Tips and insights to help doctors earn, invest and protect their money.
Disclaimer
This podcast is not financial advice and all opinions expressed by podcast participants are solely their own. Please seek professional advice before making any financial or investment decision.
Podcast Transcript:
Hello world!
My name is Andrew and I’m an anaesthetist in Adelaide.
This podcast is recorded on March 28, 2020. Over the past month the world as we know it has been turned upside down.
COVID 19 has infected half a million people worldwide with 23,000 deaths.
Here in Australia, we have three and a half thousand confirmed cases and the end is nowhere in sight.
Businesses have been shuttered and all non-urgent surgery has been cancelled from April 1st.
As an anaesthetist in full-time private practice, I’m effectively unemployed until further notice.
So who am I and why did I start a podcast?
I’ve been a consultant anaesthetist since 2013. My wife is a GP and we have 2 young kids that we adore.
Like most doctors, as our income increased, we got on the hedonic treadmill and succumbed to lifestyle creep.
Big house, fancy cars, overseas holidays and fine dining. We lived within our means but didn’t think much about saving.
In 2019 I decided that it was time to take control of our finances.
The royal commission had just unveiled the gross misconduct that was rampant in the banking and financial services industry.
As doctors, we are often time-poor and focussed on our work. this means we rely on financial advisors to guide us. this often leaves us wide open to advisors seeking high fees and big commissions.
I decided I wanted to understand what was going on from the other side of the table so I completed my diploma in financial planning.
It took about 80 hours and enabled me to understand the basics of personal finance.
I learnt about cash flow, budgets, debt, insurance, retirement planning and investing at a basic level.
I also started a blog, www.medicalmoney.com to clarify and share my thoughts.
We became more mindful about how we were spending our money. It stopped us from buying a bigger house and getting a new Porsche.
In times like this, the lack of a mega mortgage allows me to sleep well at night.
So why did I start a podcast?
I’m factoring in that there will be at least 3-6 months before I start working again.
Until then it’s a matter of staying safe, staying sane and staying afloat financially.
I’ll stay safe by social distancing and washing my hands.
Staying sane is going to take the most work. I figured that staying sane will require me to do these 3 things.
- Stay positive – I believe we will get through this together and I refuse to get dragged down by the news and social media
- Stay Adaptable- it’s my chance not just to survive, but thrive within the new restrictions. I’m maintaining relationships using Zoom, and I’ve got an exercise bike to replace my daily F45 gym session
- Buffering- this has 2 parts distraction and focus. I’m distracting myself with Netflix while working through my red wine collection. on the focus side, I want to exit this mess with something useful. So I’m taking the opportunity to start this podcast and have signed myself up for an online course in business analysis run by Stanford University. I also have plans to learn how to pay the ukulele.
So what will this podcast be about?
The aim of this podcast is to share tips and insights that will help doctors earn, grow and protect their money.
We’ll talk about
- financial planning for doctors
- ways to increase your income
- how to grow your practice
- how to invest your money
- asset protection
- insurance
- superannuation and retirement
So if you’re interested in learning how to optimise your finances please subscribe to this podcast. Also, head over to my blog www.medicalmoney.com and subscribe to stay updated.
If you know a colleague who might also find this information useful please share this with them.
I’d love to get your feedback so send questions, comments and recommendations to me at andrew@medicalmoney.com
Stay safe, stay positive and see you in the next episode.
Great work, Andrew, I like the podcasts.
For the MMI about three rules, I like a twist on the second rule which is income-savings=expenses. Pay yourself first by an automatic deduction and get by on what is left.
We also use this in our clinic finances by using Mike Michalowicz’s Profit First system, (a glorified envelope system) to ensure there is aways some profit (although constrained currently in these Covid times!)