From broke to $27 MM net worth.
{{ WCI founder Dr. Jim Dahle frequently states that once you become an attending, you should live like a resident for a few years with respect to your spending. I have always believed that was cogent advice, and I had taken it a step further when I became a resident—I lived like a medical student.
My first-year salary as an intern was just over $19,000, and that year I saved about $5,000 by living one block from the hospital, eating most meals at the hospital (some meals were discounted, and some were free), and forgoing the purchase of a car. This may seem like a lot of sacrifice for only saving $5,000; however, I had invested that money into a relatively new mutual fund at the time: the Vanguard 500 Index Fund (VFINX).
Over the past 42 years, that initial investment alone has become approximately $400,000 today. In fact, the money that I saved during my four years of residency currently amounts to about $1.2 million of my current net worth. The moral is that even ostensibly small amounts of saving early in your career can yield dramatic results over time due to the powerful effect of compounding. }}
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