At The Motivated M.D., we seek to promote products that will improve the financial well-being of our readers. Through my work on the site, I have had the opportunity to work with hardworking and reputable real estate investment companies and their respective platforms. I do my best to personally interact and vet each of the investments listed below, but given the fact that there are various ways to invest in real estate (funds, syndications, platforms, REITs, and turn-key properties), and that the nature of these investments requires a more ‘long term’ relationship, consider this more of an ‘i ..read more

Recently, I published an article titled Is The FIRE Movement Contributing to Physician Burnout? I firmly believe in the benefits of financial independence, but an overly frugal lifestyle may also expedite physician burnout. Physicians have a complicated relationship with money, and without an appropriate financial education, the use of money on either end of the monetary spectrum (i.e., overspending or over-frugality) may ultimately place doctors in unsustainable situations. After I published the article above, I thought about what the ideal financial situations look like for physicians ..read more

There have been many publications over the past few years about physician-side gigs. Whether they are a response to economic pressures, a burnout epidemic, or strictly the joy of extra income, side gigs can be a great option for doctors to diversify their revenue. Our site is no stranger to this concept either. I have written extensively about some of the best physician side gigs. However, one that seems to have become a mainstay for many is paid medical surveys.  Who doesn’t want to earn a little more money using their expertise alone? Healthcare professionals spend years (if not de ..read more

Over the past month, my wife and I completed our taxes and sent them to our accountant. Earlier this week, we were told we owed an extra $25,000! We were caught off guard to say the least. To preface, this is the product of being a high-income earner, a welcome problem. However, given that we consider ourselves financially savvy and that I write about personal and physician finance, this was an unforeseen expense. Though 2023 was my first full year of attending income alongside my spouse, we thought we appropriately withheld and saved. It was not enough.   We live well below our mean ..read more

As physicians, our high incomes allow our finances to be relatively resilient. Though we get a late start given the duration of our education and training, once we reach our income potential, we have the ‘wiggle room’ to make some poor financial choices and recover. This is our financial superpower. However, Medscape published their Physician Wealth and Debt Report for 2023, and it can help us better understand where our money goes, how we live, and where we lose. After spending time scrutinizing the data, I think there are five takeaways that every physician should know. These are the 5 ..read more

[This article ‘The Myth of the Tax Write-Off’ is a guest post contribution from Dr. Neill Slater, MD, MBA. He is one of the founding partners at Business Is The Best Medicine. His work has proven to be well written, entertaining, and a welcome perspective. I encourage you to check out his website as well! It offers great information regarding physician finance and real estate investing through the lens of a financially independent physician.] “It’s a write-off for them.” (Kramer) “How is it a write-off?” (Jerry) “They just write it off.” (Kramer) “Write it off what?” (Jerry) “Jerry, all ..read more

[This article is a guest post contribution from Dr. Neill Slater, MD, MBA. He is one of the founding partners at Business Is The Best Medicine. His work has proven to be well written, entertaining, and a welcome perspective. I encourage you to check out his website as well! It offers great information regarding physician finance and real estate investing through the lens of a financially independent physician.] My father and older sister both died in their late forties, teaching me at a young age the ephemeral nature of life.  I told myself I would retire if I reached fifty, which seemed ..read more

Those of you who read the blog regularly have probably noticed that I am an avid reader of Sam Dogen of Financial Samurai. Sam retired from Wall Street in his early 30s and was one of the pioneers of the FIRE movement. He rapidly built a nest egg using his high income and living below his means. He negotiated a hefty severance package, retired, and created the Financial Samurai. To be clear, I am paraphrasing his story, but you get the gist. Hardworking young individual, generates a great income, saves, lives below his means, and lands a great severance package.   Now, over a de ..read more

Some fascinating data was released by Medscape recently toward the end of 2023. With physician side gigs garnering more and more attention, they decided to release a survey of physicians and their side gigs. Of the respondents included, 39% of physicians had a side gig. This statistic surprised me. With physicians already making high incomes, I figured discussions of lucrative physicians’ side gigs were largely a nuanced product of our personal finance community. However, some of Medscape’s data would suggest side gigs are more common than I thought.  I spend a lot of time writi ..read more

In 2000, I was 11 years old. I had a clunky and slow Dell PC in my bedroom, where I spent most of my time. At this point in my life, video games played an outsized role. I am sure my parents would have wished it differently, but I was a well-mannered kid who rarely caused trouble. I tended to stick to my handheld and PC games in my free time. During this particular year, a new franchise called The Sims came out for the computer.   Overwhelmingly, The Sims was precisely as its name insinuates: a life simulator. You did everything from working a job to building a home and growing a fam ..read more