Graduating doctors often have a significant problem to overcome – student loan debt. Many new doctors will not consider a job unless there is some form of debt repayment or ability for debt forgiveness. Jobs that offer debt repayment can end up being a golden handcuff that keeps new doctors attached to their job for potentially longer than they would like.… Read the rest
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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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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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The word entrepreneur in the past decade has seemed to take on a very different meaning, especially for new doctors. Two to three decades ago, being a doctor who was an entrepreneur often meant having a practice that was physician owned with a focus on growing this practice. Fast forward to today and many new physicians think of medicine and entrepreneurship as something that may no longer be possible for them. … Read the rest
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The popular TV show, Shark Tank, is a Hollywood snapshot of what some entrepreneurs go through in order to get to market. Yes, we all know that there are a lot of made for Hollywood moments. However, behind those dramatized moments are often stories of a struggle to build their dream.
My family is made up of various entrepreneurs. Each one started a company that could be described as a blue-collar industry.… Read the rest
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After seven years, I’ve finally done it. I’m back to having a positive net worth. The last time I had a positive net worth was in the year prior to medical school. I have to say it feels good to climb out of the hole and start to see some light at the end of the tunnel. Here is a synopsis of my past net worth and how I got to where I am today.… Read the rest
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Graduating medical school, residency, or fellowship is an exciting time as you turn to the next chapter of your career. After all the years of hard work, the paychecks have finally started to roll in. The next problem is deciding what to do with the money from those larger paychecks. I previously wrote about financial changes from going to a resident to an attending.… Read the rest
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February was a big spending month for me, actually the biggest yet excluding months when I took a vacation. In February I spent $902.17 on items or experiences that can only be classified as wants and not needs. If you think spending $902 on restaurants and going out with friends is out of control I would say that I completely agree.… Read the rest
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I have been tracking my expenses for years with excel files and PDF’s. The benefit of this is it gives me an ability to look back and see where I was able to save, and where I had large expenses. Both medical school and residency were filled with opportunity to spend large sums of money. In this post, I take a look back at some of the largest expenses during medical school and residency.… Read the rest
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