Search found 139 matches
- Fri Oct 11, 2019 6:36 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Working in a different city
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2356
Re: Working in a different city
Thanks for the feedback, everyone. I am going to a major international conference next week where I will see colleagues from all over the country including several former mentors. I’m going to take some time to test the waters and think through my options a bit more before I continue down either pat...
- Thu Oct 10, 2019 9:02 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Ally Savings Rate drops to 1.8%
- Replies: 51
- Views: 8928
Re: Ally Savings Rate drops to 1.8%
I agree that the Ally rate drop is just part of the tide generally speaking of all banks going back down. They are so convenient that it's still worth it to stay there even if I could get a few extra tenths of a percent elsewhere. Really a great bank.
- Thu Oct 10, 2019 8:53 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Working in a different city
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2356
Re: Working in a different city
Answering a few more questions: 1. How does my wife feel about it? She's surprisingly open about it and encouraged me to reconsider after I initially shut it down. Her reason is that she wants me to feel professionally satisfied and do what I really want to do. 2. It sounds like you have a good thin...
- Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:20 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Working in a different city
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2356
Re: Working in a different city
Why don't you get "the other city" folks to move to "your current city"? Or you could start the business yourself in your own city. They could bankroll your new business. Unfortunately the nature of my specialty is such that you really can’t just “start your own group”. You real...
- Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:16 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Working in a different city
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2356
Re: Working in a different city
Part of my hesitation is that I really do feel like my current group is family, and 2 out of the 7 of us just announced they were moving to a job in a different part of the country, so the 5 remaining of us are going to have quite a hard schedule until we can recruit to replace the 2 that are leavi...
- Thu Oct 10, 2019 6:01 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Working in a different city
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2356
Re: Working in a different city
To answer a few questions: Moving halfway between the two cities is not an option. Not only do we love where we live (and my wife and kids won’t move), but the new position would require me to live no more than 15 minutes away from the new hospital, because I would need to be immediately available t...
- Wed Oct 09, 2019 9:47 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Working in a different city
- Replies: 32
- Views: 2356
Working in a different city
I am a physician working in a hospital setting, and I live in our dream city. We’re very happy with our life here. My wife is also a physician and is a partner in an outpatient practice that she loves, and thinks she’ll spend the rest of her career there. My job is “good enough” to be happy staying ...
- Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:51 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Should I purchase a $30k car?
- Replies: 112
- Views: 8417
Re: Should I purchase a $30k car?
Buy a Tesla model 3... 39k. Look up five year ownership costs. Cheaper than accord or Camry. You live in Cali!! Tax credits. First maintenance in 4 years. This is easy. Appreciating asset. Resale is insane. Get back to me in six months and say thanks. What is the number of miles that one needs to d...
- Thu Aug 29, 2019 12:42 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Educating Spouse on Personal Finance
- Replies: 60
- Views: 4071
Re: Educating Spouse on Personal Finance
I have family that stopped balancing their checkbook over ten years ago. They just write any checks issued in the log and say everything else is in real time. Personally I have not been able to get to this step yet! My wife and I review our accounts online almost every day but don’t really have a p...
- Mon Aug 26, 2019 12:39 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Giving a Co-Worker’s Teen a “Grant” to Buy a Plug-in-Car?
- Replies: 27
- Views: 1697
Re: Giving a Co-Worker’s Teen a “Grant” to Buy a Plug-in-Car?
OP here.
Like I said, no further input needed. I am glad for the feedback and completely agree now. No way would I do this.
Like I said, no further input needed. I am glad for the feedback and completely agree now. No way would I do this.
- Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:15 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Giving a Co-Worker’s Teen a “Grant” to Buy a Plug-in-Car?
- Replies: 27
- Views: 1697
Re: Giving a Co-Worker’s Teen a “Grant” to Buy a Plug-in-Car?
Message received loud and clear. I appreciate the advice. Perish the thought.
Don’t quite get that though. I feel pretty “on track”.StandingRock wrote: ↑Mon Aug 26, 2019 11:05 amMaybe just focus on getting yourself on track a little bit or something.
- Mon Aug 26, 2019 10:16 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Giving a Co-Worker’s Teen a “Grant” to Buy a Plug-in-Car?
- Replies: 27
- Views: 1697
Giving a Co-Worker’s Teen a “Grant” to Buy a Plug-in-Car?
I work with someone who has a 15-year-old daughter that my wife and I know well - she babysits for our 3 and 5-year-old kids a few times per month. She is an old soul, a little too mature and responsible for her age - she’s working several jobs, aggressively saving for her first car (and also for co...
- Thu Oct 04, 2018 7:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Fall Foliage
- Replies: 29
- Views: 2633
Re: Fall Foliage
I would recommend the Blue Ridge Mountains of NC/VA/TN. Asheville, Gatlinburg, Johnson City, Boone are all fabulous places to see fall color. The Eastern edge of the Smokies has the longest leaf color season in the world due to the big variability in altitude and more biodiversity than, for example,...
- Mon Sep 24, 2018 6:34 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Can I buy a Tesla?
- Replies: 140
- Views: 12443
Re: Can I buy a Tesla?
I’m a relatively new attending (~2 years out) who cancelled my model 3 reservation when I got my invite to configure. But we have a LOT more debt than you and we’re focused on living like residents until it’s gone (never should have made the reservation in the first place - can’t afford any new car ...
- Mon Jul 02, 2018 5:37 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: What is/ was your career and would you recommend it now?
- Replies: 501
- Views: 61950
Re: What is/ was your career and would you recommend it now?
IMPRESSION: As far as recommending medicine to others, I always say the same thing. If you think medicine is your calling in life, and you think you need the title of "Doctor" in front of your name, then go for it. If you are thinking it's an easy way to make a lot of money, then consider...
- Thu Jun 28, 2018 2:57 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Any Reason to Keep My "Landline" Phone?
- Replies: 65
- Views: 4971
Re: Any Reason to Keep My "Landline" Phone?
I have never had a landline. I have somehow survived into my late 30's without one. Also, I don't personally know anyone with a landline in my circle of friends (who all have kids). I think they're a useless anachronism of a bygone era. Especially for $360/yr.
- Thu Jun 28, 2018 2:10 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: What is/ was your career and would you recommend it now?
- Replies: 501
- Views: 61950
Re: What is/ was your career and would you recommend it now?
Physician here - critical care. I love my job. I wouldn’t recommend it. Not counting residency (where you are technically paid a decent salary, in the $40s-50s to work >80 hrs week), I didn’t have my first real employment until I was 33. Nothing but school, college, med school, internship, residency...
- Sat Jun 09, 2018 3:52 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Are you including SS in your planning model? Are the benefits really that high?
- Replies: 148
- Views: 13771
Re: Are you including SS in your planning model? Are the benefits really that high?
Definitely not including it. We’re still in our 30s so anything could happen but it seems like there’s too much demographic and political risk over the next 30 years to include it as part of our strategy and assume that there won’t be collapse of the whole system, or more likely some sort of means t...
- Fri Jun 08, 2018 9:07 pm
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: The Psychology of Money - A Blog Post
- Replies: 164
- Views: 19798
Re: The Psychology of Money - A Blog Post
Love the article. It's completely true that behavior is the most important factor in successful investing. His arguments remind me of a great book called Your Money and Your Brain which looks at all the psychological pitfalls hardwired into poor investing decisions. So much of it is related to neuro...
- Wed May 23, 2018 8:31 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Lexus RX 350, Audi Q5, or Volvo XC 60 (update)
- Replies: 121
- Views: 17989
Re: Lexus RX 350, Audi Q5, or Volvo XC 60
My wife got a used 2012 RX450h that’s still going strong. She hates the 2016 body redesign that looks like the car drove into a razor blade factory, plus we wanted a car in good shape that had already depreciated some. It’s a very plush and comfortable ride and it’s been a great family car for our t...
- Wed Mar 28, 2018 7:40 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Healthy eaters -- is this grocery budget normal to you?
- Replies: 247
- Views: 19648
Re: Healthy eaters -- is this grocery budget normal to you?
Our family of 4 places a high value on eating healthy food that is organic, non-processed, local when possible. We are pretty budget constrained though, and while we love Whole Foods (and its local alternative Earth Fare), we can’t afford to shop there exclusively. Our solution has been to use the e...
- Tue Mar 13, 2018 3:15 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: New Car: Ever make sense to lease?
- Replies: 148
- Views: 21653
Re: New Car: Ever make sense to lease?
I agree that leasing an EV may make sense, if only because battery and electric motor technology is so rapidly evolving that an EV is much more rapidly obsolete compared to a similar ICE vehicle. I leased a non-Tesla EV relatively cheaply for 3 years ($300/mo for a fully-loaded Mercedes EV). The car...
- Thu Feb 22, 2018 11:16 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Boglehead Flashlight?
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7340
Re: Boglehead Flashlight?
Ive been really happy with all of my Streamlight's, you can find them for reasonable prices on Amazon. They are more along the lines of a penlight. Get one that takes AAA or AA, the batteries last a long time. I carry a single AAA one with me every day and you would be surprised how often it comes ...
- Thu Feb 22, 2018 3:33 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Boglehead Flashlight?
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7340
Re: Boglehead Flashlight?
Picked these up from Amazon a few weeks ago. Superb so far,,one is going traveling with us :mrgreen: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/61My5Fc%2BjiL._SY180_.jpg https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0744C3J5W/ref=oh_aui_search_detailpage?ie=UTF8&psc=1 We’ve got these. Super bright, ...
- Wed Feb 21, 2018 2:09 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: [What UN-frugal thing do you do? What do you splurge on?]
- Replies: 590
- Views: 52652
Re: What UN-frugal thing do you do?
One thing that’s made in America that I will hopefully be very un-frugal about one day is a Tesla. I first drove a Model S in 2013 and have been pining for one ever since. It’s the best car.
- Wed Feb 21, 2018 7:40 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Sams Club vs Costco
- Replies: 78
- Views: 8736
Re: Sams Club vs Costco
I’ve been a member at both. For us, the quality of the Costco store brand, Kirkland Signature, keeps us going back there, especially for food items. There are specific items from Costco that we can’t find a better version of anywhere, including premium versions at our local grocery store or gourmet ...
- Wed Feb 21, 2018 6:10 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Mixing fuel octanes for cars
- Replies: 57
- Views: 5146
- Wed Feb 21, 2018 5:54 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Capital one 360 money market New $500 bonus
- Replies: 44
- Views: 10526
Re: Capital one 360 money market New $500 bonus
Bank bonuses are definitely easier than CC bonuses, and they don’t involve a credit check (usually just a soft pull). Info about the rare cases where a hard credit check is used is available at Doctor of Credit, so those bonuses are easy to avoid. And the 1099-INT that’s generated by a bank bonus is...
- Tue Feb 20, 2018 11:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Investing vs student debt
- Replies: 13
- Views: 841
Re: Investing vs student debt
I feel your pain on the student loans. However, having more time in the market is itself a nice diversification of your assets and accumulation strategy. I think at your student loan interest rates, you really have equipoise to pay them more aggressively or continue investing some as well. Your retu...
- Sun Feb 11, 2018 9:42 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: How to start a blog and claim the name?
- Replies: 44
- Views: 10873
Re: How to start a blog and claim the name?
This was a very informative thread, but I have not followed up because I was busy with other activities. Now, I am revisiting the idea of setting up a website. What are the current recommendations for hosting? When I Google for it, different sites offer different lists of the bests, and many seem t...
- Sun Feb 11, 2018 8:50 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: officiate a marriage
- Replies: 14
- Views: 1524
Re: officiate a marriage
I officiated my brother-in-law’s wedding in Colorado (I live in North Carolina). I got ordained online through the American Marraige Ministries:
https://theamm.org
It was pretty painless. As far as I remember, they’re recognized in all 50 states.
https://theamm.org
It was pretty painless. As far as I remember, they’re recognized in all 50 states.
- Tue Feb 06, 2018 10:34 am
- Forum: Investing - Theory, News & General
- Topic: U.S. stocks in free fall
- Replies: 22403
- Views: 2964659
Re: U.S. stocks in freefall
I know that downward blips, corrections, and bears are really frightening for those in or near retirement. Sheepdog's panic thread from Oct 2008 is quite a lesson, and an eye-opener. But for those of us still in the accumulation phase, with decades left to go (and many corrections/bears still to com...
- Fri Feb 02, 2018 2:06 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
They had this exact scenario on Dave Ramsey I watched on Youtube this week. Basically a carbon copy of 2 doctors and 300K debt. Basically, stop retirement funding for now, rent in a cheap place. Get rid of all your loans, buy cheap cars with cash, live on 50K like 99% of us do, and then pay all of ...
- Fri Feb 02, 2018 2:05 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
Thanks. I was originally looking for advice on how to deal with buying a house. I don’t appreciate the focus on our low salaries. We both had lower salaries in an academic setting before now. I’m not looking for advice on how to make more money in a different geographical location. We live like res...
- Fri Feb 02, 2018 1:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
Thanks. I was originally looking for advice on how to deal with buying a house. I don’t appreciate the focus on our low salaries. We both had lower salaries in an academic setting before now. I’m not looking for advice on how to make more money in a different geographical location. We live like resi...
- Thu Feb 01, 2018 10:48 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
Having not read the responses, your wife's income is very low but even so, it's not clear why you can't pay off more than $100,000 per year in loans. You make $370,000 as it is. And see if your wife wants to buy a home badly enough that she can work more, pick up some extra shifts, etc, to accelera...
- Thu Feb 01, 2018 9:44 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
DW has not yet refinanced because she was planning on applying for Public Service Loan Forgiveness after 10 years of qualified payments, but just found at that her current job (which she loves and does not want to leave) does not qualify. $112k income and >300k debt does not work - no matter how no...
- Wed Jan 31, 2018 11:03 am
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
Im not trying to be rude, but why does your wife make only 112k ? i know FM and peds are low paying, but as an APN i make 133k which isn't right. can she pick up EM shifts in the rural part of your state? local tenems? urgent care shifts? admission MD/hospitalist shifts? wound care? for example I r...
- Tue Jan 30, 2018 8:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
Well, it would be simpler if 110k was actually her take home pay. Or if 260k was mine. I would love it if we netted 250k/year. Between taxes, childcare, and retirement contributions, we take home well less than half of our gross pay. And then we pay between 6k-8k/mo in student loans. There’s not muc...
- Tue Jan 30, 2018 7:28 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
Re: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
Yes, congratulations to you and especially to your wife on tackling a daunting situation and putting yourselves on the right track and headed in the right direction. Sounds like it was a bit of a surprise for both of you that you simply could not get a loan for that house but it sounds like the rej...
- Tue Jan 30, 2018 4:24 pm
- Forum: Personal Investments
- Topic: Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
- Replies: 65
- Views: 7408
[Update] Buy a house? But there's a student loan elephant in the room
OP here with a small update. DW and I agreed to rent for now and pay down loans. We decided to stay in this (very lovely) rental house for a few years or until the PERFECT HOUSE that we must consider buying came along. So I was rounding in the ICU the other day when I got a flurry of texts from DW t...
- Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:11 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Are land line phones still being supported?
- Replies: 60
- Views: 4906
Re: Are land line phones still being supported?
For all the folks in poor cell reception areas....why not just use 'wifi calling' on their smart phones? Free and digital quality. That’s an easy answer nowadays, but a Microcell is also a viable solution. I had one for years when I lived in a neighborhood with poor cell reception. As long as you h...
- Mon Jan 15, 2018 11:03 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: A "Home" cell phone?
- Replies: 53
- Views: 6127
Re: A "Home" cell phone?
I’ve never had a landline and I don’t really get the point of them. If you’re trying to avoid telemarketers by giving them a landline, don’t you still have to deal with those calls to your landline? If you really want a decoy number you can ignore, why not just give out a fake one? I did live in an ...
- Thu Dec 21, 2017 10:37 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: iPhone 4 troubleshooting
- Replies: 15
- Views: 1759
Re: iPhone 4 troubleshooting
My iPhone 4 met the same fate after about 1.75 years. The audio jack trick mentioned above didn’t work for me, though. I actually got some intermittent use out of the earpiece speaker as it was dying for a few days... it would sort of sputter and work on some calls and not on others. I wound up usin...
- Mon Dec 18, 2017 1:52 am
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Synchrony vs Ally
- Replies: 49
- Views: 16697
Re: Synchrony vs Ally
I used to have my online savings account with Synchrony. I switched to Ally because their website was more user-friendly and outgoing transfers took FOREVER with Synchrony. I have been pretty happy with Ally, though I’m sure both banks would probably meet your needs. Ally is like Apple - “It just wo...
- Tue Dec 12, 2017 9:59 pm
- Forum: Personal Finance (Not Investing)
- Topic: Should I file taxes w/o her?
- Replies: 54
- Views: 4858
Re: Should I file taxes w/o her?
Some deductions are not available for married filing separately. The one I was concerned about when I checked was student loan interest, but it seems unlikely that would be the only one. They are way beyond phased out of being able to claim the student loan interest deduction. Even individually, if...
- Thu Dec 07, 2017 8:45 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Recommended places to live
- Replies: 54
- Views: 7288
Re: Recommended places to live
I would suggest somewhere in the Appalachians for 4 seasons, hiking/outdoors, and proximity to water (rivers and lakes, not ocean). These cities come to mind: Chattanooga, TN Asheville, NC Roanoke, VA Charlottesville, VA Pittsburgh, PA Wait, what? Pittsburgh? Hear me out: it’s really an Appalachian ...
- Wed Dec 06, 2017 6:57 am
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Price of haircut?
- Replies: 194
- Views: 16864
Re: Price of haircut?
MCOL Southern city. I pay $12 plus $4 tip every 3 months. My wife pays $45 (not sure the tip) at a fancy salon about every 4-6 months.
- Tue Nov 28, 2017 11:18 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Safest roomy luxury suv?
- Replies: 58
- Views: 7893
Re: Safest roomy luxury suv?
If safety is paramount, then the Tesla Model X is the safest SUV ever created, and the only one ever to get a 5-star crash rating in every NHTSA category: https://www.engadget.com/2017/06/13/tesla-model-x-earns-a-perfect-nhtsa-safety-rating/ I don’t own one, but I’ve driven one, and it is a blast to...
- Sun Nov 19, 2017 10:36 pm
- Forum: Personal Consumer Issues
- Topic: Electric Car (Nissan Leaf) for a teen driver?
- Replies: 43
- Views: 4851
Re: Electric Car (Nissan Leaf) for a teen driver?
Finally she wont learn how to maintain a ice car (ie oil change intervals, coolant, timing belt, etc). This statement is going to sound increasingly anachronistic with each passing year, as ICE vehicles become more and more obsolete. Oil changes, coolants, timing belts are not the way of the future...