Money is my motive.... MED SCHOOL/Doctor!!!!! question :(

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Ok, I'll run through the financials for you.

Note: There are a lot of estimates in my numbers because there are a ton of variables in every aspect (i.e. you could live like a king or a pauper doing medical school, residency, etc).

Medical School:
Tuition: 4 years @ $ 30,000. (State school cost. It's a lot more if private).
Room & Board: 4 Years @ $10,000
Other costs (Insurance, gas, social activities): 4 years @ $ 5,000.

Just like that, you're $ 180,000 in debt, not counting undergrad costs. Stafford loan cost is 6.8%. The estimate is it will take 15 years to repay (Total loan payment amount = $308,000).

Here's what residency, which is 4 years, looks list for an anesthesiologist.
Salary: $ 50,000.
- Taxes: $ 4,750 + 25% over $ 34,000 = $ 8,750
- Living Costs (Apt, insurance, housing) = $ 20,000
- Loan Repayment (Est $ 500 every month) = $ 6,000
- Savings (because you're planning to retire at 42) = $15,000.

So at the end of residency, you'll have saved $ 60,000 +/- whatever your interest rate is (usually 0.5%). Unfortunately, you still owe $274,000. So now, we get to the good part. Where you're the baller anesthesiologist, assuming you get the job and ignoring external factors affecting the current market (i.e. CRNA takeover).

Anesthesiologist:
Salary $ 200,000 (that's a really generous starting offer by the way).
- Taxes = $ 42,449 + 33% over $ 174,000 = $ 50,000.
- Malpractice Insurance = $ 20,000
- Living Costs (let's be honest, you're not going to drive a Kia and live in a studio in the middle of nowhere) = $ 75,000
- Loan Repayment ($ 2,100 per month) = 25,000
- Savings = 30,000

Assuming you get a generous raise every year (5% which I will add is rare in this economy and probably won't happen with the decrease in future insurance compensations) and you put that all in to savings.

Now, let's draw the final picture. It'll take you 11 years practicing as an anesthesiologist to repay your loans completely. During that period, you saved a total of 4 @ $ 15,000 + 11 @ $ 30,000 = $ 390,000. Even with shrewd investing of that money, you'd be lucky to double it. Do you believe you can retire on $ 800,000? Most people save @ 30,000 per year for the next 25 years of their career to get anywhere near to a comfortable retirement number (1.5 million plus.

Oh and all of this is with very conservative estimates regarding your living costs. A person who's mentality is for the money will probably end up spending all their money not saving it.

So good luck with your plan.

My Errors:
Didn't factor in state taxes. Figure that to be another 5 - 10% of your salary.


.

To my knowledge your salary estimate is a bit conservative. Also, look at the brighter side, 75K for living expenses is freaking awesome. And if you get to go to med school you may end up marrying a doctor which would double that. Not bad at all. Where I live, a family whose combined income is 150+ is definitely fairly well off.

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just out of curiosity how do salaries of MD PhD compare to those of MD in the corresponding specialty? an what is the average salary for MD PhD?
 
just out of curiosity how do salaries of MD PhD compare to those of MD in the corresponding specialty? an what is the average salary for MD PhD?

Same. You may supplement income through the lab/research but MDs can do this also. Also not all MD/PhDs do research afterwards and all the same specialties are available to each.
 
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Please tell me forthemoney is just trolling us :/
 
Shh..

Money is a dirty word in medicine.
 
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