IM-PCP – Page 38 – Physician In Numbers

What Is A Good Budget For Intern Year?

It’s that time of year: Match Day has come and gone. Congratulations to all the students who matched!

Now it is time for a large number of graduating seniors to make decisions related to their first year as doctors.

If you stopped here for this post, then I am guessing you may have some concerns about making a budget for your internship year.

Though that time is long passed for me (I won’t say thank goodness, as it was a very exciting time), this question of what to budget in your first year as a doctor is something that I keep chewing over. I have written about it before, but am still trying to put things together in a better way. We will see if this year I can do better.

To read my prior attempts at answering this question, please see:

Fitness Log #129 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

I started the Friday Firsts sections as a way of keeping track of some of my “firsts” as I dealt with the COVID-19 pandemic. Things seem to be settling down, but I will keep it for now–more as a way to be aware and thankful of what is happening in my life.

Turn That Frown Upside Down!

During my recent vacation, I was overwhelmed by grumpiness. There was a big gulf between my usual expectations for vacation and what went down.

Fitness Log #128 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

Running On Empty

Today is day 1 of a vacation, one I have been looking forward to for about a month.

I knew I still couldn’t go anywhere (thank you, COVID), but I made big plans for my 4th staycation in 2 years.

Oh, the plans I had! Walking, tidying, decluttering, taking care of lots of postponed business. I wrote a list, and I got tired just writing it down.

Fitness Log #127 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

Fitness Log #126 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

A Year Of Decluttering

A few weeks ago, one of my patients who is also a doctor came in for a physical. As I was asking about drinking (drinking has gone up quite a bit during the pandemic), he said something I found quite interesting: At the end of this pandemic, people are either going to be a lot healthier [exercising more and eating better] or much unhealthier [substance use and exercising less]. He is totally right.

One year ago, I returned to the office after a meeting (one I attended remotely because of concerns about this new virus out of Wuhan) to a new hospital, one preparing for an onslaught of very ill people with a disease we might catch and die from. Stay at home orders had been issued. It was the real beginning of the pandemic for me.

I did a little more drinking last Spring, to be sure, but as I spent more time at home, I looked around and decided it was really time to deal with the messes I had been ignoring as I rushed to work each day.

Fitness Log #125 And Friday Firsts

I have been keeping track of my exercise every Friday for over 2 years, and plan to continue doing so.

What Does Saving 20% Get You?

Last week I read this post by The Prudent Plastic Surgeon, which starts out calling a savings rate of 20% “pretty much mandatory” for building wealth. I think this is a fine goal. He writes that paying down debt should count, as it improves your net worth (which it does).

I wasn’t so sure. After all, if your plan relies on saving and investing 20% of your money for 30 years in order to build up your nest egg, then using some of that money to pay off debt should, in theory, mean that you come up short.

As I was walking this weekend, I was thinking about this more and more, and was getting more and more annoyed. I figured it was time to bring out the numbers and see how this worked.