Many physicians retire from the practice of clinical medicine and then they start to consider how they can keep active and supplement their retirement income. Physicians considering retiring will want to avoid the following common mistakes.
HAVE A PLAN
Physicians considering retirement are best served by thinking about and planning in advance how they will spend their time and supplement their retirement income. Physicians will want to consider if they want to use their medical training in future endeavors or strike out into new areas such as fiction writing or other artistic or fun activities. For those physicians who want to continue to use their medical training and experience there are a whole host of ways to supplement their income such as: Medical-legal work, consulting, writing(non-fiction and commercial),file reviews, IME’s, inventing and hundreds of non-clinical career opportunities. Consider doing some research about career opportunities before you give up your practice. Two excellent websites to visit are:
www.supplementalincomeforphysicians.com and www.nonclinicalcareers.com
DON’T GIVE UP YOUR MEDICAL LICENSE
As a physician you have worked long and hard to obtain & maintain your medical license. While there are costs involved in maintaining your license these are far outweighed by the benefits of maintaining your license. For example you will not be able to do medical-legal work, file reviews, IME’s without a license. Even for the dozens of non-clinical opportunities having a license will make you a much more attractive candidate.
KEEP YOUR HAND IN MEDICINE
If you decide to continue to use your medial training and experience to supplement your income keep your hand in medicine by reading, attending CME courses etc. Many of the most lucrative opportunities to supplement your retirement income require that you be “active in clinical medicine”. This is a term of art that can be achieved even after you close your practice by teaching, volunteering at a clinic, lecturing etc.
MAINTAIN YOUR BOARD CERTIFICATION AS LONG AS YOU CAN
If you are a board certified physician the longer you can maintain your board certification the more opportunities will be available to you to supplement your retirement income with Expert witness work, file & disability reviews, IME’s etc. Maintaining your board certification can help you earn hundreds of thousands of dollars after you close down your practice. Having said that, there are still numerous opportunities for physicians who have let their board certifications lapse or are not board certified. Consulting, inventing, disability reviews, and hundreds of non-clinical career opportunities are open to you.
CONCLUSION
Those physicians who plan out what they want their life to be after clinical medicine before “retiring” are best positioned to be able to keep active, enjoy life after clinical medicine and earn substantial income to supplement their retirement income.
