A few docs talk about early career financial mistakes

A bunch of physician finance bloggers (and me) were asked to weigh in on early career financial mistakes for MDLinx’s relatively new PhysicianSense blog.

Everyone else said don’t buy a house and don’t try to beat the market. I largely agree with both of those sentiments.

I’m not exactly a finance blogger, even though I write about money with some frequency. My answer was instead largely about being purposeful with your time.

Many of us spend our lives reacting. We spend our days constantly reacting to crises, patients, and bureaucracy at work. We react to short bursts of free time or moments of boredom with our phones and social media. We consume media and television like we’re hardwired.

And when faced with financial troubles like student loans or other financial goals, we often react by either shutting down and ignoring our problems or by becoming obsessed with dollars and cents. There’s nothing wrong with moonlighting or trying to carve out some side income–I still do both routinely. But it’s also important to step back and see if and how your efforts are affecting your mood, health, and family.

The need to be cognizant of how you spend your money should be self-evident. The need to be cognizant of how you earn it is less obvious.