According to Dr. Harith Abdul Malek who started his financial services business together with an associate, there are similarities between medical education and financial planning, and these have helped him in his business life. For example, doctors do history taking with patients while financial planners do fact-finding. Then, doctors order blood and other tests while financial planners do ration checks, and this is how problems are identified in both fields.
His medical training was particularly helpful and insightful in risk management and retirement plans. Medical care is not cheap and it’s not getting cheaper! Without financial planning, a person or a family could become broke within a short period of time.
Clients are also happy to be getting their financial services from doctors as a doctor is viewed as a trustworthy and reliable source.
Having a young family, Dr. Harith ventured into Financial Planning in search of a work-life balance while earning a decent income. In addition, he notes that if a doctor wants to get away from workplace toxicity, the best thing to do would be to start his/her own business in finance.
The good thing about starting a business say, in insurance or Takaful, is that it doesn’t take much capital, but it does require a lot of other qualities from doctors. Doctors must possess the willingness to learn new and difficult things especially in the first three months, be disciplined, have grit which is to have perseverance and passion in their new chosen field, be willing learn from many mentors, and be humble.
The key is not to be “mentor-resistant”, that is, a doctor must be willing to learn from as many mentors available in the industry. This way, doctors to cut short the time needed to make it in the field of finance. The first few months, even up to a year, could be trying but this is where discipline and grit come in. Perseverance to push through and hard work is needed.
Eventually the business will pick up. In about a year and half, Dr. Harith was earning a comfortable income, more than double what he earned as a House Doctor.
The next move is to gain certification. As a financial planner certified by the Malaysian Financial Planning Council, a doctor would be able to provide the full range of wholistic financial services such as managing cash flow, Takaful, risk-management, investments, all the way up to estate planning. With this increased capacity comes a good income and savings.
However, there is a danger for doctors owning their own business to become too comfortable and stagnate. That’s when failure sets in. As the money comes in and with no one to answer to, complacency could cause the downfall of the business. It’s important for doctors to keep upscaling their business, upskilling themselves, and find new avenues to develop their business. That should keep doctors on their toes.
