In a lucky twist of fate, I landed the Medical Director position at the new job, as they could not find a fellowship-trained geriatric psychiatrist to open a geriatric unit. After securing a new Medical Director position, my first job that started as a “staff physician” and ended as Medical Director and Department Chairman came to an unceremonious end.īut the most recent recession was ending, and still, things were looking up. It was my first physician experience with job dissatisfaction as a salaried employee with ever-expanding duties. The proposed cut was due to an economic contraction that I had nothing to do with. This coincided with my first pay cut after seven years of dutiful service and raises. There was an eight-month economic downturn that began in March 2001 that lasted through that November. Having paid little attention to earlier economic cycles, I became aware of the effects of recessions, being the primary wage earner for a family of four following our second child’s birth in 2000. I’m 37 years old, and we have a net worth greater than zero and about $132,000 in our rollover IRA, all invested in mutual funds. Retired from Medicine at 43: Why, How, and What Now?įast forward to 2001. I would need an ever-improving offense (more income) and an even better defense (tax planning, tax-deferred accounts, and appropriate insurance products) if I ever wanted to retire before I hit 60. I was beginning to see the rules of the game. Back then, student loan interest rates were high, and the interest was not deductible. I eventually rolled the last $20,000 of our student loan debt into a refinanced mortgage at a lower rate to get more deductible interest. I also bought an “own occupation, flat premium forever” disability policy when I was 35. We also didn’t take many vacations, so we could throw plenty of extra money at those loans. We did that because the cost of living in Flint, Michigan was low and because we bought an inexpensive starter home and drove reasonably priced cars. The foreword is by Charles Schwab.Īfter reading this book, I maximized my 401(k), bought a 20-year level-premium term life insurance policy, and paid off student loan debt across seven years instead of 10.
#Ever forward net worth plus#
I found out while writing this column that a used circa 1994 copy of the book is still available for a penny plus shipping. I ended up getting a basic financial education for $16.95. Having gotten no financial education from my parents, who were both nurses, and none in public school, college, or medical school, I was certainly a financial “dummy” and needed help. We quickly paid off the consumer debt, and I bought a book that appeared written specifically for me called, “Personal Finance for Dummies.” Yes, my after-tax paycheck was really supposed to be for $11,000. The lady behind the desk in accounts payable looked at my paycheck deductions (about 35%) and told me it was correct. I will never forget going to the accounting department to have them look at the clearly mistake-ridden check. I quickly got a lesson in how the government assesses taxes due per paycheck resulting in a large amount of “extra” taxes taken out. Things were looking up.īecause of our consumer debt, I asked my first employer to front-load my salary by taking $1,200 off months 3 to 12 of the contract and putting it on months 1 and 2, making my first two monthly attending paychecks about $17,000 each.
At the starting line at age 30, I had no investments and a mountain of debt, and we were already a family of three.īut the early 1990’s recession had ended, and we had a house.
Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention for Medical Professionals.
0 kommentar(er)
