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Hi WCI forum
This is my first post but I have some general questions about financial strategies going forward. First thank you Jim. I had about $10,000 in credit card debt as a resident and was basically ignoring anything financial. My wife had me listen to a couple of podcasts from WCI and I fell in love with how simple you made finance seem. The podcast led to me reading your book and a couple of other financial books, yada yada yada, now I kind of find this stuff interesting but more importantly realize well how important it is.
I am currently a fellow (PGY6) with 1.5 years of training left.
I anticipate 280-400K as an attending (depending on academic vs private practice) once I graduate.
My wife (married one year ago) is a hospitalist and earns about 280K per year.
I have 160K in federal student loans (6.8%). I have paid off my credit card debt and started contributing to my 401K (as a fellow its not matched).
With the help of my wife we contribute about 4K per month to my student debt.
We are trying to refinance my loans (variable rate with her as cosigner - 2.8%, hoping though for 3-4% without cosigner as we are not willing to cosign as she would be stuck with my loans in the event of my disability)
We are likely moving after I graduate (1.5 years) and the plan is to buy a home after the first year of trying out the new job (2.5 years from now).
My wife maxes out her retirement accounts already and has about 90K sitting in her savings account. I don't want to use her cash on hand to pay off my loans necessarily (in case of death/disability it just gets forgiven as of now - I know it sounds morbid). I think we both like the security of her not being tied to my loans. Our goal is to pay it off within the first year of me being an attending mostly because the idea of debt is eating at me (although I realize investment yields probably would beat a low interest student loan or mortage).
My big question though is if we plan on buying a home in approx 2.5 years what should she do with the 90K in cash on hand... Sit on it? Invest in taxable accounts (take the risk of short term market instability) and then withdraw for a down payment? I feel torn b/c I know its bad to sit on cash for 2.5 years since its not keeping up with inflation.
I would appreciate any other advice or strategies given our current situation (safe ways to invest short term (2-3 years) and keep up with inflation).
Bob
This is my first post but I have some general questions about financial strategies going forward. First thank you Jim. I had about $10,000 in credit card debt as a resident and was basically ignoring anything financial. My wife had me listen to a couple of podcasts from WCI and I fell in love with how simple you made finance seem. The podcast led to me reading your book and a couple of other financial books, yada yada yada, now I kind of find this stuff interesting but more importantly realize well how important it is.
I am currently a fellow (PGY6) with 1.5 years of training left.
I anticipate 280-400K as an attending (depending on academic vs private practice) once I graduate.
My wife (married one year ago) is a hospitalist and earns about 280K per year.
I have 160K in federal student loans (6.8%). I have paid off my credit card debt and started contributing to my 401K (as a fellow its not matched).
With the help of my wife we contribute about 4K per month to my student debt.
We are trying to refinance my loans (variable rate with her as cosigner - 2.8%, hoping though for 3-4% without cosigner as we are not willing to cosign as she would be stuck with my loans in the event of my disability)
We are likely moving after I graduate (1.5 years) and the plan is to buy a home after the first year of trying out the new job (2.5 years from now).
My wife maxes out her retirement accounts already and has about 90K sitting in her savings account. I don't want to use her cash on hand to pay off my loans necessarily (in case of death/disability it just gets forgiven as of now - I know it sounds morbid). I think we both like the security of her not being tied to my loans. Our goal is to pay it off within the first year of me being an attending mostly because the idea of debt is eating at me (although I realize investment yields probably would beat a low interest student loan or mortage).
My big question though is if we plan on buying a home in approx 2.5 years what should she do with the 90K in cash on hand... Sit on it? Invest in taxable accounts (take the risk of short term market instability) and then withdraw for a down payment? I feel torn b/c I know its bad to sit on cash for 2.5 years since its not keeping up with inflation.
I would appreciate any other advice or strategies given our current situation (safe ways to invest short term (2-3 years) and keep up with inflation).
Bob
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