Finance bro going to medicine?

[cheesemonkey]

Hey all,

I'm considering switching to medicine but am a bit hesitant. For my background I'm in my mid 20s and work at a hedgefund currently. I have done most of my pre-med course work at a top 10 school (except Biochemistry) but ended up following the money into finance (have averaged around 300-400k income straight out of school).

I have a 3.6 GPA as a Physics major and plan on taking Biochemistry at a community college. I have done poster presentations in the past as an undergrad with a few different projects. So have research down but need to boost my clinical hours and take the MCAT. I think best case I probably matriculate into medical school at 28 but have my reservations given the opportunity cost of my current income (which has decent room to grow, like 7 figures) and my goal of becoming a surgeon (longer residency time). All my friends say I would be dumb and stupid to do this but I'm not sure.

I plan on quitting my fund (perhaps entertaining an offer at a competitor) in which I have to wait a year doing nothing anyway (noncompete). I was planning on trying to get my MCAT done within that time period + clinical hours + Biochemistry course during that year. If I get a competitive score during that time, I wanted to apply to med school and if I don't, just give up. Might be my hubris thinking I can get a top score on the exam after not touching life science topics for the past few years. Any advice on this?

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[DocWinter]

"my friends say I would be dumb and stupid to do this"

I concur, it may be considered both dumb and stupid to leave a $400k year job to one day, 12 years from now, obtain a $400k year job.

To earn that money in your early twenties may be considered to have come easy into it. I assure you the headache and difficulty to one day obtain it again will not be worth the headache.

Your yearn for personal satisfaction from this must be absolutely outrageous to entertain it.

 

[Nontrad_FL_LGBT]

I'd work til you're 30ish and put most of it into savings/retirement then put this plan into place if you still want it. Much of the bs and strain of med school/residency is removed by having money to live decently tbh and being a surgeon by 40 if you already have a few mil in retirement is fine. You can basically stop saving for retirement when you enter med school and be way better off than a vast majority of the country at retirement.

 

[cheesemonkey]

"my friends say I would be dumb and stupid to do this"

I concur, it may be considered both dumb and stupid to leave a $400k year job to one day, 12 years from now, obtain a $400k year job.

To earn that money in your early twenties may be considered to have come easy into it. I assure you the headache and difficulty to one day obtain it again will not be worth the headache.

Your yearn for personal satisfaction from this must be absolutely outrageous to entertain it.

I guess I have heard that picking up extra shifts here and there could increase a surgeon's income significantly. Is this not the case? I guess one thing is I could probably work 20 years as a surgeon vs not sure if I would in my current role (just trading edge may not be there)

 

[cheesemonkey]

I guess I have heard that picking up extra shifts here and there could increase a surgeon's income significantly. Is this not the case? I guess one thing is I could probably work 20 years as a surgeon vs not sure if I would in my current role (just trading edge may not be there)

I will probably end up doing something like this or no med school at all.

 

[Entadus]

Going to zero income for 4 years (plus pre-med), and then minimal wages for 5-8 years more, will hurt.

Do you have ~$400k saved to pay for tuition + COL during med school? That would come in handy.

Else, can you marry a sugar momma who is also making 6 figures who can support you during school?

I would only consider this if you can't imagine NOT doing it.

 

[MusicDOc124]

What are your goals - in life, financially, etc?

My understanding is the jobs similar to what you have now (and likely yours? - feel free to add clarity) are quite long hours and stress to be reaching the salary you're getting currently (I often hear 80-100 hour weeks).

If you go into medicine, you'd have 4 years of paying for school whether with cash or loans accruing interest, needing to likely move for school and again for residency +/- fellowship - all of which are low-paying for 5+ years for surgery. Depending on the field of surgery (though still in general too), pay will be good to great. However hours in residency will likely be similar, and as an attending may be a little better but could easily end up the same or worse depending on the job you take, call in your contract, etc.

If finances and financial freedom are most important, keep doing what you're doing.

If helping others and being more service-oriented is the goal with having impact through your work, go to medical school - this can translate even further as a surgeon depending on these types of goals with mission-type trips too.

If time is what you're looking for, search for an option C, or go to medical school and do something non-surgical.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

I love my job. I love the experiences that I've had that have gotten me here.

But as a Medicine subspecialist who makes about 250-350k depending on productivity. I think it would take a lot for me to abandon your level of income and a career lacking having to engage with human suffering, morbidity, mortality, etc.

 

[anon2]

I'd work til you're 30ish and put most of it into savings/retirement then put this plan into place if you still want it. Much of the bs and strain of med school/residency is removed by having money to live decently tbh and being a surgeon by 40 if you already have a few mil in retirement is fine. You can basically stop saving for retirement when you enter med school and be way better off than a vast majority of the country at retirement.

Note this is exactly what I did, without the initial plan for medicine. FAANG senior, broke 300k a long time ago. FIREd after 10 years in industry. Physician is my coast FIRE plan basically, happy to invest <20% of my stack for that human capital.

 

[metalpancakes]

Save your money, so that when you're in medical school you won't have to worry about cash. I say do it! I'm 25 and getting my bachelors in nursing at the moment so that I can apply to a local medical school nearby.

 

[cheesemonkey]

Going to zero income for 4 years (plus pre-med), and then minimal wages for 5-8 years more, will hurt.

Do you have ~$400k saved to pay for tuition + COL during med school? That would come in handy.

Else, can you marry a sugar momma who is also making 6 figures who can support you during school?

I would only consider this if you can't imagine NOT doing it.

I will after this coming bonus cycle. Maintaining that relationship may be an issue haha if I have to move for med school

 

[cheesemonkey]

What are your goals - in life, financially, etc?

My understanding is the jobs similar to what you have now (and likely yours? - feel free to add clarity) are quite long hours and stress to be reaching the salary you're getting currently (I often hear 80-100 hour weeks).

If you go into medicine, you'd have 4 years of paying for school whether with cash or loans accruing interest, needing to likely move for school and again for residency +/- fellowship - all of which are low-paying for 5+ years for surgery. Depending on the field of surgery (though still in general too), pay will be good to great. However hours in residency will likely be similar, and as an attending may be a little better but could easily end up the same or worse depending on the job you take, call in your contract, etc.

If finances and financial freedom are most important, keep doing what you're doing.

If helping others and being more service-oriented is the goal with having impact through your work, go to medical school - this can translate even further as a surgeon depending on these types of goals with mission-type trips too.

If time is what you're looking for, search for an option C, or go to medical school and do something non-surgical.

I'm tied to market hours so probably around 50 hours +/- 10 hours depending on the environment. If I stayed in finance, it would be to retire by 35 with 5m or so (hoping theres a year or two of 7 figure paydays).

Thank you for breaking down the 3 paths, will think harder about this

 

[PB2464]

I can imagine your current job could be pretty soul sucking. Finance. Yuck. So I can see were the motivation for a major switch is coming from. Things like this is how people often find religion.

If you're wracking up the dough now, you can be set for life. A job in medicine would be for the "glory" alone and the challenge (which is fine). Just make sure you go into something you can do part time since chasing money won't be an option and you definitely don't want to be trapped in a 50-60 hour/week specialty at 50 years old. Surgery just won't work.

 

[AJM737]

I can imagine your current job could be pretty soul sucking. Finance. Yuck. So I can see were the motivation for a major switch is coming from. Things like this is how people often find religion.

If you're wracking up the dough now, you can be set for life. A job in medicine would be for the "glory" alone and the challenge (which is fine). Just make sure you go into something you can do part time since chasing money won't be an option and you definitely don't want to be trapped in a 50-60 hour/week specialty at 50 years old. Surgery just won't work.

What if he was to get in a competitive surgery field with better hours or that he could scale back? I am 30 now and am getting ready to make this change, so this is kind of what I am hoping for.

 

[PB2464]

What if he was to get in a competitive surgery field with better hours or that he could scale back? I am 30 now and am getting ready to make this change, so this is kind of what I am hoping for.

Probably difficult to scale back in a surgical field and stay competent. Plus how surgical fields are designed, I rarely see anyone part time. I've heard of some people on call that apparently don't do much surgery anymore, but they aren't taken very seriously by peers and also what's the point.

A field like EM would be very very easy to scale back. It happens all the time. You still get to do procedures as well.