New attending, IM RICH!

[ihavenonickname]

I'M RICH WOOOHOOO!

Finished my first calendar year as an attending, ran the numbers and I made 485k! HOT DAM I'm rich!

...Well it's 1090 (edit 1099) income so after malpractice, health insurance and such it was actually 463k

...and then I had to pay 140k in taxes, yeah extra bad in California

...and then I wanna do the right thing put about 100k into retirement (between SEP, HSA, taxable)

... and then about 12k in disability and life insurance

... and oh we had a baby who needed a little surgery so there goes another 20k

... then our little townhome cost another 40k in rent and utilities

... car repairs and gas another 10k, and we drive old beaters

... another couple thousand to the accountants and lawyers

... a few more thousand in licensing fees...

and I still haven't had any fun yet! HOT DAM being an adult kinda sucks!

I guess I've known for many years all this stuff (just existing as a professional) is expensive but actually seeing it all disappear from my bank accounts has been sobering and a little depressing. Also I've got 6 figures of student debt I'll have to pay off eventually, unless the governement suddenly dissapears.

On the bright side we have a great life we did get to spend about 3k a month on stuff we enjoy (groceries, restaurants, vacay, hobbies, home decor and shopping) and have saved about 100k toward a home downpayment... or the next disaster/surprise expense. Maybe some of the other new docs, residence or students on here will find this helpful.


Edit: To clarifty the point of my post, I would have thought a big income would make me feel wealthy, but it really doesn't at all! Clearly I am NOT wealthy. On the other hand I still have so much to be grateful for!

[Turf Doc]

yeah its kind of crazy how fast the money goes when you add in all that. Although 22k for health insurance and malpractice doesnt seem so bad...

how much are you planning on spending for the house?

[artemis]

Reminds me of back when I was in graduate school and had to start grocery shopping. I was amazed at how cheap food was, and appalled at how much one person eats in a week.

The good news is that discipline with paying down debt and investing gets you where you want to be, eventually. It's just a much slower process than we appreciate when we're finally out of school and see that first paycheck.

[ihavenonickname]

yeah its kind of crazy how fast the money goes when you add in all that. Although 22k for health insurance and malpractice doesnt seem so bad...

how much are you planning on spending for the house?

Yeah that is the big question for me right now. 1.2M gets you a very modest house that we can't get excited about (and not any better than our rental) and 1.5M gets what looks more like a forever home (not even a "doctor home") in coastal CA. We like our rental so we are not in a rush at all. But it seems like a lot of home to buy when my net worth is 150k. Any advice?

[Turf Doc]

Yeah that is the big question for me right now. 1.2M gets you a very modest house that we can't get excited about (and not any better than our rental) and 1.5M gets what looks more like a forever home (not even a "doctor home") in coastal CA. We like our rental so we are not in a rush at all. But it seems like a lot of home to buy when my net worth is 150k. Any advice?

i'm only a med student so unfortunately no first-hand advice, but im probably going to end up where you are so interested in your thought process. As you know i feel like the 2x mortgage:income ratio is great but it seems like basically no one follows that in california and everyone does just fine. I mean imagine a doctor making 400k living in an 800k house (condo?) in california. It would be kind of bizarre.

[bovie]

Also I've got 6 figures of student debt I'll have to pay off eventually, unless the governement suddenly dissapears.

Or expands

[bovie]

Yeah that is the big question for me right now. 1.2M gets you a very modest house that we can't get excited about (and not any better than our rental) and 1.5M gets what looks more like a forever home (not even a "doctor home") in coastal CA. We like our rental so we are not in a rush at all. But it seems like a lot of home to buy when my net worth is 150k. Any advice?

Leave coastal CA.

[southerndoc]

Welcome to adulthood. LOL

[xraygoggles]

IM RICH WOOOHOOO!
...and then I wanna do the right thing put about 100k into retirement (between SEP, HSA, taxable)

As long as you do this every year, spend the rest however you like!

[Tim]

“Well it's 1090 income so after malpractice, health insurance and such it was actually 463k”
Excuse me, it’s 1099.

”Also I've got 6 figures of student debt I'll have to pay off ”
Excuse me, did you expect otherwise?

“On the bright side we have a great life we did get to spend about 3k a month on stuff we enjoy (groceries, restaurants, vacay, hobbies, home decor and shopping) and have saved about 100k toward a home downpayment.”
Excuse me, $136k plus retirement savings. Very impressive. That’s more than your brother or most of your non physician friends make.

”Yeah that is the big question for me right now. 1.2M gets you a very modest house that we can't get excited about (and not any better than our rental) and 1.5M gets what looks more like a forever home (not even a "doctor home")”
Excuse me, well no surprise there since you happen to be looking in specific neighborhoods.
Do you really want to mess with all the crap that goes with a house?

Excuse me, another bottle of wine or are we going out to dinner? Your mom is getting hungry.

This sounds like a broken record, but you skipped several other recurring topics. Notice the trend?
New doc’s have a tendency to complain about spending money with those they feel free to cry on their shoulder or bend their ear.
Excuse me, let’s talk about something else at dinner.
No sympathy, life is not “tough” if your first house is over $1m and you just might swing it.
No glass for me, it will just slow me down. Besides, if we go to dinner I always pay. Family tradition I guess. Excuse me?
Actually, strong work. Have another drink.

[pit.alumni]

It's not how much you make, it's how much you keep.

[Tim]

Slow walk the house. I’ll let you rationalize that.
I feel like we have had this conversation before.

[childay]

Slow walk the house. I’ll let you rationalize that.
I feel like we have had this conversation before.

Hmmmmm sounds vaguely familiar

[FreshPaint]

So you saved 200k in a year while enjoying life in coastal california, one of the most desirable places to live on earth?

[ihavenonickname]

As long as you do this every year, spend the rest however you like!

Thanks this is a really nice reminder, it sounds so refreshing to think that way... I'm having a hard time doing it though!

So you saved 200k in a year while enjoying life in coastal california, one of the most desirable places to live on earth?

Right, its pitiful how quickly I can become ungrateful. And genuine thanks for pointing that out, its too easy to lose perspective. I'll admit it's been a somewhat hard year to deal with the reality that I've made a big income but that has done so little to make my life feel satisfying or to impact my financial security (real wealth) or really even be that much fun. If you told most people (maybe not the readers of this blog) that they're gonna make nearly half an million they would think that means incredible wealth, but it just doesn't!

Welcome to adulthood. LOL

Ha yes exactly! It only took me 35 years : (

It's not how much you make, it's how much you keep.

Yes definately! That's really the point of the post, I'm learning by experience a good income does not make you wealthy! (edit and it doesn't even make me FEEL wealthy!) ... Especially when not fun expenses rack up so easily as they always do.