Meadbh
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
- Joined
- Jul 22, 2006
- Messages
- 11,401
mdPassport
The Medical Post hit a nerve when we asked physicians about retirement planning. We contacted Dr. Raj and other doctors to find out how they are saving for retirement, and whether they think their government should help by setting up a pension plan. Our interviews supplement findings from our exclusive online survey of physicians recently conducted with our Web partner, mdPassport.
The pension survey was completed by 642 physicians earlier this summer. Respondents were in private practice (58%), academic medicine (19%) or working at a community-based hospital (19%). Respondents were divided evenly between solo practitioners, those who worked in small groups and those who worked in larger group practices. Half (54%) of our respondents were family physicians or GPs, while the other half were specialists.
This is a profession struggling with the issue of retirement. Only 61% of doctors plan to retire at or before age 65. A huge majority (91%) would be willing to contribute financially to a pension plan if their province offered one. In fact, 76% believe a pension plan for doctors is the most critical financial strategy in future negotiations with government.