Finance or Medicine?
I’m a little confused about what I want to do. University applications are coming soon, and I don’t know whether I should apply for a finance/accounting degree or go to medical school. I don’t know whether I believe that medicine is very fulfilling, but it’s difficult to rationalise the 5 years of medical school, 2 years of foundation training and 8 years of speciality training before I make the money I can make with a finance degree from a target university. I’m also worried that I might go into medicine and negate the ethical benefit of the medical path by focusing on making money. If I were to go and do a finance degree, I would want to go into IBD, but considering how competitive it is, I'm worried I won't be able to find a grad job due to not being able to secure an internship/spring week during the course and end up regretting not going into medicine for the stability and security. I don’t know what to choose, really. If you were me, what would you do?
finance, next question.
There is risk in any path in life that society deems “valuable”.
Choose the one that you can imagine waking up and doing every day for decades. Maybe it’s one of those two options, maybe it’s not.
medicine, safer from AI + safer paths to fall in if you don't make it in the top 1% jobs/fail recruiting + makes you smarter
no one is stopping you from reading finance on the side and be the next Michael Burry tho
+ many funds/healthcare IB/HF/PE tend to be interested in MDs as long as u have some finance accumen it's still an option down the road
It being safer is the main reason i’m considering medicine. But seriously how hard is it to break into those 1% roles in finance IB/Consulting even if you attend a target school like say LSE will it still be incredibly difficult to be part of the 1% and will a masters Improve the chances a lot?
You sound like you're in the UK—RUN FROM MEDICINE. Studying medicinewill be the decision you will spend the rest of your life regretting. Take risk & do literally anything else. @restless this ISN'T USA where specialists frequently make above $1m
No. OP is in the UK, medicine is not a good career here
Location is something to consider.
Finance you’re going to be in one of the major cities. Medicine you have a lot of freedom to where you live especially if you start your own practice.
I felt similarly at a point in high school. I chose finance. These were my main considerations.
Easier courses in college
Four years of education / training before you start making money vs 10+ in medicine. This was my biggest turnoff for medicine. In finance, you could have made millions by the time a doctor is just starting out their own practice.
Earning potential seems to be higher. Average MD or PE partner is clearing 7 figures. Not many doctors are doing the same.
I have heard from friends with doctor parents that the amount of administrative / paperwork tasks has grown immensely, making more of their job dealing with that than working with patients.
That being said, the downsides of finance aren’t something to overlook.
Working all the time, WLB seems to improve but over a much longer period of time.
Forced to work in HCOL cities for the most part. Doctors have more locational freedom.
Chances of reaching MD / Partner are pretty low these days. Especially true for PE.
Not nearly as rewarding as being a doctor is.
Lol mate I can tell your parents are pushing you to do medicine. Do what you find more exciting, UK doctors are notoriously underpaid and you will be miserable unless you love the field. I have seen Medicine degree -> IB but usually at top targets for Med like Cambridge, UCL, etc. Hope that info helps you in some way
Dont have to stay in the UK. Germany for example is very willing to take medical students from abroad. Might not be the US salaries, but doctors are still paid very well here. Even if they arent working in a big hospital, but as generalists in their own local clinic.
Yes but then you would have to learn German which is very hard as it will be a 3rd language which can take many years to be proficient enough to treat patients
Medicine = stability (you will always find a way to generate an income)
Finance = pretty substantial income potential
IMO you really need to be a self-starter and have drive if you want to be in finance and pull more than a doctor would lifetime earnings, if that's the case, you can def get to a place where you can have systems and ppl helping with maintaining operations / move up the ladder etc. etc.
K
My best friend from college and I have been living out these two paths. He went medicine (surgeon), I obviously went finance.
Here are some random thoughts after drinking all day watching the Masters...
When he was in med school/residency, it felt like I was "winning"...we aren't competitive or anything, but he was slaving away in classes and working night shifts or whatever and I was making good money as a junior banker. Yeah, I was working crazy hours, but I was able to afford a fun life (nice apartment, cool trips, fancy dinners, etc.) and it felt like I had more time/flexibility (even with the crazy IB hours) to go out and have a fun time day-to-day.
He had to move around a lot, I didn't. Between medschool, residency, fellowship and then his full time job...it felt like he was constantly moving. Can be a pro or a con, but it was a big difference in our lives during this period. Fortunately for him, all his stops were all in really cool places and he ended up in his Tier-1 city of choice.
My work schedule is far more unpredictable. He knows the hours he is working and the days he is working months is advance. In a weird way though, I feel like I have more control over things. I can push a client meeting, change my flight times, tell clients/colleagues I am busy, etc. When his patients need to have surgery, they need to have surgery. Over the years, he has had to say "no" to things a lot more often that I have.
Even at this later stage of our careers, I have much more flexibility if one day I decided I wanted to do something else. I could go into other roles in finance, go be a CEO/CFO, go corporate, pivot to something else in "business"...I'm not sure what he would go do if he decided he didn't want to be a surgeon anymore. Maybe he could do some sort of medical startup or something, but that seems like a stretch. I have much more flexibility in this regard.
I travel for work, he does not (except for a rare conference or something). This can be a pro or a con. Sometimes I hate my work travel and the fact that it takes me away from my family, other times I feel like I'd go crazy if I had to spend every working day in the same place.
I probably work more hours, but he needs to be much more "present" during his hours. I can have days where I kind of phone it in, he can't, especially when he is in surgery. I also have a lot more non-work-but-still-work stuff...closing dinners, client entertainment, fancy lunches, drinks with clients, conferences in vegas/miami, etc.
When it comes to money, it's not that significant of a difference. We are both established in our fields at this point. Yeah, I make more, but I also live in a higher COL city. He clips $1m+ a year and is living a fantastic life. We go on the same vacations together with our families, we fly to the same sports games, eat at the same restaurants, we both have nice cars/homes, etc. I have more in the bank, but when it comes to day-to-day living we are both extremely lucky and living great. Both finance and medicine can be very lucrative, obviously.
He has better job stability. I'm senior enough at this point that I'll always have a job in finance if I want one, but his skillset will be highly desired in all market conditions, in all regions, forever. He's never getting fired during a downturn or anything like that. He'll always make very good and consistent money. My earnings can fluctuate.
He has more job execution stress...he obviously can't F-up a patients medical procedure, but my sense is that over time this type of stress has diminished substantially for him. I have more overall job stress...where is the next deal coming from, how do I generate $ in a downturn, need to stay up to date on daily news, trends, deals, etc. It feels like I am always trying to keep my head above water, even at this stage of my career.
I have do deal with shittier people regularly. Lots of egos in the business and finance worlds. He has the occasional difficult patient. Sounds corny, but he has meaningful human moments with his patients. I get a little bit of that with clients I am close with and have grown to care about, but it's nothing close to the same.
I'm one of those weird people in finance who actually enjoys my job most days. That said, there is absolutely no comparison between us when it comes to job satisfaction. He feels a very real connection to his work. He is making peoples lives better everyday. Like all people in finance I have those times when I question what the hell I am doing with my life, how am I making the world a better place, etc. He is much more at peace with how he spends his working hours. This is a very big difference between our two paths and should not be ignored as you contemplate what you want to do.
Ok, that is all my ramblings for now. Going to go to sleep and hope I am not hungover tomorrow.
The expected value of a career in medicine in the U.S. is higher than finance.
From a pure money making perspective, doctor wins by far.
Edge cases in finance are impressive but after a few years in, here’s the truth nobody is gonna tell you: the vast majority of people who begin a career in finance end up in mediocrity of varying degrees. Very few become the MDs, Partners, CFOs, CEOs that every single analyst thinks he’s gonna become.
And it makes sense. Most of the time we overcomplicate things. Doctor’s have the highest barrier to entry, study the longest, compete the hardest, are the most revered, and as a result expectation [get paid the most] as a reward. I’m happy I’m making $350k at 26 but have no delusions that I'm gonna outearn my friend entering surgery residency.
The vast majority of people who begin a career in finance end up mediocre, some become obscenely wealthy. Every single doctor ends up wealthy, some also become obscenely wealthy. Take your pick. Finance is def a fun journey to go on but would not delude yourself into thinking any career, let alone one that requires only a bachelor’s, is expected to be more lucrative than medicine.
None of my extremely smart and successful tech and finance friends could have become doctors, we all admit as much. Any of my doctor friends could’ve easily done finance, and hell could even do it now. It’s just the reality.
Agreed mostly, but I do want to correct you with the fact that the average physician salary is actually $250k when looking at all specialties combined (from what BLS says too). There's a reason people say not to go into medicine for the money since the ceiling is not extremely high if you don't specialize or open a private practice. Also, the higher salaries are typically found in rural areas of the country (which could be a positive or negative depending on the person).
Nonetheless, I somewhat agree that medicine expected value > finance in general, but ofc those who actually stay in high finance paths will almost always outearn a doctor.
If I could do it all again, would have gone medicine. Finance is not worth it. There's a lot of cope on here claiming otherwise but stability, consistent cash comp, fulfilling work, geographical flexibility, comp scales much better overtime. Finance outside of PE/IB/HF frankly pays like shit and would love to be proven otherwise but the idea that finance provides you a ton of flexibility without taking significant haircuts in comp is delusional.
The people who are glad they picked finance are in the upper levels of IB, PE principals, PMs, C-suite, etc. If you aren't in those roles or on a clear path to those roles you are kind of fucked relative to medicine. People bring up the debt argument, but it doesn't really hold weight when you consistently clipping cash comp (no bonus lumpiness either) and never have to look over your shoulder for being out of work for some time unless you voluntarily choose to do so.
See this is what most people don't talk about. Risk-adjusted, medicine wins. I love how everyone on this thread just reference associate and VP salaries, as if most will survive long enough. Not only that, people will site the top 1% of earners in finance to justify that argument. It's like saying its better to invest in Tesla than treasury bonds. Also, if you leave "high finance", which most people will, you will most likely not make more than a doctor, which accounts for 80% of people. Medicine has a high barrier to entry, meaning a very high moat. Your asset is your training and degree. In finance, its really your "pedigree" and your ability suck up the horrible hours. Also medicine is far more meritocratic and is far more diverse. Finance on the other hand is the complete opposite.
Is it rly 80% that leave high finance? Looking at BB/EB/top MM players, I was under the impression that roughly 70% actually stay in high finance of some sort, give or take. Maybe multiples of years down the line that may change, but it's not like a binary outcome of "corpdev or MFPE partner" in terms of comp and types of roles out there. Even then, corpdev guys would probably be experiencing pay jumps to be hitting avg+ doctor salary by the time an internal med physician finishes up residency.
This is putting aside risk of layoffs/stagnations etc., so in terms of stability, medicine > pretty much anything else. On the topic of meritocracy, I'd agree with the exception of the HF industry, since that seems to be purely based off performance.
In a similar boat bro. I decided to try out investment banking in a life sciences group for 2 yrs to see if I at least enjoy finance before I go all in with either PE or HF route. I figured that optimizing for money might seem kinda stupid, but it still is a factor for me admittedly, and it seems like going high finance route would trump medicine if you stick with it. However, I think medicine and science in general is a lot more interesting, so if I hate my time in IB or just find it boring/mundane, I'll apply to med school and see what sticks since I've done all my prereqs and will take the MCAT soon.
Physicians hedge fund. Pm me.
Sounds like ur not in the US tho. I’d advice finance if non US tbh.
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