A few observations based on limited data... A good friend hit everything right. MD/Phd on a full ride followed by a high-prestige post-doc that included inter

A few observations based on limited data... A good friend hit everything right. MD/Phd on a full ride followed by a high-prestige post-doc that included international research. It took him until his late 30s to be comfortable financially, but now he's in his early 40s worried about tenure since the NIH is cutting grands. And he doesn't have a lot of backup options. The painful thing is I can't think of him doing anything else with his talents. It's unfortunate. The flip side is I see a lot Phds in areas like Computer Science, Math and Physics who can reinvent themselves as soon as they decide the Phd hamster wheel is done. (Or can step off a few years in)