250k in texas....is that REALLY a possibility?

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psychout

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Okay, so a brief recap. Matched into gas...not the best fit for me...found a psych spot during my CA1 year. BUT, have not switched yet.

I really like psych, and only somewhat like gas. The main reason I haven't jumped into psych though is that I am worried I will not have a decent job, where I want to live.

I want to live in texas (hopefully within 30min of the big cities....austin, dallas, houston, san antonio, etc.) but want to make around 250k.

In gas that is pretty easy to do, for now. However I find gas pretty stressful.

In psych I am not sure about that. Most posters say that 190k is about right.

So it is likely to make ~250k in texas? I prefer to do inpatient (mostly) with some outpt.


Looking for some honest input. Also I apologize in advance for how money centered the post is, but I am curious.

I know I would be very happy in psych....I just want to make sure opportunities are out there.

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From what I've seen, the $175k to $190k is for salaried positions. Likely 9-5 hours. In gas, you'd work a lot more most likely and make $250. If you put the hours into psych that you would have into gas, $250 is very reachable.
 
You can easily make $250K in Psych.

Say you take a 180K year job (a 9-5 type gig). You can easily make $70K yearly by moonlighting about 15-20 hours/week.
 
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You can easily make $250K in Psych.

Say you take a 180K year job (a 9-5 type gig). You can easily make $70K yearly by moonlighting about 15-20 hours/week.

Just working 15-20hrs/wk and living off 70K sounds nice to me.
 
After I finish residency, I am very likely going to move to Dallas-Fort Worth area. Anyone know how's the demand for psychiatry in DFW? Does moonlighting come easily in DFW?

Thanks in advance!
 
Outside of NYC and Boston, there is a tremendous shortage of psychiatrists everywhere. Pick any city in Texas and there are numerous, numerous employment possibilities.
 
Awesome, just awesome.

I don't get why more people aren't into psych!

Manageable knowledge base, plus cool meds, plus great lifestyle, plus good money....sounds like a winner to me!

Chianti...are you an attg in texas? Where are you working?
 
Awesome, just awesome.

I don't get why more people aren't into psych!

Manageable knowledge base, plus cool meds, plus great lifestyle, plus good money....sounds like a winner to me!

Chianti...are you an attg in texas? Where are you working?

as my esteemed colleague sikegeek says in another forum "psychiatry is a calling"

That's probably why. Personally, I agree with you, this is without a doubt the most fun place in medicine.
 
I am currently a working psychiatrist in govt hospital, salaried position, get around 180K.8 to 4:30 and 4 to 5 weekend calls per year which are compensated with day offs. in private practice making 250K is quite easy. personally i have professional satisfaction when it comes to working with pt's etc. only difference from other spelities is you have to work as team with many non physicians i.e SW, psychologists, etc.overall they are ok,but at times might you feel intrusions into your professional space by no physicians. hospitals now tend to hire psychologists/SW to head department of mental health, which is quite disappointing, as they know little about medical aspects of psychiatry. but still psychiatrist is considered team leader and med schoold + residency proves it's worth when it comes to challenging situations which requires true leadership. overall excellent field, i will choose it again, if i have to, no doubt.
Good luck:thumbup:
 
Jeez, if salary is such a big factor for you, I suggest you stay in "gas".
 
Look...salary is important, but I have to really like what I am doing. However, it's nice to know that psych has the potential to make decent money. Isn't that the best mix....to love what you do, and earn an ample salary?
 
there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to determine your earning potential in a given market. to get into any career field, no matter how noble, without considering how you are going to pay your depts and provide for your family is absurd. not to go into said field for the difference of $180k vs $250k might raise a few more eyebrows but we should never be critical of someone searching for an honest answer about an important matter.

just my $.02 :rolleyes:
 
there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to determine your earning potential in a given market. to get into any career field, no matter how noble, without considering how you are going to pay your depts and provide for your family is absurd. not to go into said field for the difference of $180k vs $250k might raise a few more eyebrows but we should never be critical of someone searching for an honest answer about an important matter.

Very true. But I personally find it a little suspect when someone doesn't consider making below 250K "decent money." I suppose we all have different standards...:rolleyes:
 
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i find it suspect when people walk around referring to their chosen specialty as "gas". it sounds so gross.
 
there is absolutely nothing wrong with trying to determine your earning potential in a given market. to get into any career field, no matter how noble, without considering how you are going to pay your depts and provide for your family is absurd. not to go into said field for the difference of $180k vs $250k might raise a few more eyebrows but we should never be critical of someone searching for an honest answer about an important matter.

just my $.02 :rolleyes:


I definitely agree. Reimbursements continue to plummet across most fields in medicine. IMHO there is nothing wrong in researching what kind of compensation you will be recieving over the course of your career that you have already invested 8+ years and upwards of a quarter million into.
 
Very true. But I personally find it a little suspect when someone doesn't consider making below 250K "decent money." I suppose we all have different standards...:rolleyes:

Eh, the cost of living is different everywhere and on top of that everyone has their own expectations of living standards.

$250k maybe a fortune in some areas, but in other areas it is also peanuts (parts of CA, NY, etc).

You can be completely enamored with what you do, and job satisfaction is definitely important, but home life is far more important than work life. I also tend to think that how well you feel you are compensated for what you do is a big factor in job satisfaction.
 
I figured that, but had to ask.


I notice that a few Psychiatrist that I know of in nyc do not accept insurance and charge about 250-300 for an hour. I was wondering how much one of these doctors could make assuming their practice was bust.
 
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Eh, the cost of living is different everywhere and on top of that everyone has their own expectations of living standards.

$250k maybe a fortune in some areas, but in other areas it is also peanuts (parts of CA, NY, etc).

You can be completely enamored with what you do, and job satisfaction is definitely important, but home life is far more important than work life. I also tend to think that how well you feel you are compensated for what you do is a big factor in job satisfaction.
Definitely! Don't tell anybody, but I would do psychiatry for free. ;)
But I'd rather be set on fire than do IM for the rest of my life. :eek:
 
$250k maybe a fortune in some areas, but in other areas it is also peanuts (parts of CA, NY, etc).

250k isn't peanuts anywhere you live. It will just take you a bit further in some places than others. You can live exceedingly well in any region in the country with that kind of salary. You may not be buying a massive home in Laguna Beach on that without saving a bit, but Aliso Viejo is 15 minutes away and has an average income of 90K per year with a high standard of living and incredibly low rates of crime.
 
Eh, the cost of living is different everywhere and on top of that everyone has their own expectations of living standards.

$250k maybe a fortune in some areas, but in other areas it is also peanuts (parts of CA, NY, etc).

You can be completely enamored with what you do, and job satisfaction is definitely important, but home life is far more important than work life. I also tend to think that how well you feel you are compensated for what you do is a big factor in job satisfaction.

Considering you spend most of your waking hours at work, I would say work life is really important.

Compensation matters, but the extent to which it matters varies between people. At the end of the day, money is only a part of the happiness equation.
 
250k isn't peanuts anywhere you live. It will just take you a bit further in some places than others. You can live exceedingly well in any region in the country with that kind of salary. You may not be buying a massive home in Laguna Beach on that without saving a bit, but Aliso Viejo is 15 minutes away and has an average income of 90K per year with a high standard of living and incredibly low rates of crime.
Wholeheartedly agree with this. I lived in San Francisco for years making about $40K and lived quite happily. You're a renter, but you can have a great life.

Whenever I hear folks talk about $250K making you "middle class" in San Francisco or LA, I get the heebie jeebies and think, "Ah, this is where the stereotype of doctors come from."

If you're in the top 3-4% of wage earners and feel that you're making peanuts, the problem lies more in your expectations than your paycheck.
 
I am currently a working psychiatrist in govt hospital, salaried position, get around 180K.8 to 4:30 and 4 to 5 weekend calls per year which are compensated with day offs. in private practice making 250K is quite easy. personally i have professional satisfaction when it comes to working with pt's etc. only difference from other spelities is you have to work as team with many non physicians i.e SW, psychologists, etc.overall they are ok,but at times might you feel intrusions into your professional space by no physicians. hospitals now tend to hire psychologists/SW to head department of mental health, which is quite disappointing, as they know little about medical aspects of psychiatry. but still psychiatrist is considered team leader and med schoold + residency proves it's worth when it comes to challenging situations which requires true leadership. overall excellent field, i will choose it again, if i have to, no doubt.
Good luck:thumbup:

I'm glad to see that mutual professional respect is alive and well......:rolleyes:
 
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I'm glad to see that mutual professional respect is alive and well......:rolleyes:

I think it could've been phrased better, but the basic point that a downside to psychiatry is that you often feel that your professional space is intruded upon by non-physicians is pertinent to the discussion. Just the other day I had a SNF-screener ask if I'd considered putting an agitated TBI patient on artane (apparently because he needed even less cholinergic activity), I can't imagine she'd ever have asked his neurosurgeon if he'd considered a VP shunt.
 
Jeez, if salary is such a big factor for you, I suggest you stay in "gas".


Money is not the most important thing, but it still is important. Graduating in 6 figure debt & having to pay that off.................

The place I'm working at now, I don't make much for what a psychiatrist can earn. The reason why that is bugging me is just as much because of the money as it is because there's some psychiatrists working with me, and I scratch my head at some of their treatment decisions. (e.g. guy is agitated, clearly manic and the psychiatrist is only putting the person on a standard dosage of Depakote 250mg). I keep thinking to myself--that guy is making more money than me? I'm better than that.

I'm happy to be here for now because I have met some excellent colleagues, and my fellowship where I will start in July is here. Don't know if I want to be here though much longer after that.
 
There are a lot of opportunity costs to making decent money that no one thinks about offhand. College tuition for one...think your kid is going to get grants or even decent loans if you pull down 150k? Think again.

I don't intend to pay for medical school if my kids decide that's the route they want to take, but I do plan on paying their undergrad, and it was painful enough to do that for me, I can'timagine how bad it'll be to send my kids to an ivy 20 years from now.
 
I think it could've been phrased better, but the basic point that a downside to psychiatry is that you often feel that your professional space is intruded upon by non-physicians is pertinent to the discussion. Just the other day I had a SNF-screener ask if I'd considered putting an agitated TBI patient on artane (apparently because he needed even less cholinergic activity), I can't imagine she'd ever have asked his neurosurgeon if he'd considered a VP shunt.

I get, "oh you should have given them a [random assessment/battery that makes no sense] and/or tried [insert random therapeutic intervention]."....so I know the frustration.
 
There are a lot of opportunity costs to making decent money that no one thinks about offhand. College tuition for one...think your kid is going to get grants or even decent loans if you pull down 150k? Think again.
This is a problem facing the middle class, not a burden just for those making $150K/year. If your family is pulling in $60k/year, your child will not be eligible for need-based loans.

If you're making a physician's salary, it's much less an issue than if you're punching a clock.
 
There are a lot of opportunity costs to making decent money that no one thinks about offhand. College tuition for one...think your kid is going to get grants or even decent loans if you pull down 150k? Think again.

If a child has had the virtue of parents making 150k throughout his life, that kid can cry me a frakking river. My kids will have privileges I never had. That's awesome. That's not something to lament.

I heard this SOB story throughout medical school from friends driving large SUVs with their "Private Awesome School" rear window decal with their recently used ski equipment piled high in the back. It got old.
 
If a child has had the virtue of parents making 150k throughout his life, that kid can cry me a frakking river. My kids will have privileges I never had. That's awesome. That's not something to lament.
Said much better than I.

Though I gotta give props. I think it's the first time I've ever heard "high salary" being an "opportunity cost".
 
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