They were bright-eyed and bushy-tailed. They had that certain sparkle in the eyes. They boldly set out to revolutionize physician financial literacy.
Then they disappeared.
The physician finance blogosphere is relatively small, but for the past several years the rate of new blogs coming online exploded with Malthusian vigor, like Silicon Valley startups in 1999. I first counted 50 on a lark, then watched as the number climbed to nearly 100 a couple of years later.
I viewed this trend as a positive - any opportunity to increase the voices in the virtual doctor's lounge meant that others might feel less alone in our thrift, more apt to find the voice that embodied our values.
It's a lot of work to sustain a physician finance blog. The muses are fickle and provide inconsistent inspiration. Spouses, kids and work don't always prioritize uninterrupted time at the keyboard. Anyone who has made it through medical training by definition possesses grit and perseverance, but that doesn't always translate when your blog is making no income and time is limited.
Every one of these bloggers deserves credit for taking the initiative to create something new and channel their voice. On any given day, I feel tempted to throw in the towel and join their rank. Knowing how little separates us, I humbly submit this roll call to honor the fallen blogs among us.
To make it into the afterlife, bloggers had to show no new posts for >3 months or take their site down completely.
- 1099 MD is a radiation oncologist with locums experience who writes exclusively for the needs of docs who are independent contractors.
- A Doctor's Worth is written by a pediatrician, married to a urologist, who has written about the unique needs of both women and physicians in developing financial literacy.
- A Good Life MD is a radiation oncologist blogging on finance as well as the deeper question of what constitutes a "good life," a guiding philosophy for heart and wallet.
- Big Family Small World is a Canadian ER doc and his wife who sell the house, quit work, and take their four sons backpacking around the world. How did they pull it off financially? That question plus my vicarious excitement place Dr. Matt Poyner and family on this list.
- By Well Design is an anesthesiologist whose life-changing cancer diagnosis helped her completely reorient from burnout to minimalism, financial literacy and balance with family at the center instead of the periphery. A gifted writer who fell back in love with medicine by doing less of it.
- Dads Dollars Debts began as a California-based cardiologist blogging on finance before he lost his home in the Tubbs Fire. He's rebuilding a life and home from the ashes, allowing us to vicariously imagine if we'd handle such a crisis with comparable grace.
- Dads Making Cents is a team effort between an emergency physician/MBA and his faithful attorney sidekick (or vice versa) deep diving topics from finance to real estate.
- Delayed Earner is a pulmonary/critical care fellow hacking his finances during training with moonlighting gigs.
- Doctor in Debt's story begins mid-career, 7 years out of residency and $1,000,000 in debt from educational loans and a money pit doctor house.
- Doctor of Finance MD Hatton1 is an OB/GYN with a ubiquitous presence in physician finance fora and blogs. She's in the enviable position of approaching finance as a retiring physician with a high net worth.
- Doctors on Debt is a dual doctor couple digging their way out of student debt while sharing lessons and victories. They informed me they aren't MDs/DOs; I'm giving them a pass for honesty.
- Dr. Networth is another Canuck from Ontario with a Boglehead investing philosophy and real estate dabbling tendencies. Great post on grading your financial performance.
- Dr. Scrilla is a "broke ass resident" with a spouse, kid, and a negative $380k net worth. He's saving 25% of his salary as a resident. Well done, young grasshopper.
- Dr. Wise Money was a radiology resident and single mom who devised innovative hacks to finance her medical education. Her articles are worth learning from, even as her unexpected death left us wanting more.
- Fifteen Minute Financial Fitness is a surgical pathologist who recently emerged from the dark to offer brief actionable posts to bring you closer to FI.
- Financially Free MD is part of a Canadian dual physician household motivated to share his financial knowledge and, sweetly, to leave a blueprint for his family in case of his untimely demise. Great origin story on assessing risk tolerance.
- First Habit is an academic radiologist whose secret sauce for FI is cultivating positive habits (and ditching the liabilities) to pave the way to financial success.
- Foreign Born MD is an internist living in Oregon who took a frugal road to the American dream. She's also a female primary breadwinner and IMG.
- Happy Philosopher is a job-sharing radiologist whose struggles with burnout, mindfulness and simplicity attract a crowd beyond medicine.
- Immigrant Finances is a Nigerian-born pediatrician based out of Arkansas with a calling to help others decipher personal finance.
- Keeping Up With The Darkos is a FI-oriented blog run by the social media powerhouse Drs. Darko documenting their victory against $800k in debt. (The male Dr. D, a trauma surgeon, continues to host the popular Docs Outside The Box podcast.)
- Life Of FI MD is an unabashed evangelist for getting physicians to adopt FI as a central goal to support a broader life philosophy of balance.
- Live Free MD is a sports medicine doc who dug out from under $400k of debt. He lives lean but intentionally with laser-focus on his goal of early FI.
- Med School Financial is a preventive medicine doc's attempt to help you avoid financial mistakes through early intervention.
- Military Millions is co-written by an active service physician and is dedicated to helping our men and women in uniform master their finances.
- My Curiosity Lab is a radiologist married to a pediatrician whose intellect and endearing candor are notable. Trying to save for and figure out his Second Act.
- Nomads With A Vision is an interventional radiologist who leveraged aggressive savings and a high earn, low burn lifestyle to achieve early financial independence and take his family traveling. What's possible when you do everything right from the start.
- Nisha Mehta MD is a radiologist who blogs and speaks on physician wellness and work-life balance.
- OB Doctor Mom left medicine after a health scare. She explores financial and ethical dimensions of early retirement for physicians, dissecting what we owe and to whom.
- Pediatrician Finds Financial Independence chronicles a new dad with a kid in a HCOL area slaying debt to achieve FI over 15 years.
- Physician REI is a real-estate oriented blog with a physician angle, helping docs with deep pockets learn to landlord.
- Physician, Wealth Thyself emerged in January 2018 committed to "demystifying wealth creation, post by post."
- Retire Early MD is a 30-something anesthesiologist chronicling his journey to financial freedom.
- Side Hustle Scrubs is an east coast EM doc adopting a "see hustle, do hustle, teach hustle" approach to physician side gigs and nontraditional career opportunities. I won't lie - when he quit blogging, it broke my heart.
- Some Random Guy Online is an emergency physician in San Francisco who killed $400k of debt and is aiming for FI despite his geography. My vote for best blogger name ever.
- Son Of A Doctor is actually plural! A maternal-fetal medicine OB married to an attorney/investment advisor, they cover what you need to know to thrive financially.
- Stealth Wealth MD is a radiologist and FIRE enthusiast who recently joined the fray. I'm looking forward to his contributions to the dialogue.
- 39.6 is a radiation oncologist (and super snazzy dresser) who, as half of a dual physician household, has optimized real estate as a fast track to financial independence.
- The Boss MD is an internist married to a pediatrician who espouses FIRN: Financial Independence Retire Never.
- Thrifty Surgeon is another newcomer, a DO about to start fellowship who is married with 3 kids. You'll find him cutting his own hair or your appendix depending on the day.
- Time For Money MD examines the trade-off that turns most docs on to becoming finance geeks, sharing evidence-based strategies to determine your ever-elusive balance point.
- Wall Street Physician is a precocious radiation oncology resident(!) whose past as a trader at an investment bank lends a uniquely authoritative perspective on finance. What took the rest of us years, he and Future Proof MD pulled off as residents!
If you are navigating a personal or professional crossroads and seek assistance, I'd be grateful if you'd consider my burnout coaching service. Thank you.
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Another heart broken here when Side Hustle Scrubs stopped blogging! I would love to see a “Why I Stopped Blogging” post from him! I’m totally speculating here, but I recall that he shut down his site soon after publishing a controversial guest post on White Coat Investor, and I wonder if some mean comments from readers were the last straw for him.
Author
Fortunately his skin is thicker than that. I communicated with him shortly after, and he enjoyed the controversy he generated on WCI. Seemed it was the young family needing more of him than the time-intensive blogging would permit.
SHS, if you are out there, you have a standing invitation to guest post here any time.
Thanks for the update. I’m hoping Physician Zen will update his whole list sometime.
I was a little saddened by this long list. But I’m encouraged to know that many of them are very busy with a lot of work to help doctors in other ways (e.g. Victor and Nisha are active on FB, investments, conferences, etc. Others have shifted to courses or podcasts). Others may resume a more active presence later. Life has an ebb and flow.
I was also glad to see I’m not on the list. I’m still kicking. Just slower. No more blogging 5 days a week for me!
Please keep writing. You have a unique viewpoint and writing style that many of us enjoy and are inspired by.
Author
Wealthy Doc,
Are you at or beyond a decade of blogging at this point? Whatever it is, I’m pretty sure you are the only one of us who has earned the gold watch for longevity. I can assure you that as an elder statesman, the rest of us are in awe of how long you’ve stuck with your blog.
I certainly didn’t mean to imply Nisha or Victor are not contributing – they are both omnipresent on social media, they just don’t blog any more. I’d also highlight Nii’s Docs Outside the Box as well as Carrie’s Hippocratic Hustle as terrific podcasts that do a lot for physicians looking to master finance, but again, I limited my list to bloggers who post regularly because that’s the niche I follow.
I appreciate the encouraging words and support,
CD
Wow. That’s a long list for sure and like you a few of them were painful when they stopped writing (Side Hustle Scrubs was a big one for me too).
It is a tough endeavor to be a blogger let alone a physician blogger. I have emotional mood swings every now and then and sometimes consider throwing in the towel myself (came close end of 2019).
Most blogs did by 6 months which is when people realize how much time it really takes behind the scenes to put out a 5 min read.
That coupled with the lead others have built up make it seem insurmountable to make a name for yourself.
Much easier ways to make money if that’s your main motivator.
Hope you keep writing CD. Your loss would be on the scale of side hustle scrubs to me.
Author
Xray,
First and foremost, thanks for the kind words.
Losing Side Hustle Scrubs (if this reaches you, SHS buddy, please shoot me an email to let me know you’re alive) was akin to having my favorite TV show pulled as a kid. Nothing has filled that vacuum, and I still get nostalgic. I can’t tell you how much I regret not having saved a hard copy of “What Your Allergy list Says About You.” If ever there were to be a Pulitzer or Macarthur prize given to a physician finance blogger, SHS deserved it.
The reason I keep going is because this is a passion project – meeting interesting people on the fringe, some of whom happen to be weird in the same way I am. I have tried (and continue to iterate in a low grade, soft launch, not very serious sort of way) adding an income-generating angle to the blog, but I suffer from the FI disease. I don’t need this to make money, I need this to be my outlet and have some fun.
As for filling my bucket list – I’ve made some valued and brilliant invisible friends; I’ve guest posted and been interviewed by some folks that are out of my league; I’ve attended some conferences using the blog as a pretext to meet some fascinating people I was interested in seeing up close; and I’ve gotten a good enough sense of how the sausage is made to feel comfortable remaining a vegetarian.
For what it’s worth, I admire how you’ve innovated (The Doctor’s Bag; The Bill), and I always look forward to seeing what you’ll think up next. In addition to rivaling PoF in your ubiquity of commenting everywhere at once, you’ve become a big connector in a small community.
I figure if I can’t make my blog into a juggernaut side hustle, the least I can do is eventually make it into my nursing home of choice where I gather with fellow retirees and we talk about nerdy interests no one else shares.
Feel free to amble over with your walker any time I’m in the TV room wearing sweatpants, and we can watch Seinfeld reruns together.
CD
As someone starting off, this is an important read.
I feel motivated to share my journey and help others achieve financial well being which I believe is such an important component of personal well being. Unfortunately most physicians lack any sort of financial education as we know but even more think that financial education is somehow dirty. It is encouraging to see so many (although a relatively small percentage) trying to make a dent.
I certainly see the challenges but like all endeavors, having a strong why pulls you through those tough times towards success. Thanks for sharing!
http://www.prudentplasticsurgeon.com
Author
Hey Jordan,
Happy to welcome you to the club (look for instructions on the secret handshake and decoder ring in the mail).
Your blog has been added to the list – expecting great things from you!
Fondly,
CD
Hello! I blog as @drplasticpicker and am on instagram. I talk sometimes about physician personal finance and FISE (financial independence to save the earth). I have been blogging for 9 months and have a new post a day usually as I love to write. I have alot of environmental stuff on my blog as well. Can I be included in your “ALIVE” blogroll???? I think it’s hilarious that you have a “graveyard” blogroll. I just blog for fun. No ads. We are a dual income MD couple and my networth is higher than most people including the other physician bloggers out there, so I think I have a lot to say. I would like to be included because I am trying to save the earth and want to also deploy my environmental message. Plus I think it would be great fun to be somewhat considered a PF blogger????!!! Thanks for considering. I’m a female physician, Assistant Boss of my department and a pediatrician. And a mommy of two kids who aren’t messed up.
Author
Dr. PP,
Congratulations and welcome to the land of the living physician finance bloggers – you’ve been added to the ALIVE list. I appreciate someone passionate about fighting the tragedy of the commons phenomenon. Being a superstitious ER doc, I qualify all references to my own kids as “not messed up…yet” since the endpoint for judgment is hopefully far from now, and the jury is still out, but I respect your confidence in parenting!
Happy to have you on board. You’ll find it’s a great family to belong to. And if you hit your sister one more time, so help me, I’m pulling the car over and you both can walk home.
Fondly,
CD
Thank you Crispy Doc. I really appreciate it. Goes to show I have something to learn every day. I was chatting with Mr. PP and the kids about being included on your blogroll (this environmental journey is a family affair) and I got schooled by my kids. My husband had to first explain to me “tragedy of the commons.” Now I will sprinkle that as a nonsequitor at middle management meetings! And my son paraphrased “Mommy, if you think you are the smartest person in the room, you are in the wrong room.” Also “there are no such thing as a messed up kid” which in my heart of hearts as a pediatrician I know. And our tween daughter said “You could have been kinder mommy.” And with that my trial of trying to be bombastic to get on your blogroll disappointed my kids. And my son told me, “He would have included you if you had been nice about it as well.” And I think that is true. So thank you and I will channel my kinder and more open hearted and humble self, and not the bombastic one. I really do appreciate being included!
Author
Dr. PP,
I hope you didn’t take my reply as cutting – that’s just my warped sense of humor, and it doesn’t always land as intended.
Please don’t let the kids beat you up. You’ve clearly instilled a sound moral compass in them, and it’s okay to feel good about that. There’s also a reasonably documented phenomenon where female physicians underplay their accomplishments, so I have no problem seeing someone who’s done well and is comfortable listing their achievements – again, no party foul to be proud of what you’ve earned.
The good thing about this club is the standards are extremely low (after all, I’m a member) so it’s less difficult to get accepted than to keep posting and stay on the “alive” list.
Happy to have you, bygones, and don’t sweat the misunderstanding.
-CD