How much money do clinical neurologists make annually?

Why do I feel like this about money?

• I was reading a book about personal finance, because I'm relatively young, so I want to make money and have it gain interest. It began with phrases like, "You're probably so busy that you don't have enough hours in the day" and then it went on to talk about being frugal, and "your hard-earned money", etc. Then I was reading another book unrelated to finances in any direct way, and it had a phrase like this: "More money paid for x equals less money in your pocket." Phrases like "not enough hours in the day" and "money in your pocket" disgust me. The entire class of people the books are written to, even if they are the class I was born into, greatly disgust me. I don't want to be a part of being poor. I don't want "hard earned dollars" that I have to scrape off of the sides of the bowl just so that I don't have to work until I'm 70. I don't want to pride myself in being a "hard worker" and I don't want other people to manipulate me into thinking that's a good thing. I hate the idea of a salary. Why would I want to be a slave for the rest of my life? Why would I not rather be independently rich, or at least the employer instead of the employed? $100,000 a year doesn't sound like a lot of money to me. I was looking up the average salaries of neurologists ($170,000 and up) and surgeons ($300,000 and up), which made me feel a little better. But it soon faded and I thought, "Well, it's not millions, and it's still a salary. It relates directly to the work I do myself, meaning I can't sell a product or make any *real* money, since I'm required in the process every time." Why do I feel like this about money? $150,000 a year should sound like a lot of money to me, but it doesn't. I'd take it over $50,000 a year, but it doesn't sound like a lot. And the idea of slaving away through medical school or graduate school, taking out student loan debt at some point, throwing away my youth on student poverty and incessant studying, and only starting to make money after 8 years of school, several years of residency, and after I pay insanely high malpractice insurance, is depressing to me. Sure, I could probably do it, but isn't there another way to make money? More money? Seriously, how can I get out of this, aside from winning the lottery? I'm willing to put in work to get it set up, but I want to work smart. Being under 25, any amount of money I invest can gain exponential growth and profoundly affect my retirement. But I want something more than that. I need extra help, new ideas, or advice from someone who's been there. Thanks. To level with you, I don't have a lot of things in my life. No romantic relationships, no rose colored glasses, no desire for children, no tolerance for euphemistic bs that makes other people in my social class able to tolerate the situation, no hope that therapy will ever make me content with this social class, very little social acceptance, very little ability to be manipulated by lofty phrases that get other people through their work days, etc.

• Answer:

  Hey, I feel the exact same way about money. Except I would rather do something I really love and earn decent income rather than earn a lot and hate my job. It sounds like you have the spirit of an entrepreneur in you and you like independence. Read the book "The four-hour workweek" by Timothy Ferris, it may give you some guidance.