Concerning trend: Radiology has the slowest compensation growth of any specialty

[SeisK]

With AI, in the coming 1-2 decades there will be one radiologist doing the work that 10 radiologists did in the past.

No they won’t.

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[Taurus]

Don't do anything for the money. Do what you enjoy and the money will follow.

My W2 income from my single radiology job for 2023? $1.1M. I hustle though but still work way fewer hours than a neurosurgeon.

 

[radrad5]

Don't do anything for the money. Do what you enjoy and the money will follow.

My W2 income from my single radiology job for 2023? $1.1M. I hustle though but still work way fewer hours than a neurosurgeon.

woah! nice! this PP or tele gig?

 

[Taurus]

Pp. I'm happy I made 7 figures. It was on my bucketlist. Am I satisfied? No, because I have to now pay $400k to IRS. My next goals are to reduce my tax burden legally and to find reliable, robust passive income streams. I would be happier if I made half my 2023 income but stopped working.

 

[vm26]

Pp. I'm happy I made 7 figures. It was on my bucketlist. Am I satisfied? No, because I have to now pay $400k to IRS. My next goals are to reduce my tax burden legally and to find reliable, robust passive income streams. I would be happier if I made half my 2023 income but stopped working.

What happened to the guy* in your avatar? Does he still have a prostate gland?

*Apologize if I am being politically incorrect and that guy is actually a gal. Guess the question then would be what happened to her cervix/uterus?

 

[GadRads]

Making >$1 million in radiology is not typical.

 

[Taurus]

Making 7 figures in any medical specialty is not typical. I was curious if I could. I succeeded. It was kinda surprising too. First half of year was slow buy it picked up a lot second half. This year and next are setup to even be better than last year.

What have I learned? I believe that if you break it down per hourly rate that radiology makes as much as any specialty. A neurosurgeon may make more than the average radiologist but that's because they work a lot more hours. Any radiologist has the potential to make 7 figures. Unlike other specialties, it is more doable to make 7 figures if you desire it. Why? Because radiology is a 24/7/365 field. You can always be making money at any time of the day and week. Moreover, we often make this extra income from the comforts of our homes via teleradiology. I made 95% of my extra income from my living room watching my kids play. I was able to do extra work just for my group and not other groups. I just want to inspire people on what is possible in radiology. I have never regretted going into radiology and I'm thankful I'm a radiologist vesus xyz. It's been good to me and hopefully it will be a great field for others.

Now I want to pivot and focus on reducing my tax burden and creating passive income streams. Those are next in my bucketlist.

 

[Steve_Zissou]

Making 7 figures in any medical specialty is not typical. I was curious if I could. I succeeded. It was kinda surprising too. First half of year was slow buy it picked up a lot second half. This year and next are setup to even be better than last year.

What have I learned? I believe that if you break it down per hourly rate that radiology makes as much as any specialty. A neurosurgeon may make more than the average radiologist but that's because they work a lot more hours. Any radiologist has the potential to make 7 figures. Unlike other specialties, it is more doable to make 7 figures if you desire it. Why? Because radiology is a 24/7/365 field. You can always be making money at any time of the day and week. Moreover, we often make this extra income from the comforts of our homes via teleradiology. I made 95% of my extra income from my living room watching my kids play. I was able to do extra work just for my group and not other groups. I just want to inspire people on what is possible in radiology. I have never regretted going into radiology and I'm thankful I'm a radiologist vesus xyz. It's been good to me and hopefully it will be a great field for others.

Now I want to pivot and focus on reducing my tax burden and creating passive income streams. Those are next in my bucketlist.

How many hours would you estimate you worked on average per week to make that? What about RVUs generated?

It’d be interesting to try and go for a million dollar year, but I’m hoping to join a larger PP group in a large city and wonder if it’s doable in that sort of setting.

 

[Taurus]

I was averaging 65 hours per week. I work for a very large pp group in a highly desirable large city. I bought my house in 2019 before the pandemic made things unaffordable. Yeah, I know. I'm one lucky SOB.

 

[GadRads]

Making 7 figures in any medical specialty is not typical. I was curious if I could. I succeeded. It was kinda surprising too. First half of year was slow buy it picked up a lot second half. This year and next are setup to even be better than last year.

What have I learned? I believe that if you break it down per hourly rate that radiology makes as much as any specialty. A neurosurgeon may make more than the average radiologist but that's because they work a lot more hours. Any radiologist has the potential to make 7 figures. Unlike other specialties, it is more doable to make 7 figures if you desire it. Why? Because radiology is a 24/7/365 field. You can always be making money at any time of the day and week. Moreover, we often make this extra income from the comforts of our homes via teleradiology. I made 95% of my extra income from my living room watching my kids play. I was able to do extra work just for my group and not other groups. I just want to inspire people on what is possible in radiology. I have never regretted going into radiology and I'm thankful I'm a radiologist vesus xyz. It's been good to me and hopefully it will be a great field for others.

Now I want to pivot and focus on reducing my tax burden and creating passive income streams. Those are next in my bucketlist.

The caveat is that 65 hours of work requires intense focus. That may be equivalent to 80+ hours for those in more patient-facing and clinical fields. It can be very tiring to work 60+ hours in radiology, unless you are reading a bunch of easy cases. I work in a level I trauma center and teaching hospital, so we read our fair share of complex cases.

 

[vm26]

The caveat is that 65 hours of work requires intense focus. That may be equivalent to 80+ hours for those in more patient-facing and clinical fields. It can be very tiring to work 60+ hours in radiology, unless you are reading a bunch of easy cases. I work in a level I trauma center and teaching hospital, so we read our fair share of complex cases.

Agree 65 hours/week in rads is rough. Its unique soul-sucking/bandwidth consuming work. I also work for level 1 trauma/stroke center and from the outside looks like a cake-walk compared to being a surgeon/fill in the blank (particularly when working from home)...Challenge is lack of down-time.I've nearly completely blown by out-pt CXRs for 20 y/o's with SOB/CP etc that had significant PTX bc it was the end of the day or I was distracted while performing breast diagnostics. Who knows what I've actually missed...Also not sure if this would be a study in linguistics or other field but some rads can call a study "normal" while other rads would cringe and need to comment on degenerative changes in the spine, atherosclerosis etc. This is particularly true of covering ED when some rads feel as if they are only responsible for the "acute" stuff...Finally 9-12 hours of consecutive of demanding screen time in the dark is just not healthy. Ditto for standing/sitting for the same time period.

 

[Taurus]

Who says I’m sitting in the dark consecutively for 9-12 hours a day? Lol. Nope. I’m watching the kids half of the time. In many other fields like law and investment banking, 60 hours per week is minimum amount you put in. You know how many people would be salivating at the thought of making 7 figures for averaging 60 hour work weeks?

People just need to figure out what works for them. If you get lucky, then you get into a situation where they’re so desperate for coverage that they start to overpay. There are days where I get paid 8k. You run with it til it’s gone. While maximizing your income is good, it’s just as important to keep as much of it as possible. Reducing tax burden will increase your take home pay.

Work smarter not harder.

 

[bobjonesbob]

Who says I’m sitting in the dark consecutively for 9-12 hours a day? Lol. Nope. I’m watching the kids half of the time. In many other fields like law and investment banking, 60 hours per week is minimum amount you put in. You know how many people would be salivating at the thought of making 7 figures for averaging 60 hour work weeks?

People just need to figure out what works for them. If you get lucky, then you get into a situation where they’re so desperate for coverage that they start to overpay. There are days where I get paid 8k. You run with it til it’s gone. While maximizing your income is good, it’s just as important to keep as much of it as possible. Reducing tax burden will increase your take home pay.

Work smarter not harder.

How busy are you? I couldn't imagine working a call shift and being able to spend quality time with my family at the same time.

 

[vm26]

Who says I’m sitting in the dark consecutively for 9-12 hours a day? Lol. Nope. I’m watching the kids half of the time. In many other fields like law and investment banking, 60 hours per week is minimum amount you put in. You know how many people would be salivating at the thought of making 7 figures for averaging 60 hour work weeks?

People just need to figure out what works for them. If you get lucky, then you get into a situation where they’re so desperate for coverage that they start to overpay. There are days where I get paid 8k. You run with it til it’s gone. While maximizing your income is good, it’s just as important to keep as much of it as possible. Reducing tax burden will increase your take home pay.

Work smarter not harder.

Point taken but if you're not working 13 hours M-F (or any other 5 day block), how do you average 65 hours/week? 9 hours for 7 days a week? I apologize if my math is off

 

[Taurus]

Radiology is a 24/7/365 field. You can work whenever and wherever you want. When I work depends on what is available and when is most convenient for me. You guys are fixated on the income level. I already moved on from that. Did that, done that. I believe that any rad could make 7 figures if they really want to and radiology is one of the very few fields that make it possible because it is a 24/7/365 field and you can work solely from home. For example, someone could work two consecutive overnight 7 on/14 off jobs that pays each 500k and still get every 3rd week off. For me, I got lucky because while I hustle my employer is also overpaying. I’m gonna milk it for as long as I can. I will probably hit 7 figures for next two years at least. But I understand that not everyone wants to put in the work and time to make 7 figures. Most people are happy with a decent income level and having a good work/life balance. To each, their own. Now, I’m more interested in keeping more of what I make rather than simply making more. The end result is still the same - more money in my pocket at the end of day. However, it’s a lot less work to reduce your tax burden than to increase your income level.

 

[jambro]

Radiology is a 24/7/365 field. You can work whenever and wherever you want. When I work depends on what is available and when is most convenient for me. You guys are fixated on the income level. I already moved on from that. Did that, done that. I believe that any rad could make 7 figures if they really want to and radiology is one of the very few fields that make it possible because it is a 24/7/365 field and you can work solely from home. For example, someone could work two consecutive overnight 7 on/14 off jobs that pays each 500k and still get every 3rd week off. For me, I got lucky because while I hustle my employer is also overpaying. I’m gonna milk it for as long as I can. I will probably hit 7 figures for next two years at least. But I understand that not everyone wants to put in the work and time to make 7 figures. Most people are happy with a decent income level and having a good work/life balance. To each, their own. Now, I’m more interested in keeping more of what I make rather than simply making more. The end result is still the same - more money in my pocket at the end of day. However, it’s a lot less work to reduce your tax burden than to increase your income level.

Are you 1099 or w2 or k1? Do you have a cash balance plan?