How My Passion For Medicine And Flying Earns Me $160K/Year

Eric Chan is a 29-year-old family medicine resident living in Anchorage, Alaska, where he earns approximately $160,000 per year. He chose the Alaska residency program specifically because it offered an intersection between medicine and aerospace medicine, two long-standing passions since childhood. As a resident, his typical workday runs from 6:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., working 5-6 days per week with occasional night shifts, covering medicine, obstetrics, and pediatric services. Despite Alaska's higher cost of living (15-20% above the lower 48 states), Chan and his wife manage expenses effectively: they sublet a room for $1,300/month including utilities, spend $500-700 monthly on groceries through bulk buying at Costco, and $100-200 on gas due to a short 5-mile commute. He developed interest in investing through his mother's informal financial education, initially picking individual stocks but now investing more conservatively in ETFs and mutual funds, with a long-term goal of building a $2.5 million portfolio for financial independence. Chan chose Alaska partly for lifestyle reasons—preferring colder weather and outdoor activities like hiking and skiing after growing up in Texas. He is entering the US Air Force as a medical officer through a program that provides annual grants and monthly stipends during residency in exchange for a 3-year commitment, expecting total annual compensation of $150,000-$175,000. He will be assigned to South Korea caring for pilots and air crews. His ultimate career goal is to become a NASA flight surgeon, and he and his wife eventually plan to relocate to Texas while potentially returning to Alaska on a rotational basis for work.