i have read many posts with people saying something like the following:
"Becoming a doctor is a long, difficult process. It can't be just about the money. If it's the money you're after, then there are other careers to take that require less studying time, debt, sacrifice" etc.
Lots of people have said this. All of them also left out an alternative career option to take. I mean one where you study less years and material than medical school but make a similar amount of money. I keep waiting for someone to write "if you're after money, then you can do....instead" When will someone suggest these ideas?? haha.
Actually, EVERY one of those threads offers multiple career options, but since premeds unfortunately don't have a very broad view of the world, it usually gets distilled down to a very short list of options (law, banking, dentistry). But in fact there is no shortage of careers out there. You can make money in virtually anything. If you open up a business where there is high demand, high traffic, low competition, your costs are reasonable, and you have good people you can trust to manage so you can work on other ventures, expansions, big picture, you will make money. As a lawyer I've worked with people who made a ton of money in virtually every industry. I've worked with restaurateurs, I've worked with serial entrepreneurs, resellers, wholesalers, retailers, franchisees. Most made very decent salaries, many better than folks will make in medicine. Heck, I've done some work for a postal employee who was a millionaire. And a woman with half a high school education who buys, refurbishes and resells condos for huge profits. If your goal is money, there are simply easier paths. Not broad roadmaps, like go into XYZ. But open paths.
There is no one road map for success. You have to have an eye for it and be willing to take the appropriate gambles. It involves hard work, focus, the right skillset (innate or acquired).
However most would agree that taking yourself out of the workforce for a decade (school and residency), taking on a quarter of a million in debt, and entering a profession where the salaries, although high, are pretty lockstepped (no unlimited upside), not keeping up with inflation over the last decade, and actually threatening to decline in the face of declining reimbursements, is simply not a smart move if your goal is to maximize wealth.
Folks forget about the "time value of money" (less money today is worth more than more money later), a concept that all of finance is based upon and yet apparently not taught to a lot of premeds. Meaning the dude who goes to 3 years of law school (with $150k in debt) and then earns $100k/year (plus annual raises and bonuses), and invests his disposable income wisely, is far far far ahead of the dude who goes to a year of postbac, 4 years of med school (borrowing $200k), then 4 years of nominal salaried residency, and only thereafter earns $200k/year. It's simply a bad investment if money is the goal.
But don't expect the answer to be, "a better career for the money is" XYZ. Because XYZ can be virtually anything. It just can't be something that keeps you from earning for a long period of time while simultaneously borrowing. Rich people don't seek out flat salaries. They seek out upside potential. And in medicine there really isn't one -- your salary is your salary. The sky isn't the limit. What folks in your region are earning is. And this can go down, or lose ground against inflation (as it currently has been). In fact medicine is the ONLY profession that has lost ground against inflation over the past decade. This should be a harbinger of things to come, not a beckoning.
Which won't matter much if money is not your primary goal. It's too long and hard a path to sustain your interest if a supposed payday at the end is all you seek. You have to like it or it's not worth it.
