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I have been an avid reader for a while and have whipped a lot of my and my husband's financial situation into shape but I am having a lot of turmoil of choosing what to do after residency. When I read this blog and FIRE's posts about Drs A-D I can't help but feel like a dope for becoming a doctor but never being able to come close to earning the baseline $300k no matter where or how I live.
I'm currently midway through a well respected residency program in Pediatrics and have fallen in love with primary care pediatrics, especially in my continuity clinic where I see an underserved population that is probably 99% Medicaid. Fortunately everyone in Pediatrics gets paid on the low end so most fellowships are a wash. I do have colleagues doing second residencies in better paying fields and I can't help but feel jealous of the pay, though I absolutely love this field and feel lucky that this is my job. I am motivated and rewarded despite the challenges of residency.
I also read WCI and would like to live comfortably and be able to have kids and retire someday. Meanwhile I have student loans to pay since my parents couldn't contribute to med school. I chose my very cheap state school but still ended up with about $200k including some loans from my expensive undergrad. We are in REPAYE and if I do primary care I'll hopefully have PSLF eventually. My husband has no debt but also makes about $50k and won't likely earn much more over his career unless something wild happens. Of course we also live in and love our high COLA, close to my family and the shortest distance from his family that we could be while still in the USA.
We invest in a Roth (about 5% gross annual income right now), are 2/3 of the way to our 3-month E fund (about 7% gross going in right now), pay my loans (8%), and try to live modestly. I have disability insurance and my car is paid for. But I'm afraid that despite all this we're going to have to watch my med school classmates sail by us in terms of lifestyle because I chose a rewarding but low paying specialty. I try to avoid coming on this forum before bed because it gives me so much anxiety that we'll be stuck in this tight-feeling place forever!
Is that crazy? Is it that eventually we can have it all but not all at the same time? Or do I need to accept moving away from home and try to find a high paying private practice job?? How much do we as doctors have to sacrifice in one direction or the other--either for the satisfying job or the highest paying one?
I'm currently midway through a well respected residency program in Pediatrics and have fallen in love with primary care pediatrics, especially in my continuity clinic where I see an underserved population that is probably 99% Medicaid. Fortunately everyone in Pediatrics gets paid on the low end so most fellowships are a wash. I do have colleagues doing second residencies in better paying fields and I can't help but feel jealous of the pay, though I absolutely love this field and feel lucky that this is my job. I am motivated and rewarded despite the challenges of residency.
I also read WCI and would like to live comfortably and be able to have kids and retire someday. Meanwhile I have student loans to pay since my parents couldn't contribute to med school. I chose my very cheap state school but still ended up with about $200k including some loans from my expensive undergrad. We are in REPAYE and if I do primary care I'll hopefully have PSLF eventually. My husband has no debt but also makes about $50k and won't likely earn much more over his career unless something wild happens. Of course we also live in and love our high COLA, close to my family and the shortest distance from his family that we could be while still in the USA.
We invest in a Roth (about 5% gross annual income right now), are 2/3 of the way to our 3-month E fund (about 7% gross going in right now), pay my loans (8%), and try to live modestly. I have disability insurance and my car is paid for. But I'm afraid that despite all this we're going to have to watch my med school classmates sail by us in terms of lifestyle because I chose a rewarding but low paying specialty. I try to avoid coming on this forum before bed because it gives me so much anxiety that we'll be stuck in this tight-feeling place forever!
Is that crazy? Is it that eventually we can have it all but not all at the same time? Or do I need to accept moving away from home and try to find a high paying private practice job?? How much do we as doctors have to sacrifice in one direction or the other--either for the satisfying job or the highest paying one?
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