IM-PCP – Page 60 – Physician In Numbers

Staying the Course

A little bit ago, I was looking through the forum at the White Coat Investor site. Someone posted looking for support in staying the course. They had discovered the financial independence movement 2 years ago, and were in the long slog (as described very well at Our Next Life) between the excited discovery stage and the finish line.

In reflection, I realized it was just over 4 years ago that I discovered Mr. Money Mustache and fell down the rabbit hole of the financial blogosphere.

Budgeting for Intern Year

Congratulations! You’ve matched into residency, hopefully into the field and site of your choice.

The coming years will be busy, full of learning and service; also exciting, fun, amazing, and a bit stressful.

If you are a traditional student who went straight through high school, college, and medical school, this may be the first time you have earned a decent salary that you had to live on.

You might be a little worried about your budget during residency. You probably have plenty of medical school loans, and you won’t yet be making “doctor money.” This isn’t necessarily the time to pay off all your student loans, but certainly this is a very appropriate time to make sure you are living within your means. If you do this, you are setting yourself up for financial success once you finish training and make a higher income.

Fitness Log #23

One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.

I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals is to make sure that I get my 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise, which probably won’t happen). I was doing well enough that I added a second goal of 60 minutes of strength training a week; I totally backslid after a tough two weeks (bad weather, draining rotation in the hospital).

Wednesday Wool-gathering

I have some scattered thoughts, none really worthy of a full post.

Frugality Fails

This is a rewrite of a post I started a few months ago, in which I was going to detail all the cool tips and tricks my husband and I employed to reduce our spending when I took a pay cut. Unfortunately, things didn’t turn out as we had hoped.

Fitness Log #22

One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.

I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals is to make sure that I get my 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise, which probably won’t happen). I was doing well enough that I added a second goal of 60 minutes of strength training a week; I’m still working my way up to that part of the goal.

Anticipation

I’m going through a tough time now. I’m working long hours, and I can’t say I am loving winter. In fact, Spring is welcome to drop in, any time it feels ready.

Normally when I start feeling like this, I’d start daydreaming about my next trip. I would browse the internet to consider various destinations, maybe even finding a plane ticket, or looking at hotels to stay in.

Get Your FULL Salary

For the employed physician out there, your salary comes to you in forms other than your monthly paycheck. This post is a reminder not to give some of it away.

Fitness Log #21

One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.

I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals is to make sure that I get my 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise, which probably won’t happen). I was doing well enough that I added a second goal of 60 minutes of strength training a week; I’m still working my way up to that part of the goal.

Women in Medicine and Personal Finance

I recently found some papers related to my time with AMWA (the American Medical Women’s Association), and was reminded of an experience I had in medical school.

Both my undergraduate college and medical school were rather late to admit women. Women were still in the minority at both schools when I enrolled, which left me with an interest in Women in Medicine while a student.

I attended pretty much every meeting for female medical students while in school. In my senior year, I remember a comment an older (faculty) doctor made, something along the lines of “here you are again.” The implication (at least what I heard) was “it’s much better now, why do you keep coming to these talks?”