Doctors Make This Much Money. How Do You Compare?

“Physician pay is high, but so is debt and dissatisfaction.” …

http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2015/10/03/doctors-make-this-much-money-how-do-you-compare.aspx

Student debt for physicians doesn’t seem like too much of a problem.

^considering I didn’t get out of debt until age 39, I would have to disagree.

Student debt isn’t necessarily the sole problem, but it can be a big factor when combined with the other expenses a budding physician has.

For many, there are undergrad loans, Med school loans, the cost of either buying into or starting one’s own practice, office overhead, malpractice insurance (which can equate to a good percentage of some specialties’ income - neurosurgery and OB come to mind), the high cost of initiating and subscribing to electronic medical records services, and an ever-changing three-point line with regards to reimbursement from Medicare and insurances. Oh, and I forgot to mention federal income tax - ouch.

Medicine is not the “slam dunk” that many believe it to be. I love many things about my work, but I have not recommended it to my kids as a profession.

Even with “high” physician pay, the net pay is not what you think.

Of course, no one should pursue a career in medicine for the money anyway - if that is the goal, then be a hospital CEO or healthcare company executive instead - the pay of these individuals often dwarfs the income of even the best-paid specialists.

I’m not following that logic. Since training for physicians is so long, it would stand to reason that they incur more debt and start paying it off later, which would result in what you describe.

However, what is the problem with that? It would appear from the article that physician compensation is more than adequate to cover the debt…and then some.

Certainly no one should go into medicine for the money. Students should do their research, know as much as possible what the job is about, and go into medicine because they can’t see themselves doing anything else, because though the compensation is good, there will be sacrifices and negatives to the job.

But lets put the debt in perspective. I live in a Southern state with no teachers union, so first year teachers with a bachelors degree start at about $35,000, give or take a few thousand depending on the district. Tuition, room, board, books and fees at our state universities runs about $20,000 per year, so if a future teacher doesn’t get scholarships or parental help, they will incur $80,000 in debt and earn less than half that a year. On such a salary they won’t have a lot extra to pay down the debt quickly, unlike a physician can on their salary if they live frugally. I taught for 16 years as a second career (and got a whopping $2,000 extra for having a masters degree!) and while I did love it, my children would have never considered it. They never saw me go anywhere without a stack of papers to grade, and even on such a low salary I, like most teachers, spent a lot of my own money on supplies for my classroom. Just my opinion, but debt and dissatisfaction can occur in any profession. There are other professions where it is harder to get out of debt, and when someone is dissatisfied there aren’t many alternatives or ways to improve the situation.