Quitting IBD to do an MD (and potentially backing off)

My parents and brothers are doctors and they all strongly encouraged me not to follow suit.

Insurance costs, insurance risk mitigation procedures, an influx of foreign doctors, and a disruption of traditional care architecture (robotics, AI, corporate owned urgent care, lack of cost controls, unchecked litigation, etc) have stripped most joy and margins out of the profession and most general practitioners were struggling to make any meaningful money.

My parents make less now, by a considerable margin than they did 20 years ago, my brother went into plastic surgery (about a 12 year track, and is making decent money doing mostly Botox and nose jobs), my other brother became a professor, and said he will never go back to practicing medicine.

IB

IB has changed dramatically in the last 15-20 years.

Technology has gotten much better, and I suspect AI will drastically accelerate this, and less and less people are required for more deal throughput. There are more boutiques than ever nipping at margins, and there are less exit opportunities than ever before.

I got into Med school and chose finance, my rational was (NPV) make more now, instead of investing 8 years, hopefully rise up the ranks or exit and continue to outpace what I would have made in medicine, then retire well before most medical specialists (they usually hit their high earning power much later, and thus tend to work well past standard retirement age).

I think the opportunities in IB will be fewer and further between going forward, with exits to asset management shops and corp fin becoming more common.

Medicine will take at least 10 years (med school, residency, specialization, etc) to start seeing meaningful money. There is a risk AI and robotics will drastically change medicine and the insurance and expenses will continue to rise.

IB / Finance will continued to be volatile, but still presents better near/short term income potential.

I like the idea of medicine, because no one can ever take that away, it is a useful applicable skill, you can practice your entire life, and if you choose the right track you can do really well.

I like IB/Fin because of the near term income, the potential for exits, and the energy and intellectual stimulation of the "space".

If I had 15 years back, I think I would have probably still done finance.

I would add that I do know a lot of MBA/JDs in the VC and PE space, and they do very well and are happy, but it is minimum a 5-6 year road.

Side note:

My parents think being a PA (Physicians Assistant) is the best job in medicine now $175-250k in large markets. Low/no liability, all the knowledge, all the respect, great hours, strong, tremendous demand.