Benefits at a new job

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Doering1

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Hey all,
I am finishing up my residency in June and have accepted a job in a fairly desirable location. The job doesn't have any benefit package and I am wondering how much I should expect to spend on a family of 4.
Is this common?
If anyone else pays for their own benefits, how much a month are you spending? How have you set up retirement?
Thanks!

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There is a pretty wide range depending on your location and the type of health insurance you pick.

A good starting point is to ask some other people in your group for a referral.
 
My contract has $50k benefit pkg. It says health, life, dental is 16800 which is like $11/hr and disability is $5000 which is like $3/hr, professional liability is $6600 which is $4/hr. They also pay for payroll taxes and give us $8000 CME/Dues per yr.

Not sure if that helps. That's all for the midwest.
 
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Many jobs are independent contractor (not employee). You get a paycheck and nothing else. Obviously you 'should' be getting paid more for a 1099 (independent contractor) job than a W2 job.

The worth of your benefit package is going to be specific to your situation. If you had a family the benefit package might be worth more than if you are single and young. If you are single and young that benefit package might have a dollar figure of '50K', but you would be able to met your benefit needs for 20K (if you paid out of pocket on the free market). Therefore, an IC job that lets you buy your own might save you substantial money. On the flip side if you had a big family and a lot of dependents, maybe the W2 benefit package would put you ahead.

I am guessing your job is IC status?
 
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It's not the end of the world to buy your own benefits.

Health insurance is the big one. My family of six will spend something like $1200 a month for medical and dental. Luckily, that is all pre-tax dollars and we can pay the huge deductible with pre-tax dollars through our HSA.

Disability and life insurance is better bought individually anyway most of the time, so no big deal not to have that benefit. I think I spend $100 a month on life and $400 a month on disability.

CME is all tax deductible, plus you can buy it really cheap if you just look at the value proposition of maximal credits per dollar.

Moving expenses are a one time deal. Same with paying to take your boards. All associated with tax deductions.

I think your retirement plan options are better when you're self-employed. You can do the usual backdoor Roth IRAs and HSA, plus an individual 401(k) with a $53K limit and if you really want, a personal defined benefit plan. Obviously no match, but that's just part of your salary anyway.

Malpractice is the big one, but even many jobs that "don't offer benefits" will cover this for you. Read your contract and discuss.

Be sure that you're self-employed job offers pay at least 10% more than an employee job, more if there is a $50K benefit package like someone above.
 
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Totally depends on where you live and what level of health insurance you want. I have worked as an attending under 1099, W2 with zero benefits, and W2 with benefits, and there's not one "best" arrangement, necessarily. My current benefits package would run:
$15K/year health insurance for spouse+children, pretax HSA
$10,800/year 401K match
Disability and life provided but I also have my own policies
Vision and dental are essentially pass-throughs
$3k CME
(Malpractice $1M/$3M occurrence based - this should not be considered a benefit this is a minimum requirement for working there)
Overall probably looking at around $30K/year of benefits

If you are operating under a W2/non benefit or 1099 plan I would simply do the math and compare what you are/aren't getting under certain arrangements. Usually Employed W2 gigs tend to wildly exaggerate the value of their benefits, the one thing that can be quite expensive is health, other than that you can buy better policies on your own for most things (i.e.: life, disability) pretty easily. I think I pay around $500-600/mo for my own life and disability policies, and the disability has all the bells and whistles. If you can find some 1099 to augment your W2 with a SEP IRA that is also a big plus, just to keep in mind.
 
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Hey all,
I am finishing up my residency in June and have accepted a job in a fairly desirable location. The job doesn't have any benefit package and I am wondering how much I should expect to spend on a family of 4.
Is this common?
If anyone else pays for their own benefits, how much a month are you spending? How have you set up retirement?
Thanks!
If you are the typical exiting resident at age 32 +/- (assuming male gender so you know) Disability will be probably $200 per month +/- for $10k of own specialty coverage and $1 million of life insurance is about $23 per month for a 10 year lock, $30 per month for 15, $35 month for 20 year and $60 per month. These are approximate and based on good health but it should give you something to go by.
 
Many jobs are independent contractor (not employee). You get a paycheck and nothing else. Obviously you 'should' be getting paid more for a 1099 (independent contractor) job than a W2 job.

The worth of your benefit package is going to be specific to your situation. If you had a family the benefit package might be worth more than if you are single and young. If you are single and young that benefit package might have a dollar figure of '50K', but you would be able to met your benefit needs for 20K (if you paid out of pocket on the free market). Therefore, an IC job that lets you buy your own might save you substantial money. On the flip side if you had a big family and a lot of dependents, maybe the W2 benefit package would put you ahead.

I am guessing your job is IC status?

Yes, I will be IC. I do have a family
 
Thanks to everyone who responded. This really helped. I have locked in long term disability for a pretty reasonable rate and am getting onto life insurance now.
 
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