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[EctopicFetus]

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Number of shifts is the wrong measure due to people working 6-24+ hour “shifts”. Food for thought.

Avg em is right at 1500 hours a year from surveys. I worked 1800 or so for 6 years then I cut back. I could do it again but as my kids are getting older it makes little sense to spend that time at work.

 

[Groove]

Most of our docs work 126 hours/mo for full time. I work a little over 150h/mo or 1800h/year though I don't think I'll be able to keep that up indefinitely. For the moment though, it has afforded me the ability to pay off 400K in education loans and is allowing me to play catch up in retirement savings. I try to invest about 8-10K/mo with my current level of compensation. We'll see how long I can keep that up. I could probably save more if I didn't take so many vacations, etc..

To get back to your questions though... The short of it is yes, you can work "part time" but you probably need to negotiate that up front with your employer during contract negotiations. It's difficult to suddenly go from 8/mo to say...14/mo or vice versa because your group is going to want to staff the ED appropriately depending on how many shifts need to be covered. However, I've found there is always some flexibility and our veterans have had no problems reducing their shift load because there are enough of us interested in picking up extra shifts. For instance, I probably work the most at 17/mo on average, but one of our veterans works about 10/mo and is planning on going down to 8/mo starting next year which hasn't caused any problems at all. He used to work 13-14/mo a few years ago and we still consider him FT.

 

[southerndoc]

@Groove, how are you saving 8-10k/month? That's beyond maxing out a SEP or Individual 401(k). Curious what other ways you're stashing money away. Defined benefit plan? Non-deductible IRA -> Roth IRA conversion? Traditional account?

 

[mymembernames]

Most of our docs work 126 hours/mo for full time. I work a little over 150h/mo or 1800h/year though I don't think I'll be able to keep that up indefinitely. For the moment though, it has afforded me the ability to pay off 400K in education loans and is allowing me to play catch up in retirement savings. I try to invest about 8-10K/mo with my current level of compensation. We'll see how long I can keep that up. I could probably save more if I didn't take so many vacations, etc..

To get back to your questions though... The short of it is yes, you can work "part time" but you probably need to negotiate that up front with your employer during contract negotiations. It's difficult to suddenly go from 8/mo to say...14/mo or vice versa because your group is going to want to staff the ED appropriately depending on how many shifts need to be covered. However, I've found there is always some flexibility and our veterans have had no problems reducing their shift load because there are enough of us interested in picking up extra shifts. For instance, I probably work the most at 17/mo on average, but one of our veterans works about 10/mo and is planning on going down to 8/mo starting next year which hasn't caused any problems at all. He used to work 13-14/mo a few years ago and we still consider him FT.

Thanks. How's the lifestyle of your schedule?

 

[miacomet]

@Groove, how are you saving 8-10k/month? That's beyond maxing out a SEP or Individual 401(k). Curious what other ways you're stashing money away. Defined benefit plan? Non-deductible IRA -> Roth IRA conversion? Traditional account?

Now that my debts are gone, I save 10k a month in a taxable account. 401ks just don't have high enough limits to provide sufficient retirement income for physicians.

 

[Groove]

@Groove, how are you saving 8-10k/month? That's beyond maxing out a SEP or Individual 401(k). Curious what other ways you're stashing money away. Defined benefit plan? Non-deductible IRA -> Roth IRA conversion? Traditional account?

Nothing so creative and I’m sure if I had WCI analyze my financial situation, I could probable find alternate tax deferred vehicles but at the moment I have a Vanguard SEP that I max out early in the year and then I have a taxable TDA brokerage “retirement” account that I use for the rest. I keep it simple and my SEP is almost entirely made up of vanguard mutual funds whereas my TDA is a combination of stocks and ETFs. Keep in mind that I’m not married and don’t have kids (That I’m aware of...) so I’m probably able to put more away than most (at least for now..).

 

[Groove]

Thanks. How's the lifestyle of your schedule?

It’s fine for now but I like to work. I’m also single with no kids. I do try to take a lot of vacations though... My girlfriend works EM and she works more hours than I do. If I was happy with my retirement nest egg I would certainly work less.