I’ve experienced 1st class and even the awesome “Polaris” business class when traveling for work.
It’s really awesome, but I just can’t justify the massive cost difference in my head when it comes to traveling when I’m paying for it.
But that’s how a lot of people feel about hiring a cleaner, so no judgement!
My completely made up justification is that the flight can be 3x my hourly wage per hour of flight. If I make, for example, $90/hr I’ll pay up to $270/hr for the ticket.
100% agree - Worth every penny. We are both very clean people but the full house reset makes it so much easier to keep the house clean vs. cleaning piecemeal parts of the house. It creates a standard that we both stick to.
Do you feel they’re providing you $2500 in value? That’s a good bit of money when your investments are straightforward. They also usually put you in funds they receive kickbacks in. These can have a very significant drag (hundreds of thousands of dollars) on your investments over time
Honestly, we are only there as my wife feels more comfortable if someone else is examining our financial decisions as an independent observer...the advisor is very well-read and not the typical ameriprise/insurance company shill for high-fee funds
It’s great they’re smart. At the very least, are they a fiduciary? I don’t think Ameriprise advisors usually are. Just trying to save you money up front and make you money over the long term
We are just developing this relationship for tax help later when deciding on decumulation. His advice just includes general allocations, and no recommendations for any of the Columbia funds or the other stuff that they make money off of.
Got it. There are definitely cheaper options out there (I use a $750/yr accountant for this type of advice), but it seems like you’re satisfied with the service so I’ll stop bothering you. Congrats on all the career and financial success!
I was going to ask if you worked for the government when I saw TSP and then I saw your username. What was the driving factor to be a VA doc and not go into private practice?
I am a hospitalist and during the pandemic i had my life threatened/spat on/hair pulled by covid denialists and i wanted a better patient population which the vets are. Plus retiring at 57 with subsidized health insurance is pretty sweet. $$ prolly doesnt make sense for sub-specialists to work for VA but for primary care and hospitalists the pension/health insurance make up for salary difference
And my God are you correct. The first 6 months of the pandemic we were “COVID Heroes”. The next 1.5 years we were “inflating numbers for money and hiding therapies”
70% is from the absolutely atrocious responses from COVID deniers and right wing nut job anti-vaxxers. Crazy when your own family is like “yeah it can’t be that bad, they are inflating the numbers”. I’m like…..it’s my job you fucking idiots.
Hahaha. Sorry you went through the same thing. It really put our lives in perspective. We used to be kind of “go-getters”. Extra shifts. Extra duties.
Now it’s like….i wanna work as little as possible but still make a good salary. And if you ask me to do something extra it better pay, give protected time, or you can fuck off.
I go to the VA for some of my care, I asked my dentist this same question and he basically said he was tired of dealing with the insurance companies, he just wanted to practice medicine. You don’t deal with any of the BS. So he sold his practice and went to the VA. And yeah the subsidized healthcare is pretty sweet. I have Tricare and for next to nothing we get pretty awesome healthcare.
I live in the Great Lakes Region and I'm curious why your annual utility budget is $18K - that's seems extremely high to me - do you have a pool or large greenhouse you keep heated all year around?
For example, if I average $300 a month (mostly heating during the winter) - my annual utilities are less than $4K.
Can I ask why your Utilities are $18K and your housing is only $26K?
Oh sorry great questions…the “utilities” include average electric-$250-300, water-$150/mo (have inground sprinklers and a hot tub), cable-$300, phones-$250, subscription services-$150, gas-$150-200. I guess some of that arent technically utilities but i lump them together in Projectionlab.
Housing is: 1)property tax, 2)house maintenance savings in a sinking fund (1% of house value), 3) house insurance. House is paid off so no mortgage on house worth 600k
Ahhh thank you yes that makes so much sense. I had figured the house was paid off.
FIRE question - if you could reorder everything again - would you still pay off the house as soon as you could or would you divert more into investing?
Isn't Roth IRA contribution limit set around 250k income for married filing jointly? How do you make that much income, above limit and still be able to contribute to Roth IRA?
0 debt except monthly credit card paid off at en d of month. My loans were forgiven via PSLF and wife paid off hers in first two years out of med school (basically all of our disposable income after 401k matches for those two years)
i feel you deserve more pay. all the schooling and responsibility. fed benefits are good but not great imo. im a fed myself, non dr, and i made 315k this yr. I worked a lot of overtime, however.
Well i agree but I like the increased job security and the workflow is so much more laid back than hospitalists in the private sector that it would take a pretty large pay raise to walk away
seems the pension alone makes it worth it to stay a fed, no? i assume your pension will have a value of approximately 1.5-2 million by retirement age? 20-30k a year isn't enough to make up for that. Man doctors seem way underpaid.
That’s our cleaner cost almost exactly ($250 every two weeks). Probably the best, most impactful luxury we buy.
Agreed…cleaners or always flying first class are our luxury spends
I’ve experienced 1st class and even the awesome “Polaris” business class when traveling for work.
It’s really awesome, but I just can’t justify the massive cost difference in my head when it comes to traveling when I’m paying for it.
But that’s how a lot of people feel about hiring a cleaner, so no judgement!
My completely made up justification is that the flight can be 3x my hourly wage per hour of flight. If I make, for example, $90/hr I’ll pay up to $270/hr for the ticket.
100% agree - Worth every penny. We are both very clean people but the full house reset makes it so much easier to keep the house clean vs. cleaning piecemeal parts of the house. It creates a standard that we both stick to.
Good stuff. What does Ameriprise’s fee schedule look like? Are they charging you AUM?
No AUM…just do yearly advisory fee of 2500$
Do you feel they’re providing you $2500 in value? That’s a good bit of money when your investments are straightforward. They also usually put you in funds they receive kickbacks in. These can have a very significant drag (hundreds of thousands of dollars) on your investments over time
Honestly, we are only there as my wife feels more comfortable if someone else is examining our financial decisions as an independent observer...the advisor is very well-read and not the typical ameriprise/insurance company shill for high-fee funds
It’s great they’re smart. At the very least, are they a fiduciary? I don’t think Ameriprise advisors usually are. Just trying to save you money up front and make you money over the long term
We are just developing this relationship for tax help later when deciding on decumulation. His advice just includes general allocations, and no recommendations for any of the Columbia funds or the other stuff that they make money off of.
Got it. There are definitely cheaper options out there (I use a $750/yr accountant for this type of advice), but it seems like you’re satisfied with the service so I’ll stop bothering you. Congrats on all the career and financial success!
Not a bad thought…tysm
Very deserved
You pay $1000/mo to go to the gym? For half that I’ll call you once a month and tell you that you should have gone on a run.
Lol no! These are annual costs!!
Okay, I should have assumed that.
Did you guys start the disability insurance during residency??
That price is just me…sorry if that wasnt clear. Started it in 2016
I was going to ask if you worked for the government when I saw TSP and then I saw your username. What was the driving factor to be a VA doc and not go into private practice?
I am a hospitalist and during the pandemic i had my life threatened/spat on/hair pulled by covid denialists and i wanted a better patient population which the vets are. Plus retiring at 57 with subsidized health insurance is pretty sweet. $$ prolly doesnt make sense for sub-specialists to work for VA but for primary care and hospitalists the pension/health insurance make up for salary difference
I am a PCCM doctor.
And my God are you correct. The first 6 months of the pandemic we were “COVID Heroes”. The next 1.5 years we were “inflating numbers for money and hiding therapies”
shared PTSD brother
I tell that to my therapist.
30% of the PTSD is from all the dying patients.
70% is from the absolutely atrocious responses from COVID deniers and right wing nut job anti-vaxxers. Crazy when your own family is like “yeah it can’t be that bad, they are inflating the numbers”. I’m like…..it’s my job you fucking idiots.
Are you me?
Hahaha. Sorry you went through the same thing. It really put our lives in perspective. We used to be kind of “go-getters”. Extra shifts. Extra duties.
Now it’s like….i wanna work as little as possible but still make a good salary. And if you ask me to do something extra it better pay, give protected time, or you can fuck off.
Good luck with everything.
I go to the VA for some of my care, I asked my dentist this same question and he basically said he was tired of dealing with the insurance companies, he just wanted to practice medicine. You don’t deal with any of the BS. So he sold his practice and went to the VA. And yeah the subsidized healthcare is pretty sweet. I have Tricare and for next to nothing we get pretty awesome healthcare.
I live in the Great Lakes Region and I'm curious why your annual utility budget is $18K - that's seems extremely high to me - do you have a pool or large greenhouse you keep heated all year around?
For example, if I average $300 a month (mostly heating during the winter) - my annual utilities are less than $4K.
Can I ask why your Utilities are $18K and your housing is only $26K?
Oh sorry great questions…the “utilities” include average electric-$250-300, water-$150/mo (have inground sprinklers and a hot tub), cable-$300, phones-$250, subscription services-$150, gas-$150-200. I guess some of that arent technically utilities but i lump them together in Projectionlab.
Housing is: 1)property tax, 2)house maintenance savings in a sinking fund (1% of house value), 3) house insurance. House is paid off so no mortgage on house worth 600k
Ahhh thank you yes that makes so much sense. I had figured the house was paid off.
FIRE question - if you could reorder everything again - would you still pay off the house as soon as you could or would you divert more into investing?
We should have kept the 3.25 mortgage but there was just something so attractive (albeit not the correct financial choice) about being debt-free
Do you and your wife enjoy your careers? I’ve been considering becoming a dentist (I know it’s not the exact same), but it’s a long road!
My wife and I very similar inflows as physician couple. But we have kids and a much larger mortgage.
21,000 for daycare 8,000 preK 8000 a month mortgage
Hurts the ol’ savings rate. But we saved heavily prekid
Looking good!
Isn't Roth IRA contribution limit set around 250k income for married filing jointly? How do you make that much income, above limit and still be able to contribute to Roth IRA?
Backdoor Roth IRA
What is JD vs SP ?
One is me, one is wifey
Just say what’s your gross and what’s your net.
Fair enuff
No loans for two MDs?
0 debt except monthly credit card paid off at en d of month. My loans were forgiven via PSLF and wife paid off hers in first two years out of med school (basically all of our disposable income after 401k matches for those two years)
So you had to do 10 years at a certain hospital?
Ya one non-profit and one VA
Good work!
Thank you for your service.
Defined benefit contribution not considered investment?
Yea not in projectionlab i guess?
The housing seems quite low and definitely something that is propelling great savings rates or your travel hobby.
Kudos to you all for figuring what amount of house you need.
yea we told ourselves that we wouldnt splurge on anything but travel and have stuck to that mantra pretty well since we graduated residency in 2014
Not trying to offend. But you're doctors that don't even make 300k? That seems quite underpaid to me.
No offense taken...I work for the VA and my wife is part-time
i feel you deserve more pay. all the schooling and responsibility. fed benefits are good but not great imo. im a fed myself, non dr, and i made 315k this yr. I worked a lot of overtime, however.
Well i agree but I like the increased job security and the workflow is so much more laid back than hospitalists in the private sector that it would take a pretty large pay raise to walk away
I see. What would you realistically expect to command in the priate sector? Just curious
for the same patient load? about 310-315k
seems the pension alone makes it worth it to stay a fed, no? i assume your pension will have a value of approximately 1.5-2 million by retirement age? 20-30k a year isn't enough to make up for that. Man doctors seem way underpaid.