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yes just to clarify, I am talking about 25 x expenses, not income. I do have trouble spending money. But I don't think spending more is what I'm looking for. I want more blocks of time off for myself, and less pressure during the hours I actually work. I get what you are saying. One of my friends f...

Another physician here. Emergency Medicine. Just a shot in the dark and this may be way off target, but is there any possibility you are just not doing enough to enjoy yourself in your free time? The only reason I mention this is the fact that you are projecting you will have 25x your annual income ...

I'm planning on installing solar panels as soon as my wife and I are ready to buy our next home, where we will stay a long time. Right now I am in a townhome, the roof is relatively small compared to the square footage, and we won't be here long enough for it to pay for itself even if it's feasible....

Just curious, if I'm reading this correctly, where do you live where you are only driving a couple hundred miles every month? Would it be possible in your area to not have a vehicle at all? As little as you drive it seems it would be difficult to justify having a car if you could avoid it. Particula...

http://benbrownmd.wordpress.com/2010/06/20/informedconsent/ is a very good read on this topic. Highly recommended to: those who think doctors are paid too much, those who think teachers are paid too little, and those considering a position in medicine. My wife is a doctor and most of our closest fr...

Laurence Kotlikoff has done the math and primary care MDs (pediatricians, family docs) have no higher career earnings than a teacher. This is because of the high debt and the fact that their income comes in a short time span where it is heavily taxed. With the ACA on the horizon, MDs are likely to ...

I turned 30 in 2007. My net worth when I turned 30 was a large negative number (-$145,000 approximately) mostly due to student loans, but I finally had a good income and a few thousand dollars in the bank, and no credit card debt for the first time in my adult life. When I was 28 years old: had 6K i...

As it is said for smart investors, they all pray for a bear market at the beginning of their investing career. This was the case for me. I'm 35 now but only been in the workforce for 5.5 years (medical school and residency prior to that). I was just getting my retirement account started at the end ...

[quote="susze"]Ok so here are definitely two of the most annoying things I always encounter on a vacation. Wanted to see if others had rants that they had. 1) Refusing insurance at Car rentals, the people there get downright nasty and threaten you with all sorts of things, nevermind that y...

Hello fellow bogleheads. Was hoping I could get some advice from some of you regarding a change in my employment status. Currently I work as an employee and starting in a few months I will become an Independent Contractor. I will be starting with a new company. I am excited about this new opportunit...

Having a spouse with good income will be a huge bonus. I didn't see that mentioned earlier although I may have overlooked it. I was single throughout medical school and residency, met my future spouse during my second year of residency training. I think our retirement account was a Roth. I cashed it...

I would strongly consider using the investments you have to get you through your fourth year of medical school. If you can graduate with 25K less debt you will put yourself in a great position when you finish residency and start working. A few other considerations: 1) When you start training, you wi...

How about a cush well paying job as an administrator at a major insurance company, or a top hospital administrator? Maybe a malpractice lawyer with a niche in my specialty? Ahhh - but most of those people would think being a doc is a cushy job. Grass is always greener I s'pose. I agree. I'm a retir...

Re: What kind of car are you driving? by DFWinvestor » Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:37 pm 2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid for me, mileage 75K. Bought it in March '08, they released the '09 way early. Wife--Mercedes ML 350, 2008 model, 45K miles. I gave her the choice of a used luxury car or brand new car of compara...

2009 Toyota Camry Hybrid for me, mileage 75K. Bought it in March '08, they released the '09 way early. Wife--Mercedes ML 350, 2008 model, 45K miles. I gave her the choice of a used luxury car or brand new car of comparable price (Nissan Murano or similar Toyota/Honda etc). She chose the used Mercede...

I wanted to update this thread I started about nine months ago and celebrate the loan being GONE!!!! It's paid off and way faster than I ever would have anticipated. Ultimately after a lot of careful thought as well as the input from bogleheads, I decided I just couldn't bring myself to deplete the ...

I live in Dallas and use a company called Safeco for my homeowners and also car insurance. I have been very pleased with them. Had one claim after a pipe burst and we had some water damage, they were very prompt and fair in the settlement.

Five nights is a LOOONG time to be in Vegas. If you plan to party hard, you will be exhausted by day three. I would second others in renting a car. By all means don't drive if you are going to be out clubbing, but as others mentioned the strip is much longer than it appears and pretty much every hot...

I am in Emergency Medicine. I would have to echo many of the comments above but also it's worth pointing out that you need to consider how much tolerance you have for being an employee vs. entering a field where you potentially would have considerable start up costs if you venture out on your own or...

I'm sure the answer is not a perfectly round 10. They are merely reciting some sort of rule of thumb. Perhaps you should ask them to explain that? They might have a solid explanation and may simply be referring to something different. Also....don't worry about what they are getting paid. Just worry...

I have to say I am not as financially savvy as many of the regulars here, but I am very surprised by some of the responses to this topic. Very analytical in some regards, in fact I am impressed by how much detail and statistical analysis I have seen here. But I am not quite sure it is that complex. ...

What I was told is it would take 10 times longer to make up for the transaction costs if I were to go with a 30 year note as opposed to a 15. This is with an interest rate reduction of 0.5% on the 15 year as compared to the 30 year. I have gone over the math and it doesn't make one bit of sense to ...

The reason I ask is I am considering a refi, I have been through the process before and I am a decent number cruncher and the options I was given yesterday when I spoke with a potential mortgage broker do not seem to add up. What I was told is it would take 10 times longer to make up for the transac...

What would be the advantage of Ramsey's method? It sounds inconvenient to have to carry cash or write checks all the time. I have one of those 1%-cash-back-on-everything cards and since I've been remodeling my home all summer I've gotten literally HUNDREDS of dollars in cash deposited directly to m...

I am pretty sure LifeLock is a scam. Indeed. Lifelock Dinged $12 Million for Deceptive Business Practices http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/lifelock-accused-of-running-con-operation/ I was always very skeptical about lifelock but when my CC number was stolen last week I sort of freaked out. ...

Relax. Check out creditkarma.com while you are relaxing for further advice. Do you think your existing mortgage is the issue? :) LOL I think RELAX may be the advice I've needed when it comes to finances for the past several years. Having been broke for a long time, fighting through credit card debt...

Was hoping to see what the collective wisdom is on my credit score, given the following: -35 years old, currently a homeowner and hoping to upgrade in the next 2-3 years (maybe longer) and keep my current townhome as a rental. -No car debt, paid my car off 2.5 years ago and paid cash for my wife's l...

DFWinvestor wrote: I was just baffled and I wanted to ask her what exactly she owned. Why didn't you ask her??? She most likely possesses a deed to her week(s) at her home resort. The closing process is roughly akin to what most are used to when transferring real property - a title search is perfor...

A big part of their pitch was how it makes financial sense to "invest" your 2 or 3 grand weekly vacation hotel bill rather than piss it away. Life is too short to be messing around with these people. Even if you get out with your wallet intact all you will want to do is shower afterwards....

When you buy the best, you only cry once. :happy My wife has wanted an iPad for a few years now and last year at Christmas, I decided to buy her a Kindle Fire instead. She wasn't very happy with it at all. I didn't realize when I bought it that you had to be in a WiFi zone to download any content. ...

If the ice dispenser is the only problem, it is either a blockage or a problem with the motor which moves the ice through. Neither of which is a very complicated fix. It pays to take the time to learn to DIY (and for many of us it is fun!). It tends to be pretty easy now that the internet is massiv...

For the past six months our refrigerator/freezer, while it continues to make ice, when you try to push the lever from the outside no ice would come out. Other than that the thing works fine. I've been just dealing with it for a good long while and finally hired someone to come fix it. Total cost? $3...

Pay cash, move on. 0% financing is a mirage. Someone is paying and it's normally you in the form of higher price for the car. There are no free lunches. If you have the cash, then you can afford it, so pay for it. Don't play the shell game. This. If I were you I'd go to another dealership where the...

I went through a period in my training where many things happened that lead me to where I am now, from a financial standpoint. Here's a rough timeline: 1) Maxed out two credit cards to the tune of 6K, after only 18 months of residency. I was living the "singles scene" in a big expensive ci...

First of all congrats Duragesic on completing residency. I too am a physician. A few general comments: 1) You are ahead of the game in many ways, because you have a good chunk of change in your retirement account. When I graduated five years ago, I only had about 6K in my mandatory retirement accoun...

Self-insure for the short-term disability. It's the big expenses you buy insurance for. That why you need to purchase long-term disability ins., but not short-term. The 90 day disability is one of the things your EF is for. This. Short term disability is a penalty for those who lack the discipline ...

I am considering keeping the townhome I currently live in as a rental long term, provided that my wife and I can hold out long enough to come up with a down payment on our next home without selling our townhome. One question I would have for those of you with experience is, what do you consider an a...

Was wondering if someone could give me some basic concepts in asset allocation, or recommend a good book to learn a bit more about it. A little bit about me: mid 30's, married, spouse and I together have a very good income. I'm free of credit card debt, cars are paid for, maxing out on tax advantage...

If I were you I'd keep renting and I wouldn't entertain the idea of buying a house until you can reduce your debt burden significantly. You have good income but you also have significant debts and plans to have your spouse out of the workforce. You aren't contributing all that aggressively to retire...

I am surprised to see a thread on this topic because I've always heard you should never take out a 401K loan if it can be avoided, the reason being that if the market goes up you will ultimately be buying shares back that cost more than you originally paid for them, so although you are technically &...

Does this have to be an "all or none" thing? Could she tell them she doesn't want to work an extra day every week but would be open to doing it 1-2 weeks out of the month?

Who is lending money with 3.5% down? The FHA! Regardless, why would you borrow so much and be so close to being in a negative equity situation? The borrower (not me) has a good income and almost no savings, and needs a home for his growing family. Rent! This scenario is reminiscent of a few years p...

In order to become an oral surgeon you have a very long career path, if I'm not mistaken you must complete both medical school and dental school as well as a residency. It's a great field but a very long road. I would have some concerns about the stigma of being a DPM as opposed to an MD or DO and e...

I am also a physician and I would agree with the person who said financially it is probably a wash for you. You shouldn't go to medical school purely for financial reasons, even at a younger age. Your pharmacy background would serve you well in medical school though, and if you are passionate about ...

I have to admire the audacity of the salesmen. Their skill is worthy of respect. And the profit is awesome. It's a brilliant scheme for those not burdened by ethics. :greedy I've wondered at times what tremendous profit could be made from buying a place on the water somewhere, for say $500K, and ad...

[...] any additional interest you pay on the 30 year note is a tax write off.[...] That is way overrated. And if you are really residing in the DFW metroplex area, you ought to be owning a mansion to be able to hit the itemized deduction so effortlessly. - Porcupine I thought I went out of my way t...

I have been debating this same issue myself. I'm currently on a 30 year at 4.25% and have considered going to a 15 year note. One thing you need to be sure to factor in is the fact that any additional interest you pay on the 30 year note is a tax write off. Granted, you don't get it all back but you...

The dealer told me on my way out the door, "Congratulations, you just paid cash for a depreciating asset." What a jerk. I would have strongly considered cancelling the purchase. I paid cash for my car. I don't regret it one bit. I was pretty upset and as hard as I worked to pay cash for a...

OP, pay the loan off as fast as possible. I provide my usual note of caution as a twice-divorced man that once you pay off her loan, you've paid it off and its not yours anymore. You have overestimated your net worth. The 435 is before the loan balances (not counting the mortgage). Your net worth i...

If it were me I'd just cut them a check and be done with it. That's what I did last year when I bought my wife's car. When you negotiate the price of your vehicle, if they bring up financing during negotiations, just tell them you already have financing secured and leave it at that. Don't let them k...