The “Shrink” episode of Radiolab was fascinating: we thought viruses were all small, but that was a consequence of the method we used to first discover them. But now we know better, and there are some giant viruses out there, some even bigger than bacteria and large enough to get their own viruses.
I’m going to leave this right here:
Goes to show that you too can have a bestseller on Amazon if you publish in a low-volume niche category (and check routinely, because rankings are based on very short term sales trends).
Still, kinda fun.
I recently started a 30-day Kindle Unlimited free trial, which gave me a chance to pick up a bunch of Kindle titles (to read on my phone).1 I used the opportunity to take a look at a large fraction of the (mostly self-published) books on medical school advice and physician finance.
My first review is a combo of two sibling books written by financial planners of “TGS Financial Advisors.” These folks specialize in “servicing” physicians; they’re CFPs and not MDs.
The first, Pay Yourself First, is geared toward doctors just out residency/fellowship (potential clients for their $5000/year fee-based advisor service). The second, Changing Outcomes, is directed toward mid-career physicians (who presumably could fork over even more money). This is amusingly reflected in the price, as Changing Outcomes costs a bit more.
Both books are short and share large portions verbatim. Pay Yourself First focuses on convincing you to save more and not spend too much of your new-found income. Changing Outcomes begs you to save more and stop spending so much. The actual financial advice is physician-directed though almost entirely not physician-specific.
The covers are nice, and they paid Kirkus a few hundred bucks for a blurb, so they’re taking the “book as native advertising” concept seriously. There are a few typos and whatnot, perhaps less than average for self-published. I think most recent medical school grads with their massive student loan burdens are more in tune/fearful of their financial future than older docs of the more lucrative medical past, but the discussion of why a high savings rate is the foundation of building wealth and retirement security is nicely written.
A few of my favorite passages.
Here at the beginning of your career your assets are probably smaller than those owned by the average public school teacher. Asset poor and cash flow rich; in your first years of practice, everyone will want a piece of that cash flow.
This is a hidden cost of medical training that most non-physicians simply cannot understand. Not only have you studied longer than any other professional, incurred hundreds of thousands of dollars in education loans, and deferred a serious payday until your mid-30s, you have also lost precious years of potential compounding on your savings.
When you finally start making money, you’re already way behind. You have tons of debt and haven’t saved nearly enough, and those valuable years of compounding interest are gone forever.
Unfortunately, the relationship of wealth to happiness is asymmetric. Moving up is often only temporarily rewarding. But losing ground—suffering even a limited reduction in socio-economic status—is durably painful.
Lifestyle inflation is much easier to avoid than reverse.
Spending on possessions has the most transient effect on happiness, while spending on relationships and experiences has more durable emotional benefits. Unlike status based on earning or spending, research suggests that attaining $1 million of net worth is associated with a permanent increase in confidence and self-esteem.
Having enough money to tell the hospital admin to do something profane to themselves: Priceless.
Outside of these general themes, there is almost zero detail. This is not a DIY book, so other than the inspiration, the books are pretty much useless. Hint: They think you should get a financial advisor.
Overall, the you-need-an-advisor sell isn’t particularly egregious, but it is a bit amusing as it comes after discussion of how low-cost low-fee index fund investing is the right choice (something you definitely don’t need an advisor to set up). Fee-based financial advisors are essentially life coaches who focus on your money. You really only need one if you can’t be trusted to not sabotage yourself.
Verdict: If you need convincing to save more and spend less, either one is a pretty well-written plea and is a fine free read if you have KU. Otherwise, save your money and look elsewhere, like WCI or Bogleheads’.
From Bloomberg, an interactive infographic that looks at interprofessional marriage from the 2014 US Census.
Female doctors, whether gay or straight, tend to marry other doctors.
Straight male doctors also marry doctors, but they’re almost as likely to marry nurses or schoolteachers. According to the census data, gay male doctors most commonly marry nurses.
This post is pretty long, but this is an important development on the federal student loan front that’s worth the lengthy discussion. The bottom line is that the new REPAYE program has a lot to offer people currently not just in IBR but also PAYE. I highly recommend putting some numbers into this calculator to see how the repayment options look to you currently as well as how they might change with your career over the near future. Many residents should be doing REPAYE.
First, what is REPAYE?
REPAYE (or “revised pay as you earn”) is the newest federal government student loan payback plan, designed to give older borrowers from the (pre-PAYE) IBR regime a chance to benefit from some features of the newer PAYE plan (10% cap of your discretionary income instead of 15%) while also closing some of its “loopholes.” As a general rule, the feds don’t change current programs; they create new ones and “grandfather” people in the old ones. Rather than extending PAYE to more people (those with loans prior to October 1st, 2007 or without new loans since October 1st, 2011), they made REPAYE.
Here are the main features of the REPAYE program (contrasted with PAYE and IBR as applicable) and how it may affect switching: (more…)
Just in time for Valentine’s day, Priceonomics discusses the history of the highly anatomically incorrect heart symbol.
From section 57.10 of the updated service terms for Amazon’s popular AWS service (emphasis mine):
Acceptable Use; Safety-Critical Systems. Your use of the Lumberyard Materials must comply with the AWS Acceptable Use Policy. The Lumberyard Materials are not intended for use with life-critical or safety-critical systems, such as use in operation of medical equipment, automated transportation systems, autonomous vehicles, aircraft or air traffic control, nuclear facilities, manned spacecraft, or military use in connection with live combat. However, this restriction will not apply in the event of the occurrence (certified by the United States Centers for Disease Control or successor body) of a widespread viral infection transmitted via bites or contact with bodily fluids that causes human corpses to reanimate and seek to consume living human flesh, blood, brain or nerve tissue and is likely to result in the fall of organized civilization.
This awesome comic explains gravitational waves and the amazing experiment that detected/detects them. Einstein was right again!
Adam Grant, writing in the NTTimes Sunday Review:
So what does it take to raise a creative child? One study compared the families of children who were rated among the most creative 5 percent in their school system with those who were not unusually creative. The parents of ordinary children had an average of six rules, like specific schedules for homework and bedtime. Parents of highly creative children had an average of fewer than one rule.
Creativity may be hard to nurture, but it’s easy to thwart. By limiting rules, parents encouraged their children to think for themselves. They tended to “place emphasis on moral values, rather than on specific rules,” the Harvard psychologist Teresa Amabile reports.
I always felt bad for my friends with bedtimes.
Relative to typical scientists, Nobel Prize winners are 22 times more likely to perform as actors, dancers or magicians; 12 times more likely to write poetry, plays or novels; seven times more likely to dabble in arts and crafts; and twice as likely to play an instrument or compose music.
“Love is a better teacher than a sense of duty,” [Einstein] said.
Like the ACA healthcare marketplace or Kayak, Credible isn’t actually lender itself. It’s a student loan marketplace of (currently) 9 vendors that allows you to apply to multiple companies simultaneously and compare rates (and terms, monthly payments, total payoffs, etc).
Pros:
- Polished interface
- Easy initial application process
- Ability to compare rates from multiple lenders simultaneously
- Saves time versus applying to all lenders separately
Cons:
- Several big players are missing (enumerated here), which means you’d still have to do some separate standalone applications if you want to ensure you’re getting the absolute best rate.
- Neither of the companies that have refinance programs tailored to residents are included, meaning that Credible isn’t a viable option for most residents yet.
Bottom line:
If you’re a busy attending who has been putting off refinancing because of the hassle, Credible is for you (yes you, I know you’re out there). Several of the big players are included and you can do the preliminary application in minutes and get a rate comparison within a day or two. Once you pick your lender, Credible sends over your application and documents and you’re turfed over to that lender to finalize the process as usual.
If you’re serious about getting the very lowest rate, Credible by itself may not be sufficient. While most lenders have similar rate ranges, you can’t predict who will provide the best, so you’d still have to apply to several of these guys not in the marketplace yourself for thorough comparison shopping. In this case, you could still use Credible to save some time by applying to several lenders together, but then giving up $100-300 referral bonuses in some cases may not be worth it to you.
If you’re still a resident or post-match MS4, Credible isn’t for you (yet). I’m told there are plans for some resident-friendly plans in the future, but the two current players in this arena aren’t part of the marketplace.