Fears

[JustAyoungDoc]

Finally I have graduated from Med school but I cannot sleep day and night worrying about my loans.


I owe about $200,000 and just wondering if a lot of people are in the same shoes as I am and how other people cope with it.


I am starting residency in July of next year.


Considering I am only 26 I guess it is a bit comforting but do doctors have a hard time paying back their loans after residency?

 

[paean]

You *will* be able to pay it off. Doctors are lenders' favorites because they inevitably are able to pay it all off. Right now, I'm sure you are overwhelmed. That's normal. Sometimes it's helpful to sit down with a financial planner (or someone from your class who has a similar situation, but has figured out how to approach it) and go over everything, because money anxiety often comes from not knowing exactly how you will be able to make it all work.

Make sure you consolidate your Stafford loans during your grace period to lock in the super low interest rates.

On a resident's salary, it feels like the loans will be around forever, but they won't. As soon as you finish, you will be able to pay them off in a relatively short time (5-10 years is very doable for most people, although many decide to take longer so they have a bigger disposable income).

If you can't make payments and still pay your rent, call your lenders immediately, and they can tell you how to reduce your monthly payment (defering more of your principle until you have a higher salary) or even defer entirely for a few years. If you can, try to at least pay any interest you are accumulating, so it doesn't compound.

 

[Resident Alien]

Why isnt paean the moderator of this forum?!

 

[paean]

Originally posted by Resident Alien
Why isnt paean the moderator of this forum?!

Too much responsibility. Thanks for the vote of confidence, though.

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Paean gave great advise about financial planning and paying your interest on the loans so that they don't balloon out of control.

I have about $100,000 debt. I chose the NAVY FAP route to help pay back, so I'm not as stressed as most.

A lot of my colleagues owe more than $150,000. It is stressful, but that is what forbearance is for. As long as you're training, you won't have to make payments. Thousands of physicians have trained, accumulated debts, and eventally pay it all off. I don't know what field you're going into, but most fields make very comfortable salaries. You'll be able to pay it off because everyone does and still drive their BMWs.

If you're super stressed and don't mind the military, then consider the FAP. You receive a $40,000 supplement per year to pay off your loans. After taxes, it'll be about $30,000. But if you're in a 4 year residency program, you'll shave your $200,000 down to $80,000, but if you're in a surgical speciality with 5+ years of training, then you'll walk away almost debt free. When you work for the mililtary and depending on your speciality, you'll make a little over $100,000 per year at the start. Many physicians stay in for the full 20 years and then retire from the Military collecting ~$3500 per month for the rest of their life and then working in private practice or hospital.

 

[BatmanMD]

When I hear about the loans, it always brings up a point about the public that I have a HUGE pet-pev about, physician salaries.
So, when you get out after undergrad, medschool, and residency you make ~150,000 a year.
Almost 1/2 in taxes takes you to ~90,000-100,000.
Then figure out the student loans, $150,000 and oh, say $2000/month, for $24,000/year and now you're down to ~80,000 for working your a$$ off for AT LEAST 13 YEARS.

Then the public get upset when you make this, but GM, FORD, DISCOVER, ect... can pay their employees 50K/year with NO education, or middle management can make $150,000 w/maybe some undergrad stuff.

We sacrifice an important DECADE + of our life (usually our 20's-the best time! and they still complain..

I tell this to anyone who thinks doc's make too much money.
I know that some docs are not as honest as the should be (persuaded by $ from pharm. and HMO's), but for the most part they are fair.

Sorry about the soap box thing, I kinda get out of hand, anyway, you have 40 years (if you want! ) to pay the loans back, so it will be easily paid for. Have fun and enjoy what you do b/c we are in a select group, even though sometimes it seems that everyone is a doctor, I bet you are admired from more people that you think!

 

[Andrew_Doan]

Just remember that very few fields provide job security and an AVERAGE pay of over $150,000. I know friends who work tons in law or business and only make $60,000 per year.

It's true that you really must love medicine. Otherwise the burnout rate is quite high.

 

[paean]

Batman, some of us like the work we do during those "13 YEARS." And if you think that 150K is a common salary for someone "w/maybe some undergrad stuff" I have a nice bridge I'd like to sell you. There are some people who make it into those salary levels without a lot of education, but they get there by a combination of hard work, and a lot of luck. We hear about it because it's so rare.

I've heard few complaints about doctors making 150K a year, but a lot about the ones who go into cosmestic and boutique medicine and make 500K+ a year, often working far fewer hours than the average MD.

I understand being frustrated that you are not being appreciated for what you perceive as a sacrifice of your 20s. But if you are saying that MDs are paid to little and unfairly compared to the rest of society, you get no support from me on that count.

 

[KyGrlDr2B]

We recently had a speaker and someone brought up the question of her salary and her loans. Now her loans were less than ours are now, but get this. She practices rural family medicine. After her residency, she and her husband lived like paupers and she was able to pay off her loans in ONE YEAR. Then she went on to buy a nice car and house, etc. So don't worry about loans. If she can do it then we can too! We even gave her a round of applause for that!

 

[johnstoner]

I support batman on this....

joke...

What did Batman say to Robin
before they got in the car?

Robin, get in the car

anyway... yeah i agree that we do spend a chunk of our youths..the best parts studying our arses off, I think the salary that physicians earn are justifable...I don't think people should complain about our salaries..and honestly the rising cost of healthcare is because of rising cost of procedures and drugs not the rising cost of physician's salaries... also if healthcare is becoming better...doesn't taht mean the cost of healthcare should in general rise???