Side gigs

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.

Radz08

Member
15+ Year Member
Joined
May 4, 2006
Messages
30
Reaction score
1
In the current land of the “gig-economy” (or what’s left of it secondary to COVID impact), I’m curious. What do rad oncs do for “side gigs”? Either clinical or completely non clinical to diversify income streams?

Members don't see this ad.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
I know a few who do locums on their CME/vacay time
 
1613763350085.png
 
  • Like
  • Love
Reactions: 5 users
Members don't see this ad :)
Have heard it's ok, avoid fundrise.
I’ve got about 200k invested with crowdstreet over 5 different projects starting 3 years ago. Too early to tell, since big payouts are 3-5 years after initial investment, after sale of property. I’m probably not going to make the suggested 20+% returns on a couple of the investments with Covid effects on rents, but we will see.
 
I know a few who do locums on their CME/vacay time

I used to do this. The locums market in my large state is so bad I can't even get gigs, and what few offers I get are so pathetic I don't even find it worth it. Occasionally I'll get them to agree to a rate and they just negotiate it lower with someone else and drop me.

I do some online surveys and consulting but that's less than $500/year. The competition there must be high there too because I will get invites even directly within my area of expertise and often still don't get picked.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
If done (and selected) well, you can go deep into the 4 digits and approaching 5 digits on surveys annually. However, the well-paying ones require time that I do not have.

Maybe a meh side gig for those two clinic days per week type paper pushers. Good for residents if you can break into it.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
If done (and selected) well, you can go deep into the 4 digits and approaching 5 digits on surveys annually. However, the well-paying ones require time that I do not have.

Maybe a meh side gig for those two clinic days per week type paper pushers. Good for residents if you can break into it.

Wow I am clearly doing this wrong
 
  • Haha
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Check medscape, sermo, M3 research, opinionsite for starters....
Agreed...if you get into the survey scene correctly (which takes a lot of work), it can actually be quite lucrative (even as a resident).

But metallica is right, it's actually a super time-suck.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
One of my senior colleagues does “RT plans reviews” for a Pharm company running mucositis research. That pays $600 per pt. Another one sits on physician focus groups in the evenings (kind of a sample audience but for pharma; before Covid it was probably a lot of fun)
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Does anyone use a Solo 401(k) for their side gig?
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
I own and rent out a small apartment building that I was able to pick up on the cheap during residency, I'm very handy and a DIY'er so I don't mind all the stuff that goes along with that. If I was to sell today, I would probably net maybe $200K with the appreciation in real estate since I bought in during my PGY-2 year with a standard FHA loan. Otherwise since finishing residency, I've been putting every extra dollar into the stock market. Given the nature of the specialty and the legitimate concerns I have about how much longer deceent paying employment may last, I'm just trying to put a nest egg together that could be self sustaining should/when the bottom falls out of rad onc. Investing is not too hard and gains have been insane over past three years for anyone paying even just a little bit of attention. I don't think you can be in rad onc today and just be hoping the specialty will still be around as a realistic career in 30 years given the obvious trajectory everything is on. Gotta be looking ahead and have an exit strategy.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 9 users
Did a couple house flips and then turned them into rentals. Then started upgrading to better rentals through 1031 exchanges. Sometimes renters are a PITA, but honestly my biggest regret is not buying more properties.
This is exactly what I want to do after building up some capital. Despite all my disillusionment with how things are managed in RadOnc at the meta level, I love the actual job and have always seen myself never really retiring, just maybe cutting back hours as I get older. Simultaneously, I'd like to diversify income streams and have some friends (not in medicine) that came from VERY humble backgrounds that seem to make REI work for them. I'd love to join them in that process.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
This is exactly what I want to do after building up some capital. Despite all my disillusionment with how things are managed in RadOnc at the meta level, I love the actual job and have always seen myself never really retiring, just maybe cutting back hours as I get older. Simultaneously, I'd like to diversify income streams and have some friends (not in medicine) that came from VERY humble backgrounds that seem to make REI work for them. I'd love to join them in that process.

If you can find the right properties, the passive income is generally higher than what you can typically get in the market. At 1% per month rent (difficult to find but doable), it can net 6% in passive income without touching the principle. And the principle (property value) is increasing the entire time as well. I’ve been pleased. Honestly mad I didn’t get more. I passed up on two really good properties and I sold one that I shouldn’t have. But I should have bought Bitcoin too so whatever
 
If you can find the right properties, the passive income is generally higher than what you can typically get in the market. At 1% per month rent (difficult to find but doable), it can net 6% in passive income without touching the principle. And the principle (property value) is increasing the entire time as well. I’ve been pleased. Honestly mad I didn’t get more. I passed up on two really good properties and I sold one that I shouldn’t have. But I should have bought Bitcoin too so whatever
I still like REITs more personally and last year was a gift to reit investors... Some yielding 8-10+% near the March bottom now have gone up 80-200% in value.

RE is definitely more work, i have one property i own as a long term rental but have been fortunate enough to find a flat fee management company to manage it, which i would recommend over a commission/percentage based one. Last thing i want to get during my busy clinic is a maintenance call on someone's toilet lol
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
REIT great to get into real estate without the complications of managing a property
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
You would have had to buy that dip on REITs. They got hit hard by covid and that erased all gains over past 5 years. Sure they look great since March but try a longer term plot. They're still not at pre COVID levels. Now might still be an ok time to buy, just saying my enthusiasm is limited.

I've found REITs to be very volatile without much long-term upside, unlike actual real estate at least the way it gets discussed on doctor forums which is discussed more for stable dividend potential.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You would have had to buy that dip on REITs. They got hit hard by covid and that erased all gains over past 5 years. Sure they look great since March but try a longer term plot. They're still not at pre COVID levels. Now might still be an ok time to buy, just saying my enthusiasm is limited.

I've found REITs to be very volatile without much long-term upside, unlike actual real estate at least the way it gets discussed on doctor forums which is discussed more for stable dividend potential.

I don’t love most publicly traded REITs bc plenty of commercial/retail (which I think dying a slow Amazon death and storage space properties. I don’t think it hits residential multi family well).

I too am too busy in clinic to flip or manage or do due diligence on properties. I’ve dabbled in some private equity multi family real estate funds but it’s too early to tell how it’ll work out. Only a couple of years in.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Does anyone use a Solo 401(k) for their side gig?

Yes I opened one for just survey stuff

Rolled over a 403b from a prior job into it

Contribute small amounts here and there — much less than my other retirement accounts but nice to know I can rollover any 401k/403b if needed in the future
 
Yes I opened one for just survey stuff

Rolled over a 403b from a prior job into it

Contribute small amounts here and there — much less than my other retirement accounts but nice to know I can rollover any 401k/403b if needed in the future

Is there a minimum you need for survey stuff to be allowed to open one? What company did you use as your custodian?
 
Is there a minimum you need for survey stuff to be allowed to open one? What company did you use as your custodian?

There is no minimum. Just need to report something on schedule C basically. I did create an EIN (easy to do). It’s a Fidelity account (accepts rollovers, good investment options).
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
If you are already at the fed max for tax deferment 58k (64.5k catchup) at your primary job, can you add more in an individual 401k? I didn't think so, but maybe I'm missing something.
 
Should be backdoor Roth'ing as well imo
Are we eligible to Roth? I thought the income limit was too low for most of us (unless you are at a large center in a desirable area and get paid like a fellow)
 
  • Haha
Reactions: 1 user
Are we eligible to Roth? I thought the income limit was too low for most of us (unless you are at a large center in a desirable area and get paid like a fellow)
Backdoor Roth has no income limit. Dumb loophole, but whatever. Going to take advantage of it while it exists.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Backdoor Roth has no income limit. Dumb loophole, but whatever. Going to take advantage of it while it exists.
Hold up...now you're going to have to explain to me the basics of what a "backdoor Roth" is...
 
Hold up...now you're going to have to explain to me the basics of what a "backdoor Roth" is...
Basically most attendings (until Hallahan and RW and “leaders” get their wish), make too much to contribute to a roth directly. So a dumb loophole called backdoor roth (anybody remember backside attack from orgo days?) is in place. It basically means you put the 6k (or 7k catch up) into a regular IRA and immediately move it to a roth account. The money will grow tax free and since you already contributed with post tax money, no extra taxes are owed.

beware when mixing pretax and post tax money otherwise pro-rata rule kicks in. The government is here to help you.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 6 users
Top