Financial concerns are a major reason physicians think going on sabbatical is not feasible. The first step is to figure out how much money you need to make (link to article). Then you need to figure out how to get that money. This article reviews some options for making money while on sabbatical.
- Work in person as a doctor. If you’re traveling, this is easiest in the following countries: England, New Zealand, Australia, the Middle East. Companies like Global Medical specialize in global locums, but be aware that they take a significant percentage of what the hospital pays and may be charging the hospital a huge amount for you to work there. US military bases may be an option also. If you’re staying in the states, doing locums close to your home or far from it may give you the amount of work and lifestyle you’re looking for. Hippocratic Adventures has great resources for physicians who want to work in different countries.
- Get your current job to pay for it. This will likely not be at full pay and will come with some strings attached to how you spend your time, but getting paid to be on sabbatical is still a pretty sweet deal.
- Work virtually as a doctor. There are some companies that will allow telemedicine from other countries. Hippocratic Adventures also has a list of telemedicine companies that will allow you to work from abroad, but requires you to pay $100 for the list. You will likely need multiple state licenses, at least some in big, populous states like California or Texas, for this. Obviously if you’re staying in the US this can be done easily also.
- Do remote work that requires an MD. This covers things like being a medical director at an insurance company doing utilization review. Some of these jobs may require a very fast turnaround or weekend hours.
- Do medical consulting. This could be working for startups or other physicians with a skill you already have. This is obviously a huge category and works best if you have an expertise in a certain area already that you can develop into a niche.
- Real estate. This seems to work well for a lot of people. I don’t have any direct experience with it, but if you have a property manager you can theoretically have an income stream from anywhere.
- A non-medical business. You can buy or create an online business. You’re a smart doctor, you can figure this out.
- Start a side gig and continue it during your sabbatical. There are many possibilities for side gigs listed on other sites.
- Live off the interest from your taxable account.
What other ways have you made money during a sabbatical? Do you have plans for another way to finance your sabbatical?