Originally Posted by PTGregD

You (generally) don't get rich by not working a lot though. I don't really see what you're trying to argue here. Yes, doctors working 40 hours a week most likely don't make that much compared to doctors working 60+ hours a week, but that's the name of the game. Just because they "start off $500,000 behind" doesn't mean they don't make up the ground very quickly.

I see what you're saying, but when people say rich they have the image of someone who's earned enough money that they can afford to golf a few times a week, have a big house, a nice car for each member of the family, and generous retirement funds. Doctors generally don't live the "rich lifestlye" until they are relatively old, compared to other "rich" professions. I'm not saying doctors are starving in the streets, but I got so sick of people when I was growing up saying "Your dad's a doctor, you must be rich so why do you shop at Wall-mart" or "your dad's a doctor, why do you have to work to save money for University?" etc. etc.

If people choose medicine for the money they definitely are taking the wrong path!

Originally Posted by arathbon

If people choose medicine for the money they definitely are taking the wrong path!

you did write stuff about the time value of money and how there are student loans involved.
but medicine is a stable career which does pay a lot of money.

Say you get into medschool at age 21 after undergrad. 4 years of medschool (25) and then residency where you do get paid. Less than normal, but it's something to start paying back loans.
Let's say $50k per year during residency which lasts let's say 4 years.
That should pay for almost all of your student loans.

then you start working and you'd pull $200k per year at age 30 (I did some rounding). Not bad.

Name one (or 3 lol) jobs that gets you that much 9 years after finishing your undergrad.



And if you really did go to "Wall-mart" you'd know it was spelled with one 'L'

^
"Let's say $50k per year during residency which lasts let's say 4 years.
That should pay for almost all of your student loans."

The 50K is for living expenses, assuming you are living the US (we're talking about going to the US for med school in this topic anyway).

Very little of it will go to pay back your debt. But as stated before, you do earn enough to start paying your debt back very quickly.

Originally Posted by FireDragoonX

you did write stuff about the time value of money and how there are student loans involved.
but medicine is a stable career which does pay a lot of money.

Say you get into medschool at age 21 after undergrad. 4 years of medschool (25) and then residency where you do get paid. Less than normal, but it's something to start paying back loans.
Let's say $50k per year during residency which lasts let's say 4 years.
That should pay for almost all of your student loans.

then you start working and you'd pull $200k per year at age 30 (I did some rounding). Not bad.

Name one (or 3 lol) jobs that gets you that much 9 years after finishing your undergrad.



And if you really did go to "Wall-mart" you'd know it was spelled with one 'L'

The point is not that you start earning good money eventually but that its 1) not as much as people assume 2) It's not until you're 30 that you're earning it. 3) That it'll be your mid thirties before you can pay off your debt if you went out of country (and the US is the least expensive, going to Ireland or Australia you can get around $400,000 in debt) 4) If you chose another career that started paying right away and chose to work as hard as the future doctor during the 9 years of medical education as well as living frugally like they are trying to do and investing the extra income, you'd be far ahead of where the doctor is. I'm not saying doctors do not have decent pay, but rather if you have your heart set on being rich and retiring at 50, medicine isn't for you.

And no I don't shop at Walmart anymore. If you must know I 1) used it represent low cost retailers in general as opposed to The Gap et al. 2) When I was little and we did go there I wasn't paying attention to the name, I was more concerned with whether I could convince my parents to get me McDonalds from the in-store restaurant. (It never happened)

^
Well fine, in that case, yes, what you've said is basically correct...but I don't think everyone who wants to become a doctor WANTS to retire with his huge yacht and expensive cars at 50. In fact, I don't know very many at all who are aiming for that. People want to become a doctor not for the end-game of retiring, but for actually being a doctor.
I would think if someone wanted money they would know there are much better ways to become filthy rich.

So, although your point stands, I would think the true 'point' is that most of the time doctors are doctors for the sake of being doctors, their money is fair (a lot, but not obscenely rich, especially coupled with their debt), and it's still a good profession to go into.

tl;dr ERTW

Originally Posted by MacEng

tl;dr ERTW

okay I've really had enough of that.. you people do not rule the world... get that out of your mind

Originally Posted by Infinity

okay I've really had enough of that.. you people do not rule the world... get that out of your mind

That's why it stands for:

Engineers
Rarely
Touch
Women

He's just making sure everyone knows.

Originally Posted by Alchemist11

^
Well fine, in that case, yes, what you've said is basically correct...but I don't think everyone who wants to become a doctor WANTS to retire with his huge yacht and expensive cars at 50. In fact, I don't know very many at all who are aiming for that. People want to become a doctor not for the end-game of retiring, but for actually being a doctor.
I would think if someone wanted money they would know there are much better ways to become filthy rich.

So, although your point stands, I would think the true 'point' is that most of the time doctors are doctors for the sake of being doctors, their money is fair (a lot, but not obscenely rich, especially coupled with their debt), and it's still a good profession to go into.

That's basically what I was saying. Doctors make decent money, but aren't rich. And that if that if someone wants to go into medicine thinking that their nuts. I don't know too many people at University who specifically want to go into medicine, but those I knew from my high school seemed to not know much other than that they perceived it to pay well and that it was a way to make money from being good at science.

Yeah, I had stated earlier the people in HS are deluded, most of them actually think they're gonna get in easily.