I started my career as an attending physician in July 2020. It feels much longer than that…in a good way. It's partly because of the awesome patients I've been able to help. But also because of the massive mindset and financial evolution that my wife and I have undergone. Passive income as a physician has been a big part of that evolution.

A huge emphasis in achieving financial well-being and freedom is creating passive income

I should correct myself and say that the goal is to create leveraged income. As I've shared before, there really is no truly passive income.

But leveraged income breaks the bond between your time and your income, freeing you up to practice medicine on your own terms. And to improve your overall well-being.

Before I had my financial epiphany, passive or leveraged income was a completely foreign concept to me. Heck, even a savings rate of greater than 0% was a completely foreign concept to me.

And if you are reading this now and these are foreign concepts, that is okay!

It's more than okay. It's exciting! You are starting a journey just like I did that will bring you greater financial and overall well-being.

I am still on this journey right there with you. That is what makes this blog unique and a big reason why I started it in the first place. I was looking for a fresh voice still on the path to financial success that I could relate to!

And that is the point of this post.

When I started, I had no idea what I was doing. Now I have >5 streams of passive income. That means you can do it too!

I am not special. Trust me. Ask my wife, family or friends and they will confirm.

All it takes is a goal, a plan, and a healthy mindset.

To demonstrate this, I want to share with you my streams of passive income as a full-time physician.

Not all of them are super lucrative, but they bring in money while I sleep. And as I build them, they will help me achieve financial independence. We have to plant the seeds first. It's worth it. Do it with me!

My 5 current sources of physician passive income

1. Stocks Dividends

Stock dividends count as passive income. They come into my account while I sleep. I reinvest all of my dividends currently but you certainly could choose to spend them.

This is the easiest way to create a source of passive income. You should be investing in low cost broadly diversified index funds in tax advantaged and even taxable accounts. Even if you are a medical student or resident/fellow.

In fact, if you are a resident or fellow, these are the 10 financial moves you need to make.

In addition to dividends, which can be used as a source of passive income, index fund investing is a safe bet to create huge amounts of capital gains as you let time and compound interest do their thing.

This is my current stock portfolio.

2. Real Estate Rental Income

I love real estate investing.

I see it as a wealth accelerant for physicians.

My real estate investing strategy has been well documented. But to put it simply, I invest in cash flowing multifamily residential properties with an expected cash on cash return of 10% or greater.

This means that the real estate that I invest in has cash flow. The tenants pay rent and that rent pays the mortgage, interest, maintenance, taxes, etc. And then there is extra that goes into my pocket. That is passive or leveraged income.

My wife and I started with one investment property that puts about $1000 in our pocket every month with a CoC of 22+%. We now have 8 properties that cash flow (after all expenses) $10k+ monthly for us.

This is my favorite and greatest source of passive income as a physician.

3. Blog Sponsors

I also have passive income from my blog sponsors.

My goal with my sponsors is that I only work with a limited number of sponsors that I have actually personally used or vetted extensively. This keeps the blog from getting clogged, supports my mission, and most importantly, brings together you with highly-qualified and ethical individuals whose goal is really to help you!

All of my sponsors can be found here.

4. Leveraging my medical knowledge

There are a bunch of ways to do this that I don't take advantage of currently. Things like being an expert witness, doing chart review, or reviewing insurance claims.

However, I leverage my medical knowledge to create an additional stream of income through medical surveys and consulting.

This is low hanging fruit that any physician can take advantage of and can add up to a nice extra sum every month!

For example, on Sermo some doctors have earned more than $15,000+ from doing paid surveys.

5. Affiliate Advertising

Affiliate marketing is where you refer people to a company and you are reimbursed when they buy at no extra cost to the buyer. Ideally, you only are referring to companies or products that you believe in. 

That’s what I do with this course from Gretchen Green MD on expert witness work for example. I’ve taken all these courses, love them, and am proud to introduce them to new people who can benefit from them.

I also make a $5 affiliate fee for referring others to start an Acorns account and invest in the margins of their life like I do.

Bonus Stream of Passive Income: My Graduating to Success Online Course

I didn't include this in my “5” sources because this one by far requires the most work in my opinion.

The others I truly believe are fairly easy. They take work, yes. But the effort is not anywhere near the long term benefit that they yield. They are worthwhile for anyone.

Graduating to Success is truly a passion project

It took months to create, script, film, edit, and revise. And I loved every second.

The transition from training to being an attending is so important. But, we are so often unprepared for all of the major and life-changing decisions that we need to make in that transition. That is because there is so little good, reliable, and actionable guidance. I really felt this way going through the transition myself.

So I dedicated myself to creating a course with all of the information that I wish I had to successfully navigate this transition. I'm passionate about helping as many doctors as possible set themselves up for personal, professional, and financial success.

Passive income is great, but it's okay if it's not for you

I'll conclude by saying this: you don't need to create many sources of passive income to have financial success as a physician.

There is a simple formula to financial well-being for physicians. It's right here.

But, if you are interested in or passionate about creating passive streams of income, you can do it!

I am a representation that you absolutely can do it.

And these are not the only options.

Learn all about physician side gigs that will make you passive money here!

Also, since you've now seen how much money comes in for me, you can see how I spend every $1 here!

What do you think? Have you created any passive income streams? Are you interested in doing so? How can I help? Let us know in the comments below!

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