Financial Management Attitude and Practice among the Medical Practitioners in Public and Private Medical Service in Malaysia

Abstract

Doctors learn money management by trial and error and often realize the mistakes and shortfalls at later stages of life. This study measured the levels of personal financial management attitude of the medical practitioners in Malaysia and identified their financial management practical trends, strengths and weaknesses. In this cross sectional study, a pre-tested questionnaire was used to conduct face to face interviews with randomly selected medical specialist and medical officers through a multistage sampling. A total of 402 (urban 46.0%, rural 54.0%) medical practitioners completed the questionnaire. The majority of the respondents were Malays (54.5%), followed by Indians (25.6%), Chinese (16.7%) and other ethnicity (3.2%). Medical officers comprised 64.2% of the respondents and 35.8% were specialists. 76.4% of the respondents had a positive attitude towards personal financial management but only 34.6% doctors in the country practice positive or favorable financial management. Retirement and estate planning practices are the most neglected area where only 3.8% respondents had high scores. In conclusion, this study found that overall the medical practitioners in Malaysia had a positive financial attitude, but lacked financial practice. This study sets groundwork for future research and calls for a strong need for a financial education program to help medical practitioners make informed decisions for greater financial satisfaction.