I am a fourth year medical student and recently read The White Coat Investor. I found the book very informative but also very troubling to me — I already have done so many things “wrong”: I was a non-traditional student and had to take four years off between undergrad and medical school (one year because I didn’t get into med school the first time I applied), I have debt from undergrad, have zero savings and no family contribution to my medical education, so I am going to be graduating with >$250,000 of student debt. Furthermore, I received a prestigious research fellowship between third and fourth year of medical school, so I am taking another year out of medical school to conduct research. While this was a great opportunity and one that I could not turn down, I am concerned again that I am missing out on one year of lost income as a practicing physician, on top of the four I already took between undergrad and med school.
As it stands, I will not be done with my training until I am 35 years old. I also am single and don’t have any other household income. I am a woman and am unsure about if I want a family or not, but I have to think about things that I might want in the future: kids and the very likely possibility that I may need to freeze my eggs, pay for adoption fees and or pay for fertility treatments and IVF, because at age 29 with no potential husband in sight yet I realize it is very likely that I will either be having children at an "advanced maternal age" or will be adopting. These things are expensive. I do have a few things going for me: I have no dependents and do not own a house and am paying in-state tuition, but beyond that I don’t feel like I am in a very good place financially and am concerned about the future.
I am proud of myself in that I have followed my dreams to go to medical school (including taking this prestigious fellowship), but all my dreams won’t matter in the long run if I’m in financial ruin. I return for my final year of medical school in June of 2017, and will be starting residency in July of 2018 (most likely emergency medicine). Moving forward, I want to set myself up for the best future financially that I can. Do you have any advice for me, or is there a place on this website (blog entry or the like) where I can find advice for someone in a situation like mine? Let me know
As it stands, I will not be done with my training until I am 35 years old. I also am single and don’t have any other household income. I am a woman and am unsure about if I want a family or not, but I have to think about things that I might want in the future: kids and the very likely possibility that I may need to freeze my eggs, pay for adoption fees and or pay for fertility treatments and IVF, because at age 29 with no potential husband in sight yet I realize it is very likely that I will either be having children at an "advanced maternal age" or will be adopting. These things are expensive. I do have a few things going for me: I have no dependents and do not own a house and am paying in-state tuition, but beyond that I don’t feel like I am in a very good place financially and am concerned about the future.
I am proud of myself in that I have followed my dreams to go to medical school (including taking this prestigious fellowship), but all my dreams won’t matter in the long run if I’m in financial ruin. I return for my final year of medical school in June of 2017, and will be starting residency in July of 2018 (most likely emergency medicine). Moving forward, I want to set myself up for the best future financially that I can. Do you have any advice for me, or is there a place on this website (blog entry or the like) where I can find advice for someone in a situation like mine? Let me know

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