Finance – Page 21 – Physician In Numbers

When Are You Rich?

As Thanksgiving approaches, it seems time to pay special attention to the blessings and riches we enjoy.

All the Cool Girls are Doing It, or Why I’m Trying To Kill My Mortgage

Lately I’ve been seeing quotes about keeping track of the company you keep; usually the one that says you are the average of the 5 people you surround yourself with. I had always thought of myself as an independent thinker and maybe, even, a mild rebel. However, I realize that I am absolutely not as independent-minded as I think (wish?) I were. And that is how I find myself paying off my mortgage.

Not Quite What I Was Hoping For

I may have mentioned that I am taking a pay cut to reduce my hours. The plan is that with a slightly shorter day, I can finish earlier, and spend some time on my life outside the office, maybe working on future me.

Today was my first day with the shorter schedule. I had lots of patients who need extra time, but were scheduled for 15 minute visits. The electronic medical record wasn’t cooperating. Despite the supposedly shorter schedule, I finished at same time I used to finish, and went home just as late (actually, later) as I did before the change.

I can tell myself thank goodness my schedule was truncated, otherwise I’d have been in the office even later; but right now, I’m just not feeling the love. We’ll see how things turn out going forward.

Hiding Money from Myself, or Giving Each Dollar a Job

Last year I finally got around to making an updated will, which means I had to open up my financial life to a stranger. My lawyer offered a number of unsolicited opinions about our situation, but the one that I am still thinking about is his comment about the multiple accounts my husband and I maintain. He seemed to think this was silly, and that we should be able to manage just fine with one or two accounts if only we were financially responsible. I beg to differ.

FSAs and HSAs

Monday I wrote about picking a health insurance plan. I compared the cost of the premiums and the costs for the care I expect us to use.

Today, I am going to cover the FSA (Flexible Spending Account) and HSA (Health Savings Account), which are tax free accounts that can help lower the cost of health care when you have to pay for it.

Choosing Medical Insurance

It’s that time of the year again. Benefits enrollment, when you have to pick your insurance plan (medical and maybe dental), decide on an FSA or HSA, and generally review any other benefits that come with your job.

I know a lot of my patients aren’t always clear on what their options are, so I thought I’d go through the process here. I was pretty sure before I started which plan I would pick, but it’s always good to review.

On Good Citizenship, or Don’t be a Pig

One of the issues have with some of the frugality blogs out there–and don’t get me wrong, I love reading them–is the excitement? Pride? Exhortation? to take advantage of free things. It especially bothers me when I know that the author is no longer struggling financially.

I should point out that as I write this, I have just taken advantage of free admission to a museum while staying (for free) at a relative’s home in another city. So I get the appeal of the cheap/free treat.

Our “free” vacation through travel hacking

I love to travel. My husband loves to travel. We both love to save money. We are a great team ;-). In the last few years, finally, we have been able to travel overseas, and have been getting better at money-saving tricks. There are so many posts on the internet about travel hacking, I was curious to see if we could take a nice vacation for free (or super cheap). I don’t profess to be an expert, but I tried to use as many options as possible on our latest vacation, and I wanted to lay the results out in one place. I might compare and contrast with our prior methods. Here goes:

The Different Speeds of Money

I was listening the other night to a talk about testosterone and investing, and why this isn’t the best combination. Something about risks, returns, and not beating the market. And it struck me–do you really need to Beat the Market. The answer is no. And yes. But no.

Really, the answer is–how fast do you NEED your money to grow.

I Bought a House In Residency, or Do As I Say, Not As I do.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I was a senior medical student looking to buy a house. There were no blogs back then–let alone the doctor financial blogs we have now–detailing why this is a bad idea. Or maybe a silly idea. To be fair, my Dad wasn’t so keen on it, but at that stage of life I wasn’t listening.