Examples of passive income for physicians?

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carlosc1dbz

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I was curious of what kind of projects physicans are engaging in to make up for a constant decrease in salaries for the last 30 years. I know most dont do anything and just accept the fate the the goverment lays on them, and there is no real lobby for physician rights, but some do have businesses that they they use to supplement their incomes. Do you or anyone you know have any good projects?

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The fact for most doctors is that the way to make the most money is by seeing patients. For many setting up a non-clinical revenue stream is the goal but they almost always pay less than putting a comparable amount of time into seeing patients.

That said some of the most common non-clinical work that I can think of includes:
Medical Direction (Being the director for some entity such as EMS)
Consulting
Administration
Regulatory
Expert Witnessing (AKA selling your soul)

Again, with the exception of expert witnessing and administration where you run a group these will pay less than seeing patients. The response of most docs to cuts is to see more patients which is why we're at 6/hr for PMDs and 3/hr for EPs.
 
Rental property is decent passive income. I know a pcp that supplements his income by renting his beach house during most of the year and owning some commercial property he rents out.
 
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I know several physicians who are making supplemental income by blogging. This isn't entirely passive, but it requires much less work than consulting or chart reviews.
 
I was going to say develop some new medical technology, but I am not sure how profitable that would be at this moment with the new healthcare reform bill.

Your best bet is to go outside of medicine. I feel you are looking for passive income. That is very hard to come buy. Some of the things to do is own land and property.
 
I was going to say develop some new medical technology, but I am not sure how profitable that would be at this moment with the new healthcare reform bill.

Your best bet is to go outside of medicine. I feel you are looking for passive income. That is very hard to come buy. Some of the things to do is own land and property.

Renting real estate seems to be very popular. Seems you cannot go wrong when someone else is paying your mortgage. :)
 
My dad is pretty involved with real estate ... it's one of those things in life that people think they can just 'do.' Like buy a house, throw up some paint, and 'flip it.' Just FYI ... you can't.

Unless you've personally remodeled homes, acted as a landlord, and know a good deal about plumbing, electric, gas, paint, roofing, ETC, just don't do it. It won't justify your time, and it will just be a mess. I spent the past summer remodeling a rental property for my dad, and even after seriously redoing a house almost on my own (hired guys to do some roofing - paid him half bc I worked with him, some drywall - shouldn't have hired him, he sucked and I had to fix a lot of his BS, and a guy to do some gas work), I don't know if I'll ever go into real estate. I honestly don't recommend it.

The only thing I haven't tried so far is apartments. My grandfather used to own a complex, and has strongly advised me against it, but I dunno.
 
My dad is pretty involved with real estate ... it's one of those things in life that people think they can just 'do.' Like buy a house, throw up some paint, and 'flip it.' Just FYI ... you can't.

Unless you've personally remodeled homes, acted as a landlord, and know a good deal about plumbing, electric, gas, paint, roofing, ETC, just don't do it. It won't justify your time, and it will just be a mess. I spent the past summer remodeling a rental property for my dad, and even after seriously redoing a house almost on my own (hired guys to do some roofing - paid him half bc I worked with him, some drywall - shouldn't have hired him, he sucked and I had to fix a lot of his BS, and a guy to do some gas work), I don't know if I'll ever go into real estate. I honestly don't recommend it.

The only thing I haven't tried so far is apartments. My grandfather used to own a complex, and has strongly advised me against it, but I dunno.

Commercial properties, at least I've heard, have less hassle than dealing with residential tenants.
 
Commercial properties, at least I've heard, have less hassle than dealing with residential tenants.

Does anyone ever start a church and then have that religious corp. hold all of your assets making them be tax free? Sure your church would own everything, but you own the church. Is that unethical, even if you are spreading the word at the same time?

I heard of some faith healer, he is some Indian guy, and he is pulling in like 100 million a year or more, and its all tax free cuz his ministries are tax exempt.
 
I know several physicians who are making supplemental income by blogging. This isn't entirely passive, but it requires much less work than consulting or chart reviews.

Thats like working another job. Im thinking something that makes money for you, and is hopefully self sustaining.
 
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Does anyone ever start a church and then have that religious corp. hold all of your assets making them be tax free? Sure your church would own everything, but you own the church. Is that unethical, even if you are spreading the word at the same time?

I heard of some faith healer, he is some Indian guy, and he is pulling in like 100 million a year or more, and its all tax free cuz his ministries are tax exempt.

Your biggest concern here would be the wrath of God ...



:smuggrin:
 
One might look into good stocks that pay dividends and have a history of increasing them over time. It would take a bit to get a portfolio like that up and running, but could prove to be a real boon over the next 10-20 years.
 
One might look into good stocks that pay dividends and have a history of increasing them over time. It would take a bit to get a portfolio like that up and running, but could prove to be a real boon over the next 10-20 years.

Divined paying stocks is a great idea, and you know that every few months your going to get a nice dividend payment. It is a shame that the goverment wants to tax dividend higher now.
 
You have to replace the word "know" with "hope" to make this sentence true.

Yeah, your absolutely right. A company can go bankrupt when you least expect it. Good point.
 
I personally believe all physicians should try to achieve multiple income streams. Medicine is changing rapidly and unfortunately we're not in the driver's seat. Side passive income provides a nice hedge against these changes. If it takes the pressure off of your day jobs, being a doctor actually becomes more enjoyable.

In no way is it easy though. These opportunities don't necessarily come knocking at your door. However, if you're open to them and actively seek them out, you'll find them. I've become quite obsessed with the idea of passive income and have actively sought out other physicians who have been successful when it comes to this. I've found they mostly concentrate on:

1) Real Estate
2) Dividend Stocks
3) Creating an invention / product

I've even found physicians making money on Youtube these days by creating music, educational videos, and parody videos (like ZdoggMD). Opportunities are out there...
 
Renting real estate seems to be very popular. Seems you cannot go wrong when someone else is paying your mortgage. :)


You got to be careful. Vet the renter. Make sure you know their FICO score etc.

I've known physicians who got burned renting. The renter quit paying (its hard to evict). I've heard of renters pulling up flooring and piping and selling it.

My significant other rents his residency place and his last leasee unintentionally caused a ton of damage. Broke doors, the oven. The security deposit didn't cover it all.
 
Yeah, yeah, I understand that renting has many many cost involved, and dealing with tenants can be the biggest pain in anyone life.

Haha I forgot about that part. My bfs last renter was a middle aged women with kids who recently got divorced and never lived by herself before. she couldn't trouble shoot the smallest thing or start the washer... so many calls. and most of them were insignificant.
 
Saved up some cash by working a second job as a writing tutor/editor during part of residency. Now trade equities. Makes me a little bit of change, but honestly, you gotta have balls of steel for the market swings. Highly advise against it, unless you are ready to lose it all.
 
Is it possible to write a book?

Of course! I think authoring a book is a great way for physicians to earn extra income. It's definitely not passive while you're writing it, and also takes a lot of work to market it. If it's a good book that gains a lot of interest, though, you can end up making money on it in a somewhat passive way. Another huge perk of writing a book is that it helps establish you as an expert on whatever topic you're writing about. If you have a goal of being invited to speak at events and conferences, get consulting opportunities within your area of expertise, etc, having a book will be a big help. Having a blog can also assist with this, and can bring in income if you monetize it.
 
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