A lot of good supporting comments.
I started med school about 5 years later than the typical path. I would have loved to specialize, prob GI and would have gotten in, but I looked ahead and realized general IM would be just fine. I needed to stop my training and move on.
Then I loved the IM hospital work, but now I do primary care and outpt hospice. Given the age of many of my patients, I deal with some complex stuff.
Every once in a while, I see something less common that is important for me to quickly recognize and help manage. In a way, general outpt IM can be routine 98% of the time but you have to be ever watchful for the remainder and you never know when it comes in your door waiting for discovery. For that patient, it is extremely important that you are ever the curious physician.
I enjoy the endless learning opportunities in general IM. It all depends what will get you out of bed in the morning feeling like you have a motivating purpose. Comparative money won't get you out of bed eager to go to work.
No one else can ever determine your value as a person even if they try, only you can. Never forget that.
We are all 'nobodies' in the sense that we all have equal value as a human being. Granted, we have extra importance to familiy and ourselves.
I cringe everytime I see some web news article about someone's "worth" and they discuss how much money they have saved up. Far from it. Our "worth" is who we are as a person.
Caliz,
Plotting out a vision of how your training options will affect your personal life is a substantial question. Once you commit to a training path, your mostly in quicksand. Even if hospitalist salaries decline, you'll still make more than the vast majority of the people in the world and the usa. You're skills will be amazing and your worth to patients will be important. If you are wise with your lifestyle, you can be very comfortable. Aim for what makes you overall the happiest, it's not an extra $50K.