First real job questions

[SValleyMD]

This one is up to the spouse in my opinion. If she deep down wants to be near family or stay in her job than convincing her to go elsewhere is a recipe for a future disaster. So adjust the lifestyle on the pay and enjoy the good weather.

[slippingsloth]

Lol yeah I did all my training in california, wife and I are both from california. All our friends and family are in california, so there is all that.

[RJ]

Lol. That's the problem in CA, isn't it? Native Californians want to come back here after training and others who are not from here want to come here! Double whammy!

[Zaphod]

tex wrote:

I was in a similar position. Finishing fellowship this year, wife established in her career with a similar salary and geographic restriction (though bc of being in academics). We also have major friendships here and family close by. We decided up front that we didn’t want to live apart, so other than that option being off the table, pretty similar.

My new paycheck probably won’t make jaws drop here, but we’re fortunate to have <25k debt so no big deal. Plus I have a QOL friendly schedule, wife stays at her position, we get to stay close to friends which are hard to find these days…

Like others posted I would keep interviewing, but sit down and talk about shared priorities with your wife. If you join her in LA vs somewhere else your combined income/ability to save/ability to pay off debt/ability to have other experiences/whatever will be X vs Y… does that matter? Depends on the couple and the situation. Figure out together what your expectations are financially vs the reality so you can adjust expectations now if need be.

 

Off topic – not my job to convince anybody that Texas is great, but it is   And I say that as someone who always get mistaken as being from the west coast. I’ve noticed that usually people who unequivocally knock a place have never lived there, or didn’t do it right when they did.

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Lived in Texas far too long. Just as so many Texans dont want to be anywhere else, we all have our preferences. Having lived all over the country, I think it gives great perspective to see so many different places from a local view. Its absolutely wild how different the US is. Just meant that SoCal/NorCal metro areas are tough comparisons to Texas since the differences are stark in meaningful how you want to approach your life ways, and quite possibly politically/religiously as well. If the person in question likes that about Cali, they will have a harder time, if they dont, they'll probably love it. I had some great times in Texas, but just prefer the west coast which is most likely because I grew up here and am of that frame of mind, just like those from their neck of the woods have their proclivities. There are lots of places I'd love to try out though, even internationally, would be fun.

[VagabondMD]

hatton1 wrote:

I am flabbergasted that radiology jobs are hard to find.  Your wife may want to work because she loves her career and her self esteem and identity is tied to it.  I think medical jobs and incomes really go through cycles.  Has your wife ever visited Texas?  I have never lived there but my brother does and he loves it.

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It is my observation, as a radiologist who has had some difficulty filling positions within his own practice, that the jobs are out there, but not where people want to live and or not in their subspecialty area. If you want to do mammo in the Midwest, you could probably go wherever you want to go and like command a good starting salary. Nuclear medicine in New York City? Probably a lot more limited.

[tex]

I was in a similar position. Finishing fellowship this year, wife established in her career with a similar salary and geographic restriction (though bc of being in academics). We also have major friendships here and family close by. We decided up front that we didn't want to live apart, so other than that option being off the table, pretty similar.

My new paycheck probably won't make jaws drop here, but we're fortunate to have <25k debt so no big deal. Plus I have a QOL friendly schedule, wife stays at her position, we get to stay close to friends which are hard to find these days...

Like others posted I would keep interviewing, but sit down and talk about shared priorities with your wife. If you join her in LA vs somewhere else your combined income/ability to save/ability to pay off debt/ability to have other experiences/whatever will be X vs Y... does that matter? Depends on the couple and the situation. Figure out together what your expectations are financially vs the reality so you can adjust expectations now if need be.

 

Off topic - not my job to convince anybody that Texas is great, but it is  :P And I say that as someone who always get mistaken as being from the west coast. I've noticed that usually people who unequivocally knock a place have never lived there, or didn't do it right when they did.

[Zaphod]

RJ wrote:

Raster wrote:

Does your wife understand that her $100k/year job may cost your family $200k/year? Between your possibly dramatically reduced income, significant costs associated with having both spouses working, CA income taxes, and reduced flexibility to walk away from a bad deal if you are tied to a location by your spouse, she should consider carefully if her job is worth paying $Xx,xxx/month for the privilege of working. I know a number of specialties where it is indeed a 5 digit number when you are talking about SF or LA, and the first number isn’t a one. Depending on the locations you are comparing, when you combine the reduced income and inflated COL, your time to financial independence can be decades longer.

If it is a family thing – get a good miles credit card and fly them out a few times per year.

Don’t forget that her income will be taxed at your marginal rate which could be over 50% in California.

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I am going to play devil’s advocate here. Both my wife and I are physicians and are from CA. We have done our “training dance” around the country for over 10 years and lived on the east coast and other places. Could not WAIT to get back home. It has been a few years now and we are both established in LA. Couldn’t be happier. Yes, I know we could go to rural Montana and make a killing, but you know what life’s too short. I wake up every day with a smile on my face knowing I am where I want to be. I say keep looking for opportunities. Also, how about Teleradiology??? I friend of mine is doing it and is very happy. Grated I am not in radiology and don’t know the details of this set up. OP, if you want general info about LA area, etc., feel free to shoot me a PM.

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Absolutely agree. I went all over the country as well in training, south/midwest, east coast/rustbelt, etc...and could not wait to be back in Cali. I live 2h out of LA normal traffic, jobs are plentiful and pay well, and col isnt extreme. Lots of neighboring LA areas that are good and much better than a longer distance relationship. You get what you pay for as they say, I think its worth it as well. Im not jealous of my friends that live in super rural Kentucky making a slight bit more (also work more) at all.

LA to Texas is a rough transition, only Austin is pretty nice, and even that doesnt compare.

[Hatton]

I am flabbergasted that radiology jobs are hard to find.  Your wife may want to work because she loves her career and her self esteem and identity is tied to it.  I think medical jobs and incomes really go through cycles.  Has your wife ever visited Texas?  I have never lived there but my brother does and he loves it.

[RJ]

Raster wrote:

Does your wife understand that her $100k/year job may cost your family $200k/year? Between your possibly dramatically reduced income, significant costs associated with having both spouses working, CA income taxes, and reduced flexibility to walk away from a bad deal if you are tied to a location by your spouse, she should consider carefully if her job is worth paying $Xx,xxx/month for the privilege of working. I know a number of specialties where it is indeed a 5 digit number when you are talking about SF or LA, and the first number isn’t a one. Depending on the locations you are comparing, when you combine the reduced income and inflated COL, your time to financial independence can be decades longer.

If it is a family thing – get a good miles credit card and fly them out a few times per year.

Don’t forget that her income will be taxed at your marginal rate which could be over 50% in California.

Click to expand...

I am going to play devil's advocate here. Both my wife and I are physicians and are from CA. We have done our "training dance" around the country for over 10 years and lived on the east coast and other places. Could not WAIT to get back home. It has been a few years now and we are both established in LA. Couldn't be happier. Yes, I know we could go to rural Montana and make a killing, but you know what life's too short. I wake up every day with a smile on my face knowing I am where I want to be. I say keep looking for opportunities. Also, how about Teleradiology??? I friend of mine is doing it and is very happy. Grated I am not in radiology and don't know the details of this set up. OP, if you want general info about LA area, etc., feel free to shoot me a PM.

[Noah]

You could also keep looking for new job opportunities. I'm most familiar with the Bay Area market. In the Peninsula (Palo Alto, San Jose etc) and San Francisco you can earn a very good living but most of the physician groups make you "pay your dues" for several years of comparatively low wages and worse hours. The end salary can be competitive and quite comfortably but it's a tough sell to consider 3-5 years of being low on the totem pole again.

I have found that there are a number of other great opportunities that are within an hour of SF though. If your wife would potentially be working in Richmond you could look into Fairfield which is a 30 minute drive to the east and for my specialty had a salary about 30% higher to start than in the immediate Bay Area. Other cities into California's central valley such as Fresno tend to pay very well and wouldn't be very far away from the East Bay if you were considering shift work and doing 1 week on, 1 off etc.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

RJ wrote:

Well, he is either too busy being a fellow or didn’t like the advice.

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Well, he is in residency and doing his best to maintain a long-distance relationship. Both require a lot of time and sacrifice.

Also, how quickly can you realistically expect to hear back from someone with the moniker "slipping sloth"



-PoF

[slippingsloth]

Am busy but was waiting for a few replies too. She works in maritime petroleum services. Think coastal oil refining. Some parts of Texas she can work in but she said she'd rather die than work there so I took that off the list.
She works in LA. I said Seattle but really the area up there where she could work is Bellingham. Other options are south bay los Angeles and the Martinez Vallejo Richmond corridor in east bay area of San Francisco.

If I had found any reasonable job where she lived this wouldn't be an issue but I interviewed at 2. First the salary difference was more than 50% lower than the below the academics salary I have in hand. The other didn't offer the position. That was very low too but at least the partnership tract was reasonable.


Thankfully I am not in peds. I am a radiologist so its not 5 digits but it's not what it was before I started training either

[RJ]

Well, he is either too busy being a fellow or didn't like the advice.

[Hatton]

What does your wife do?  What limits her to 3 of the highest colas in the country and the worst prospects for your career?

[Raster]

Does your wife understand that her $100k/year job may cost your family $200k/year? Between your possibly dramatically reduced income, significant costs associated with having both spouses working, CA income taxes, and reduced flexibility to walk away from a bad deal if you are tied to a location by your spouse, she should consider carefully if her job is worth paying $Xx,xxx/month for the privilege of working. I know a number of specialties where it is indeed a 5 digit number when you are talking about SF or LA, and the first number isn't a one. Depending on the locations you are comparing, when you combine the reduced income and inflated COL, your time to financial independence can be decades longer.

If it is a family thing - get a good miles credit card and fly them out a few times per year.

Don't forget that her income will be taxed at your marginal rate which could be over 50% in California.