Quote:
Originally Posted by disneysteve
Very interesting theory. Why don't you start another thread for this topic? I think it would be an interesting discussion.
Personally, not many doctors I know do much of anything that would be mistaken for "flaunting their wealth." Most are trying to make ends meet and pay the bills. Medicine, at least family practice and other low-end specialties, is not that lucrative. Office overhead eats up 60% or more of income. Reimbursements have been gradually falling in recent years while costs continue to rise. Most of us haven't had a raise in years and many have actually seen our pay fall.
Medicine is one of the few professions where we have virtually zero control over what we charge for our services. If a plumber sees the cost of pipes go up, he can raise his fees. If a restaurant owner has to start paying more for food, he raises the menu prices. Doctors aren't like that. Our fees are set by the government and other insurance companies. We can't decide to raise what we charge for an office visit. We're at the mercy of the payers. So I don't see where doctors would be contributing much to the health care problem in that regard.
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Agreed with Steve. We have a mostly doctor clientele and frankly we have few doctors who are really rolling in it or flaunting their wealth. We deal with small businesses and many are struggling actually (dealing with uninsured and non-payment, etc.). We have a handful of clients who got into the right niche at the right time who have more money than they know what to do with, but most are very solidly upper-middle-class. I know joe blow average has no sympathy. But around here the state taxes are very high as well as housing and their income really doesn't go that far. They may want a fancy home but then they won't be able to afford anything else, especially after taxes. Most of our doctors tend to be on the frugal side - actually downright stingy.
Their kids are REALLY good with money - I am always impressed. Their kids are the ones that always come in with their full 401k and ROTH contributions at 25 on $50k income or something. I think they have more wealth to manage and teach their kids well on how to manage wealth early on. (Maybe with student loans and all that they are good at budgeting too?).
Anyway, my boss is very frugal and good with money. When I was childless we would always talk restaurants and the other day he came by and was telling me he had tried this great restaurant I had recommended and I made a comment that we were a little too broke to enjoy restaurants these days. I think he was insulted, not realizing how tight my budget really is with 2 kids and only 1 income, etc., but he was kind of insulted like, "oh we didn't spend a lot of money - we got the dinner special!" LOL. I always noticed he drove very old cars and such. But in general that is how I find accountants to be - on the frugal side. It is a nice breath of fresh air. Unlike some of my stingy clients my boss is fairly generous as well, with compensation and benefits, so that is all good.
06-14-2007, 03:10 PM
