The Doctor’s In…
May 2, 2016
Hectic days are the norm in the workplace. Each day our schedules are filled with meetings and conference calls. Some days the amount of work we face can be daunting. Even so, I hate to cut a meeting or call short because of the tightness of my calendar. Accordingly I try to leave a buffer of time in case things take longer than scheduled. I know that when I am engaged with a client I can easily lose track of time. One incident this week was particularly bad. A call took longer than expected so when making my next call, I first had to apologize for being twenty minutes late. The client was kind and understanding and told me that I had got behind just like a doctor. He went on to say that in fact, he thought of me as a “financial doctor”. I had never been given this grand title before. For the rest of the week this description kept coming to mind.
Being a medical doctor is an honored profession. Moreover, it is one of the most difficult professions to enter. Medical school is a place for the smart and hardworking. The training and knowledge necessary to become an MD are more extensive and challenging than most. Diagnosing symptoms, providing remedies to make the sick well, and, in short, saving lives; the medical profession deserves as high a place as any on the list of those that help others. Are there similarities that justify the flattering reference to being a financial doctor?
The state of our personal finances is often described as our financial health. There is good reason for these metaphors. Having a bad spending habit or massive debt problem might not be as bad as an illness but is it that dissimilar to having some form of addiction? Furthermore, the failure to save for retirement or college are conditions that only get more serious if they are not treated. Poor financial health is also one of the most commonly cited reasons for divorce.
The link with the medical profession grows even more striking when you consider the toll on our health if we fail to keep our financial house in order. Not only are some people seemingly addicted to debt, but coping with the debt can lead to behavioral patterns that lead to real sickness. As we all know, the worry and stress associated with not being in control of our finances can lead to physical problems. Inadequate retirement income could even mean there is not enough money to have serious health issues treated properly.
Perhaps there is more that connects these two professions than I thought. In fact, financial planning and management could be seen as activities needed to maintain our physical health. A financial check up is not as critical as a thorough physical examination, but it may well have a significant impact on your ability to live a long and healthy life.
Carl Gambrell