Every job offer looks different on the surface, but what really matters is buried in the fine print. Sometimes the details that don’t make it onto the headline page end up shaping your career more than the pay rate ever could.

Today we’re going to pull back the curtain and talk about the hidden levers inside EM contracts that can determine whether a role is the right fit—or a costly mistake.

Most ER docs spend their careers building discipline — grinding through debt, maxing out retirement accounts, and making sure the numbers always work. By the time they reach financial independence, the nest egg is there, but something unexpected happens: the habits that carried them here don’t always translate into the next phase.

Retirement brings a new challenge, not about how to save, but how to spend — and for many, that’s a tougher adjustment than it sounds. Today, we’re going to unpack that paradox and explore why so many of the best savers struggle the most when it’s finally time to enjoy the fruits of their labor.

When ER doctors talk about building wealth, the stories often sound like night-and-day—one physician hits millionaire status by 40, while another is still digging out of debt. What explains the difference?

It usually comes down to a handful of consistent choices around debt management, savings rates, and lifestyle creep. To see how those decisions play out, let’s walk decade by decade through the financial trajectory of a typical emergency physician.