Welcome to The Loonie Doctor!
I hope that you will come here often to learn, laugh at my jokes (someone needs to), and see that you are in good company. There is a mix of knowledge, stories, and tools here. Not only to take control of your financial health, but to inspire you to harness the power that a strong financial position gives you.
If you don’t like your colleagues, then keep The Loonie Doctor a secret. If you do, please invite them to the party.
Who am I?
Personally
My name is Mark. I am a father of teens, husband, son, friend, and colleague. Like for many of you, juggling all of those roles can be a challenge. I am still muddling my way through that while maintaining my passion for my career as a physician and educator.
I love to learn and build new things. Especially with my family. Some are cool like e-bikes, home renos, vehicle mods, and super-computers.
Others are more nerdy, like Excel financial calculators. I have had to go that one alone.
Professionally
Professionally, I am a mid-career ICU doctor at a major Canadian teaching hospital. My clinical practice has also meandered through general medicine and respirology. Non-clinicially, I have shifted focus between undergrad education, postgrad education, and hospital leadership. The unifying theme driving those changes is my desire to find gaps and build something to fill them. That has ranged from exam-review course development to leading the formation of multiple services into a hospital department. My proudest professional achievements are not on my CV, but the CVs of the other physicians and allied health professionals that I have been privileged to work with. I have been fortunate to be a roadie for some real academic and clinical rockstars.
My most recent career shift has been a move to part-time clinical work to focus more energy on filling the financial literacy gap that professionals and small business owners face.
What I am.
I am a colleague, finance nerd, and mentor.
That means that I will do my best to help you out as I am able. I can answer general questions. I have spent thousands of hours learning and thinking about finance and am happy to tell you what I think or how I would approach a problem. That is not to be taken as specific advice. Just doctor’s lounge chatter. I do not accept payment for coaching or consultation as that would change the nature of the relationship. The advantage is that I have a doctor perspective and am not trying to sell you anything. The disadvantage is that I have limited time.
What I am not.
I am not a financial advisor, accountant, or some other type of certified financial professional.
That means that I am not qualified to and won’t give specific financial advice. You should consult qualified professionals as needed for your situation. Hopefully, the information here helps you to ask the right person the right questions. As you learn more, that may even be yourself.
My Financial Conflicts Of Interest
Paid speaking events.
I get paid to speak about personal finance to physicians by various professional staff associations. I also speak to residents and practicing physicians as a faculty member for Joule, a Canadian Medical Association Company, as part of their practice management curriculum.
Qtrade affiliation.
Recently, I decided to partner with Qtrade. If you use the Qtrade link on this site to open and fund a Qtrade investing account, then I get a nominal referral fee at no cost to you. Qtrade provides all of the investing platform and customer support. However, this relationship enables me to find answers to and write about questions that are not easily found elsewhere. I have leveraged that to build a DIY Investing Hub to link educational material and tools to help people take action (with screenshots, just-in-time explanations, and links to streamline the process).
I have always endeavored to provide mentoring for all those DIY investors who ask me. However, I may give preference to those using an account affiliated with me if I run into time constraints. I also personally use the Qtrade platform and that makes it easier for me to describe the mechanics when people get stuck.
If you do decide that DIY investing is for you, then consider using my affiliate link to help offset the costs of running this site. You will note that there is little or no other advertising to annoy you and distract from my mission.