For those considering HPSP...

[asdf123g]

So based on OP's calculation, can anyone confirm whether my (horrible) rough math is (somewhat) correct:
HPSP:
School debt: ~$300,000 (not specific to me)
sign on bonus: $20,000
stipend: ~$2,200 x 10.5 months x 4 years = $92,400
Higher residency pay: ~$20,000 per year higher than civilian side x 4 years (including some allowances; info taken from '03 thread)
Physician pay: ~$115,000 x 4 years active.

total= $952,400

Civilian side:
School debt: ~-$300,000
Physician pay: $300,000 x 4 years = $1.2 million

= 1.2 million -~$300,000 debt..= $900,000

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[psychbender]

Your debt isn't static, it starts accruing interest from day 1, I think.

Also, who's to say that you'll go into a residency that's four years, or a specially that pays $300k. Maybe you'll be an orthopedic surgeon, pulling in two to three times that. Or, maybe you'll be a pediatrician making just over half that.

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[asdf123g]

Your debt isn't static, it starts accruing interest from day 1, I think.

Also, who's to say that you'll go into a residency that's four years, or a specially that pays $300k. Maybe you'll be an orthopedic surgeon, pulling in two to three times that. Or, maybe you'll be a pediatrician making just over half that.

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So its only a bad deal if you land an ultra competitive specialty? For DO students (which focus on primary care), it is a good deal though financially since most go into primary care? Ive always read here basically no matter what, you'll lose out on a lot of money in the long run if you go milmed unless you do pediatrics. Is that not true? Most people don't land those high paying specialties though.

 

[psychbender]

So its only a bad deal if you land an ultra competitive specialty? For DO students (which focus on primary care), it is a good deal though financially since most go into primary care? Ive always read here basically no matter what, you'll lose out on a lot of money in the long run if you go milmed unless you do pediatrics. Is that not true? Most people don't land those high paying specialties though.

It can be a bad deal no matter what you go into, if the money is the only reason you are joining the military.

But, from a purely financial standpoint, it can be advantageous to go HPSP if you enter a lower-paying field (FM, Peds, Psych, Prev/Occ Med, office-based IM, some IM subs, etc). The pay for a military board-certified FM who signed a multi-year contract (after initial ADSO completed) is not terribly different (possibly slightly higher, even) than the national average for the same physician at the same point in his/her career on the civilian side. If you are planning on entering a procedure-heavy field (any surgery, Cardiology, GI), then you are going to lose a lot of money in the long run by doing HPSP, as it currently stands.

I'm a DO, went to a private DO school ($$), completed an anesthesiology residency, and will get out once my ADSO is complete. I am behind where I would be, financially, if I did not take the scholarship. However, the added experience helped me land a very nice fellowship for after I separate, and the fact that my wife and I are debt-free provides a lot of psychological comfort when I think about the future of medicine (and my specialty in particular). Because I have no debt, if I really wanted to, I can tell everyone in the OR to ****-off, and do only 1 week a month in the unit, and still be very comfortable, financially. Or, I could use my GI bill to retrain as a lawyer, and put out sleazy TV commercials advertising my services against pharm and device companies. Or, I could be a stay at home dad, let my wife work full time, and we'd still be a couple standard deviations above the average household income in the US.

Freedom from debt is nice, but I could have arrived at this same place sooner had I not joined the military, and instead joined a good group after residency and been financially-disciplined during my first few years as staff.

 

[kedhegard]

haha

I wonder how @kedhegard is doing these days and if he/she is still living the 100k dream?

Yeah, I'm still here. I'm active duty with 10 years in now. My W2 for 2015 shows just north of the 100k mark, but does not reflect my housing allowance. But the point stands, you can live well on a military salary. I'm doing fine, and would do it all over again. I've deployed, done extensive line time as both battalion and brigade surgeon, all outside my (sub)specialty. Despite these distractions, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Army, and I have watched some of my civilian friends struggle and moan much more than I have due to overextending themselves in floundering ventures such as solo or branch practices, solvency through the initiation of the Affordable Care Act, etc. On the other hand, some are absolutely killing it. But even those folks aren't living like kings, and don't outwardly seem any more satisfied in their career than I am, at least through conversation. Maybe some are, I can't read their minds. But after another 9 years, I'll have an indexed pension worth millions, and a 20-25 year career as a civilian should I so choose, in a field that I would have NEVER matched into if it weren't for the Army.

So, 12 years later, I stand by what I wrote. I live modestly and save aggressively, and though I would certainly be ahead of where I currently am financially if I had gotten out at my first opportunity, I don't think I would be happier. For me, this has been a good fit, and has turned out well so far.

I will say, the taxes are much more than I thought they would be. I was completely wrong about that.

 

[DD214_DOC]

Who was the thread necromancer responsible for this? I wrote the original post back in 2004.

Anyways, it was nice to read it again. In retrospect, it's a bunch of bull**** and financially everyone is better off NOT doing HPSP. Too bad I didn't know about 1099 work and all that back then.

 

[coolrunnings22]

Yeah, I'm still here. I'm active duty with 10 years in now. My W2 for 2015 shows just north of the 100k mark, but does not reflect my housing allowance. But the point stands, you can live well on a military salary. I'm doing fine, and would do it all over again. I've deployed, done extensive line time as both battalion and brigade surgeon, all outside my (sub)specialty. Despite these distractions, I've thoroughly enjoyed my time in the Army, and I have watched some of my civilian friends struggle and moan much more than I have due to overextending themselves in floundering ventures such as solo or branch practices, solvency through the initiation of the Affordable Care Act, etc. On the other hand, some are absolutely killing it. But even those folks aren't living like kings, and don't outwardly seem any more satisfied in their career than I am, at least through conversation. Maybe some are, I can't read their minds. But after another 9 years, I'll have an indexed pension worth millions, and a 20-25 year career as a civilian should I so choose, in a field that I would have NEVER matched into if it weren't for the Army.

So, 12 years later, I stand by what I wrote. I live modestly and save aggressively, and though I would certainly be ahead of where I currently am financially if I had gotten out at my first opportunity, I don't think I would be happier. For me, this has been a good fit, and has turned out well so far.

I will say, the taxes are much more than I thought they would be. I was completely wrong about that.

Great to hear you are doing well. What speciality are you in, if you don't mind me asking?