For some reason, and I have no idea why, there’s this stereotype that doctors do incredibly well, especially in America.

It’s absolute true that there are surgeons in private practice that make a million or maybe even a couple million a year, but these people aren’t exactly fresh out of medical school; they’ve gone to medical school for 4 years, after having been in college for 4 years, gone on to residency, which depending on the specialty, means another 4 to 7 years and then likely spent some time working elsewhere. What that all amounts to is that even though, yes, a couple million dollars is unquestionably quite a chunk of change, it is relatively poor compensation for the time and investment required to get there in the first place.

Even once you are in a place where you can make that amount of money, you’re likely working anywhere from 55 to 80 hours a week depending on the week and at that point, people typically begin to gradually shift their priorities.

Oh, and notice I mentioned surgeons? Yah, well, good luck making anything near a milllion dollars as a doctor with a specialty other than surgery…