Doctors and Wealth Creation: It is not easy doctors!
Doctors can create wealth. A lot of wealth. However, it may or may not happen from their earnings alone. Earnings make you Rich. The journey from being Rich (earning well) to being Wealthy (having various sources of income) is not easy. Not to say it is difficult. However it requires effort.
It can happen only with good wealth management techniques. Ha, the word wealth may mean different things to different people. When we talk of wealth we mean an amount of money which will let doctors do what they wish to do rather than what they must do. When Dr. Sunil Balinge and Dr. Dhavale decide to charge Rs. 5 for every patient in a slum in the suburbs of Mumbai, they are putting their wealth to good use.
The distinction is easy to understand – when Mr. Azim Premji, Mr. Ratan Tata and Mr. Rahul Bajaj work at their age of 70, it is by choice. When a 70 year old vegetable vendor or a taxi driver works hard, it is by force.
Wealth creation is largely for 3 purposes – one to support a good life style, second to help you in your non-earning times and very importantly to do charities.
There are enough books and magazines on wealth management, on real estate, on commodities – really that can get you active without earning a dime! Here I am creating a blog which is in the nature of a help for creating, preserving and giving away wealth.
Doctors as a group have a high IQ, they have undergone a lot of training and understand the advantages of discipline. All these are very, very useful ingredients for being a good wealth manager too. Surprisingly (or maybe not surprisingly?) creating wealth and managing wealth is a lot like managing health. Doctors only need to be re-introduced to some simple concepts like starting early, compounding, investing regularly, and some such concepts in investing. Sadly the MBBS course has no content on money – how to do business, how to look after your money, etc. I heard some colleges are making some changes, but I am not sure.
If doctors understand that a gynecologist cannot attend to your tooth and an anasthesist cannot perform a brain surgery, surely they will understand that a broker, a chartered accountant, a financial planner and a fund manager have different roles. Won’t they?
A doctor understands the compulsion of a chemist – he cannot charge for time spent, but a doctor can charge for time spent. This is the difference between a financial planner and a product seller. Simple is it not?
Investing is not really rocket science. Wealth management is not as difficult as say brain surgery. However the skills required are not frivolous either. Nor can it be learnt by watching television or reading a generic pink daily. And to even know whether you need a financial planner – and how involved you should be is not easy. You need to put in some effort at some basic learning….
So here we are empowering you to manage your wealth. You manage lives. This magazine will help you manage your life-style. Empower you to learn about risk, about retirement, about how to listen to your financial consultant, about how to document your assets, about how to plan for your kids’ education, how to set up a charitable trust and such other topics. I wish doctors keep reading my blog and giving me a feed-back about what they would like to see here.
T S ASHOK
Every one must read again and again…
Wealth creation is largely for 3 purposes – one to support a good life style, second to help you in your non-earning times and very importantly to do charities.
NICE..
Ramesh
Thanks for presenting your views and your concern for one of the most badly advised and exploited group of professionals.
ddshah
Sir,i am addicted to your blog?!…i always say to my teachers that FINANCIAL EDUCATION SHOULD BE ALWAYS PART OF THE CURRICULUM…we claim to be ‘high IQ’ but we forget important role of CFA..in the ERA of EMI, fresh doc starting big budget hospital..GOD bless his ‘patience’ & ‘patients’…
ddshah
@ramesh,well said Sir,’one of the most badly advised and exploited group of professionals’..in the industry we are the SOFTEST TAEGET..
sujatha
Empower you to learn about risk, about retirement, about how to listen to your financial consultant, about how to document your assets, about how to plan for your kids’ education, how to set up a charitable trust and such other topics.
Information definitely needed!
Ravindra
The distinction is easy to understand – when Mr. Azim Premji, Mr. Ratan Tata and Mr. Rahul Bajaj work at their age of 70, it is by choice. When a 70 year old vegetable vendor or a taxi driver works hard, it is by force.
Ambiguity of life in very small sentence. Sir you are great!!! Everytime I see senior citizen driving auto or doing hard work, I have above feeling.
Sorry Sir.. I am sharing this valuable video through your blog – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3BEwpv0dM
Barun Chowdhury
Hi Subra,
It’s a nice article. Sometimes we are confused about the difference between Rich & Wealthy. Could you please put more lights on it? What are the differences in their income type, spending pattern, behaviors etc?
Thanks
Barun
M S PANJWANI
I think by introducing this blog u r trying to scout for some earning opportunities from doctors, but be careful, doctors have the habit of giving advises they never ever take any advice.
And doctors are too kanju’s they never spend except on their posh house and cars.
They love their free booze, free foreign trips, and free dinner parties from pharma companies….they have high level of ego.
So, be careful dont waste your time……….
arjun
@ ^^^^ That is the weirdest comment about doctors that I have ever heard.You don’t seem to have met many docs who get through on their own merits(not their pop’s dollar!)and have immense job satisfaction from just treating patients.
The idiots who look to fleece people are generally those who have paid 50 lakhs for an MBBS seat.There are others who are just overwhelmed with work(not free booze..:) and just don’t have the time to look into there financial affairs.
This blog and others like it are a godsend to people who want financial advice disguised as light reading.
subra
ms panjwani – I am beyond the need of looking for business. I have classmates, friends, clients – who are gynaec, opthal, dentists, GPs, owners of hospitals, ….etc. And I refuse to be judgemental about any body, forget judging a whole community based on meeting a few 🙂
Arjun – today a kid with 94% needs the pop’s dollar to get admission. Sad state, but i know if my daughter needs admission in Manipal or in Ma Anandamayi’s college it will cost me Rs. 30 lakhs.
I ALSO know it costs a few crores to set up a decent college – who will provide the free lunch?
So a guy who has spent Rs. 2 crores on getting the degree will have to charge a higher rate – it is the market which wll decide the fees – over a longer period of time..
M S PANJWANI
……am beyond the need of looking for business………i am holding my belly and rolling on the floor laughing louldly………..
Sukumaran
hi Subra
nice article for doctors. Not sure how many of them read…though I like your very liberal ‘no editing’ policy, some jerks should be kept out! Not sure if you agree, but you know whom I mean. Just do a quick check of all his comments…have never seen him add any value to your blog. So even in case of full freedom of speech, why not keep only those comments which add value to the blog? Makes sense does it not? So do not edit, just reject!! easy on the edit side!
M S PANJWANI
In our life truth and reality always looks useless or valueless….false appreciation, applause looks beautiful, useful, valueful….if by appreciating and applauding every written word can add value to the blog i will surely do it…..or if some scholar can please define value…Subra has high sense of humour, he knows better which jerk to be entertained and which to be rejected.
Dr Samir Nayyar
well done keep it up …………………………………………………..
Dr S. Deb
Hello Sir..
thanks for starting this wonderful post for doctors. some ppl have commented on how docs are kanjus and their posh houses and booze and trips and all that.. i seriously pity them.. have personally seen interns and students contribute money for the treatment of poor patients who cant afford expensive medicine.. maybe its their own twisted understnding reality they’re trying to project onto docs.. wat a loser 🙂
well jokes apart, i know many docs who have freshly completed their mbbs and are preparing for their post grad exams.. i too am one of them(a lady doc).. around 24-25yrs..still studying, no job, still dependent on parents..giving up on many of life’s little pleasures.. waiting to get into a specialization of ones choice..and absolutely no idea on wat to do with the money we will earn in the future..we see our friends in other streams already earning and pretty knowledgeable abt managing their finance and dont even know the A-B-C’s..
it would be very nice if u cud post something on how a young doc shud start planning and managing his finances right from the beginning of his career so that by the time he/she reaches his/her 40’s they’re not going around asking ppl for random info and making a complete mess of wat they have earned..
thanks