Blog

It depends on what the goals are and what level of revenue you are generating. Small business can also become large businesses.  First I would have you calculate your worth per hour in your current field.  Let’s use the classic example of a laundry mat. A laundry mat may generate a 50% profit. On average it is 30% to 40%. They have low overhead and maintenance costs but expensive utility bills. Thought to be resistant to poor economic conditions. You would need to watch out for competitors moving in to the area. The population of the area may reduce or move. More to consider….. The purchase of a laundry mat can occur with owner financing, business loan, or other funding. Business loans can have large interest rates eating away the profit you may obtain. Some would argue to get business partner funding or owner funding. Owner funding usually requires some…

Read more

Options trading and stocks  Please read about the Greeks before reading further. Options trading is another way of earning income. This is a similar strategy to just buying and selling stocks which you could also do. If you are risk averse I would avoid options and individual stock trading. Only play with 10% or less of your money.  Stock trading you buy a stock at what should be a lower value and sell at a higher price later making income. For example you buy apple stock at $140 per share and sell at $150 a share. Say you buy 10 shares. That cost you $1400. You then sell that 6 months later at $150 a share. You get $1500 or a net profit of $100. Now that is only a 7% yield for that time frame. If you had similar success this could be 14% yearly. If the stock drops…

Read more

Exchange traded funds vs mutual funds What they have in common: They can be in cash accounts or retirement accounts. They hold a variety of stocks/bonds/commodities etc. Where they differ: ETFs: Generally follow the trend of earnings of an index such as S and P 500. Can be actively managed or passively.  Have lower costs.  Have lower taxation only when sold. Transactions are between stockholders and buyers not managers of the fund. Traded on the exchange.  Options can be done.  More liquid investment. Can be traded quickly.  Have leveraged etfs that perform better than the index fund by using margins.  Can specify investment industries.  Have not been around as long as mutual funds.  Mutual funds: Generally managed.  Higher cost. Not always follow indexes.  You buy in and it is not as liquid.  Takes longer to get cash out. Gets taxed by capital gains. Not traded on exchange.  No options. No…

Read more

How to find your next job Finding a Job  doc cafe, practice link, google search, indeed, can post about self/CV What steps to take to prepare:  Recruiters: Keep in mind that private recruitment is taking a cut of whatever you would otherwise receive from that facility; inhouse recruiters associated with a facility just recruit for the facility. Questions on interview today: Contract Negotiations: How to find your right job and maintain a good work/life balance? Depends on what you are looking for. If you have a high workload this should come with high pay but no life. If you want more life time you can make that happen too. Personally I do not conduct any type of communication with work and completely separate myself from the position when I’m not working.  What type of schedule do you want? shift work./7on7off/5 day/parttime/4 day work week?  In conclusion; every opportunity has positives…

Read more

How to reduce expenses  As students we have been consuming and accumulating debt. Some of us have upwards of 300k of debt. People that have completed a different path will have started to earn sooner contributing to wealth building and they probably have less debt. Once we complete medical school granted we have been able to secure a residency position we actually start to earn an income. I would highly recommend maximizing your retirement account and moonlighting during residency if you are in good standing. Most residents earn about 40k to 60k depending on specialty. With call and other obligations this is about $20 an hour. You are cheap labor for a facility and the government pays for it in the United States. In order to reduce expenses you must identify and track your spending. Credit cards make this more challenging because it is not the same as handing over…

Read more

How to manage student loans  Most Physicians/professionals have enormous amounts of student loan debt just from medical school. The average amount of medical school debt is around $200,000. This does not include undergraduate loans if they were taken. Without steady income from working or other avenues of earning revenue the student loans will increase with interest over the years while you’re studying.  Most people obtain government based loans. These rates range from 3% to 5% interest. Previously some of these loans were as high as 7% to 9%. They’re actually not very many differences between private graduate student loans vs. a government loan. A government loan is usually easier to place in forbearance or to not pay it if you have financial struggle. Generally it is not needed to be paid while you are a student where some private loan companies will require this. After you graduate from medical school…

Read more

Retirement accounts  There are several types of retirement accounts: Pensions, Traditional individual retirement accounts, Roth individual retirement accounts, 401k accounts, Self-employment accounts or simple accounts or simplified employee pension, 457b accounts. Pension: Used mainly by government agencies but in the past more private companies were offering them. The fund is paid into by the company and the employee. Employees have a certain amount that they pay and depending on how long they work will be paid a certain amount after they retire. The company is responsible for paying and has to manage the fund. They can be dependent on earnings the fund has or guaranteed by the company. You will be taxed when receiving the money in retirement. These are more costly to maintain and why most companies don’t have them. You will probably have the choice of lump sum or payments. You don’t necessarily have to be at retirement…

Read more

What side gigs are and why do them Monetize your time and build wealth. Most professionals have a primary form of employment, and some work in private for themselves.  Those that are employed over the years many have started side positions or side businesses to produce income.  There are several reasons and advantages as to why this happens. I would also recommend obtaining a skilled CPA when making these moves. If you are in an employed position generally that comes with benefits and retirement accounts.  These retirement accounts usually include a 403b plan or 401k plan and a 457b plan.  Generally, will not have access to both a 401 K and a 403b.  Those 2 plans are similar except the 403b planned generally only let’s to invest in annuities and mutual funds and the 401 K has more options for investment.  Generally, he will also get a certain percentage of…

Read more

Vehicle lease vs purchase  Many people have written about the topic of a lease or purchase of a vehicle. In most instances a vehicle is a depreciating asset. In other words you lose money on it. It is completely fair to not have the expense of a car. If you do obtain one expect to pay for it, the insurance, the maintenance, fuel, etc. A lease is an agreement with a dealer that you agree to pay the amount per month to essentially rent the car. You then get the option of buying the car at the end of the lease term. A car purchase you either take a loan or pay with cash. In order to decide which is financially beneficial for you let’s crunch some numbers.  Example: A 2022 Toyota Corolla is MSRP 20k.  1. You pay cash. 20k is gone and you pay expenses for the car.…

Read more

Why the generic bank account is a bad investment Banks will only give you a low interest rate and at times may even charge fees. It is much more beneficial to invest extra money outside of your emergency fund into some type of higher yielding account. Banks may yield 5% if you are lucky and even some stocks will only get you 1%-8%. What I don’t understand is why people are fine with this low growth when you could be making 10% or more. Even the SP500 itself yields about 10%. Cash example: You have 10k in either the bank or in a mutual fund making 5% in the bank and 10% in the mutual fund. Bank per year=$500. Mutual fund per year=$1000. The only advantage to having money in the bank is that you have a guarantee of 250k from the government if the bank is robbed.  Liquidity should…

Read more

Real estate: is it a goldmine? You can certainly search the internet for topics of wealth building and people that can advise you for a fee. What I have learned is that real estate is what you can make it.  What makes it attractive for investors is that you can have a great yield (5% to 100%) on the money you use to purchase. You can write off depreciation of a property and maintenance. You can gift assets and be taxed less by the government. Property prices increase with inflation. You own a physical asset and can borrow against it. Maybe they enjoy fixing up houses.  What are the negative aspects of this strategy? This is where many of these websites or advertisers fail to explain. What I found is that real estate is a lot of time and work. This asset is not quickly available if you need your…

Read more

Why you should always monetize your time…consider a side hustle. Any professional should always monetize their time because time is the finite resource that you do have. You only have a certain amount of time to devote to earning income.  Anything that you were doing with your time that does not earn income or bring you some type of improvement in your life or pleasure you should probably not be doing.  Calculating the amount you earn per hour is highly beneficial for deciding on if you should take a certain position or ask for more money or if you should be doing the activity that you were planning on engaging in. For example:  It takes me approximately 2 hours to clean up my driveway after a massive snowstorm. If I were working as a moonlighter/contractor for those two hours I would earn anywhere from $320 to $640. It is not…

Read more

Stock market versus real estate  A common question that comes up is the stock market yields versus the real estate market yields. Honestly they have similar yields and both increase in value over time. You just need to invest and not take it out during a dip. They will both fluctuate up and down. Time invested is the most important factor.  Similarities are: Yields  Go up over time Fluctuating  You could lose if you pick wrong You will be taxed in some way Both outpace inflation  Better to be in sooner for longer  Ride out dips Could loose investment if value goes to $0 Differences are the following: Stocks: More fluid (quick to get cash back) Taxed as income and as gains each year Many different types  Many different ways of making income (ETFs, options, individual stocks, mutual funds, bonds, mixed securities, commodities, REITs, etc) Real estate: Less fluid (takes…

Read more

If you have seen my other post about real estate you know the benefits of investing in it as well as the negatives. In my opinion the way we live is backwards. We should be buying property first when we are young not renting and we should be renting when we are older. Example: Young adult: You are 22 years old and just finished college. Starting your first professional career in banking. You earn $50000 per year. You do all the right things maximizing retirement, emergency fund, doordash on the side, making some extra money, start SEP ira, have a Roth IRA, and have an HSA account. You have $0 for a home down payment and you don’t have a lengthy job history for the bank to give you a home loan. You will be stuck living in a rental. You end up paying $1000 per month. You are spending…

Read more

15/15