What is it like being the spouse of a physician? You get to witness their journey from being an undergrad through residency and then being in-practice. Plus, it gives you a front-row seat to financial and non-financial issues that physicians experience.
In this episode of the Finance For Physicians Podcast, Daniel Wrenne talks to Hugh Baker, a Certified Financial Planner or CFP® who is married to Kerry, a primary care physician in practice.
Topics Discussed:
- Passion or Pay? Most physicians become doctors as a calling/dream profession
- Medical School and Marriage: No better time than quick break before residency
- Financial Challenges/Stressors: Just scraping by with help from parents’ payroll
- Transitioning into Training: Real job running a hospital as a family medicine resident
- Counterintuitive Costs: Spent money on cleaning service to spend time together
- Save Money, Buy Time: Not frugal, but spent money on anything time related
- Outcomes and Priorities: Is there something you could have done differently?
- Children: Challenging time that amplifies potential problems with relationships
- House Poor: Not an option because of interest in splurging on vacations
- Big Picture Money: Decision fatigue affects conversations and costs
- What’s Important: Listen, be supportive, and align with values to avoid mistakes
- Upbringing: What’s your relationship with money? How do you relate to money?
- Patient Population: Constant push for physicians to do more with less
- Flexible Fund: Cash in savings means ability to choose to not work somewhere