Answering Buckeye from a post earlier today I had no specific number in mind for a "decent living". Using todays grads who come out with $150,000 or more of debt and finish training at an average age of 33-35, low six figures seems like a reasonable minimum in a low cost of living area for a general practitioner. In expensive cities and desirable suburbs reasonable is probably closer to $200,000 to start. It needs to be that high as a sheer matter of practicality if the MD wants to ever provide a home for a family, have kids etc..
$200,000 or more is serious good income for anyone but for high achieving, hard working people who run deep in the red for at least 10 years after getting a college degree they have some serious catching up to do to financially. Even if they are LBYM and disciplined immediately they have lost a lot of years of compounding. Most have also sacrificed much of their opportunity to socialize, travel and party which makes it real hard to LBYM immediately for many.
My cohort had it easier for sure. Much less debt., slightly shorter training times and lower cost of living with absolute non inflation adjusted wages similar to today or higher. So 30 years ago, in retrospect many Drs were seriously overpaid. Now the question most health care practitioners ask is how can inflation adjusted salaries fall in an industry that has grown as fast or faster than any other sector in the economy. Clearly most of those $$ are not making it to the level of patient care.
Electronic medical records are in general a deterrent to productivity for Drs. PA's, nurses etc.. of all ages. Some systems are much better than others and yes there are some older MDs who simply refuse to put in the effort to become proficient with EMR.
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