About the Author

Hey everyone, I'm Austin, a physical therapist and founder of Rehab Wealth Project.

When I graduated in 2016, I felt like a prisoner to my career and financial decisions. I was $170,000 in student loan debt. I was making less than $60,000 per year, and was already burning out in a high-volume clinic. I quickly became depressed and was completely overwhelmed by my situation. I knew that my financial situation was not sustainable and a radical change needed to be implemented.

So, I started experimenting. Over the next few years, I bounced around almost every setting imaginable, working in outpatient, schools, home health, and acute care. I picked up travel contracts, juggled multiple PRN shifts, and cut out every single unnecessary expense. It was an intense grind, but five years later, that $170,000 balance was completely gone.

But despite being debt-free, I began to hit another wall: burnout. I had been working so intensely that I started to lose motivation to practice as a PT. Once again, I made the same realization. This was not sustainable for me, at least not in this "40 hours per week until I'm 65" way of doing it. I knew I needed to build more options for myself. I knew I needed to develop another income stream.

I tried doing a cash-based side hustle, but that only made the burnout worse. I found myself sacrificing my precious spare time marketing myself and turning my social media into a self-promotional billboard. I knew I needed to develop a more straightforward path to another income stream. Then I learned about index investing.

The problem was, I didn't know anything about the stock market, investing, or creating passive income streams. I went to my local library and checked out every book on investing I could find. I listened to podcasts, read blogs, and spent hours scouring the IRS website to understand tax loopholes that benefit therapists. Platforms like the White Coat Investor and ChooseFI became my blueprints.

What I learned during those months opened up an entirely new way of looking at my future. Building financial freedom didn't require a secret, complicated formula. For my wife and I, it came down to aggressive but simple investing. We relied on core index funds, maximized traditional retirement accounts, and optimized our tax strategy. It was shockingly simple.

One of the biggest non-financial moves for us was being very intentional about defining what we valued in life. After several reflective conversations, we realized we didn't care about material possessions or keeping up with the neighbors. We valued our time, making memories, going on adventures, and sharing experiences. Focusing heavily on what actually brought us joy made the financial math a lot easier to solve, because we realized that those things often cost very little money.

A few years later, my wife finished her medical residency, and our savings accelerated even faster. Today, we have built enough passive income that I've been able to step back from the clinic, working just two days a week. The rest of my time is spent focusing on our young kids and building this project.

If you are a PT, OT, or SLP currently feeling trapped in a downward spiral of high productivity demands, declining patient care quality, and a stagnant salary, I want you to know that you are not stuck. I have been exactly where you are standing right now.

The path I took to reclaim my life is simple, though it is definitely not the most popular or conventional route. It requires making deliberate choices, and it might not be the right fit for everyone. But if you want a straightforward, practical roadmap to take back your time and fund the life you actually want to live, you are in the right place.

Welcome to the Rehab Wealth Project. Let's build a community and figure this out together.