William is a former management consultant and  corporate executive who writes business and financial articles for a variety of consumer and trade publications.

William J. Lynott

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With all of that drama unfolding on a daily basis, it's easy to lose sight of the fact that wide variations in stock market performance are and always have been a normal part of the Wall Street experience. Over the long term, the overall trend has always been up. Except for investors who find themselves in need of liquidating stocks during a downturn, such market volatility isn't reason for alarm. 

A different economic factor in retirement planning that offers far less day-to-day drama is inflation. Except for that painful spike in gasoline prices, chances are that you haven't been giving much thought to inflation lately. With overall inflation coasting around 2.5% to 3% for the last few years, there are other, more important, economic considerations in your life as a busy physician. 

If you've been around long enough to remember McDonald's 15-cent hamburger, you may feel nostalgic when you shell out 89 cents for that same treat today. 

Surprise. That same hamburger would sell today for about $1.05 if it kept pace with inflation. That popular product is actually cheaper today than it was 50 years ago. 

However, that's a rare exception. Most products and services we buy keep pace with or exceed the average inflation rate. 

The only meaningful way to compare prices from one period to another is to compare them with the general price level of each period or to the percent of average wages necessary to pay for the item during each period. 

Obviously, the bargain-price phenomenon evident in such products as McDonald's hamburgers doesn't extend itself throughout your personal universe of products and services. During the Great Depression, a first-run movie ticket sold for fifteen cents. How does that compare with the tab at today's multiplexes? With inflation factored in, a movie ticket should cost about $2.10 today. With ticket prices now running at $6.50 or higher, it's costing us a lot more to visit the local movie emporium than it did back in the dark days of the Depression (and don't forget today's $2.50 Coke that used to cost a nickel). 

Any physician paying for malpractice insurance today is well aware that costs have risen at a pace far in excess of the average inflation rate. College tuition is another of today's costs that is mind-numbingly more expensive than in days of yore. 

The rate of inflation can vary wildly from one year to the next. However, regardless of the variations, inflation continues its work relentlessly year after year. 

Even that harmless-seeming inflation rate of recent years takes a significant toll over time. After 10 years of 2% inflation, that dollar bill in your pocket now will be worth only 82 cents in today's dollars. 

How inflation will affect your retirement

Here's an example of how inflation affects your life right now: If you paid $60 for a week's groceries in 1985, you're paying about $109.67 for those same items today. 

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Whether your retirement is years away or just around the corner, inflation is destined to exert a major influence on your future economic well-being.

Fortunately, the deadly violence that jarred the U.S. Postal Service a few years ago is a still a rare consequence of workplace stress. More often, this growing phenomenon simmers just beneath the surface, covertly eating away at morale, productivity, and, in a medical practice, patient relations. 

If you think that workplace stress does not exist in your practice, you're probably wrong, according to Peter J. Frost, PhD, professor of organizational behavior, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, British Columbia. 

"Emotional pain exists in every organization at some point, and it takes a heavy toll," Dr. Frost said. "More frequently than we'd like, valuable employees have negative experiences in the workplace that leave their hopes dashed, their goals derailed, or their confidence undermined." 

"Sometimes, the major toxic handler is the principal or manager, and that can mean serious damage to both the organization and the individual," Dr. Frost said. 

The concept of workplace stress is not given to overly simplified explanations. However, for the busy physician concerned about the health of the work environment in his or her practice, a brief characterization may be helpful. 

The Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) in its publication 

 offers this definition: "Workplace stress is the harmful physical and emotional responses that can happen when there is a conflict between job demands on the employee and the amount of control an employee has over meeting these demands. In general, the combination of high demands in a job and a low amount of control over the situation can lead to stress." 

According to CMHA, there is a wide range of symptoms that may indicate difficulty coping with workplace stress: 

 headaches, grinding teeth, clenched jaws, chest pain, shortness of breath, pounding heart, high blood pressure, muscle aches, indigestion, constipation or diarrhea, increased perspiration, fatigue, insomnia, frequent illness. 

 anxiety, irritability, sadness, defensiveness, anger, mood swings, hypersensitivity, apathy, depression, slowed thinking or racing thoughts, feelings of helplessness, hopelessness, or of being trapped. 

 overeating or loss of appetite, impatience, quickness to argue, procrastination, increased use of alcohol or drugs, increased smoking, withdrawal or isolation from others, neglect of responsibility, poor job performance, poor personal hygiene, change in religious practices, change in close family relationships. 

If left untended, workplace stress eventually can lead to employee turnover, reduced efficiency, illness, or even death. Absenteeism, illness, alcoholism, petty internal politics, bad or snap decisions, indifference and apathy, and lack of motivation or creativity are all visible by-products of an over-stressed workplace. 

One school of thought suggests that personality characteristics and the ability of the worker to cope are the primary factors that determine whether conditions on the job will result in workplace stress. In other words, conditions that are stressful for one person may not pose a problem for someone else. Supporters of this position suggest that preventing workplace stress calls for concentrating on the workers themselves and finding ways to help them cope with the demands of the job. 

However, most scientific studies suggest that there are common working conditions that will be stressful to most people. These include such things as the imposition of unreasonable workloads, uneven or biased treatment by managers and supervisors, and lack of control over working conditions. Supporters of this viewpoint argue that improved working conditions and more attention to job design are the most important ways to minimize job stress. 

While these opposing viewpoints may suggest different ways to prevent stress in your workplace, Dr. Frost feels that there are effective techniques for minimizing the harm of workplace stress no matter what the cause.  

Six ways to be an effective toxic handler							

There are effective techniques for minimizing the harm of workplace stress.

Is workplace stress hurting your practice?

"But this is not the time to sit back and dwell on your misfortune," said certified financial planner (CFP) Paul Knoblich. "With the economy showing signs of renewed vitality, now is the time to heal the wounds. There will be plenty of opportunities to do exactly that, but it will be up to you to capitalize on them." 

plan				G. Mike Crawford, CFP, believes that the most serious personal finance error made by many professionals in practice is failing to develop a comprehensive retirement plan. 

Understandably, Crawford believes that a retirement plan prepared by a certified financial planner is the best choice for most people. "The services of a good CFP," he said, "is not an expense. By preparing a plan that maximizes investment income, a CFP becomes an asset, not an expense." 

Still, he recognizes that many people prefer to do their own planning. "That's fine," he said, for those who have a good feel for personal finance and how to handle money. "Whether you call on a professional or prepare it yourself, it is important that your plan stay active and flexible." 

Here are six steps you can take now to get your retirement portfolio back on track: 

1. Decide where you want to be, and when 			The ultimate goal of your retirement plan is accumulation of the necessary assets to fund a comfortable and satisfying lifestyle. Unfortunately, that may require a larger nest egg than you think.  

Whether retirement from your medical practice is a distant dream or just around the corner, 3 years of plunging interest rates and discouraging stock losses have probably put a dent in your financial armor.

William J. Lynott

Articles

How inflation will affect your retirement

Is workplace stress hurting your practice?

Rebuilding your retirement nest egg requires action

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