Hello mostly doctors

[FamilyFirst]

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, but I began my journey toward financial independence a little over a year ago when I was working as a scribe before medical school. I originally stumbled across Mr Money Mustache. After I read through a lot of his posts, I ended up here wanting to learn more that will be specifically relevant to me one day.

As a student, I often feel that my financial situation (especially net worth) are moving backwards and deeper into the red. I will be a second year very soon, and I would like to do family medicine and work with underserved medical populations. For this reason, I applied to the NHSC scholarship program this year. With the rising costs of medical school and loan interest rates, I feel like this is a good move considering it is aligned with my goals. Also, there are many sites all over the country, so I don't feel pigeonholed really.

As far as my actual finances and living situation goes, I live with my girlfriend (also a medical student), and we live on about $30,000 a year. All things considered, I believe this is reasonable. I pay off my credit cards every month, car is paid off, we rent a house, and I don't feel that I am missing out on anything due to a lack of money. I have also taken the time to write out a financial policy statement; this will help guide my finances moving forward.

I look forward to reading through the forums and interacting with many of you here.

[q-school]

welcome!   congratulations on finding your passion so early!

I feel like medical school is so hard that you need to do some things to keep your mental health.

Focusing on saving every penny can be a detriment, and frequently the options you have to better prepare for your future are limited to planning at the medical student level.  take out less loans.  spend less.  interview smart.  blah blah blah

my suggestions are simply to do what you can to learn as much as possible and ace step 1.  that will open up the most doors in the future.

if you are already reading here, you will pick up lots of tips and be ready when the time comes to make more definitive moves towards financial independence when the opportunities arise.

 

[Kamban]

Just a couple of suggestions

1. Enjoy life a bit. Medical school is stressful. Don't pinch every penny. As you have already done don't have any credit card debt carried over each month. Have some emergency savings but also take some vacations, even if it is local and cheap ones. Those are the most memorable in life.

2. Don't get too fixated on one specialty. As you go through rotations you might find your interests changing. The first year is too early to decide on the one and only.

[jfoxcpacfp]

Welcome, FamilyFirst! You've gotten some great advice. Mine would be to be cautious about any financial professionals who the school brings in or endorses (sad to say, I know) unless you have determined they are fiduciaries. Particularly any that encourage you to take on a cent more debt than you need to (I've heard these stories a lot lately). You'll learn a lot more about the good and bad of financial advisors here.

And spread the message of WCI to your classmates - happy learning!

[WallStreetPhysician]

FamilyFirst wrote:

Hello everyone,

I am new to this forum, but I began my journey toward financial independence a little over a year ago when I was working as a scribe before medical school. I originally stumbled across Mr Money Mustache. After I read through a lot of his posts, I ended up here wanting to learn more that will be specifically relevant to me one day.

As a student, I often feel that my financial situation (especially net worth) are moving backwards and deeper into the red. I will be a second year very soon, and I would like to do family medicine and work with underserved medical populations. For this reason, I applied to the NHSC scholarship program this year. With the rising costs of medical school and loan interest rates, I feel like this is a good move considering it is aligned with my goals. Also, there are many sites all over the country, so I don’t feel pigeonholed really.

As far as my actual finances and living situation goes, I live with my girlfriend (also a medical student), and we live on about $30,000 a year. All things considered, I believe this is reasonable. I pay off my credit cards every month, car is paid off, we rent a house, and I don’t feel that I am missing out on anything due to a lack of money. I have also taken the time to write out a financial policy statement; this will help guide my finances moving forward.

I look forward to reading through the forums and interacting with many of you here.

Click to expand...

Welcome! It looks like you're off to a great financial start. While it can be intimidating to see your student loan balance grow each semester, soon enough you'll be out of school and making a decent salary as a resident. And just three years after that, you'll be making good money as a family physician, doing what you love. With smart financial planning, you don't need to be making specialist money to meet your financial goals.

-WSP

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

FamilyFirst wrote:

I am new to this forum, but I began my journey toward financial independence a little over a year ago when I was working as a scribe before medical school. I originally stumbled across Mr Money Mustache. After I read through a lot of his posts, I ended up here wanting to learn more that will be specifically relevant to me one day.

Click to expand...

Welcome FamilyFirst!

Love the name, by the way. Good for you for pursuing the NHSC scholarship -- if your goal is to deliver primary care in an underserved area, you might as well take advantage of a program that supports you for it. Just be sure you don't make any plans that could compromise a couples match, which could be in your future. But I don't think that program does -- you serve your time in an approved facility after residency, correct?

I found WCI in a similar way. Read MMM and was captivated. Started looking for physician specific info and found WCI. A couple years later, I found myself hanging out with them on back-to-back days. Great guys. Great sites.

Cheers!
-PoF

[FamilyFirst]

PhysicianOnFIRE wrote:

FamilyFirst wrote:

I am new to this forum, but I began my journey toward financial independence a little over a year ago when I was working as a scribe before medical school. I originally stumbled across Mr Money Mustache. After I read through a lot of his posts, I ended up here wanting to learn more that will be specifically relevant to me one day. 

Click to expand…

Welcome FamilyFirst!

Love the name, by the way. Good for you for pursuing the NHSC scholarship — if your goal is to deliver primary care in an underserved area, you might as well take advantage of a program that supports you for it. Just be sure you don’t make any plans that could compromise a couples match, which could be in your future. But I don’t think that program does — you serve your time in an approved facility after residency, correct?

I found WCI in a similar way. Read MMM and was captivated. Started looking for physician specific info and found WCI. A couple years later, I found myself hanging out with them on back-to-back days. Great guys. Great sites.

Cheers!
-PoF

Click to expand...

Hi PoF,

I'm glad to see you are active on multiple forums. You have actually given me good advice before on the MMM forums, over there I go by Brokefuturedoctor. Broke currently of course not in the future. Also, you are correct about the NHSC obligation not starting until after residency.

I enjoyed your interview on the WCI podcast recently. I am both glad that he has started putting those out and that he had you on as a guest. It was funny how you just basically fell into financial independence. I will be reading more of your blog soon.

FF

 

Thank you to everyone who has welcomed me to the forums. I always appreciate good advice, seeing new perspectives, and learning new things.

[StarTrekDoc]

Welcome!

Keep focused and study hard.  The key to FI is sufficient income.  You already have your finances and plan developed.  The key for next 4 years is the academics.

That said, you don't need to be a complete bum either.  We had a group for MS that determined a great way to keep sane was to plan a europe backpacking shoestring trip after Step 1.  It was great to have a scheduled group meeting after each module, distraction from the daily grind and a palpable goal for us to keep focused.

Point is that it's okay to have a little fun to balance the grind of medical school.  Like your handle reflects, balance is needed for the secret of life.