just a thought...

[tbone0217]

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While considering the cost/benefit of going to PA school vs Med school. Can anyone tell me if I'm missing something....
I'm interested in ER med. From what I understand, ER PA's can start around 90k and move up to 120k easily. ER docs make around 250k?
So here's the debate:

PA school- Graduate in 2 years with no loans. Work for 5 years at an average of 90k which is ~70k after taxes. I can have 350k in the bank by the time that I would have finished residency had I gone to med school. If that money is put away and invested for 30 years at the stock market average of 7% interest, I will have $2,664,289.26 sitting in an account by they time i retire at 60. Add that to the 90k (120k gross) x 30yrs= 2,700,000 i will make working as a PA. Total- $5.36 mil over career.

Med school- finish school and out of residency in 7 years. 100k in loans paid off with interest = ~220K. I would have Make an average of 175k after taxes (thats 250k gross) for 30 years= $5.25 mil - loans = $5 mil over career.

Basically I'm just figuring there wont be much of a difference in the long run financially. Make sense?

 

[austinap]

While considering the cost/benefit of going to PA school vs Med school. Can anyone tell me if I'm missing something....
I'm interested in ER med. From what I understand, ER PA's can start around 90k and move up to 120k easily. ER docs make around 250k?
So here's the debate:

PA school- Graduate in 2 years with no loans. Work for 5 years at an average of 90k which is ~70k after taxes. I can have 350k in the bank by the time that I would have finished residency had I gone to med school. If that money is put away and invested for 30 years at the stock market average of 7% interest, I will have $2,664,289.26 sitting in an account by they time i retire at 60. Add that to the 90k (120k gross) x 30yrs= 2,700,000 i will make working as a PA. Total- $5.36 mil over career.

Med school- finish school and out of residency in 7 years. 100k in loans paid off with interest = ~220K. I would have Make an average of 175k after taxes (thats 250k gross) for 30 years= $5.25 mil - loans = $5 mil over career.

Basically I'm just figuring there wont be much of a difference in the long run financially. Make sense?

Though I don't have a lot of faith in any of your numbers, the main problem seems to be with your logic in the PA route:

First, you're assuming that you have no cost of living, and that you save _all_ of your after-tax income, which is clearly not realistic. Second, you're assuming 7% on that money, which isn't necessarily realistic. You're also choosing to add interest to some income but not other income. Be consistent.

Second, lifestyle tends to change with income, not net worth. It's a human thing. If you make more annually, you'll probably live a better lifestyle than someone that has the same net wealth as you do but makes less per annum.

Finally, income likely isn't the name of the game. Med school gives you other options and a more detailed understanding of the concepts than PA school. Money probably isn't going to be the motivating factor for a lot of people.

 

[Catalystik]

Are you going to be happy seeing all the sore throats, UTIs, and ankle sprains as a PA while the ER doc gets to see the good stuff?

 

[elektroshok]

lolz at your numbers, OP.

 

[roseglass6370]

I mean, maybe...if you're motivating factor is the money... 🙄

(And this assuming that your numbers are accurate, which I'm not really going to assume...)

 

[GoodmanBrown]

I agree with Austin that your numbers just don't seem to add up. How are you putting every penny of your PA salary into a high yield investment (7% is pretty high over the lifetime of an investment), but none of your doctor earnings go into anything that earns high returns?

Also, why no student loans for 2 years of PA school? Usually it's just as expensive as 2 years of medical school.

Rest assured, if you become a doctor at a reasonable age (i.e. less than 35 or so), you'll make a ton more over your lifetime as a doctor.

 

[ahowardmd]

This is Student Doctor Network, not Student Doctor Assistant Network.

If you just want money, go into business.

That said, PAs are very valuable members of the health-care team. If you become a PA, you will save tons of lives and help tons of people. Also, you will make plenty of cash, but I doubt your numbers will flesh out to mean what you think they do.

 

[searun]

OP, you should write a diet book - you are going to lose alot of weight eating nothing but air during those five years when you bank $350,000. And sleeping with the homeless guys under that bridge will be alot of fun too.

 

[medschoolfamily]

PA school- Graduate in 2 years with no loans. Work for 5 years at an average of 90k which is ~70k after taxes. I can have 350k in the bank by the time that I would have finished residency had I gone to med school.
Make sense?

Haha, i've seen some posts with extremely fudged and misinterpreted numbers, but this is like tripling the national deficit and saying your making budget cuts. If you can graduate PA school with no loans, why not graduate med school with no loans too? If you can bank your entire net salary as a PA why not as an ER doc? We could all go on and on about the faulty logic here, so to answer your question...no, this makes absolutely no sense.

 

[the duck]

This is one of teh funniest threads I've seen on here. The OP either seriously believes you can live off air, and has no understanding of the world, or this is a joke...My money is on the latter.

 

[RevMD]

I'm getting tired of these threads where the OP asks something about salary and then miserably fail to take into account even the most basic finance concepts when performing their calculations. It makes me wonder how some med school students or even doctors will be able to manage their debt and practices without such essential skills. Boy, are they in for a ride.

 

[startswithb]

I'm getting tired of these threads where the OP asks something about salary and then miserably fail to take into account even the most basic finance concepts when performing their calculations. It makes me wonder how some med school students or even doctors will be able to manage their debt and practices without such essential skills. Boy, are they in for a ride.

I've heard physicians are notoriously bad with their finances.

 

[extravagnat]

This is Student Doctor Network, not Student Doctor Assistant Network.

If you just want money, go into business.

That said, PAs are very valuable members of the health-care team. If you become a PA, you will save tons of lives and help tons of people. Also, you will make plenty of cash, but I doubt your numbers will flesh out to mean what you think they do.

I Lol'd

 

[thesauce]

I've heard physicians are notoriously bad with their finances.

Unfortunately, this probably comes from being notoriously bad at math. It was frustrating to see how much my class struggled with basic algebra.

 

[bannie22]

7% from the stock market????
ARE YOU SURE????

lol. if its really 7%... then why bother to work in teh first place?
put thsoe tuition fees into the stock market.

 

[marble30]

Which bank/saving program gives a guaranteed 7% interest because I want to know!!

I'm only getting like...what? 1.25% right now??!

 

[amakhosidlo]

While considering the cost/benefit of going to PA school vs Med school. Can anyone tell me if I'm missing something....
I'm interested in ER med. From what I understand, ER PA's can start around 90k and move up to 120k easily. ER docs make around 250k?
So here's the debate:

PA school- Graduate in 2 years with no loans. Work for 5 years at an average of 90k which is ~70k after taxes. I can have 350k in the bank by the time that I would have finished residency had I gone to med school. If that money is put away and invested for 30 years at the stock market average of 7% interest, I will have $2,664,289.26 sitting in an account by they time i retire at 60. Add that to the 90k (120k gross) x 30yrs= 2,700,000 i will make working as a PA. Total- $5.36 mil over career.

Med school- finish school and out of residency in 7 years. 100k in loans paid off with interest = ~220K. I would have Make an average of 175k after taxes (thats 250k gross) for 30 years= $5.25 mil - loans = $5 mil over career.

Basically I'm just figuring there wont be much of a difference in the long run financially. Make sense?

No, it doesn't.

But I like this type of pointless exercise, so I'll play along.
Attached is a spreadsheet with figures I came up with using calculators & from Bankrate.com, the IRS website, and Turbotax.

I live in WA, which has property & sales tax rather than income.
For Fed taxes, I came up with $36,000 in deductions/adjustments for both individuals (Student loan interest, mortgage interest, head of household, IRA credit, etc). The Doc paid nearly 2x as much in taxes, because 180k is a sh*tty place to be bracket-wise (the cut off b/t 28 & 33% is 171k).

I assumed worst case, PA makes 120k (high), and the ER doc makes 180k (Low), both salaries are static.

Also, that the Doc went to a 40k/yr school, and the PA went to a local WA program that's a 3 yr masters program @ 20k/yr

The PA gets a 4 yr head start on the Doc (No residency)

Both individuals lead the same, somewhat frugal lifestyle w/ a 600k mortgage, low personal expenses, and great savings habits. They bank all their excess income into an account that returns 6.5% (generous, I know, but it's what bankrate gave me as a default). When all was said and done, at the end of each month, the PA had ~$4000 to sock away. The MD wound up with $7800

After 30 years, the PA's total savings, minus loan repayments was ~$3,600,000

The ER Doc's total was ~$5,500,000

Not that big a deal in the grand scheme of things, and both individuals are no doubt living comfortably, but it's a pretty big stretch to say that PA's make as much as ER docs in the long term. FM & Peds, well that might be a different story....

 

[anfleisch]

Like everyone else said, your original numbers made absolutely no sense. Making a PA salary, you would probably have very little liquid cash if any to invest. Plus, a PA starting out would not be making that much over a resident salary.