Lifestyle

Denis Chagnon, MD, Latham Medical Group, has been a private practice family physician for 35 years. At age 62, he’s probably seen it all. Part of what he’s seen is that his 2007 take-home income, in real dollars, was less than it was 15 year ago. And unfortunately, Chagnon is not alone. Income to primary care physicians over the last 20 years has gone up, in actual dollars, by just 20 percent, according to Allan Goroll, MD, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

Huge SUVs and pick-up trucks have become the white elephants of the used-car market, with some dealers refusing to take them in trade because they are so hard to resell. You may not want to take on a $100-a-tankful monster either, but that doesn't mean there aren't other bargains to be found in pre-owned cars. In an economy with a bad case of the staggers, car dealers are poised to offer sweet deals to move the metal off the lot.

The recent turmoil in the financial markets has many investors worried about their brokerage accounts, and rightfully so. But, just as the FDIC provides a safety net for bank depositors, the Securities Investor Protection Corp. (SIPC) stands ready to help if your brokerage firm goes belly-up. Probably the most important thing to remember about the SIPC, however, is that it does not cover market losses. If you've lost a ton of money in the current bear market, the SIPC can't help as long as your brokerage remains in business.

Mystery shoppers have been used for years in retail and service industries ranging from banks and hotels to restaurants and department stores. More recently, however, these faux fatales can be found in hospitals and physician offices complaining of assorted aches and pains. The AMA is considering endorsing the use of these undercover patients as a way to better gauge consumers’ healthcare experience.

Investment advisors talk about the long run because markets are variable. We don't have nearly enough long-term data and, at best, short-term data is mere noise in a turbulent process. We have only crude approximations for risk premiums, and in fact, they may change over time. So we look at what pitiful little data we have, and we try to make reasonable judgments about what the long-term performance might be.

In an "On Call Today" article posted to Physicians' Financial News on Friday, writer Michael Sheehan asked if we might already be on the other side of the burgeoning recession that has dominated financial news over the past several months. Sheehan makes some interesting points about when the mass media has caught on to economic downturns in the past, noting that it has often been so late in the recession cycle that the economy has already begun its upswing.

Price/earnings ratios have long been a favorite market metric for investors. The common belief is that a low P/E suggests that a stock is undervalued and that a high P/E means that the price may be too high. That's not always the case, say investment experts. A high P/E may indicate that the stock is poised for a good run-up, while a low P/E may signal that a company is having problems. The biggest problem with using P/E ratios to gauge a stock's value, however, is figuring out how much trust you can put in the "E" part of the ratio.

Bear markets behave a lot like bears: while they're around, they are unpredictable, but eventually they go back into hibernation. Although trying to predict when that will happen is a pointless exercise, several market watchers see some signs that the days of the bear may be numbered. One bullish sign, they say, is the amount of money sitting on the sidelines. Big-money institutional investors are sitting on piles of cash, which market gurus believe will fuel a sizable rally when it starts coming back into stocks.

Americans struggle all their lives to pay taxes, cursing the IRS while seeking to find their way through the rat's nest of accumulated tax rules to the bright light of deductions and credits.

Sales of prescription drugs are growing at the slowest rate in more than a decade, reflecting the effects of a slowing economy and increased out-of-pocket costs to consumers. According to the healthcare research firm IMS Health, prescription volume for the first 5 months of this year grew by just 1.5%, the slowest growth rate since 1996. Volume actually declined in April by 0.2%, and in May by 0.1%. Forecasters see a further decline when June data become available later this month, resulting in negative growth for the entire second quarter, which hasn’t happened since 1994.

If you've been thinking of putting your home up for sale, but you're hesitant because of today's soft real estate market, hesitate no more. That's the advice of real estate agents who are experienced at selling high-end homes. The key is not deciding whether or not to sell, but how to go about it.

The recent closure and subsequent takeover of the California-based IndyMac Bank by the FDIC not only sent shock waves through the markets, it also gave depositors a wake-up call to review their FDIC coverage. The FDIC will cover IndyMac depositors up to $100,000 per account and has said it will cover half of those deposits that are over the limit.

You are a physician, and probably consider yourself an expert on spotting a scam. But if you do something newsworthy, you may find yourself surprised anew.

The real estate market is in a funk. Sales of residential homes have dropped, and even the demand for commercial real estate has slowed. But, in sharp contrast to those trends, the demand for medical properties is increasing and, according to a report by Grubb & Ellis Company, a real estate services and investment firm, are positioned to outperform other property types over the next 10 years.

Sorry, doctorsâ€"no more coffee mugs, no more pens, no more note pads, no more free restaurant meals. That's the gist of the new marketing code of ethics put out by PhRMA, the brand-name drug industry's trade group, which also suggests that drug companies cap speaking and consultant fees to doctors. Under the code, drug companies must also require doctors who are paid speakers or consultants to reveal those ties if they sit on committees that compile drug formularies or treatment guidelines.

It happens every day. Consumers are bombarded with attractive offers to sign up for new credit cards. Businessesâ€"including physician practicesâ€"find themselves in the same position. According to David Goodman, vice president of communications for Advanta Corp., the small business credit card market is large and growing. Business credit cards can help physician practices simplify bookkeeping, keep business expenses separate from personal expenses, earn valuable rewards, and protect themselves from fraud.

As the bears hold sway on Wall Street, it may seem like locking the barn door after the horse is gone, but it helps to know just how risky your portfolio is. A good way to find out is through RiskGrades, where you'll find a wide array of tools to help you gauge risk.

Most investors who haven't already given up on the stock market are hoping that the bear will soon loosen its grip and that stocks will return to decent gains. But if you're putting your money into a retirement fund on a regular basis and you're not planning to retire in the next 5 years or so, rooting (just a little bit) for the bears makes some economic sense.

The topic of work/life balance is one that is near and dear to most people’s hearts, particularly surgeons. And according to a 2003 study published in the Annals of Surgery, which predicted a 50 percent shortage in some surgical specialties combined with an increased demand for surgeries, that work/life balance could become more precarious.

District of Columbia officials have launched an investigative probe into the affairs of CareFirst Blue Cross Blue Shield and, at the same time, have filed a lawsuit that would force the health insurer to donate millions of dollars to the community. CareFirst has members in DC, Northern Virginia, and parts of Maryland. Some observers believe the lawsuit and the probe, which has been given subpoena power, are partial payback for CareFirst’s failure to contribute an expected $5 million to a District universal healthcare program.

Want a snapshot of the reimbursement environment in today’s healthcare system? Nancy Davenport-Ennis, founder and CEO of Patient Advocate Foundation (PAF), describes it as lower reimbursement to physicians, hospitals and clinics, with simultaneous higher cost shifting to the individual consumer. “We’ve got the perfect storm,” she says, “and the individual consumer is simply not in a place where he or she can pay those dollars.”

One of the reasons often given for the nation’s shortage of primary care doctors is lower salaries, which lead medical school graduates to choose higher-paying specialties like cardiology and orthopedics. A recent report from the healthcare staffing firm Merritt Hawkins highlights one of the more unusual aspects of the primary-care income squeeze. According to the report, certified nurse anesthetists recruited by the firm had an average salary of $185,000, higher than family practice physicians, who averaged $172,000, and internists, who averaged $176,000.

As the stock market goes down, expenses take a bigger cut out of return. This begs the question: What are you paying in expenses?

Reading a mutual fund prospectus may make your eyes glaze over, but it helps if you know what to look for. In the opinion of many fund experts, the most critical piece of information you'll find in the prospectus is the fund's expense ratio. Too many physician-investors focus instead on past performance, which can be misleading, while ignoring the fact that high fund expenses can blow a big hole in the most carefully planned portfolioâ€"an effect that can be intensified by a bear market.

Online physician ratings…Consumer advocates push them, doctors don’t like them, and it turns out that most patients ignore them. A recent Harris Interactive poll commissioned by the California Healthcare Foundation shows that fewer than one-fourth of consumers look at online doctor ratings and only a tiny fraction—about 2%—have changed doctors based on knowledge they gained from a ratings site. The poll also showed that online ratings make little difference in consumer choices about hospitals and health insurance plans.