How My Passion For Medicine And Flying Earns Me $160K/Year
Eric Chan, a 29-year-old family medicine resident in Anchorage, Alaska, earns $160,000 annually while pursuing his passion for aviation medicine. He combines his medical career with flying interests, maintains frugal spending habits despite higher cost of living, and plans to join the US Air Force as a medical officer with aspirations of becoming a NASA flight surgeon.
Summary
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.
Key Insights
- Eric Chan chose his Alaska residency program specifically because a mutual colleague described it as the intersection between aviation and aerospace medicine—the exact career path he was seeking.
- Despite Alaska's grocery and gas costs being 15-20% higher than the lower 48 states, Chan reduces expenses through bulk buying at Costco and maintaining a short 5-mile commute that stretches a full tank of gas for 2/3 of the month.
- Chan's mother, who was self-taught in investing without formal training, influenced his approach to investing, initially leading him to pick individual stocks before shifting to a more conservative strategy with ETFs and mutual funds.
- The US Air Force medical program will pay Chan an estimated $150,000-$175,000 annually including base salary, allowances, and incentive pay in exchange for a 3-year commitment, assigning him to South Korea to care for pilots and air crews.
- Chan is willing to potentially take a pay cut from his current residency to pursue aviation medicine as a career, with becoming a NASA flight surgeon as his ultimate professional dream.
Topics
Transcript
[0:00] Engine instruments are good. All right. Nice. We're in the air. I was always interested in aviation. Ever since I was a kid. Throughout college and into medical school, I was able to find that intersection between aviation and aerospace and medicine. My name is Eric Chan and I am 29 years old living in Anchorage, Alaska on about $160,000 per year. [0:39] Alaska was the first choice for my residency. I first learned about the Alaska family medicine residency program through a mutual colleague who was also interested in aerospace medicine. from the way he described the program, basically everything that I was looking for. As a resident in Alaska, a typical day can uh vary a lot.…
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