How long did it take you to pay off your medical school debt, and what strategies did you use?

[Anotherwin]

Any info would be nice

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[nexus73]

General advice: go into a higher paying specialty.

Secondary advice: if you’re going to a private school and will have $300K or more in loans seriously consider joining the military if it’s feasible for you.

 

[Anotherwin]

General advice: go into a higher paying specialty.

Secondary advice: if you’re going to a private school and will have $300K or more in loans seriously consider joining the military if it’s feasible for you.

Did you face difficulty paying off your debt, or did you find yourself regretting not going into a higher paying specialty?

 

[TexasPhysician]

Paid it off by the end of residency. I did attend a public med school which helped. In psych, you can start moonlighting PGY-2 in some programs. Making six figures as a resident really helps knock down the debt. Had a colleague earn over $250k as a PGY-4.

 

[Shufflin]

1.5 years ~ $350K. nothing fancy, just lived very frugally

 

[Stagg737]

General advice: go into a higher paying specialty.

Secondary advice: if you’re going to a private school and will have $300K or more in loans seriously consider joining the military if it’s feasible for you.

I'd be cautious about the military route. I was heavily considering HPSP and was eventually talked out of it by a Navy physician as it did not align with my future goals and the difference in savings would have possibly been worse with the military route (career path is not always as smooth/straightforward as advertised).

Fastest "common" way to pay off debt is moonlight during residency, then live like a resident for 5 years after finishing while simultaneously busting your butt to pull in bank. Can pay off debt and build up a solid nest egg if you're willing to put in the work and live like a resident.

 

[hallowmann]

I'd be cautious about the military route. I was heavily considering HPSP and was eventually talked out of it by a Navy physician as it did not align with my future goals and the difference in savings would have possibly been worse with the military route (career path is not always as smooth/straightforward as advertised).

Fastest "common" way to pay off debt is moonlight during residency, then live like a resident for 5 years after finishing while simultaneously busting your butt to pull in bank. Can pay off debt and build up a solid nest egg if you're willing to put in the work and live like a resident.

NHSC wouldn't be a bad option. I agree unless you independently want to be in the military, I wouldn't recommend it.

 

[Bartelby]

1 - Chose a school that offered good financial aid / scholarship money so my debt load at the end was low 100ks,
2 - Had a partner who started earning a very good salary before I did, but we kept (for the most part) the "living like a resident" lifestyle.

I actually still have a little loan left because my employer offers loan repayment. I could pay it off tomorrow, but financially it makes sense to keep making payments and getting reimbursed yearly (when it is paid off I don't get any kind of bonus etc. for no longer receiving loan repayment). I am a few years out of training and suspect I will be at financially independent numbers within five years from now, or 10 on the high end. I plan to keep working regardless because I really like the work / profession, but it may make it easier to do things like going part-time or spending time on things like writing that may never pan out financially.

 

[FN9]

1.5 years ~ $350K. nothing fancy, just lived very frugally

^^^^this

 

[reca]

For those who aren't aware, the VA now has a program that will pay for medical school in return for a six year service commitment. Really good deal. Not sure how competitive it is but they're not advertising it wisely so less than it should be, that's for sure.

 

[romanticscience]

1 - Chose a school that offered good financial aid / scholarship money so my debt load at the end was low 100ks,

2. Forwent fellowship and went straight into PP.
3. Paid it off in about 1.5 years.

 

[AD04]

I have about $170k in student loans. I could have paid it off 1 year after finishing residency. (I didn't moonlight during residency and instead enjoyed the city and the weather and the people.) I hold onto it because:

1. I can get employers to pay it.

2. My rate of return for investing far exceeds the interest rate on the loan, especially now when federal loans have 0% interest and asset prices have increased massively.

So unless employers will pay it off for me, I will stretch the loan for as long as I can. This is a big risk, big reward play.

 

[When is graduation again?]

I paid it off halfway through PGY2 year. Had about 65K in debt. The keys were having a wife to split daily living costs with, public school with lots of financial aid, and choosing a residency location with low tax rate and low cost of living.

 

[Merovinge]

General advice: go into a higher paying specialty.

Secondary advice: if you’re going to a private school and will have $300K or more in loans seriously consider joining the military if it’s feasible for you.

I disagree with both points. Psychiatry pay per hour is certainly competitive and there is significant flexibility in the field to increase this further. Intraspecialty differences can often outstrip differences between specialties, notwithstanding the outpatient pediatrician versus spine surgeon stereotypes that spring to mind (even then some gen peds make bank). 300k in loans should not be a breaking point for a psychiatrist where it is very feasible to have 300k in income your first year out, the general rule of thumb is that anything around (or less than) 2:1 debt to gross income ratio is a manageable situation by living frugally and can be paid off within 5 years.

Brief example: I took out 180k in loans for 4 years (state medical school). I had around 240k in loans by the time I started paying them back. My gross salary has been almost exactly 300k for my first 4 years of attending life (working 30-35 hours/week, no moonlighting, although I did moonlight during my fellowship). My loans will be clear this summer, I bought a new BWM in cash, and have fully funded my 40lk and back door roth IRAs while also living very comfortably.

There can certainly be extenuating factors related to high COL areas, sick family members, etc, but many people can do the above with some basic knowledge of personal finance (read White Coat Investor books then listen to his podcast) and knowledge of what they are worth in salary.

 

[throw-away-go-away]

Paid it off by the end of residency. I did attend a public med school which helped. In psych, you can start moonlighting PGY-2 in some programs. Making six figures as a resident really helps knock down the debt. Had a colleague earn over $250k as a PGY-4.

this is why I should have gone to the Oleander City

 

[robellis]

I paid it off halfway through PGY2 year. Had about 65K in debt. The keys were having a wife to split daily living costs with, public school with lots of financial aid, and choosing a residency location with low tax rate and low cost of living.

How does med school only cost 65k?

 

[ArdorAyurveda]

I have about $170k in student loans. I could have paid it off 1 year after finishing residency. (I didn't moonlight during residency and instead enjoyed the city and the weather and the people.) I hold onto it because:

1. I can get employers to pay it.

2. My rate of return for investing far exceeds the interest rate on the loan, especially now when federal loans have 0% interest and asset prices have increased massively.

So unless employers will pay it off for me, I will stretch the loan for as long as I can. This is a big risk, big reward play.

Embrace the risk!

I'm thinking of doing the same thing...

Gotta use all the tools that are given to ya!

 

[Stagg737]

For those who aren't aware, the VA now has a program that will pay for medical school in return for a six year service commitment. Really good deal. Not sure how competitive it is but they're not advertising it wisely so less than it should be, that's for sure.

This is actually potentially a great deal, especially if you qualify for their pension plan after 5 years of employment like you normally would.

How does med school only cost 65k?

Some in-state schools are <$15k/yr. If you have an SO that can pay for living expenses there are places you can graduate with less than $50k total debt without scholarships. This is also assuming you're taking out loans for everything, I paid for most of my M1 tuition oop, which cut a significant amount out of my loans.

 

[robellis]

This is actually potentially a great deal, especially if you qualify for their pension plan after 5 years of employment like you normally would.



Some in-state schools are <$15k/yr. If you have an SO that can pay for living expenses there are places you can graduate with less than $50k total debt without scholarships. This is also assuming you're taking out loans for everything, I paid for most of my M1 tuition oop, which cut a significant amount out of my loans.

Wow that’s amazing, my tuition was like 40k+ per year

 

[Stagg737]

Wow that’s amazing, my tuition was like 40k+ per year

Same, and what sucked for me was my in-state tuition would have been over $40k per year anyway (oos at that school was $65k+).

 

[WisNeuro]

1.5 years ~ $350K. nothing fancy, just lived very frugally

Spouse physician who finished >300k in debt (undergrad+med school combined). We paid it off in about 2 years. We're fairly frugal. We were helped that I carried zero debt and had passive income in addition to active work-related income. But, we largely did it without having to scrimp pr anything. We live in a higher than average COL state, in a nice suburb. Just make a budget and don't make purchases that are stupid at this point (e.g., don't need a new luxury vehicle). Now that we have zero debt, the financial flexibility is very nice. Even after maxing out all retirement accounts, we've got quite a bit left over after expenses. Also nice to not be locked into an employment situation. Allowed for a very easy transition into private practice for me.

 

[Mass Effect]

Spouse physician who finished >300k in debt (undergrad+med school combined). We paid it off in about 2 years. We're fairly frugal. We were helped that I carried zero debt and had passive income in addition to active work-related income. But, we largely did it without having to scrimp pr anything. We live in a higher than average COL state, in a nice suburb. Just make a budget and don't make purchases that are stupid at this point (e.g., don't need a new luxury vehicle). Now that we have zero debt, the financial flexibility is very nice. Even after maxing out all retirement accounts, we've got quite a bit left over after expenses. Also nice to not be locked into an employment situation. Allowed for a very easy transition into private practice for me.

The bolded is the key in your case. These discussions are difficult to have because everyone has different circumstances. Of course if you have a spouse who has steady income (especially another high-earner) and passive income, it'll be a lot easier for you to pay off debt without having to scrimp. This will not apply to many new docs.

 

[WisNeuro]

The bolded is the key in your case. These discussions are difficult to have because everyone has different circumstances. Of course if you have a spouse who has steady income (especially another high-earner) and passive income, it'll be a lot easier for you to pay off debt without having to scrimp. This will not apply to many new docs.

Yes, that part did help. I will add as a caveat, she paid off her loans solely with her own money (as we agreed prior to marriage that any debts or large investments accrued prior to marriage were separate). Additionally, we paid an equal share to living and shared expenses. So, while I was technically a fallback option, she did not utilize any additional income from me to pay it off.

 

[NickNaylor]

I left medical school with about $130k in loans. I had essentially zero loans from undergrad thanks to scholarships and my loans from medical school were only for COL, though I was living in a relatively high COL city. In residency, I did IBR and was paying about $300/mo on my loans... basically enough to prevent the interest from capitalizing. I think I was paying literally ~$10 of principal per year. Once I finished residency and had my first attending job, my IBR repayment rate obviously increased and I simply kept paying on that. My wife had a relatively small amount of student loans which we paid off pretty quickly, and we also focused on paying off “bad debt.”

Around the middle of last year, I made it an explicit point to pay off my loans as quickly as possible. I’m about 18 months out of residency and am currently paying about ~8k/month on my loans. I expect that I will have them paid off in about 9 months, so just about 2 years out from residency. I don’t really have any wise “strategy” other than simply focusing my financial resources on getting them paid off. I guess don’t blow all of your money going with a fancy lifestyle until your loans are paid off. My wife and I bought new cars but other than that our lifestyle is pretty much unchanged from residency years. I still save about 20% of my salary (including contributions from my employer) in retirement accounts and general savings, and while we aren’t overflowing with free cash, we don’t want for anything. I’ve got about $70k saved for a down payment for another house when we plan to make a move in the next couple of years. I’m looking forward to when that 8k/month will be usable for other things.

Being able to moonlight and sending that money to pay off loans is a wise choice and something that I wish that I did. I did a LOT of moonlighting during PGY-3/4 but was a ***** and didn’t use that money wisely. Not a big deal in the big scheme of things, but that probably could have shortened my repayment time by a few months at this point.

 

[thepoopologist]

My money's in the stock market for as long as interest rates are low and the forbearance is in effect. If payments start again I'll cash out and dump the lot into my loans and continue what I paid before, roughly twice the IBR payments.

 

[Ironspy]

I paid off around 60k mine plus 140k of my spouse by living cheaply and selling our house at the right time prior to residency. I did md/phd so my debt was mostly undergrad. My partner had a professional job that paid decently when I was in med school and we did not inflate our lifestyle. We didn’t max out retirement those years which may have been a mistake from a purely $$ POV but the psychological aspect of being debt free is worth it for us.

 

[Psychresy]

My money's in the stock market for as long as interest rates are low and the forbearance is in effect. If payments start again I'll cash out and dump the lot into my loans and continue what I paid before, roughly twice the IBR payments.

Ditto. Had 18% returns this year. There's no way I'm paying anything on my loans now that rates are locked at 0%. Before that was just paying interest so the principle didn't grow. I get the psychological benefit of not having debt for some people, but I think it's important to look at things from an objective perspective and calculate how much that benefit is going to cost in monetary terms. Compound your gains now over 30 years and we're talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars (or more). In either case, likely more than your student loans to begin with.

 

[milesed]

I did NHSC from 2001 to 2008 and paid it off completely. I had friends who did the military route and they got pulled back in after establishing careers.

 

[medium rare]

1.5 years ~ $350K. nothing fancy, just lived very frugally

👍🏼 Paid off $200K in 15 months while still maxing retirement funding.

 

[crossstr]

For those who aren't aware, the VA now has a program that will pay for medical school in return for a six year service commitment. Really good deal. Not sure how competitive it is but they're not advertising it wisely so less than it should be, that's for sure.

You have to have graduated from an MD/DO program to qualify for this, it's only for residency.

 

[reca]

You have to have graduated from an MD/DO program to qualify for this, it's only for residency.

No, it’s for medical students.

 

[Mapplicant]

I did locum work right out of residency.

Paid off 350k in less than 2 years. LIve like a resident (look up White Coat Investor blog, very useful for finances for doctors), be very very frugal, do NOT look at those large paychecks as a free pass to get that BMW or live large. I'm still driving a 15-year old car, I still have clothes from high school, my "nice" desktop computer is 10 years old, my "new" laptop was a gift going INTO residency about 5 years ago. We did buy a nice king sized bed recently...but other than that essentially no expenses. We watch netflix/youtube and also get books from the library. I'm generally very happy so far.

Helps alot if you also have no kids and/or partner to support OR if your partner is very on board with being frugal. Also locum helps with housing cost so that's huge.

Haven't bought a home yet (we're not settled into our permanent city just yet) so that's another expense saved.

 

[thomasina]

I still have clothes from high school

Yay me too I thought I was the only one

 

[Merovinge]

Yay me too I thought I was the only one

I have a pair of adidas gym shorts that is officially old enough to drink this year! They are actually in shockingly good condition, not hanging onto them just for frugal points.

 

[robellis]

👍🏼 Paid off $200K in 15 months while still maxing retirement funding.

You’re both a psychologist and a psychiatric NP?

 

[medium rare]

You’re both a psychologist and a psychiatric NP?

Yes, I’m both.

 

[WisNeuro]

I have a pair of adidas gym shorts that is officially old enough to drink this year! They are actually in shockingly good condition, not hanging onto them just for frugal points.

I don't throw things away unless they have fallen apart, or are so stylistically out of date that they can't even be used for costume. I still have a good deal of shirts I use for workouts from my HS football and wrestling days.