Savvy blogs on paying off medical school debt?

[Choсolate]

Does anyone follow any blogs that inform medical students on how to pay for medical school? I have come across really good blogs in the past, but cannot find them now, and I am also specifically referring to physician bloggers since they have the best insight into this issue. I expect to graduate with 300,000 in debt. Thanks!

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[Goro]

Home | White Coat Investor

Sick of feeling like you're being taken advantage of by the financial services industry just because you have a high income? Wondering what to do with your student loans or how to get a mortgage? Not sure how to buy disability insurance or how to invest your money? Here's a site written for...

www.whitecoatinvestor.com

 

[operaman]

Would add reaching out to Tyler Olsen on Twitter. I think he offers free advice to students/trainees and may have ways to strategize now and make a plan going forward. I’ve DM’d him before and he’s been quite helpful. He does offer paid services for attendings and I think he offers the free advice to trainees to build long term relationships with potential clients.

Definitely worth strategic planning now though. With all the new repayment changes and the new SAVE plan, there are ways to dramatically cut down accruing interest in school and ways to maximize pslf if you’re going for that. The right path varies widely by individual though, hence why touching base with an expert isn’t a bad idea. Just beware lots of bad apples out there who will want to sell you something!

 

[LucidSplash]

Whatever you do, do not consult Dave Ramsay on this topic.

 

[Hollow Knight]

Whatever you do, do not consult Dave Ramsay on this topic.

Yeah, I'm a huge Ramsey fan, but he's wrong on this one. It's basically impossible to pay cash for med school, and if you do the military, you'll end up losing money on the deal because although you have no loans, military docs get paid less.

OP, the White Coat Investor is basically Dave Ramsey for doctors. You can't go wrong with him.

Edit: he also has a book specifically for students. Look it up, you can get it on Amazon. It's stupid easy compared to biochem, you can knock it out in an afternoon.

 

[LucidSplash]

Yeah, I'm a huge Ramsey fan, but he's wrong on this one. It's basically impossible to pay cash for med school, and if you do the military, you'll end up losing money on the deal because although you have no loans, military docs get paid less.

OP, the White Coat Investor is basically Dave Ramsey for doctors. You can't go wrong with him.

Edit: he also has a book specifically for students. Look it up, you can get it on Amazon. It's stupid easy compared to biochem, you can knock it out in an afternoon.

Yeah DR probably has some decent ideas for people with a lot of debt and have difficulties controlling spending, but he grossly misunderstands this population segment.

 

[Angler]

Edit: he also has a book specifically for students. Look it up, you can get it on Amazon. It's stupid easy compared to biochem, you can knock it out in an afternoon.

MS1's can get this book for free if there's someone in their class willing to distribute them. Dr Dahle has a very practical approach to personal finance, especially for those in professions with high income / high net worth, but also for professional students.

Disclosure: I have zero relationship with Dr Dahle. I hope this post doesn't violate any rules on SDN.

 

[mrbreakfast]

Get the white coat investor book (it's very short) and read it annually though med school and residency, as what is relevant to you will change. There are other good resources out there as well, but it's a good intro.

There are many tips and strategies out there, but in medical school the simplest tip is to view your loans as a reverse investment; any money you could've borrowed but don't is an investment compounding at your loan interest rate. The mindset is saving money = making money.

Residency gets more complicated, as you (hopefully) will make more than you spend, and you need to have a plan for that as well. Outside of what you need monthly and a small nest egg, your money should be working for you.

 

[Choсolate]

Thanks for the suggestions. Does anyone have any other blogs or resources? The interest rate on loans is somewhat unnerving to say the least. I spoke with a financial counselor at the med school I was accepted at and they said that the interest rate on federal unsubsidized loans was 7.05% last year, and likely only set to increase. I also am planning on working locums immediately after graduation at least for half a year to make extra money that would completely go toward aggressively paying down my debt.

 

[LucidSplash]

Thanks for the suggestions. Does anyone have any other blogs or resources? The interest rate on loans is somewhat unnerving to say the least. I spoke with a financial counselor at the med school I was accepted at and they said that the interest rate on federal unsubsidized loans was 7.05% last year, and likely only set to increase. I also am planning on working locums immediately after graduation at least for half a year to make extra money that would completely go toward aggressively paying down my debt.

You’ve been given the best/most universally agreed on resources. The White Coat Investor website, in addition to the book, has more information than you could probably get through in a year as a resident with other obligations.

And as someone currently doing locums fulltime, while I won’t say it is impossible to do locums as a first job, it is very solitary and I generally recommend graduates do not attempt fulltime locums as a first job out of residency. The first year in practice, heck the first couple years, tends to be a learning curve of its own, and it is usually ideal to have some more seasoned partners around to bounce things off of.

My uninvited $0.02 FWIW.

 

[mrbreakfast]

Thanks for the suggestions. Does anyone have any other blogs or resources?

You can google around, but the simple answer is that this is a "simple" question - you make money, and then you pay your debt off.

The slightly longer answer is that it depends on your answers to two questions:
1) Someone approaches you and tells you that, if you will work at their hospital for the next few years, after that they will pay off your entire debt, but they won't pay you as much annually as other hospitals. How much less money are you willing to make to accept this offer?
2) Another person approaches you and offers you an investment opportunity with an average annual return of X%. How high would X% need to be for you to redirect half the money you were going to pay toward your loan to that investment? How high to redirect 75-80%?

You are going to read blogs that'll tell you to that you should delay paying off your loans for as long as possible and invest every spare dollar you have in the stock market. Numbers-wise, that's the correct strategy (though not without risk). Doesn't make it the "right" strategy for you, though. Similarly, if you are taking out $75,000/year for med school, by the time your finish residency that number is going to be a lot bigger than $300,000, and it very likely will make financial sense to go for PSLF with that number. But again, that might not be "right" for you. Everything depends on what you want to do.

No strategy is wrong. If the peace of mind of paying off your loans in 5 years is worth more to you than paying them off over 20 years and ending with a net worth several % bigger, no one will fault you.

The ultimate advice is not to worry about it, which isn't very reassuring. But plenty will change for you over the next 10-15 years, and your strategy will change with it. The best your can do is to save money where you can, focus on your studies, and still save time (and money) to enjoy life.

 

[operaman]

You’ve been given the best/most universally agreed on resources. The White Coat Investor website, in addition to the book, has more information than you could probably get through in a year as a resident with other obligations.

And as someone currently doing locums fulltime, while I won’t say it is impossible to do locums as a first job, it is very solitary and I generally recommend graduates do not attempt fulltime locums as a first job out of residency. The first year in practice, heck the first couple years, tends to be a learning curve of its own, and it is usually ideal to have some more seasoned partners around to bounce things off of.

My uninvited $0.02 FWIW.

Agreed - locums right out of training would be tough. It can be tough even for more seasoned people as you’re jumping into new environments with unknown resources for what you do. I’ve definitely appreciated having some senior partners around to bounce tough cases off when they come in.

Locums gigs are rarely the really good ones too. It’s usually because they can’t recruit someone else to be permanent (unless you find one where someone is out temporarily on temporary leave but coming back imminently). Usually there’s a reason they can’t fill the position permanently.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

Doing the obligatory AAMC resource website mention

FIRST (Financial Information, Resources, Services, and Tools)

The AAMC's FIRST (Financial Information, Resources, Services, and Tools) program provides free resources to help you make wise financial decisions.

students-residents.aamc.org

The consensus here on the White Coat Investor is pretty solid though.

 

[Angler]

Does anyone have any other blogs or resources? The interest rate on loans is somewhat unnerving to say the least. I spoke with a financial counselor at the med school I was accepted at and they said that the interest rate on federal unsubsidized loans was 7.05% last year, and likely only set to increase. I also am planning on working locums immediately after graduation at least for half a year to make extra money that would completely go toward aggressively paying down my debt.

If you need more information on specific questions, you can ask on the bogleheads forum. There, you'll find really smart people, and if someone posts bad information, it gets called out immediately. They get really technical right away, but they're nice to newbs.

Also, you can ask questions on the WCI forum. It's quite active, and there's a specific student loan subforum.

Do not consult reddit.