usafmd
Dryer sheet wannabe
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2010
- Messages
- 16
As a lurker for quite a while, I decided to write up an intro at the time of registering. Although USAFMD is my handle, it has been two decades since leaving the service, having had a great time serving this great country. In about two years, I will be 51 years young, my two children either off-to and well-along in college. Personality wise, I've found myself to be the archetypal INTJ, like many of you here.
The financial end is nothing I’m worried about as we will be able to draw out $120k/year at a rate of 3% from our nest egg, hopefully not eventually leading to any future dog food diets. The recent healthcare legislation has made uninsurability a future nonissue. While I have many tinkering projects going on at any particular time, I am most concerned about future activities, friends and how it will play out with my wife.
While she jokes that she has been long since retired, she has a well-established, local network of friends where we live. While I like Upstate New York, the scenery and locale, I have a strong dislike for the governance, onerous level of taxation and have a bleak outlook for the long-term. I'd like to move to a lower tax state with less prolonged winters, (although summers up here are wonderful), maybe Delaware, which will also put us closer to relatives. My wife is not as enamored with this idea since she likes the winters having discovered cross country skiing. I am not adverse to going overseas to a low-cost country for a while, although my children might need a place to go or support for a few more years. Our parents are doing fine for the time being.
Like many working physicians, my traditional title, social and collegial network has been within the hospital and among my peers. Although I have not desired to fill the role of a high 'n mighty doctor, I am entirely not sure how that will sit after stepping down from my present role as a hospital based physician.
I have a younger colleague who can take over my duties but the practice will need to hire someone new. I've never had a period greater than two weeks when I did not work. While I do not dislike working, the hassle factor has been increasing over the years and the number of things which I find particularly rewarding less frequent as time goes on. While it might be a fantasy, I've thought working in the Third World might be more rewarding, free of documentation, thoughts of litigation and government regulators. The grass might be very well greener on the other side; I don’t wish to acquire an incurable tropical parasitic diseases, get caught up in political unrest or suffer in a prop plane crash in the jungle.
I'm not entirely sure about how to make the transition without losing a good situation. Taking a few month sabbatical might be a good option to try out doing nothing, travel or practicing medicine abroad for a bit. Another idea I had which I've investigated is teaching at a Caribbean medical school part-time. Once control of the practice is relinquished, it will be very difficult to find a similar situation without starting out at the bottom again.
There are projects which I've worked on outside of medicine over the years which I've found totally engrossing. The feeling of being totally in the moment is what I want to recapture for most of my life. I want to go more biking, hiking, sailing, traveling, woodworking and workshop tinkering.
I'm pretty sure I will want to engage in some business, maybe medicine related projects in the future, but don't want any of the "hassle" factor. Perhaps those of you can give me some pointers how you made the transition without losing your circle of friends or comfort zone. Thanks in advance.
The financial end is nothing I’m worried about as we will be able to draw out $120k/year at a rate of 3% from our nest egg, hopefully not eventually leading to any future dog food diets. The recent healthcare legislation has made uninsurability a future nonissue. While I have many tinkering projects going on at any particular time, I am most concerned about future activities, friends and how it will play out with my wife.
While she jokes that she has been long since retired, she has a well-established, local network of friends where we live. While I like Upstate New York, the scenery and locale, I have a strong dislike for the governance, onerous level of taxation and have a bleak outlook for the long-term. I'd like to move to a lower tax state with less prolonged winters, (although summers up here are wonderful), maybe Delaware, which will also put us closer to relatives. My wife is not as enamored with this idea since she likes the winters having discovered cross country skiing. I am not adverse to going overseas to a low-cost country for a while, although my children might need a place to go or support for a few more years. Our parents are doing fine for the time being.
Like many working physicians, my traditional title, social and collegial network has been within the hospital and among my peers. Although I have not desired to fill the role of a high 'n mighty doctor, I am entirely not sure how that will sit after stepping down from my present role as a hospital based physician.
I have a younger colleague who can take over my duties but the practice will need to hire someone new. I've never had a period greater than two weeks when I did not work. While I do not dislike working, the hassle factor has been increasing over the years and the number of things which I find particularly rewarding less frequent as time goes on. While it might be a fantasy, I've thought working in the Third World might be more rewarding, free of documentation, thoughts of litigation and government regulators. The grass might be very well greener on the other side; I don’t wish to acquire an incurable tropical parasitic diseases, get caught up in political unrest or suffer in a prop plane crash in the jungle.
I'm not entirely sure about how to make the transition without losing a good situation. Taking a few month sabbatical might be a good option to try out doing nothing, travel or practicing medicine abroad for a bit. Another idea I had which I've investigated is teaching at a Caribbean medical school part-time. Once control of the practice is relinquished, it will be very difficult to find a similar situation without starting out at the bottom again.
There are projects which I've worked on outside of medicine over the years which I've found totally engrossing. The feeling of being totally in the moment is what I want to recapture for most of my life. I want to go more biking, hiking, sailing, traveling, woodworking and workshop tinkering.
I'm pretty sure I will want to engage in some business, maybe medicine related projects in the future, but don't want any of the "hassle" factor. Perhaps those of you can give me some pointers how you made the transition without losing your circle of friends or comfort zone. Thanks in advance.