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I am going to let you in on a little secret:  There is one asset that trumps all others, and I highly suggest you invest in it.

Is it stocks?

Is it bonds?

Must be real estate, right?

No to all of the above.

The greatest asset I can think of and the one with limitless potential is:  YOU!

Yes I know it is pretty cheesy and a cop-out but it is 100% true.

“Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work”-Thomas Edison.

When you look at your life time earning potential, particularly if you are in a high income paying profession such as a physician, it can easily be in the high seven, and possibly eight, figure range.

• A generalist finishing residency at age 29, practicing until age 65 (36 years) at an average salary of $220k equates to a lifetime earning of $7.9 million.

 

There are not too many assets that can give reliable returns like that, and certainly none with little to no volatility.

So the best bang for your buck and time commitment is investing in yourself.

What do I mean by that?

Lets break this particular asset down into it’s individual components.

 

The Brain:

• If you are already a physician or are currently in medical training, you have definitely put a lot of resources into this component and are currently, or will be, handsomely rewarded.
  • This intense training will enable you to develop skills that society places in demand and therefore you can demand higher compensation.

“The only place where success comes before work is in the dictionary”-Vidal Sassoon.

• It is important to avoid complacency and continue to commit  further resources to this component.
  • Similar to a body builder who builds up muscles by intense physical training but subsequently has those muscles atrophy if he or she ceases training, the brain can similarly lose cognitive abilities if not stimulated appropriately.
• Expanding knowledge outside of your profession can also provide opportunities to increase your income.
  • Reading financial blogs such as this one is a perfect example.
  • You can learn from the mistakes of others and not repeat them, as well as gaining financial insight to help you earn or retain more of your money.
• For those approaching retirement, it is vital that you continue to find endeavors that will stimulate the brain.
  • It is often said that you want to have something to retire TO, not retire FROM.

 

The Body:

• This is probably the area that can most often get neglected with a demanding career path such as that of the medical profession.
  • We all too often deal with patients who give us perfect examples of what happens to the body when it is neglected either through lack of exercise, poor dietary habits, or smoking.
    • In my particular practice we have a pain management clinic and the vast majority of X-rays I read from this subset of patients are grossly overweight.
    • It is easy to see the correlation between the body carrying excess weight and the damage it subsequently does (degenerative changes of the spine, hips, knees, etc.).
    • Yet how often does this inspire ourselves to change our own detrimental behaviors?
  • It is easy to give excuses such as I have no time for exercise (which is easy to do with some of the long hours we pull), but like we did during medical school, we have to consciously make the effort to commit resources to this vital component.
    • As an aside, I have struggled with my weight for the majority of my adult life.
      • Life stressors, most particularly my painful divorce experience, exacerbated this to the point where I was 40+ pounds over my ideal weight.
      • About a year after I finalized my divorce I made the commitment to lead a healthier lifestyle with both exercise and dieting.
      • It was a lot of effort and there were many points where the urge to give up was strong, but I finally achieved the results I wanted and have maintained a healthy weight for 5+ years.
• Maintaining a healthy, active physical lifestyle and making conscious efforts to eat healthy and exercise will have some of the highest long term dividends:
  • Dramatically decrease the cost of medical expenses in retirement if non-smoker, normal weight, and healthy lifestyle.
  • Prolong the need for long-term care assistance as you can expect to be more active at a more advanced age.
  • Qualify for the best insurance rates.
  • Not only increases the length of life, but also the quality of that life.

 

The Soul:

• This final, and equally vital component must also be fed to keep this Asset class in prime performing condition.
• So how do you feed the Soul component?
  • This is where life experiences matter.
  • Too often the physician lifestyle is primarily encompassed by work with little downtime.
    • We have to force ourselves to take vacations and spend quality time with family. This is tantamount for overall well-being.
    • The biggest regrets most have on their death bed is that they put so many things off and now will never experience them.  Don’t make that same mistake.
    • Money spent on life experiences have been shown to have far greater returns to overall happiness than money spent on materialistic things.

 

 

Superpower Take-home Points:

1. The asset with the highest earning potential is YOU.
2. Investing resources to address all 3 components comprising this asset increases the probability for financial success and physical well-being.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note:

If you are in search of financial help, please consider enlisting the service of any of the sponsors of this blog who I feel are part of the “good guys and gals of finance.”

Even a steadfast DIY’er can sometimes gain benefit from the occasional professional input.

 

 

-Xrayvsn