I have had a lot of financial success in life. There are plenty of people who make more than me and have more than me, but I enjoy more income than I ever expected and am rapidly approaching “enough” with regards to net worth. I've had a lot of people comment “how fortunate” I've been in life. That's true, I have been fortunate. But only a portion of my success comes from good fortune. A certain amount of it was essentially guaranteed by decisions I made. There is also a third portion that comes from simply putting myself into a position where I was waiting with open arms when fortune smiled upon me. Let me try to explain.
Luck
First, let's talk about the luck I had that had little to do with anything I ever did. I was born into a slightly richer than average middle-class family in the greatest economic powerhouse the world has ever seen to two parents who stayed together, valued education, and wanted their children to have a better life than they had. I was taught to work, be thrifty, and avoid debt from a young age. In a society filled with sexism and racism, I hit the jackpot — I'm both white and male. I have a relatively quick mind and a relatively healthy body. All that is pure luck (or a blessing, depending on your religious persuasion.)
Good Decisions
Second, let's talk about the decisions I made that resulted in financial success that had very little to do with luck.
- I decided to get good grades in junior high and high school.
- I chose to go to college.
- I chose to go to the cheapest college I was accepted into (and the cost was further lowered with an academic scholarship.)
- I chose to go into medicine. I learned early in my college career what it took to get into medical school and I did all that stuff, from spending extra time on the classes that mattered most, to spending time and money doing MCAT prep, to ensuring I had adequate service, leadership, health care, and research experience, to applying to schools that were actually likely to take me and was accepted into enough that getting in really was not a matter of luck.
- I spent time getting to know myself and what was important to me such that I chose the perfect specialty for me, with a combination of interesting work, a lifestyle compatible with my desired life, and a great income, at least on an hourly basis.
- I learned about personal finance and investing early in my career, when it could do the most good.
- I saved a large percentage of my income by choosing to spend dramatically less than my peers.
- I fully utilized every tax-advantaged account available to me, including accounts considered by many at the time to be creative–Backdoor Roth IRAs, spousal Roth IRAs, Stealth IRAs, Individual 401(k)s, Defined Benefit/Cash Balance Plans, Health Savings Accounts, Multiple 401(k)s etc, and took advantage of the best ways to use a taxable account (using capital losses against my regular income and flushing capital gains out through charitable giving.)
- We put off having children until we could afford to pay for them without borrowing money aside from a mortgage.
None of that required any sort of luck and a large percentage of my success can be attributed to it. Lots of people say, “Oh, he got lucky with WCI.” Remember we were millionaires before WCI ever made any money. That first million was almost all brute savings carved out of a below average doctor income.
Letting Fortune Smile Upon You
Finally, let's talk about the subject of this post- the stuff I consciously did hoping that fortune would smile upon me, but which I didn't really have full control over.
- I married a great woman. She works hard, is thriftier than I am, and isn't nuts. I'm not really sure what she sees in me, but a great deal of my success came from being smart about choosing a life partner. Now, a lot of that is obviously not fully in my control, but I did and continue to do what I can to ensure success.
- I invested in risky assets. If all you ever invest in is CDs, savings accounts, bonds, and whole life insurance, there is little opportunity to get lucky. At the beginning of 2016, nobody would have predicted that small value stocks would have gained 25% that year. But I invested in them. And that risk paid off. I've invested in real estate. Sometimes it has worked out poorly, but other times I have done quite well with it. Overall, I've done much better by putting myself in a position to get lucky.
Fortune Favors The Bold! The author's wife high on Pingora, Wind River Range, Wyoming
- I started a business. I did all I could to make it successful. I poured a lot of time and effort into it. I had set parameters that dictated when I would leave it and move on to something else if it wasn't working out. I paid attention to what was working and what wasn't, and did more of the stuff that worked and less of the stuff that didn't. Was I lucky that I was really the first into the niche? Sure. Was I lucky that what I was passionate about happened to monetize well? Absolutely. Was I lucky that revenue sources that didn't exist when I started the blog later popped up allowing me to incorporate them into the business? Of course. But I put myself in fortune's way.
- We bought our “big doctor house” in 2010. It turned out that was a pretty good time to buy a house. Appreciation over the last six years has been 48%, or about 6.7% a year, way more than the historical rate of appreciation of housing. More than a couple hundred thousand of our net worth can be attributed to that decision. Was it lucky that was the year that buying a house made sense for us? Of course. At the time, it didn't feel like real estate was going to start going up anytime soon, and would probably go down further before going up. But we could afford it, so we put ourselves in a position to get lucky and it paid off.
- I joined a democratic emergency medicine group, paid my sweat equity, and was made a partner. Our partnership faces lots of business challenges, and sometimes things don't work out well. But when they do, it can mean large sums of money are delivered straight to my bank account. If I had chosen “the safe road” of being an employee, I would get what the contract stated–no more and no less.
How To Get Lucky
Now let's turn to you. What can you do to put yourself in a position to get financially lucky? Here are 10 suggestions:
1. Get yourself a financial education
Not only will you quit doing the dumb things, but you'll better recognize opportunity when it knocks.
2. Own your home
That doesn't mean to buy a home before you're ready, but when the time is right in your life, get yourself into the position where you get the equity. Think about someone who chose to be a life-long renter in San Francisco 30 years ago and what they might have had.
3. One House, One Spouse, One Job
This obviously represents an ideal, but changing any of those three things is very expensive, so do it as seldom as you can.
4. Own your job
Sometimes it does make more sense for you to be an employee. But keep your eyes open for those times when it makes more sense to be an owner.
5. Own your side gig
What? No side gig? See number six.
6. Get a side gig
The more passive the better. Write a book. Buy an income property down the street. Write some software. Blog. Design a medical device. Go on the lecture circuit. Whatever. It might springboard you into a second career, but if nothing else, should provide a little bit of extra income. And you never know, you might get lucky like I did.
7. Own stocks
Yes, stocks might be overvalued. Of course, I can't remember a year during my investing career, aside from 2009, when there wasn't someone saying stocks were overvalued. But owning shares of legitimate, profitable businesses puts you in the position to get lucky when they do well.
8. Own real estate
Real estate is a business too, just like the stocks of publicly traded companies. Don't over-leverage yourself, but recognize that 90% of the people out there who are “really rich” (we'll call that having more than the typical doctor retires with) did so through the ownership of investment real estate.
9. Marry smart
I'm not saying marry for money, but for most of us, who you marry is entirely within your control. You don't have to marry someone that is lazy, or crazy, or seriously ill, or a spendthrift. You don't have to marry a low earner, someone with a lot of debt, or someone with a lot of family members who will be depending on them (and thus you.) I'd rather be happy than financially successful, but it is a lot easier to be happy when you are financially successful. Wouldn't it be great if you can find someone that can help you to be both?
10. Keep your lifestyle set such that debt is not a big part of your life
If you have big debts (think a dentist with $500K in student loans, a $500K mortgage, and a $500K practice loans), get them under control as soon as possible. Don't underestimate the behavioral effects of debt in favor of the mathematical effects of leverage. While you don't want to be an extremist, those with little debt generally have better cash flow and more cash with which to get lucky.
What do you think? What have you done to put yourself into a position to get lucky? How much of your success has come from luck, how much from good decisions, and how much from a combination of the two? Comment below!
I’ve been thinking a lot about luck and life since reading “The Nurture Assumption” by Judith Harris. She claims that much of an individual’s adult personality, which we partially attribute to upbringing, is almost all due to chance.
Our adult personalities are shaped by our genes and by the manner in which our parents treat us. But isn’t the way our parents treat us also shaped by their genes? Plus, as children, the influence of neighborhood and peer group can swamp the effects of parental guidance is much of our lives. Whether it’s genes, where we lived, or what schools we attended, it’s all luck.
The decisions we make are in turn influenced by these prior life experiences. I’m not saying all that is good is 100% luck, but I believe much more can be attributed to the falling dominoes of your past life than most people think.
Tough to assign exact percentages, and reasonable people can disagree.
I applaud your successes JD, straight talk and open attitude toward assessing your mini-bio. I hope everything goes well for you also. Best wishes……
Most of this is not luck. A hard working person such as yourself has a vision, and and a drive to succeed, and when the opportunity shows itself, you are ready to take it – that is action. That vision makes it possible to see what is there – like a geological engineer can do the analysis of mining opportunities.
Most adults have never experienced this vision building and working towards it. Most are passive consumers of what life offers – education, work, even marriage. “Putting yourself in the position to get lucky” – starts with your vision, and accomplished with action. WCI is a shining example of it.
Great article, as the saying goes “luck is when preparedness meets opportunity”. Certainly you have been prepared and taken advantage. I am pursuing the majority of your points above. The few items that I am not convinced of is #2) Own your home. I am in year 2 of a 15 yr mortgage @ 3%, for a house less than 1.5x our annual income. We love our house and it makes us happy, allows us to walk to places etc and the rate is historically low. I recently found this article, http://jlcollinsnh.com/2013/05/29/why-your-house-is-a-terrible-investment/
and I was very impressed with the points made and why owning a home is a “terrible investment”. Don’t get me wrong I would still do it again, but I would never look at owning a home as an investment. I would say the smart way to do it is #2) Own your home, once you can afford a minimum down payment of 20% and once you have rented in the area, and have been at your job long enough to ensure it is a good fit.
Thanks for all your wonderful content
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/a-home-is-an-investment/
Sure, it’s an investment. It might not be a good one, but it can appreciate and pays dividends (i.e. saved rent.) In many ways it is also a consumption item, so it’s critical not to overbuy/overimprove.
Thanks for the article link, I have not seen it before. I have no idea why people are reacting so much to the “white male” comment. There was nothing derogatory about it, it was simply saying you did not havve to encounter some hardships that other people may face.
Definitely a mixture of good fortune and hard work.
Both my parents were nurses. They divorced when I was 8. My older brother acted out during his teenage years and dropped out of school in 11th grade. I threw myself into sports and many of my teachers made up for what was missing at home. My high school GPA was a dismal 2.25.
I went to a community college and finally began to realize that education was the foundation for success and applied myself. I earned a scholarship for the second two years and graduated with honors. I applied to medical school with a 3.5 GPA and got in. I picked the cheapest of the three that accepted me.
I worked even harder in Med school and graduated AOA in the top ten percent while both my brothers skipped college and went to trade schools. I married a good woman whose parents stayed married until death. We are still together after 25 years and have four wonderful children.
I have maxed out my 401K (W2 income) and SEP IRA on side work (since 2008). We have a large house that will be downsized in 2018 to a cabin on 21 acres that we bought last year. We also still own our first home as a rental. Building the big house in 2003 was our worst financial decision as it cost $500,000 them and is worth about the same now, 14 years later… I learned from that mistake and bought an inexpensive house on 11 acres to retire to.
I could have been more frugal, I could have taken fewer vacations, and I could have purchased less expensive cars (several were $36-40K).
I lucked into a pension worth as much as my social security for working 11 years at one hospital as medical director of a geriatric psych unit. I have always made 90th percentile wages and have worked side weekends and holidays since 2008, making and additional $150K last year.
I think it’s always been luck (I’m fairly smart and also a white male and got lucky on the wife choice), and hard work. I work more than most psychiatrists I know and have always been “Medical Director.”
Soon, all this will come to fruition as I will have no mortgage by age 55 and will have finally gotten out of my upside down real estate holdings (big house and starter home from 1994). I will be able to work part time in my late 50’s and then choose to work or not by age 59.5. I will have saved enough to give all four of my children a four year debt free degree and have taught them all I learned about money and investing.
Luck and hard work.
Congrats that is an amazing an inspirational story.
Thanks.
There are a couple of typos in it. The retirement cabin in NC is on 11 acres with an adjoining 10 acres. That’s where the 21 acres comes in.
The property taxes where we are now are $7500 a year. On the cabin and 21 acres (10 acres is empty) they are $2400 a year.
The land is essentially the top of a mountain with a 0.3 mile private Ashphalt road outside of town, about five miles from a quaint downtown and shopping. It has a good well and with a 1500 KWH solar array, it will essentially be “off grid”.
You lost me when you pulled out the white privilige trope.
Unfortunate that you couldn’t find something useful despite finding something you disagreed with. I expect most readers would disagree with something in most of what I write. This particular subject has been thoroughly discussed and debated elsewhere, so I’m not going to debate it here.
Sadly, I agree. It’s playing to a false narrative that has become fashionable in today’s society.
I loved the post and will share it with others. I also have much in common with your “luck”, but I do feel it is rooted in my family and my genes – even, and especially, the hard work part. And something else that I have, which I can’t quite describe, but works in my life. However, I also agree that 1) you falsely ignore the role being a white male plays. I know it’s hard for you to believe or to fully understand. I hope you will examine that and reach out to learn more instead of just assuming it was your own work. 2) Do you think there is a role for giving as a mechanism for wealth? In other words, does being a giving person make one more abundant? I see the mental and emotional giving you exert in your blog, sincerely trying to help people get to a more abundant thought process. I’m sure there are many ways you give which are not always apparent. Just curious to know whether you see that as a PART of becoming abundant or just something you do when you become abundant. Lastly, if these are the sort of characteristics which create a successful life, should this not be taught to every child in school, since many of them will not have seen it modeled at home?
Not sure if your comment is directed at Toby or me or both. I assume the first was at Toby and the second at me, so I’ll reply only to the second.
Yes, I do think giving plays an important role in actually becoming wealthy, but I think there’s room for reasonable people to disagree on this point. I’ve been giving my whole life (both time and money) although I give more now than I used to both as a percentage of income and obviously much more as a gross amount. I think giving helps you adopt a stewardship mentality, manage your money better, and realize what actually makes you happy in life. Probably should have included something about that in the post.
Are you kidding me? Do you really think white, male privilege doesn’t exist? I’m both white, straight, and male and I absolutely see how many (unfair) advantages I’ve been given by a society and accepts everything I am at baseline. I don’t have to feel bad that I was born into a fortunate situation since I’ve done everything I can to take advantage of it, but you’ve got some major blinders on if you deny that it’s not advantageous to be a white male in this country.
Agree. He didnt say he agrees with the crazy backlash or narratives out there, just acknowledges it. Even just being male is huge if you’ve ever just paid attention in life.
Unfortunately some people will never believe that we live in a country in which the color of your skin can play a major role in how your life plays out. No one is arguing that skin color is the only factor, but being born white traditionally is a very big plus in this country, especially if you’re male and also born into a wealthy family. I think the people who get offended by the idea of white privilege are simply very insecure about themselves for some reason. Either that or they are too ego driven to consider the possibility that they may have been helped a little bit along the way.
Come meet the poor black family that lives across the street from me in public housing and tell me that their kids are going to have the same chances in life as the kid born into WCI’s background.
All reasonable people wish society was colorblind. But reasonable people can also debate the best way from here to there.
Well said WCI. It always amazes me when people feel we should deal with perceived preferential treatment with MORE preferential treatment, just in the direction they think it needs to go. What are the parameters that would be used to determine when enough preferential treatment is enough and all is good and right in the country? It will never occur.
I finished college in three years, instead of four and stayed to get my Master’s in the fourth year. I got into the workforce sooner and didn’t need to go to school at night for my advanced degree – so I was better able to focus on my job (teaching). I was able to side gig (coaching) because of not having to take classes too. I started on our pay scale at a higher level with the advanced degree when I was 22 years old. A lot of luck that things fell together, but good decisions on my part too. Hired the after I graduated from college. I believe I was lucky to be born into a wonderful family who modeled hard work and how to live within your means. But I have made the decisions to continue down that path and I’ll be retiring early in 32 days at the age of 50. Not as early as some, but much earlier than many educators. I earned a doctorate along the way (for free) and I can use that anytime I’d like to teach university classes online so that we can live an “untethered” lifestyle. A combination of good luck and good decisions.
Good article and refreshing reminder that we are almost always in control of our future. Do you the “one job” im number thing is more of a doctor specific advice or good advice in general? It seems nowadays many younger person’s are changing jobs very few years and when they do change companies they are getting promotions and making more money. Thoughts?
I think it’s more of a doctor/professional thing. I agree that most corporate careers changing jobs every few years can really get you ahead. An employee doctor may not be all that different. But when you have to change practices or do a partnership track again, that can really set you back.
Pharrell’s post with Daft Punk on this topic was much more catchy:
We’re up all night ’til the sun
We’re up all night to get some
We’re up all night for good fun
We’re up all night to get lucky
I feel like I’ve made a lot of good choices along the way, and I know I was the one putting in the long hours of studying, working, etc… but I had a lot of the same advantages you had. Some combination of nature, nurture, and pure dumb luck helped get me to the place I am today.
Cheers!
-PoF
I notice that you didn’t list your military scholarship and service anywhere In this article. You’ve mentioned that financially, it may not have been a good decision for you because of opportunity cost, but what about the opportunities it opened up for you? Would you have ended up at your exact job without the experiences, contacts or life experiences accumulated during your military time? For me, if the military had never sent me to Texas I would’ve probably settled in the northeast where I am from, and working in Texas has been one of the biggest reasons why I am financially successful, and I give that credit to the Air Force and a bit of luck/providence.
Financially, joining the military wasn’t a great move for me. Obviously its hard to determine all of the effects of that decision, but it’s pretty hard for me to consider it either a smart decision or a lucky one!
Have you calculated what it “cost” you?
I’m financially secure, too, and I attribute my financial success to two additional things: Parents from the depression (and WW2) years who taught me the money-morality learned from those sparse times, and deferred gratification. Even in my “big earning years”, I always lived at a lower standard than my income. Now I’m making more in retirement than I ever did working, thanks to a frugal lifestyle and financial discipline, having used many of the recommendations in WCI. Thanks for the article.
I feel like this was quite the positively written motivational speech- next side gig for you maybe?
I can’t agree more. I have made a few mistakes, bought 2 more homes then I should have, and moved many cities. Leaving my first job was not a mistake though and I was able to leverage my experience into a nicer practice in a safer and prettier part of the country.
The one spouse (who is not lazy, crazy, etc.) is probably the biggest thing that one can do. Unfortunately we don’t always choose well and have a friend who is getting a divorce for this very reason.
I think ,my friend,you cross a line today:almost all the time we agree,but there is an important point we disagree today:To say that our society is filled with racism is plain wrong,what exactly you mean?Look i came to this country in my forties,and i’m hispanic!! and i’m going to retire at 63,so where is the racism???,i only found opportunities and a big pile of challenges,that fortunately was able to pass,yes i was lucky also:to came to this great country,now my country:USA!
I love your attitude. You are quite simply , the man. I am happy you found success in this amazing country, we need more immigrants like you.
+2
Most people born in the States ( and WCI doesn’t list it as one of those lucky instances in his life) do not see/count the incredible , enormous, gargantuan etc. luck they were blessed with: simply being born in the USA.
Those of us who didn’t deeply appreciate that, having escaped grinding poverty, crime, corruption, injustice and pure luck of options of the countries of our birth.
And speaking of racism- I wish someone would make a movie titled “Living one day as a black person in… Paris/Madrid/Stockholm etc.”
What do you mean I didn’t list being born in the USA? Let me quote:
Did you think that “economic powerhouse” was Japan or France or something?
Another way to say this is: “The harder I work, the luckier I get.” – Samuel Goldwyn
WCI is modest about the “luck” part. The amount of relentless work he’s put into this site (and his other investments) combined with a keen eye for how to capitalize on opportunity is earned income in my book. WCI felled the trees, cleared the stumps and rocks, plowed and planted the field, fertilized, weeded, and watered. Now the harvest is bountiful.
Good setting + Good choices + a TON of hard work = Success. Kudos.
Jim you have written a lot of great content, but this might be the most succinctly written, valuable content rich post I have read thus far. What strikes me is how SIMPLE the principles are and yet how HARD they are for most to follow. People are not getting this kind of advice from TV, movies, magazines, and other media outlets. It’s easy to see most of those outlets are not out for their audiences’ betterment and self improvement.
It has been pretty fun to watch your personal and business growth over the last few years and I appreciate you sharing it so openly with us, your audience, no doubt we have learned a lot and are better off having you as our example to follow.
Great article! Rings true for me.
When people find out I only applied to one medical school this past year and managed to get accepted I often hear how “lucky” I am and I am a humble person so I often tell my peers that I got really lucky as well.
The truth is though that I chose my state school which I can commute to strategically in order to save money and minimize debt. I went out of my way to email the dean of admissions and ask for his advice on what he looks for in an applicant and then tailored my application to fit this. I went to the schools admissions seminar and met their staff members and students and was able to see very clearly that the school was a good fit for me, which I was able to write about on my application. I even managed to turn a few email exchanges with the dean of admissions into a sit down advisement meeting with him where we went over my application. I essentially landed myself an interview before I even applied to school and I made sure to make an excellent impression.
The only thing I needed to do now was do well on the mcat, which I did scoring in the top 10% of test takers.
Next, I took a risk and applied early decision which means I could not apply to other schools unless they denied me. This is risky because it could have made me late in the cycle for other schools.
at my actual interview the physician who interviewed me was terrible. He didn’t even ask me any questions you would expect a normal interviewer to ask. Nothing about why I wanted to be a physician or why I wanted to go to this particular school etc etc. he just asked me my opinion on things and then told me I was wrong and gave me his opinion for half the interview.
On my way out,I went back to the admissions office to get the physicians contact information in order to send a thank you card. I also went out of my way to introduce myself to the assistant dean after the other two students who interviewed that day had already left. She asked me how my interview went because this particular physician was known to be “a little rough.” I said he was great, but I wish he would have asked me a few questions which would have let me showcase my knowledge of your particular school and program. She invited me into her office and Personally interviewed me.
I was admitted to my number one choice
In August before most of my peers in undergrad even received secondaries. This school will provide an excellent education for the cheapest price since I can live at home with my parents.
Was I lucky? Yes, but I sure as heck stacked the deck in my favor. I spent $250 applying to school whereas nowadays it usually costs around $3000.
Sorry for the humble brag, I’ve been dying to telling people that story and figured annonymously is the way to go!
Way to go!
Just read this with my 8th grade daughter. I hope she learns and follows in these footsteps – she wants to be a Physician. Medicine is a lot of fun if you manage it instead of the other way around
This can be an excellent guest post for WCI about your experience – starting with frugal living from even before starting medical school.
One aspect of luck you (IMHO) mischaracterized: “I decided to get good grades in junior high and high school.
I chose to go to college.” As I keep telling my husband when he wants to reward our kids for getting all As or an academic scholarship, “Why do you think some of the kids at school don’t get As? Do you think their parents COULD have gotten all As? The scholarship was much easier for her to get than most of the other kids- it reflects dedication and not partying/drugging away her school years, but not incredible amounts of hard work.” Genetics from your parents and the luck of the womb etc gave you a brain where your amount of work at school got you the grades that got you where you are. Some kids no matter how hard they work are not going to get into med school let alone get all As.
Except he doesn’t mischaracterize it. If you see under the luck section, he explicitly stated “I have a relatively quick mind and a relatively health body.”
There are many people with a quick mind who didn’t decide to get good grades or work hard in school, despite their genius. (See: my first year of college) He did, indeed, make a choice to use that quick mind, or the genetic benefits, to perform well in school.
When I saw the title, I wondered how the email survived my spam filter! 😉
If we are being honest with ourselves, most of our good fortune can be attributed to luck. You do have to put yourself in the position to benefit, and perhaps that is what separates those who succeed from those who do not.
I have been considering white privilege a lot lately 🙂 and believe that there is less and less overt discrimination. However part of white privilege is, for many of us, being born to parents and grandparents allowed to get subsidized mortgages, subsidized college or farm payments, live in good school neighborhoods, and get jobs much more often denied to nonwhites. So being white male doesn’t (hopefully) give you a big advantage at an opportunity over an equivalently resumed and test scored female POC (person of color), but it means you are much more likely to have the much better resume and scores than POC with equivalent starting brain matter. Some of us got to start on second or third base. Others weren’t even allowed to play until recently. Delete or don’t publish if this draws too much fire!
Amazing what a handful of words in a blog post can start. I figured if I left it out, people would jump all over me for not mentioning it. Make a passing comment about it, and it’s all anybody wants to talk about in the comments section. Can’t win sometimes with politically sensitive issues. They’re like magnets.
So funny that you put in the obligatory acknowledgement of “white male priviledge” and people STILL go nuts anyway…
Having a step up from being a white make was not the focus of the WCI story. I like the fact that he even looked at it as part of his luck. I’m certain being tall, smart, white, male, above average looking and being raised by two college educated parents with a good work ethic had an impact. All of these things were part of my luck.
Lucky is as lucky does…but it helped.
I really appreciate having the opportunity to discuss these issues without the knee jerk name calling. It is a serious issue and I think this space is a great one to discuss. And believe me, it was not your passing comment, it was the substance of this issue. We all want to encourage achievement and excellence. And help others do the same. That we have in common. Saw this in my box this morning. [http://www.distractify.com/omg/2017/05/29/Z24szEm/bar-stop-female-harassment These women were just trying to do their job, too, with daily, ongoing harassment. Doctors get it, just the same. How many patients have you had overtly ask for sex? Or ask for a ‘second opinion’ by a less qualified male? ] I’m sure hardly any of the white males here have had the situation, which was common for me in my training – nearly daily, of white males refusing to be seen by me bcz female. It was common. Or leaders of residency saying, “We NEVER accept women so don’t even try”, exceeding all their parameters and yes, they did not accept. They meant it. Or having wonderful fellow docs, always with exception of one or two really BAD players who found it sport to demean, often as what I call a “cluster” of misogynists. I could go ON and ON. If you have the erroneous idea that this does not, or did not, significantly affect the careers of women/minorities, note that they quit medicine at much higher rates…. for a reason. Ignoring this is just not telling the whole story. Do we have to persevere despite this? Yes. But this is a huge part of the luck. HUGE. Hugely. Bigly.
So , you are saying that if you were born a black female you would not have succeeded? I find this offensive.
Sorry to offend you.
In answer to your question, personally I think I would have succeeded just fine if I was born a black female. But I also think the climb may have been a bit steeper.
You are going to unsubscribe because you don’t agree with a single sentence in this article? You honestly found that sentence offensive? Did you just ignore the rest of the article? How do people like you survive in the world? I’d imagine you’d be taking offense to things every hour of the day if that touched a nerve.
Give me a break. Not sure if this was meant to be sarcastic, but you are reading out of context and making assumptions. That is not what the article said at all.
People like you who are quick to misinterpretation and becoming offended are not setting themselves up for luck or success in life. I suggest you read this article closely.
The plain truth is that white males have a leg up. Jeez, look at Congress, CEO’s, Medical Directors, etc.
Come on now…this is obvious.
I don’t disagree that many times, but not always, white males have a “head start” for any number of reasons.
It’s just sad how some people interpret comments such as the one in the article as coming off racist and are so quick to become offended
Can you quantify this “leg up”? Keep in mind that those in congress, CEOs, etc came from an era that was 80%+ white. Naturally, they will comprise a higher percentage of these positions. If you have evidence to support your claim other than pure percentages then we can have a discussion…you know, for us dumb folk who this is not obvious to.
It is hard to quantify. I know when I get pulled over, I’m not likely to get shot. I never have to think about my race.
In a store, no one watches me closely because I might be a thief. If they did I wouldn’t notice. Contractors and police have no problem coming to my neighborhood.
No one has denied me anything due to my race or gender and if they did… I wouldn’t know it. It’s simply not in my mind, so that’s a leg up.
I’ve been told directly by people who hired me that as an “American trained, English speaking” psychiatrist, they wanted me more as an employee…and they offered me more money.
I was told by the chair of a university program that he was trying to build “an all Anglo-Saxon program”. He did not hire a man who published a chapter in our major textbook because he was from the Middle East. He treated the one doctor from India like crap. I quit working for that a-hole.
If you don’t see it, you never will. How about this: would you start over as a brown skinned person with a foreign name? Not me. They get a different experience here in the US. One that I avoided by luck. White, male, tall, no accent, no barriers. I don’t have to think about it.
“Keep in mind that those in congress, CEOs, etc came from an era that was 80%+ white.”
Did they come from an era that was 80%+ white male though?
Yes, indeed they certainly did not.
Acknowledging that white privilege exists is no different than acknowledging that identical twins will eventually develop into very different people based on the different life experiences they are bound to encounter. It’s nature (genetics) AND nurture (environmental forces) that play a role in our lives. Society and it’s sometimes ridiculous and unfair practices are part of the equation whether you want to believe it or not.
Interesting. I’d say my financial success in life was 95% luck and 5% other.
I had the luck items similar to WCI and then some. No family wealth, but I learned frugality from my mother. No work ethic, and virtually none of the “good decisions” or action plan items suggested by WCI. More or less I simply let life happen and it worked out. So in my case, I agree with Dr. Curious and disagree with HarjotSingh. Am I suggesting a similar life plan for others? Absolutely not.
As always your info. and advice is excellent. Life’s payoff is indeed hard work, but also luck, the right breaks,
good decisions and all the other perks you’ve mentioned. How and where you’ve been raised is a big plus. The medical school and the residency route is about numbers. Higher numbers on Boards gives you more options
and the so-called higher hourly wage. A “doctor’s house” in Utah is affordable. A “doctor’s house” in coastal
California is not unless your high Board numbers puts you in a big payoff sub-speciality.
i guess the question being, who needs a “doctor’s house.” Live modestly, send kids to public school,
invest wisely, travel extensively close to the ground rather than stay at gated resorts in poor countries.
This can all lead to a life well led, which is really the big and only payoff.
Also be cognizant of what the medical “business” is really about from reading the book “An American Sickness.”
It should be 10% of the GDP and not the current 18%. Make health care affordable and accessible to all Americans.
Great post. This is what I’ve been trying to preach to my kids. My parents were in a better position than my grandparents because they took that luck, worked hard and made good decisions. My wife and I are in our late 40s, FI, and can RE, but chose to work as we like our jobs. We are in this position again because we took off from where our parents left off and worked hard and made good decisions.
LUCKY that I invested in the 80-90’s being born in the right year and lucky to have a colleague turn me on to listening to Burton Malkiel on the radio. The rest was passive investing and compounded profits.
Earning much more in retirement without working and not touching principal after 8yrs!!!
It is “luck” to be born with sufficient intelligence to be able to succeed academically and understand when we needed to take action to increase our chances of success. A bright motivated hard working person can find and take advantage of opportunities as they are presented, even when there are many barriers to success. But some folks just don’t have the ability to do so. We do. That is definitely luck!
I think we also sometimes forget/dismiss the “luck” of not having any health issue that prevents us from continuing schooling and work that is needed for financial success. Such as schizophrenia (one of my father’s med school classmates didn’t make it through after his schizophrenic break) or MS (eg my college grad patient now bed bound and non-verbal as a result).
I’m grateful for my advantages and am happy that I had the good fortune of being born with smarts, a supportive family, a hardworking and somewhat frugal family ethic (working class grandparents lived through the depression), etc. It certainly helps keep me humble (which is a good thing) to recognize that this is at least in part due to good fortune and “luck”.