Episode 73: Finance for Physicians: Personal Finance for High Income Earners with the Loonie Doctor

In today’s episode, we are joined by an exciting guest, The Loonie Doctor, of The Loonie Doctor blog to talk about his work not only on physician finance but also on holistic wealth. A physician by training, The Loonie Doctor has scaled back his practice to put more work into the blog and financial education. He masterfully balances precise technical advice on topics like tax alongside ‘softer’ aspects of money, such as how it affects relationships and other aspects of human capital. These insights are useful for many, but particularly for physicians who often to do not talk about money because of the nature of the work they do. The Loonie Doctor believes that in not talking about finance, it adversely affects physicians’ ability to perform at their peak. Finance, however, is not the only marker of wealth and The Loonie Doctor offers a holistic wealth framework in which wealth can be measured in a variety of ways. He also provides a host of other insights, such as advice for DIY investors, how to avoid social pressure around spending and much more. For all this, join us today!

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Key Points From This Episode:

• Some of The Loonie Doctor’s background and what lead him to starting the blog. [0:02:20.0]
• The two big reasons that it is important for physicians to talk to one another about money. [0:03:47.0]
• Wealth must be looked at holistically as it includes financial, human, economic and social capital. [0:06:15.0]
• How individual spending decisions compound and have a larger economic effect. [0:08:10.0]
• What can be done to build a healthy career that inspires and adds value to your life. [0:11:16.0]
• Which factors to account for when making long-term insurance decisions. [0:13:13.0]
• Reasons why whole-life insurance should not be a catch-all financial plan. [0:17:06.0]
• How to avoid social pressure and spending large amounts of money. [0:19:51.0]
• Financial decisions should be understood in relation to non-monetary value they add. [0:22:48.0]
• How The Loonie Doctor uses evidence effectively in investment decisions. [0:26:30.0]
• How to make the decision between DIY investing or using a financial planner. [00:29:16]
• Some of the lessons that The Loonie Doctor has learned having seen so much death. [00:34:28]
• Insights into The Loonie Doctor’s framework about asset location. [00:38:36]

Tweetables:

“We’re a profession that’s highly values self-sacrifice and altruism. So, to talk about the fact we get paid to do the job that we do can sometimes be a little bit taboo.” — @LoonieDoctor  [0:04:16]

“The way to avoid getting caught up in those scripts, which can then sort of get you down the wrong path, is just to make sure you know what it is that you actually value.” — @LoonieDoctor  [0:20:01]

“It’s more important to make a decision a lot of the time than it is to make a perfect decision.” — @LoonieDoctor [0:27:10]

“You have to make sure you save enough for the future, but also don’t put off living now for a future that may not come.” — @LoonieDoctor [0:34:05]

Links From Today’s Episode:

The Loonie Doctor —  https://www.looniedoctor.ca/

The Loonie Doctor on Twitter —  https://twitter.com/looniedoctor

Wendall Mascarenhas —  https://www.linkedin.com/in/wendall-mascarenhas-92915492/

Meir Statman — http://meirstatman.com/

Download the transcript of this episode here: Rational Reminder Podcast – EP. 73 – Transcript