Finance – Page 18 – Physician In Numbers

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.

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?”

Retrospective Budgeting: the 10% Rule

One of my big financial regrets is not having had a good plan for my money when I started my first attending job. My salary increased by about 150%, and I wanted to be sure I made the most of it. Finding the right balance of saving and splurging (or taking care of things I had put off for years because of I couldn’t afford it), was pretty stressful for me.

At the time, personal finance blogs, let alone physician personal finance blogs, weren’t nearly as easy to find as they are now.

I thought it might be interesting to apply a few of the doctor blogger financial rules of thumb to my first attending year, and see how I did. Since I did not have as much student debt as seems to be typical these days, I also will see how these numbers might look for a PCP just starting out with 6-figure student debt.

Retrospective Budgeting: Live Like a Resident

At the time, personal finance blogs, let alone physician personal finance blogs, weren’t nearly as easy to find as they are now.

Retrospective Budgeting: the Live on Half Challenge.

At the time, personal finance blogs, let alone physician personal finance blogs, weren’t nearly as easy to find as they are now.

I thought it might be interesting to apply a few of the doctor blogger financial rules of thumb to my first attending year, and see how I did. Since I did not have as much student debt as seems to be typical these days, I also will see how these numbers might look a PCP just starting out with 6-figure student debt.

Retrospective Budgeting: the 50/20/30 Rule

One of my big financial regrets is not having a better plan for my money when I started my first attending job and finally started making the big bucks. Which, since I went into primary care, wasn’t all that big an amount compared to what other specialties can make.

At the time, blogs weren’t quite as much a thing, and personal finance blogs weren’t nearly as easy to find as they are now.

I thought it might be interesting to apply a few of the financial rules of thumb to my starting salary, and see how I did. I will also think about running similar numbers of someone starting out in 2019.

Other People and Your Money, or Managing Expectations

During my recent travels, I had the unusual experience of finding myself with an extra, unplanned day in Las Vegas. The weather had turned bad at our next destination, and my spouse and I chose to reroute, rather than driving on icy roads in a rented car.

Once we had new plans, the question became: what to do with ourselves? We had already done what we had planned (see the Strip on New Year’s Eve, which was a blast!), but now we had another 24 hours.

A peculiar thing happened: I started thinking about what I would tell friends and co-workers about this extra day. I could hear them saying: you didn’t go to a show? Eat at a buffet? Gamble?

Stepping onto the hedonic treadmill

My husband and I have been traveling to visit family recently, and with one thing and another, have had the opportunity to go through the TSA Precheck line, and also to use Priority Pass membership (free with our credit card) to get into airport lounges. Benefiting from these programs was very pleasant, but also thought-provoking.

What I Do Every New Year’s For My Finances

Every year for over a decade, I have taken time around the turn of the year to do the following:

Calculate my net worth
Review and categorize my spending
Write down goals for my money, and decide how I will fund them.

I recommend this as a yearly exercise for those who want to keep an eye on their money.

This year, thanks to my travel plans, I got to this a little later than usual. I thought I would go through the process here for you.

Can I Still Afford to Max Out My Retirement Savings?

I recently received an e-mail from work, reminding me that for 2019, the maximum pre-tax contribution to the 403(b) has gone up. For those under 50, it has increased from $18,500 to $19,000; for those 50 or older (including those who turn 50 in 2019), the maximum has gone from $24,500 to $25,000.

I was reminded–yet again–that turning 50 is a special time. As a PCP, I usually have other issues on the brain when thinking about this landmark year.