by what some doctors are doing, and by what seems to be the most reasonable option to add to your medical practice business is to create an outside personal business which can be started anytime in your medical career. Business experts who have made their millions in various businesses have long been proposing the ideal method for income--multisource income streams.
Business experts recommend starting a business in high school (for your kids or spouse) and continue to expand it in college and medical school. Many other sources of income arise from parallel businesses to your own, over time. If you're a physician, you could start a medical supply business, office decorating business, pharmacy business, medical equipment or office equipment business. Even partnering with someone who has worked in and knows the business well. Sharing a business with family members is not recommended for many reasons.
I hope you pick up on a few of these ideas and expand them into something of value.
From a serious standpoint...
Retirement experts in 2022 are quick to point out that the requirements appropriate for physicians will require about two million dollars at the very least in your retirement fund if you expect to live longer and have over 30 years of retirement to support--say you retire at age 60 in good health. All this is assuming that there are no disruptions of those plans which in reality is often the case.
Most physicians tend to disregard a few things such as...
1. The costs of everything increases and the value of the dollar decreases with time.
2. Many retirement plans are lost or very depleted because of poor management, government intervention with new tax laws and restrictions on retirement plans, corruption theft by managers, and because of fund investments that fail completely. Most understand that retirement funds are commonly placed in the hands of managers who invest your money in the stock market or other supposedly stable and profitable businesses.
3. Physicians in our nation are functioning under the massive changes, both obvious and arcane, occurring within the medical profession and the increasing plan and intention of our government and far left politicians to forcibly take full control of our healthcare and the medical profession. Those who don't see those issues as significant, will attempt to suppress those who do.
Retirement under these circumstances is becoming more of a last resort, rather than a
personal choice.
4. If the Christian leaders are right and we are living in the "end-times," then retirement is a waste of energy, funding, hoping, anticipating, and money. After all, it all belongs to God anyway.
5. The complete opposite side of this question about the need of a business education for all physicians, are the most likely consequences that evolve from actually becoming a physician with a business education.
If you become an elite physician and you reach your maximum potential in your medical practice business as would be the objective, you increase the risks of such things as divorce, perpetually at work, no family life, minimal social life, excessive study and courses, and worst of all, you would have to be as employee of some large and notable medical institution, medical center, or government organization.
The preferred way that most physicians choose to improve their medical practice management is by following the essentials of high income medical practice businesses as noted below...
Requirements for maximizing your private medical practice income…
1. Good knowledge of medical practice management
2. Having the energy for continuous medical practice marketing
3. Medical practice business planning is important for direction
4. Marketing for physicians and their office staff is a winning set up.
5. Learn what makes a medical practice business successful
6. Your medical practice business system is essential.
7. Both practice marketing and physician marketing is rewarding.
8. Business success is the objective of all physicians in private medical practice.
9. My business teaching website—www.marketingamedicalpractice.com
----Professional Probe----
"Just the thought that babysitting your
private medical office business 24/7 is a
thankless job... and it is... does not give you the
right to ignore what you yourself built and is
the only source of income you may have ."
Articles©2013-2022/CGG INVESTMENTS LLC. All rights reserved. #138, 3-16-22
