Hacker News Reader

It's probably lifestyle inflation (https://www.investopedia.com/terms/l/lifestyle-inflation.asp), where spending increased in proportion or in excess to rises in income. A surgeon in the US wrote about colleagues who exhibited this behaviour in a blog (source: https://www.kevinmd.com/2019/03/why-many-doctors-live-payche...).

View on HN

My surgeon brother told me that many older surgeons can't "afford" to retire, often because they lost loads of money in investment schemes (and probably coupled with an unwillingness to accept a cutback in lifestyle).

You probably lose a lot of basic savvy when you're insulated from "the real world" for decade after decade (undergrad, medical training, residency, surgical training, high paid private consultancy, etc).

Reply on news.ycombinator.com