Who’s More Likely to Become the Next Billionaire? An MD or a College Dropout?

Medical Jobs are usually associated with a strong paycheck. But, let’s be honest: doctors are not typically found on the top of the “Forbes Richest People in the World” lists. Landing doctor jobs requires tremendous intelligence, persistence, hard work, and sacrifice—arguably more than in any other profession. So why aren’t you doctors becoming filthy rich?



If you really aspire to achieve the greatest financial success possible in your life, the truth is, the odds are actually stacked up against you as MDs. Of the 400 richest people in America according to Forbes (October 2011), the number of individuals who did not complete a college education was 63, and the number of MDs was 5 (now, since the 2012 list, that number has gone down to 4.) There were 7 times more college dropouts than MDs on the 2011 Forbes 400 list. Of all the different education levels of the richest individuals in the world, MDs were the least represented on the list! There are 5 main reasons why you MDs—yes, you who are some of the top students in school–are the least likely to become the richest people in the world (for all levels of education).

1. Your mindset is still in “medical student mode”: In order to become a doctor, you have to work hard, respect authority, and play by the rules. You have to comply with guidelines and follow orders from senior physicians during the arduous years of medical school and residency training. The filthy rich make their own rules and aren’t afraid to do things “outside of the box.” So if you want to make a ton of money, as a physician, you have to break out of this medical student “team-player,” obedient mold and be ready to take on risks, question the rules as they are, and create new leadership positions for yourselves in high-growth industries, such as pharmaceuticals and medical device companies. You need to be able to play by your own rules.

2. You don’t know how to invest: Medical school does not prepare you for being business men or business women. It is important for doctors to learn how to invest in real estate. You should consider buying, not leasing, your medical office space. You should not rule out buying your own medical office building. You should constantly be looking into opportunities for watching your income grow through real estate ownership and other high profit investments. Almost all physicians who are filthy rich own a ton of real estate.

3. You rely exclusively on “active income”: In order to become super rich, you need passive income too. Earning money while you are sleeping, vacationing, or relaxing is one of the keys to becoming filthy rich. Owning an ASC (surgicenter), owning a laboratory, subleasing office space, or hiring a junior physician or physician assistant to see patients when you are out of the medical office may not make you billionaires, but can give you a substantial income boost.

4. You don’t have time to be creative: If you had the time, outside of your mentally draining, physically demanding, time-consuming doctor jobs, to create one tool in medicine to help patients and/or your physician colleagues, you could become a billionaire. Figure out a way to make the time for creative pursuits in your field of interest. Design a better surgical instrument or device, come up with a better acne cream, create a practical medical smartphone app, develop a new electronic records system that is better than all the others, formulate a better health insurance plan than all the rest…..If you take the time and effort to come up with a breakthrough product in the right market (such as medical devices and pharmaceuticals), then history dictates that you can strike gold. Two of the four MDs on the Forbes 400 list demonstrate this principle: Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong and Dr. Gary K. Michelson. Dr. Soon-Shiong invented the nation’s first FDA approved protein nanoparticle delivery technology for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer, doubling the response rate in patients. Dr. Michelson is the inventor of a number of surgical instruments, operative methods, and medical implants for spinal surgery. “Michelson devices” have been implanted globally in hundreds of thousands of patients all over the world.

5. You don’t bother to network: No one becomes filthy rich in a bubble. You must network. But don’t seek to befriend others who you think can do something for you. One-sided utilitarian “acquaintances” will not survive the test of time. Strive to build real, genuine, meaningful relationships with others who share your values, passions, and vision and with people whom, above all, you respect. There are so many opportunities–outside of the confines of your medical jobs–to earn extra cash. You have to know about them or you will be destined to stay in the same income bracket as 10 years ago. Your knowledge and skills will not open doors to record breaking financial success. According to David Friedman, president of Wealth-X, it is the network of people who appreciate your talents who can push doors open for you.

In summary, don’t assume all doctors are rich, and definitely don’t assume that most doctors are filthy rich. If you, as physicians, do not want to be financially constricted by your medical jobs, make sure you are not being handicapped by the five elements described above.

Larry Miller MBA

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