What are you going to buy with your first real Doc paycheck?

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
... by 'practical' you're still talking about a >100k car.

Well, compared to a BMW M5, or '67 Mustang Fastback, the E63 AMG Wagon is relatively 'practical'.

Members don't see this ad.
 
Where I live, no physician can afford a 5K sq ft house. Maybe an ok steak dinner. The only people living in a 5K sq ft house are contractors and dot.com. I'm still driving my 14 year old car that I bought before fellowship.
Yeah, I realize it isn't possible everywhere in the US, but I have no desire to live most of those places. I plan on moving to where I already have family with the above amenities on a salary less than that of a physician.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
Replace JLC with IWC portofino and we're talking. Slash, what are you going into again?

PS: Burberry coats are overrated.

1) Portofinos are nice, but I'm also partial to the PP Calatravas. JLC has always been a favorite of mine, but I'm not too picky (although its not like many in the medical field would even appreciate #peasants #timexisforplebs #mechanicalmovementmasterrace)

2) I will concede that in general Burberry is overrated, but I still feel the trench is quality. Haven't tried another that felt quite as good

3) Probably RadOnc (but who knows, it's a solid decade away). I was thinking about going homeless next year and using that sweet sweet MSTP money to buy a watch. People are trying to tell me its irresponsible, but what do they know?
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Really though, when I have grown up monies, this will get bought.

fast-furious-7-lyk_3248224b.jpg
 
Yeah, I realize it isn't possible everywhere in the US, but I have no desire to live most of those places. I plan on moving to where I already have family with the above amenities on a salary less than that of a physician.
Yep. If I stayed near where I am now (few minutes from a Level-I trauma center), I could get a 5,400 sqft house overlooking a country club for 450k. Or the same footage for 250k out in the boonies.

... not that I would personally want something that size, but still.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Canadian provincial tax rates are typically more expensive than the state taxes in the U.S. However, the lower federal tax brackets are much more similar than you'd think if you look at just the taxes.

Canada taxes 15% for the first 44,700 made, the U.S. taxes 15% on the first 37,500 made (unless you make less than 10k, then you pay 10%).

Canada then charges 22% from ~45k up to 89,400. The next U.S. bracket charges 25% from 37.5k to 90.7k.

Canada then charges 26% from 89.4k up to 138.6k. The U.S. charges 28% from 90.7k to 189.3k.

Canada's next bracket is the highest, over 138.6k and you pay 29%, which is only 1% higher than the U.S. if you're making between 138-189k. Really not all that much.

Over 189k-411.5k you'll pay 33% in the U.S. from 411.5-413.2 (yes, there is a bracket that's less than 2k difference) you'll pay 35%, and anything over 413.2 is taxed at 39.6%.

So in reality, most Canadians (except those in extreme poverty or those falling in the 138-189k range) pay less in federal taxes than they would in the U.S. Canada also uses effective tax rates. Here are the links:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx


Also, can you link a source to the bolded. I saw a similar statistic, but it was 13 cents to every tax dollar spent went towards social programs, not that it was an additional 13% taken from people's income.
You're only factoring in income tax, which is separate from social security and welfare taxes. Here's a calculation run on the Canadian equivalent of the IRS' website:

Salary calculation: Result
Employee's name: MJ

Employer's name: MJ

Pay period frequency: Monthly (12 pay periods a year)

Date the employee is paid: 2015-02-01 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Province of employment: Ontario

Federal amount from TD1: Minimum - 11,327.00 (Claim code 1)

Provincial amount from TD1: Minimum - 9,863.00 (Claim Code 1)


Salary or wages income 20,000.00
Total cash income 20,000.00
Taxable income for the pay period 20,000.00
Pensionable earnings for the pay period 20,000.00
Insurable earnings for the pay period 20,000.00
Federal tax deduction 4,696.21
Provincial tax deduction 2,937.54
Total tax deductions 7,633.75
CPP deductions 975.56
EI deductions 376.00
Total deductions 8,985.31
Net amount
11,014.69

Here is the same data run for a person in the good 'ol USA:

  • Monthly Gross Pay$20,000.00
  • Federal Withholding$4,950.60
  • Social Security$1,240.00
  • Medicare$290.00
  • Texas$0.00
Net Pay
  • Net Pay$13,519.40
Calculation Based On
  • Check Date04/21/2015
  • Gross Pay$20,000.00
  • Gross Salary YTD$0.00
  • Pay FrequencyMonthly
  • Federal Filing StatusSingle
  • # of Federal Allowances2
  • Additional Federal Withholding$0.00
  • State for withholdingTexas
  • Additional State Withholding0
  • Texarkana Residentfalse
  • Exempt Statefalse


    Now, US dollars are currently worth 1.23 Canadian dollars, so our 'murrican just walked away with $16,628 Canadian, post-tax.
And that's not even factoring in Canada's sales taxes: "In addition to the 5% GST levied on most purchases, some Canadians also pay a provincial sales tax at a rate that varies by province and can be as high as 10%. In Ontario, for example, where the provincial sales tax (PST) is 8%, consumers must pay a total of 13% sales tax on top of the purchase price. (It should be noted that Ontario has eliminated both the PST and GST, replacing them with harmonized sales tax, or HST, of 13%, which changes the sales tax on some items.) There are some purchases which are PST exempt, such as children's clothing. In the U.S., most states impose a sales tax, and cities and counties are often permitted to levy taxes as well, which can exceed 10% on purchases but realistically average at about 6-8%. Five U.S. states do not have any sales tax imposed. The Canadian province of Alberta and all three territories have no provincial or territorial sales tax on top of the GST."
 
Last edited:
I'm going to be 400k in the hole, but with some hard work, I can sink that debt in a couple years and live the rest of my life fairly well. I'll sleep much better knowing I'm debt free and on the way to an early retirement than I will being 400k in debt hiking around Hobbitland. I'm going to be dropping $28,000 on interest alone every year if I let that debt accumulate. As an internist, that's seriously going to cramp my finances, as I'll likely start at around 200k, which nets me 119.4k after tax, and 91.4k after just paying the interest and not touching the principle. So debt reduction is a huge priority if I ever want to be financially stable, particularly in an environment when physician finances are not going to keep pace with inflation.

Good for you, we clearly have different philosophies on the issue. Most of us will be in serious debt after all is said and done, and debt reduction will be a top priority of mine just like it should be. But I don't understand how splurging on one single paycheck is going to significantly disrupt someone's financial situation. I never mentioned making a habit out of blowing 10k/month on frivolous junk or immediately throwing down for a Porsche, and depending on your starting salary, a first class trip abroad might not be doable either. If you have discipline, you can find a happy medium between aggressive debt reduction and a comfortable lifestyle. For me that means treating my girlfriend and I to a nice backpacking trip in Hobbitland, even if it ends up adding 1-2 months to my repayment period down the road.
 
Last edited:
Someone said they thought we had lower taxes than Canada, and my original post said that some people would be taxed at over 50%, which basically never happens in Canada strictly talking about taxes. I never implied that it was their entire income being taxed at that rate, just that some people would be taxed at a rate over 50%. Saying 39.6% on the entire income is something that was misconstrued from the post, maybe I should have been clearer.

I also never said that I was talking about physician income, that was also something that was added in later by others. It would be pretty rare for a physician (anywhere in North America) to pay over 50% of their income to taxes, but for most they will be paying a very significant amount of their earnings to the gov.
There are deductions to be had, many or few depending on your specific situation. My wife and I are both professionals, and are certainly earning some top bracket income, however our effective tax rate was under 30%. And that is with very conservative deductions. I'm not going down in an audit.
Effective tax rate has no set definition, for this example it represents total total tax paid/total income. Total tax included SS and MC payments.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Members don't see this ad :)
I wore a pair of super high ones to dental school graduation and was literally jumping up and down on stage after I got hooded and got my diploma. No pain.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
First real doc payment is going to be spent on a huge clothes, shoes, and electronic shopping spree.

First up, effing Ferragamo loafers.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
cheez.i was wondering when you would appear.


i heart you.

Sup gurrrrl.

Yeah, I love New York for the luxury options. Recently got a relatively cheap made to measure shirt from Proper Cloth as a test run. Fit so nicely. Am never going back to ready-to-wear.
 
the platform helps a lot. the blue manolos that carrie put in her closet in satc that got all super famous, for example, have no platform and are incredibly uncomfortable but not nearly as high as those loubs.
I feel like its useless to buy heels unless they give you quite a bit of height.
 
First real doc payment is going to be spent on a huge clothes, shoes, and electronic shopping spree.

First up, effing Ferragamo loafers.

+1 for Ferragamo. Also, John Lobb makes gorgeous shoes; would recommend, especially now that they have a store in NY
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 user
You're only factoring in income tax, which is separate from social security and welfare taxes. Here's a calculation run on the Canadian equivalent of the IRS' website:

Salary calculation: Result
Employee's name: MJ

Employer's name: MJ

Pay period frequency: Monthly (12 pay periods a year)

Date the employee is paid: 2015-02-01 (YYYY-MM-DD)

Province of employment: Ontario

Federal amount from TD1: Minimum - 11,327.00 (Claim code 1)

Provincial amount from TD1: Minimum - 9,863.00 (Claim Code 1)


Salary or wages income 20,000.00
Total cash income 20,000.00
Taxable income for the pay period 20,000.00
Pensionable earnings for the pay period 20,000.00
Insurable earnings for the pay period 20,000.00
Federal tax deduction 4,696.21
Provincial tax deduction 2,937.54
Total tax deductions 7,633.75
CPP deductions 975.56
EI deductions 376.00
Total deductions 8,985.31
Net amount
11,014.69

Here is the same data run for a person in the good 'ol USA:

  • Monthly Gross Pay$20,000.00
  • Federal Withholding$4,950.60
  • Social Security$1,240.00
  • Medicare$290.00
  • Texas$0.00
Net Pay
  • Net Pay$13,519.40
Calculation Based On
  • Check Date04/21/2015
  • Gross Pay$20,000.00
  • Gross Salary YTD$0.00
  • Pay FrequencyMonthly
  • Federal Filing StatusSingle
  • # of Federal Allowances2
  • Additional Federal Withholding$0.00
  • State for withholdingTexas
  • Additional State Withholding0
  • Texarkana Residentfalse
  • Exempt Statefalse


    Now, US dollars are currently worth 1.23 Canadian dollars, so our 'murrican just walked away with $16,628 Canadian, post-tax.
And that's not even factoring in Canada's sales taxes: "In addition to the 5% GST levied on most purchases, some Canadians also pay a provincial sales tax at a rate that varies by province and can be as high as 10%. In Ontario, for example, where the provincial sales tax (PST) is 8%, consumers must pay a total of 13% sales tax on top of the purchase price. (It should be noted that Ontario has eliminated both the PST and GST, replacing them with harmonized sales tax, or HST, of 13%, which changes the sales tax on some items.) There are some purchases which are PST exempt, such as children's clothing. In the U.S., most states impose a sales tax, and cities and counties are often permitted to levy taxes as well, which can exceed 10% on purchases but realistically average at about 6-8%. Five U.S. states do not have any sales tax imposed. The Canadian province of Alberta and all three territories have no provincial or territorial sales tax on top of the GST."

I have 3 major problems with your scen.

1. You chose a U.S. state that has a 0% income tax (Texas). That's not the norm by any means and if you take a typical state tax (we'll say around 4% since you chose a very low income) then you'd have to subtract another $800 from the U.S. person, bringing their total net pay down to $12,700. Still better than Canada, but that's because of the state taxes (which I admitted were much higher than the U.S.). If you look at the federal tax rates they're almost the same with Canada being cheaper. On top of that, I'm not sure how the person in the Canadian person was paying almost $3,000 when their bracket puts them at a 5.05% tax rate. If you adjust to that, then the $2,937 drops to $1,100 making the Canadian's net earnings $12,800ish. That's basically the same as the $12,700 the U.S. citizen pays. Maybe there's more going on at the Canadian state level that I don't know about, but I'm going off of the brackets they have listed here:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

2. Your previous statement that said Canadians pay 13% of their income towards SS/health programs isn't supported here. The Canadian paid about $1,350 into their pension program/employer health insurance while the U.S. person paid $1,530. That comes out to 6.75% for Canada and 7.65% for the U.S. So Canada is actually cheaper there as well (at least for the first 118k or something).

3. You're bringing a lot of statistics into this that I never mentioned. If you're talking about all the taxes then you should include corporate taxes, property taxes, luxury taxes and every other tax as well as deductions individuals can file (for example, lottery or winnings from gambling are not taxed at all). I was trying to keep it somewhat simple and stick to income taxes. Federally, Canada is typically cheaper. On the state level, the U.S. is almost always cheaper. The local level varies so much that I won't even bother as I don't know and don't particularly care unless I'm going to live there.


My original point was that "Most places in Canada actually have lower tax rates than that (45%) for the highest earners. It's one of the myths about U.S./Canadian taxes that Canada has a much higher tax rate than the U.S." I never said that overall Canada is cheaper (unless we're specifically talking federal income tax). I said that in most places (maybe I should have said 'a lot') the highest earners in Canada pay less than 45% and that they don't have a much higher tax rate than the U.S. I was mostly alluding to the fact that many people I talk to tend to believe that most Canadians give up at least 40% of their income to state and federal taxes while their U.S. counterparts only give up 20-25%, which is just ridiculous and wrong.
 
Last edited:
I totally posted this as one of my more 'practical' dream cars on SDN recently.

Cause who doesn't want to goes 0-60 almost as fast as a Shelby Mustang GT500, with two kids in the backseat.
Both of mine are beyond practical. Skyline will probably be sub 30 when it's legal. The Porsche is more a bucket list car that I've loved forever. But that Skyline is doable... You just have to not be a gaijin or whatever and throw cash at the stupid import people. I only say this because I recently tried importing a 1989 skyline and I've never had a more impossible time not getting a car despite having the money. This time it ain't happening.
 
Both of mine are beyond practical. Skyline will probably be sub 30 when it's legal. The Porsche is more a bucket list car that I've loved forever. But that Skyline is doable... You just have to not be a gaijin or whatever and throw cash at the stupid import people. I only say this because I recently tried importing a 1989 skyline and I've never had a more impossible time not getting a car despite having the money. This time it ain't happening.

Holy ****, Kaus, haven't seen you in forever, how the med school life treating you? Still doing CT surgery.
 
Borneo is great but its not the same sort of luxury destination the others are.

Depends on what you define luxury as.

I prefer not to be bothered by hoards of tourists when I'm trying to find peace.

Honestly some of the places I've been in remote parts of India and Uganda have been incredibly luxurious. I like being a very different person outside of work society.

If I don't wear anything other than hanes white tees and shorts this summer I'll be a happy camper.
 
I have 3 major problems with your scen.

1. You chose a U.S. state that has a 0% income tax (Texas). That's not the norm by any means and if you take a typical state tax (we'll say around 4% since you chose a very low income) then you'd have to subtract another $800 from the U.S. person, bringing their total net pay down to $12,700. Still better than Canada, but that's because of the state taxes (which I admitted were much higher than the U.S.). If you look at the federal tax rates they're almost the same with Canada being cheaper. On top of that, I'm not sure how the person in the Canadian person was paying almost $3,000 when their bracket puts them at a 5.05% tax rate. If you adjust to that, then the $2,937 drops to $1,100 making the Canadian's net earnings $12,800ish. That's basically the same as the $12,700 the U.S. citizen pays. Maybe there's more going on at the Canadian state level that I don't know about, but I'm going off of the brackets they have listed here:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html

2. Your previous statement that said Canadians pay 13% of their income towards SS/health programs isn't supported here. The Canadian paid about $1,350 into their pension program/employer health insurance while the U.S. person paid $1,530. That comes out to 6.75% for Canada and 7.65% for the U.S. So Canada is actually cheaper there as well (at least for the first 118k or something).

3. You're bringing a lot of statistics into this that I never mentioned. If you're talking about all the taxes then you should include corporate taxes, property taxes, luxury taxes and every other tax as well as deductions individuals can file (for example, lottery or winnings from gambling are not taxed at all). I was trying to keep it somewhat simple and stick to income taxes. Federally, Canada is typically cheaper. On the state level, the U.S. is almost always cheaper. The local level varies so much that I won't even bother as I don't know and don't particularly care unless I'm going to live there.


My original point was that "Most places in Canada actually have lower tax rates than that (45%) for the highest earners. It's one of the myths about U.S./Canadian taxes that Canada has a much higher tax rate than the U.S." I never said that overall Canada is cheaper (unless we're specifically talking federal income tax). I said that in most places (maybe I should have said 'a lot') the highest earners in Canada pay less than 45% and that they don't have a much higher tax rate than the U.S. I was mostly alluding to the fact that many people I talk to tend to believe that most Canadians give up at least 40% of their income to state and federal taxes while their U.S. counterparts only give up 20-25%, which is just ridiculous and wrong.

Stahp
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
Oh, and I always wanted a firearm collection. Maybe, I'll start small with a .44 Magnum revolver.
 
Depends on what you define luxury as.

I prefer not to be bothered by hoards of tourists when I'm trying to find peace.

Honestly some of the places I've been in remote parts of India and Uganda have been incredibly luxurious. I like being a very different person outside of work society.

If I don't wear anything other than hanes white tees and shorts this summer I'll be a happy camper.

Do you also have a parent that was born in East Africa? :)

We all went when we were younger. Maybe like 15 years ago.

My mother and her family speak in Swahili to each other when they dont want us to know what they're saying. Aggravating:rage::rage::rage:
 
Oh, and I always wanted a firearm collection. Maybe, I'll start small with a .44 Magnum revolver.

OKZ!

No. Someone in Indiana brought a gun into Kaus' apartment and just casually laid it on the kitchen counter....and I just about jumped backwards like fifteen feet.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 2 users
Or I see colors and proportions well. And walk around like it was my god given purpose to wear comfy, beautiful suede-ish shoes.

I have blue suede Allen Edmonds strands. They're great!

Ps: dudes that like shoes, check out meermin. Their prices rock right now because of the strength of the dollar.
 
I have blue suede Allen Edmonds strands. They're great!

Ps: dudes that like shoes, check out meermin. Their prices rock right now because of the strength of the dollar.

Even Carmina is a good deal right now with the current strength.
 
  • Like
Reactions: 1 users
OKZ!

No. Someone in Indiana brought a gun into Kaus' apartment and just casually laid it on the kitchen counter....and I just about jumped backwards like fifteen feet.
Like some random guy, a guy kaus knew, I thought kaus was into guns, (and I don't mean his biceps)?
.
 
Top