Authored By: Malay Chitalia
Inspiration: Resp. R. Gopinath
When we are in pain, we remember 3 people; God, our own Mother & Doctor. We all are very fond of the magic touch of our family doctor when we are in pain. Half the pain disappears the moment our doctor checks us.
I am fortunate to have more than twenty doctors in my client list and around a dozen doctors are my family friends. I have been witnessing their elegant way of working, their command over their subjects, their routine schedule & their finance very closely since years now.
Normally doctors have a huge active income which supports their good life style. But the problem is they are never able to retire from their profession for mainly two reasons:
- Their patients don’t allow them to retire.
- Even at senior levels, major portion of their financial commitments come from their active income.
Their patients don’t allow them to retire: Patients wants their doctors to treat them always. They don’t want to get treated from their junior doctors or even from Doctor’s own son or daughter. They have a complete faith in the doctor and this is the reason they don’t allow them to retire.
Even at senior levels, major portion of their financial commitments come from their active income: Majority of the doctors have a great inflow of Active Income. Due to this, their life style & spending habits also rises to match their Active Income. They also take huge financial commitments as they afford to undertake those during young age. At an elderly age, these commitments become a compulsion for them to keep earning the income. As they have not provided for any Passive & Guaranteed Income, they heavily rely on the Active Income & a passionate young doctor gradually becomes an experienced Medical laborer.
This has been the area of the concern for almost all of them.
We all have seen quite a senior level doctors, sometimes even at the age 80+, they come to their clinics to see their patients. If a senior doctor is doing it because he is a very passionate about his profession & loves to get involved in patients’ problem, we must appreciate it. However, if a Doctor has to come to clinic everyday even at a very senior level because he has some financial commitments to fulfill, it’s a pity situation. Let us make a point here that he is a Doctor and not a laborer.
Doctors spend more time with their patients than with their Grandchildren: This is also a truth in case of majority of senior doctors. Their financial commitments are so high and as they are linked with their active income, they are not able to spend some quality time with their Grandchildren. We all know that Grandparents play an important role in shaping Grandchildren’s character & attitude. Indeed, Grandchildren deserves the time & love of their Grandparents.
Doctors practicing in India are much more experienced than the Doctors in any developed countries: Our doctors see 10 times more patients than doctors in UK, US or any other developed countries. Their wisdom, their mastery over their subject, their detailed knowledge about tackling ailments & disorders, their minute observations, their conclusions are more comprehensive.
However, the books, the articles & the thesis written by the doctors of developed countries like & UK & US becomes a text book or highly revered reference books in many international universities. Why is it so ? The reason is, the Doctors of developed countries are able to take a sabbatical leave from their profession to do the research & they are able to jot down their experiences, incidences, theories & wisdom on medical science and they are able to give them a shape of a book. Sabbatical leaves are generally paid leaves provided by the employers to their doctors to pursue their passion related to medical field.
However, our doctors cannot afford this. They have to work 24 x 7 in order to fulfill their financial commitments. Even though our doctors are much more talented & experienced compared to foreign doctors, ours are not able to contribute & share their treasure of wisdom with the world. Their wisdom & knowledge departs from this world along with the Doctor’s demise.
Our Doctors need a quality time for themselves which can give them the opportunity to record their experiences, in the form of a book or in any other creative way so that the world gets benefited by the knowledge of our worthy doctors. Doctors themselves will also have a feeling of contentment by contributing to the humanity on a much larger platform.
I would like to make a point here that we are not discussing about spending a time with family members on a 7 or 15 days’ vacation for their personal pleasure. Doctors need to take either partial or complete retirement in order to contribute something towards the progress of medical science.
Now the question is how a doctor will be able to do this with his / her heavy dependency on his / her Active Income?
We need to replace his Active Income by a Passive & Guaranteed Income. If a doctor has a financial commitment of Rs. 5 Lakhs a month, how would it be if he receives that Rs.5 Lakhs every month without going to his clinic or hospital? He can always go to his clinic or hospital whenever he wishes and not out of compulsion.
I know more than 70 doctors who have planned their Passive & Guaranteed Income post age 50 and for few of them I have been fortunate to become an instrument for securing this post-retirement income.
Four types of unique Retirements that works for Doctors:
Partial Retirement: Working only for 3 to 4 hours a day & doing some noble creative work in rest of the time is called Partial Retirement. I know many Doctors who are able to take this type of retirement after making provision for their Passive source of Income.
Intermittent Retirement: Working for one week & taking leave for subsequent week is called Intermittent Retirement. I know few doctors who work for only 15 days in a month & they take leave for another 15 days.
Passionate Retirement: After working for certain years in their profession, doctor takes a total retirement to follow his / her passion is called Passionate Retirement. While working as a full time Doctor, some doctors always feel that the particular subject or stream need to be discover more & requires an in-depth research. They plan for their Passive Income & at some point of time they take a Passionate Retirement.
Self Actualization Retirement: When a Doctor feels, he / she wants to devote his remaining life for a noble cause or a higher purpose, it is called Self Actualization Retirement. Money or worldly requirements are no more a priority. But still basic necessities of life have to be secured through Passive & Guaranteed Income.
Dr. Nityanand Mandke was the genius cardiac doctor from Mumbai. He had a dream of founding a world’s best cardiac hospital where people can take treatment at an affordable price. When doctor has such a higher purpose in mind & they take Retirement from their main stream profession, it is called Self Actualization Retirement.
I urge our doctors to start thinking about taking retirement from their busy profession for the betterment of mankind. It will be possible only when they have planned for their Passive & Guaranteed Income.
