Dollars and Cents

So I recently met with one of the financial planners at MD Management, the financial management company that works hand-in-hand with the OMA to keep residents from declaring bankruptcy before they start practice. It's a nice service. Except for the fact that they were the ones who referred us to the accountant from hell who has caused as many problems for us, tax-wise, as he's solved. But that's another post.

In breaking down my finances, I learned an interesting fact. In the past 12 months, if you add up union dues, memberships to various medical associations, malpractice insurance, educational license fees, fees to the university through which I'm doing my residency training, and the other costs 'required' for me to call myself an M.D. and train in the province of Ontario, the total was $9000.

Yup. You read that right. $9000. Nearly 20% of my GROSS income. And that doesn't include the $1500 it cost to write the LMCC-II, the $1500 it cost to write the CCFP's, and the $1500 it's costing me to apply for my license for independent practice. Altogether, the cost of being a doctor this year was about $13,500. My salary, as is available for all to see on the PAIRO website, was $53,715 before taxes. I don't like to think about how much that is when calculated hourly, because it's just depressing. But what's more depressing is the fact that a full 25% of my salary went to simply being a doctor. To be fair, I get reimbursed about $2500 of my malpractice insurance at the end of the year. But the rest is gone for good. And that's a LOT of money.

This seems somehow wrong.