Graduating from residency or fellowship with large amount of student debt can feel a lot like standing in front of a mountain. It’s hard to see the end when the debt load is overwhelming. Most of the people I know who have over a quarter million in debt fall into one of two categories. The first group is individuals who feel that the amount of medical school debt seems hopeless.… Read the rest
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It’s no secret that physicians in private practice often times make more money than their colleagues in academic medicine. For hospitalist, the difference in pay can be greater than $100,000 a year! However, taking a job in academia is not all about income. There are many benefits that academic medicine gives to doctors that private practice jobs can fall short on.… Read the rest
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One way to minimize debt is to obtain scholarships for medical school. There are two main reasons why my student debt was lower than the average doctor. First, I went to a less expensive medical school. Second, I was able to get more than 35,000 dollars in scholarships for medical school. Not one of the scholarships came easy. Each one took a lot of effort to find.… Read the rest
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Investors enjoy looking forward to future gains. The past can have little to do with predicting the future. However, it’s fun to play with some statistics to see how a portfolio would have fared in previous boom or bust cycles. A website aims to put a little perspective on portfolios. For investor, I find it interesting to see how a portfolio would have fared in a boom or bust cycle.… Read the rest
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Most new doctors do not last more than several years at their first job. Depending on which site you read, anywhere from 40-70% of people will end up switching jobs within 5 years of starting their first job. Some specialties such as hospital medicine have a very high job turnover rate. Leaving a job so soon can have drastic negative financial consequences.… Read the rest
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One of the most common questions that medical students, residents, or fellows will ask is should I use REPAYE or PAYE? These two programs seem to be the most popular plans available with IBR being a close third. Determining what plan is right for you could save you thousands of dollars if unable to use the standard repayment plan or refinance for lower interest rate.… Read the rest
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There are several occasions when it may make sense to delay contributing to tax advantaged retirement accounts. Tax advantaged retirement accounts include plans such as a 401k, or an IRA. For most people, it is in their best interest to invest in these retirement accounts. However for certain situations, it may actually make sense to delay contributing to these retirement accounts.… Read the rest
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In many ares of medicine, there is the ability to undergo additional training for specialization. For most specialties, additional training via fellowship usually means increased income. One example of increased income is a physician who completed an internal medicine residency and then goes on to complete a cardiology fellowship.
Internal medicine is a 3 year program. Cardiology is at minimum another 3 years of fellowship beyond internal medicine training.… Read the rest
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This year I’ve finally made enough money to reach the Social Security contribution cutoff. The Social Security paycheck bonus occurs when an individual makes more than $127,200 per year. Any income beyond this amount no longer has taxes taken out for Social Security. New attendings who scrutinize their paycheck may notice a nice bump up in the take home pay when this threshold is reached.… Read the rest
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We’ve all heard the line before, “If you didn’t document it, it didn’t happen.” This phrase is often used in medical training as a method to strive for better documentation. Though there is some truth to this phrase, some residents and physicians have taken it a bit too literal. The phrase in some aspects has morphed into a way to encourage doctors to cover their tail.… Read the rest
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