Financial goals you've achieved this year (2016)?

[doclude]

MotilityDoc wrote:

Those prices are unfortunately low-normal for NYC area.  Will be facing tough decision next year when job hunt starts- stay in area, make less money, pay more for cost of living, but be near family…. or the opposite of those.  There must be a balance somewhere….

On another note, any recommendations for getting a better guarantee than 1% on the 300k+ in the MMA we have? The 200 bucks a month interests seems ridiculous.  Looking to use it as down payment in 2-3 years

Anyone else in this same situation?

You and i are in the same boat. I have worked for 7 years after fellowship in NYC.

the plus side is i have a job that is steady (Academic division chief in an ivy league hospital) and have been paid decently well with lots of 1099 side income. but cost of living is crazy!

i also have saved 300k for a house. i have it in a 1% account as well. wish i could figure out what to do to earn a better return. seems like interest rates are on the rise so a CD doesn't make as much sense.

regarding relocating--i have interviewed outside. there is a plus and minus to everything. recently i was offered nearly double my current salary to move to New Orleans. but i would be far from family, didn't really love the area, and still have earning potential in my current job. I asked for a raise and was given a 20% bump, with an incentive system as well. now the question is should i keep looking elsewhere.

[hightower]

MotilityDoc wrote:

DINK, new to forum, inspired by these posts!  2.5 years left in fellowship. High cost of living area, hard to save as much as others here!

 

 

Achieved 450k net worth, cut down student loans (0% from family) 120k to 60k

Totaled ~300k in MMA- to be used for house down payment (currently renting at 4.5k/mo)

150k in taxable investments- low fee ETFs

Wife’s 401k with ~75k, mine with ~20k

 

Our plan for 2017 is to max out 401k, roth ira, start HSAs, increase MMA to 350 (should cover 20% of any house around here for post-fellowship) before committing remainder to taxable investments (saving rate has been ~30% of after tax dollars).

 

 

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This post is probably too long but here it goes...

I totally get why people love living in NYC.  My wife and I spend at least a week or two there a year visiting my sister in law in Brooklyn.  Its an amazing place and has some of the most interesting people, the best food, shopping, entertainment, etc, in the entire world.  Saying its awesome does it no justice.  Plus, if you have family there and it is considered "home" to you, that makes it even more special.  I totally understand that.
BUT, in my opinion owning NYC real estate is for multi-millionaires only.

You're talking about a $350k down payment, and so if that's 20% down we're talking about a $1.7-1.8 million dollar property? I'm assuming a condo/loft/apartment of some sort, not an entire building that you could live in and rent out additional units?

That means you're looking at a mortgage of around $1.5 million dollars.  How much will you and your significant other earn once when you're done with fellowship (you certainly don't have to answer that if you don't feel comfortable doing so)?  If you're following the WCI recommendations, your mortgage should not be more than 2X your salary.  So, you need to be pulling in a combined $750K a year minimum for that kind of mortgage if you want to feel like you're being financially wise.  WCI could afford to buy that property, but even his high net worth and excellent income would take a big hit doing so.

If you've got that kind of income and are okay with that kind of debt, then go for it and congrats on all the hard work you've put in to get where you are!  Seriously, I mean that  You can stop reading at this point.  But, if you don't have that kind of income, I would say don't even think about it.  That much debt for housing is not worth it in my opinion (unless you're able to buy a building and rent out a few units to cover a big portion of your monthly payments, which I realize a lot of people do in NYC).

You could live anywhere you want outside of NYC, LA, or San Francisco and be a very wealthy person from the start with the amount of cash you already have saved.  If you don't absolutely have your heart set on NYC, I would consider taking that $350k, start investing it in your taxable account, and move somewhere with reasonable real estate prices and start dumping large sums of money into retirement accounts each year.  This assumes a lot because I have no idea what your income is, but you could be a multi-millionaire in probably 6 or 7 years (assuming at least 500k starting investment balance, 12k a month savings, and 8% return) and you could be completely financially independent before you know it.  At that point you could move back to the city if you wanted to and it wouldn't be as much of a stretch because your net worth would be so high. The advantage to waiting is that once you have millions invested, your money will be working hard to keep you wealthy for the rest of your life and you'll have the ability to work because you want to, not because you have to.

Anyway, hope I don't sound preachy because I'm certainly not someone with any real authority on the subject. I just felt compelled to comment because whenever I hear how much people spend on housing in places like that I can't help but think of the wealth building potential they're missing out on.

[shantster]

Made it to the negative 5 figure net worth for the first time.

Maxed out Roth IRA and contributed to the max of the match on my 403b - have done both since graduating medical school in 2012.

Refinanced federal student loans to DRB for better interest rate.

Got disability insurance.

Accepted my first attending job to start in the summer.

Happy incoming 2017 to all!

[hightower]

shantster wrote:

Made it to the negative 5 figure net worth for the first time.

Maxed out Roth IRA and contributed to the max of the match on my 403b – have done both since graduating medical school in 2012.

Refinanced federal student loans to DRB for better interest rate.

Got disability insurance.

Accepted my first attending job to start in the summer.

Happy incoming 2017 to all!

Click to expand...

Great job!  You're better off than I was at your stage!  Keep paying down your debt, plan on maxing out your 401k and do a backdoor roth contribution each year.  You'll be in solid shape in no time.  Keep it up!

[adventure]

- Both have new jobs!

- Moved to state where we want to live

- Bought a house

[NaOH]

.

[sealsmith217]

Fully funded my 2 y.o. daughter's prepaid 529 plan.

[BurnedoutDoc]

For motilitydoc and doclude I want to give you the other side of living in nyc.  People who do not live here think we are all crazy for living in such a high cost area.  But for some people the job opportunities for themselves or spouses or having nearby family makes nyc the place to be.  You can start with a smaller apt 1 or 2 bedroom and upgrade in 5 to 7 years.  If you are going to live in nyc, you have to believe that owning an apt in nyc will always be a good financial decision.  If you do not think that, then do not buy here because you are going to be putting a lot of your money aside to do this.  I think you will always be able to get your money back and probably make a nice profit.  Then you move to a lower cost of living area after retirement.  There is a reason the chinese/russians/europeans are buying expensive condos here.  It is viewed as a relatively safe haven for money.  And if some big bad thing happens in the city, the whole stock market will go down also.

Make sure you buy where there are good public schools because if you think you can send your kids to private school on a doctor's salary, think again!

[hightower]

I don't think its crazy to live in NYC personally.  I think its an amazing city and I have always wanted to experience living there myself.  If you have a good job and are able to find an affordable place that you're happy with, then great.  However, I feel like the real estate there is going to have to decline at some point.  It seems like Manhattan is completely unaffordable for all but the super wealthy (top 1% crowd), unless you are cool with renting a closet, haha.  And prices in Brooklyn have been quickly soaring for some time now too, even in neighborhoods pretty far away.  I just don't see how the current rate of increasing prices is sustainable.  I mean how much more expensive can it get?  Maybe it will just keep going up for ever, who knows.

With that being said, I think you're right that owning property in NYC is always going to be valuable.  Even if there is a big decline in the market and your property value took a big hit, just hold on to it long enough and you'll end up being fine in the long run.  Surely the market would eventually recover...its New York City!  Unless there's a zombie apocalypse.  Then you'd probably want to get the heck out of there.