Warren Buffett, world's second richest man, gave a talk to students of Nebraska in 1997.The topic is on how to stay out of debts. In the middle of the talk, during a short question and answer session, a young female student was given the microphone. She cheerfully asked the big boss: "How would you advise people who aren't necessarily going into a career field which you will make a large-base salary, like in medicine? How about people who do arts and those who perform music? How can they keep up with the rest of the world financially?"
The billionaire said:
"It is true, that the market system does not pay as well in some activities as it would seem appropriate for the importance of those activities to society. Take teaching for example. Teaching does not pay well, but what could be more important?
A big part of one's career selection often boils down to 2 factors- money and passion. If you are fortunate to have found the job that you love and making big bucks out of it, great. But what if u can't have both? Would you trade a job that you enjoy much but with average wages, for an uncomfortable life at the kind of work that pays lucratively and one which promises a comfortable retirement?
Lets apply this to the field of medicine.
Doctor A is a passionate junior doctor who loves interacting and treating sick patients. He obtains great satisfaction in his work. However, because of the long years in medical school, he has fallen behind in wealth accumulation compared to his friends in other fields of work. He has a debt of hundreds of thousands in school loan. His income is at best, average, considering the 70-80 long hours per week of hard work. He cannot find a secondary income because he comes home feeling very tired after work. Still, he is a happy man. That is before the monthly house and car mortgage kicks in, and his marriage has given him his first baby. He starts saving a lot of money for his child education and retirement plans, cutting off expenses here and there. Somewhere along the line, deep down inside he starts thinking: "I am a highly-educated professional. I work extremely hard, harder than any of my colleagues in the hospital. Yet here I am living a life of frugality by force and wondering if I can send my kids to a nice college (medical school??) later in life. Could I have chosen a different path? Surely with my talents and hardworking, I could have succeeded in other more financially rewarding careers, making 10 times more than what I am earning now."
Doctor B is a young doctor who has a lot of passion - for money. As for patients, he is just fed-up seeing them day in and day out. Before entering medical school, he is fairly certain that doctors are well paid and their jobs are stable. But now, he thinks differently. "I have a specialist who breathes down my neck every morning, patients who are unappreciative towards the service i provide to them, potential medicolegal lawsuits hanging in the air with lawyers waiting to put me in jail or bankrupt me with the slightest mistakes i make. I have to deal with faeces, blood, drug addicts, anxious relatives who ask me a thousand questions, and sick faces of patients which surround the entire hospital." Doctor B continues to work hard in the environment he dislikes, migrating to other country where healthcare workers are paid more handsomely, force himself to further study, specializing in the field of anaesthesia which he makes minimal patient contact but with a higher salary. He now makes 80000 dollars a month, and wonders how soon retirement is going to come.
Continuing Warren Buffet's speech and answer to the student's question:
"Generally it pays to go with something you love. It's very difficult to find somebody my age who said that they love what they are doing their entire life, but feel terribly sad they made that choice, because they didn't make a lot of money."
"One does not necessarily have to make a lot of money to enjoy themselves. I enjoy myself when i had 10000 dollars. I live in the same house i bought 41years ago when i had 10000 dollars. I like the house then, i like the house now."
It is true that a doctor's work can be tough and challenging, financially unrewarding if being
compared with other professionals like lawyers and accountants. But if such comparisons are not made, and one lowers their expectation of monetary return, a doctor can be happy at work, doing their childhood dream job, as well as doing reasonably well financially.
Conversely, an unhappy doctor at work who feels that he is "stuck" in the world of medicine needs to open up his mind. The only place that a person can get stuck is on the thought that studying medicine and becoming a doctor means there is no turning back, and a late realization that being a doctor is just not my thing means that nothing can be done other than continue down the path that he or she had once chosen. Learn to diversify into other field of work such as writing a book, starting a small side business instead of spending time specializing in something that has no interest to the person other than making money. Persistence and effort poured into other trades may turn them from being a secondary income to a primary income, and goes a long way if one's aim is to ultimately quit being an unhappy doctor, show the mean, bullying consultant the middle finger and kiss good bye to patients, wishing them good health and speed recovery.
Quoting from a popular book "Your money or your life", if someone points a gun at you and says "You want your money or your life?", calmly tell the gunman "If possible I would like both thank you very much". (Just a fancy sentence, in real life situation of course give him all your money la)
By the way, I have a younger brother who is 16 years old, and he has no idea what he wants to make of a future career.
"Something not so stressful, something i like doing and something that gives me adequate income." He said, and I smiled.
(imported from facebook)
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