Why Doctors Have Low Financial Literacy [3 Causes and 2 Essential Solutions]

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Hello! I'm Morita, a struggling PhD student.

Today, I'm going to talk about the "forbidden calculation" that I'm sure every doctor has done at least once.

When you see the price of an expensive watch, bag, or trip, don't you do this kind of conversion in your head?

I'll be honest. This used to be me (lol).

However, I can say for sure now.That calculation is fatally flawed.
I want to punch my past self...!

Today, I will explain, with a sense of self-reproach, why doctors (like me) tend to be loose with money, and the "prescription" you can start using today.

3 Reasons Why Doctors' Financial Sense Gets Bugged

Why does the IQ of highly intelligent doctors drop when it comes to money? There are structural flaws unique to the medical profession.

1. The "output (earning power)" is so high that they can always recover

The biggest reason is that "recovery is too easy."

For an average office worker, spending 1 million yen is a fatal blow. But for a doctor, in extreme cases, "if you work yourself to death picking up shifts, you can earn it back in a few months."

This mindset makes your purse strings incredibly loose. You don't try to improve your defense (saving/investing), but instead try to cover everything with pure offense (labor). This is the true identity of the "doctor who has a high income but no growing assets."

2. The "standard value" of those around you is too high (environmental bug)

This is also a big factor. Think back to your medical department or university friends. Aren't there many people whose "family is wealthy (doctors with their own clinics or wealthy families)"?

What is "normal" for them is "extreme luxury" for the general public.

• Spending several thousand yen on lunch is standard

• Taking direct flights without transfers for conferences is the norm

• Foreign cars are the default

You must not compare yourself, someone earning through labor, with those born into wealth. Before you realize it, you get pulled into the spending habits of the people you associate with, and only your lifestyle level inflates. This is a form of 'environmental pollution' unique to doctors.

3. No time to study 'money'

In medical school, they teach anatomy and pharmacology, but there wasn't a single second of class on 'taxes' or 'asset formation,' was there?
Even after becoming a resident, you are so desperate to save the patients in front of you that studying how to protect your own wallet gets pushed to the back burner.

Large sums of money come into your hands while your financial literacy remains at an 'amateur' level. It is no wonder that accidents (reckless spending) occur.

The pitfall of '3 night shifts'

And the root of all evil is 'night shift conversion'.

For example, suppose you want the latest gadget that costs 150,000 yen. A doctor working a side job that pays 50,000 yen per day thinks like this:

'150,000 yen... well, I can pay for it if I work 3 night shifts!'

This is a huge mistake.

This is because the side job pay you are calculating in your head is 'gross' (before tax).

Let's look at the real numbers

For doctors with an annual income in the 10 million to 15 million yen class, the tax rate is roughly 33% to 43% (income tax + resident tax).

In other words, even if you work a side job with a gross pay of 50,000 yen, your take-home pay is only about 30,000 yen.

How do you get the take-home pay needed to buy a 150,000 yen product?
'3 night shifts' is not nearly enough. When you consider taxes, you have to work '5 night shifts'.

If you think you can 'buy it with 3 night shifts,' you are actually being made to work '5.' This gap in perception will gradually put pressure on your household finances.

Conclusion: Increase defense (financial literacy) rather than offense (side jobs)

The 'muscle-brained' strategy of 'if I spend it, I'll just earn more' only works until your single resident days.
What doctors need from now on is not the perspective of 'how to earn (offense),' but 'how to keep what you have (defense).'

So, what specifically should you do starting today?
Setting aside high-difficulty real estate investment or business talk for now, I will introduce two basic actions that you will 100% lose out on if you don't do them.

I have carefully selected tools that I personally use and that offer nothing but benefits, so if you sign up through these links, it's a win-win for both of us!

Action 1: NISA and iDeCo (The Basics of Tax Planning)

I assume this isn't the case, but surely there are no doctors here who haven't started these yet, right?

I mentioned earlier that half of your income is taken by taxes, but NISA and iDeCo are among the few "tax-free" allowances provided by the government.
Investing without using these is like trying to carry water in a bucket with holes in it.

"The paperwork is a hassle."
I understand that feeling. But just by overcoming that hassle, the amount of money you have in the future can change by millions of yen. If you don't have a brokerage account yet, at least get the account opening process out of the way.

Do it now while you have time off work.

I recommend online brokerages exclusively due to their low fees.

• SBI Securities: The largest online brokerage. If you're unsure, go with this one.

• Rakuten Securities: I use SBI, but my wife uses this one because she shops within the Rakuten ecosystem.

Action 2: Point Earning (The Alchemy Doctors Should Be Doing)

"Collecting points little by little is tacky."
Do you think that? That is also a huge mistake.

Point sites for doctors are designed to be much more lucrative than regular point sites. That is how valuable the information and evaluations held by doctors are.

m3

Since everyone is doing m3, if you do it properly, you can earn about 5,000 to 10,000 yen a month, so if you haven't started yet, please register.

Nikkei Medical

Nikkei Medical also has a referral campaign (2,000 points), which is a great deal.

Click here to join Nikkei Medical:

Here is the referral code: FRNa7DFwkI (Be careful, as you won't get points without the referral code⚠️)

Meedii

This is a service that allows you to consult on cases anonymously and for free via chat with specialists outside your hospital or in remote locations through one-on-one anonymous consultations. Believe it or not, right now is a super hot period where you can get 5,000 yen just for registering!

⬆︎ You can register smoothly if you have a Nikkei Medical account!
(*For hematologists, the amount is increased to 10,000 yen from December 26, 2025, to January 31, 2026!)

This is not "labor." It is money you can pick up simply by knowing or not knowing.

Summary: Let's survive wisely

Why do I insist on research funding and talk about money like this? It is to escape from the "exploitation of taxes and ignorance."

Rather than "increasing the number of night shifts," it is better to "protect your money and increase your knowledge of a second income stream" to grow your assets without lowering your QOL.

Let's improve our financial literacy together and survive wisely!

There are other recommended sites and credit cards, so if you are interested, please DM me on X (Twitter)! I will teach you individually. If I have time, I will summarize them!

Thank you for reading to the end!
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📢 Announcement: I will release my second paid note on 1/12!

My previous article on noise reduction was well-received, and I am currently creating my second paid note!

The second installment is [Hacking the Capitalist Game] A strategy to turn life into an RPG, reclaiming the "initiative of your life" without draining your HP and MP (tentative)!

I plan to explain the second income stream that I practice, which continues from today's note! Please wait a little longer until the release!!

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