Finance – Physician In Numbers

Future Me, January 2025

Not long after the start of this blog, I cut my hours very slightly, and wanted to make sure I didn’t waste the extra time I was paying dearly for. I had started reading about preparing for retirement in non-financial ways, and I realized that it was time to start (re-) building a life that didn’t revolve solely around medicine.

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018 with lots of big goals, but even at the beginning, knew that I couldn’t follow all those dreams all at once.

Every few months, I try to look at what I have accomplished, and see if I can adjust course to focus my free time in the directions I wish I would go: increasing fitness, building (or maintaining) connections with friends, family and community, engaging with the arts, and, lately, keeping up with financial tasks.

My last update was in May 2024.

Life got pretty crazy since then, and I apparently failed to update my progress for over 7 months.

Not only is it time to review how well I have been pursuing those goals (probably not all that well…), but there is a little more urgency to reconsider what I want. I will be meeting with (one of) my bosses soon, to discuss how I envision my clinical goals going forward.

It’s hard to ask for what you want, when you haven’t really considered the question.

If I’m FI, Now What?

As I figured out in my last post, I think the PiN household is financially independent (FI).

This leads to the next question: will I retire early(-ish), the RE in FIRE?

Although I wasn’t sure about financial independence until I calculated our numbers for 2024, I have had a strong suspicion since the spring of 2024, when my taxable investment account hit, and then blew by, a very interesting round number. For several months, I have been kicking around the idea of stopping work vs. cutting back vs. continuing as I am.

With the financial excuses for why I can’t retire yet out of the way (mostly), I now have to seriously consider whether what I get out of work is worth what I give up to practice medicine.

Thoughts On Our 2024 Finances

As I have written many times before, I spend the time around New Year’s going through the spending for the past year. I also calculate my (our) net worth, which has been much more exciting in the past few years.

It’s mid-January, and I have, in fact, gone over the household spending and net worth.

Even though I waited until the very end of 2024 to review our 2023 spending, I thought I’d go through my thoughts on our 2024 spending and finances a little sooner.

How did we do?

Finances Of The Very Elderly

I may have mentioned that my father in law passed away in 2024.

Between one thing and another, Mr. PiN and I are dealing with settling the estate. This is made more difficult by the fact that Mr. PiN’s dad was unable to keep up with paperwork and financial tasks for several years before his death.

I recently spent a day off going through the last seven years of statements online. The goal was to look for payments related to his tax returns, but I found plenty of other interesting details.

Looking Back At 2024, Looking Forward To 2025

Happy New Year!

I don’t know about you, I am happy to bid goodbye to 2024, and say hello to 2025.

Before I consider resolutions (or plans) for 2025, I would like to review some of the highlights of 2024.

The year wasn’t all bad, and I find it is healthier for me to pay attention to things that have gone well, rather than always pointing out what needs to improve.

My Thoughts On Our Spending In 2023

Every year around the New Year (Eve or Day), I calculate my (our) net worth and tot up my (our) spending. [I’ve been doing this for many years, since well before I met Mr. PiN, so I will revert to the singular going forward, mostly.]

I have written about this on the blog before, usually in January.

So why am I writing now, at the end of 2024, about our 2023 spending?

Letting Loose On Vacation Spending?

Since Mr. PiN and I married, I have put away money every year for travel. It’s been the same amount every year–no increase for inflation–and I think we have only met or exceeded that number twice.

A Return To The Donor Advised Fund

This weekend I logged into my donor advised fund (DAF), to make a one-time donation in memory of a college friend’s wife. The process was quick and easy, no running around the house to find the check book, an envelope, a stamp. Click, click, click–all done.

While I was logged in, I decided to look at the total that has been donated in 2024.

Planning Is A Saving Super Tool

This past month has been a parade of high costs, what with a funeral, a professional exam (with a hotel stay the night before), and now a last minute vacation

The amount of money flowing out of the house has been…. amazing to me. Luckily, each time we pulled out the check book or plunked down the credit card, Mr. PiN and I were able to say: we have the money, this is what it’s for.

However, by seeing how expensive it is to do things at the last minute, it becomes clear that our habit of (usually) planning ahead has saved us a good chunk of money over the years.

In Praise Of Great Friends

Since early in the pandemic, I have been meeting weekly with a group of girlfriends via video.

We all knew each other before the pandemic, but even my closest friend didn’t meet up with me every week. After 4 years of (nearly) weekly meetings, I think we are all closer friends than before.

We are not all doctors, but we enjoy talking a little about medicine (for some reason, we especially love references to syphilis–don’t ask). Most weeks we just catch up on each others’ lives, our work challenges, our family woes, and lately our vacation plans, and support one another.

In the past 4 years, two of us have gotten promotions at work, and another took a new, more senior position. The last one, my friend with One More Year Syndrome, cut back on work and has her last day of work in her sights.