What if you could give yourself a raise this year?  How do you feel about getting a 30% or a 50% raise? Is that even possible? Well, I got news for you. Not only is it possible, but it is within your reach. It’s also simpler than what you might have thought. Basically, it’s all about finding saving opportunities. Here’s why: how much you have leftover at the end of the month after what comes in and what is spent — is the No. 1 predictor of financial independence. In other words, if you want to reach financial independence, saving is crucial. 

Let’s address the elephant in the room: it’s true doctors and healthcare professionals have this reputation of being bad with money. While this isn’t always the case, I think where us doctors get into trouble is when we feel like we earn enough money that we don’t need to worry about our spending habits. That’s why the more we make, the more complicated it gets for us. No worries, no matter what your situation is, giving yourself a raise is always possible. Let’s talk about how.

Be conscious of your income

The problem begins when our monthly income rises. With each rise, we might be tricked into thinking that we can actually use that amount each month to spend as we see fit. The likelihood is that your net monthly income, after taxes and employer deductions, will be thousand dollars less

Put together a budget

Most doctors earn great salaries but after putting in all the years of stressful training, some of us feel like the time has come to indulge in luxuries. Furthermore, it can be a psychological challenge because we’re going from making $60,000 in residency and scraping by while working long hours to earning $250,000 as an attending physician. In other words, the income increase feels like winning the lottery. The money feels infinite, but it’s not. Putting together a budget it’s a necessity and a great tool to find saving opportunities. Again, saving one of the keys to financial freedom. This is about becoming financially free.

Example of a typical budget

Let’s talk about numbers. The following table is an example of what most doctors do with their budget. Income quadruples from residency to attending status, and our expenses usually jump by the same factor.

Getting a raise through house hacking

From taking a look at the typical budget, it’s clear that when our income quadruples our housing expenses do so as well. While this sounds terrifying, there is actually a great opportunity within this discovery. We just found out the average doctor spends $48,000 on housing each year, imagine we could turn that into a zero. This would be equivalent to getting a 33% raise. In other words: financial freedom is yours to take. 

Now let’s get deeper into house hacking and how it can help you achieve financial freedom. House hacking is about purchasing a property, living in part of it, and renting out the rest. This way you can live in the house while a significant portion of the mortgage is paid by your roommates or tenants. Additionally, this implies zero housing expenses for you thanks to your tenants contributions.

I couldn’t stress this enough! You could be getting paid to live in the house of your dreams -How cool is that! It would also help us save up to $48,000 yearly getting us closer to financial freedom. It’s time for us doctors to change our reputation for being bad with money! We got this!