Quote:
Originally Posted by disneysteve
I understand that. That is exactly why my wife and I chose NOT to live in a neighborhood populated with doctors, lawyers and other professionals, even though I myself am a physician. We wouldn't fit in, plain and simple, because we choose to not live the "doctor" lifestyle. We don't want the big house, luxury car, finely landscaped property, designer clothing, etc., and that is how most of my peers live. We don't belong to the country club or send our kids to private school or have custom paving stones leading to our door.
Instead, we bought a modest older home in a more working-class neighborhood. One neighbor works for the utility company. Another works at an auto dealership. A couple of others are teachers. I know of two who are firemen. There are quite a few stay-at-home moms and several retirees. I consider our neighborhood much more down to earth than the neighborhoods where most of my peers live in our area.
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DisneySteve,
That is so interesting. You obviously have the best insight into the world of your peers - doctors/lawyers (I am not going to include professors here because these are usually on the high education/lower income ratio). But it just makes you think about the motives of most of these professionals when they decide on medical/legal careers. I have always wondered how much of it is true love of profession and how much is love of the flashy lifestyle, social status, awe/respect drawn from the public.
Based on how most doctors expedite my appointments with them, I suspect a lot of the latter. My GP is the only exception I have seen so far (I am sure there are many others): a wonderful man originally from a developing country, who seems to be living your lifestyle. His pace is much slower during appointments, his communication with me as a patient, infinitely more satisfying...and it's just nice to see these exceptions to the dreaded rule.
Perhaps I could hope to find some "DisneySteve-types", who made a responsible financial choice, in that mixed / middle-working class neighborhood? Very possible...and this is what I am counting on.