Money saved before medical school...

[Atlantis07]

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[Sol Rosenberg]

You can't get around declaring the money. Given that it's unlikely that you will receive any financial aid anyway (on top of loans) why worry about it?

If you are thinking that having this cash will prevent you from receiving loans, you are incorrect.

 

[dragonfly99]

A lot of med schools don't give most students any "free" money like grants or scholarships anyway, so it ends up not mattering. 20k is chump change anyway when it comes to med school costs. If you are counting on >>6.8% returns (to outpace your loans) on your investments, you must be good at trading stocks...I personally am not.

 

[TMP-SMX]

Won't matter in terms of loans. Only problem you could face is not being eligible for the $8500 in subsidized staffords in which case you would get the full amount of unsubsidized staffords instead.

It's probably a good idea for your first year to just spend your savings as you'd have to do better than 6.8% in an investment to break even. Not to mention you seem to be expecting this 6.8% average to happen in the next five years. I don't know how realistic that is unless you are doing something more risky with investments.

 

[kmfrank]

It's not an impossibility - since January I've gotten a 50% (!!) return on my stocks.

Bought a bit of Ford when it was $2.50 a share 🙂

 

[DrYoda]

It's not an impossibility - since January I've gotten a 50% (!!) return on my stocks.

Bought a bit of Ford when it was $2.50 a share 🙂

It is,however, unlikely that the market volatility of the past year will continue for the next four.

 

[Wacaggie]

It looks like you already made your 20k grow more than 6.8% per year over four years. You made a lucky bet and came out ahead. Now you can take those winnings and save 6.8% per year on your 30k. You can keep on trying to time the market but remember that you can also lose money in trading stocks. If you are lucky enough you could possibly pay for your medical school through trading. You could also end up with nothing at the end of the 4 years. Its your decision.

 

[NewKidin2block]

I would keep at least 10k, possibly more, just for last minute expense.

In case something bad happened and you need to declare leave of absence, you have something to rely on.

So I've been working over a year now in a low-pay, medical field job and have been diligently saving up money. I'll probably have about $20k saved up before medical school. It's not very much money, but I was only making about 35k/yr. I would like to stretch this money as much as possible, and given the current market conditions, I think it'd be in my best interest to invest the money now and then cash in on the profits 5 years down the line (after I'm done with medical school). But from what I understand, medical school financial aid committees look at equity in stocks as being liquid and expect you to pretty much max it out before they give you loans/scholarships. I've already enjoyed a huge return in stock investments in the past few months and think that the market will really rebound. Is there any way around this? I was thinking I should put everything in IRA accounts, but I'd like to have the money available after 5 years to pay down loans (I think the returns I'd get on the money would outweigh the interest accrued).

Does any one have any thoughts? I've been working so hard to save that 20k and I'd really rather see it grow than taken all away my 1st year. Any thoughts or insights about how much of our stock investments medical schools consider as liquid?

 

[link2swim06]

Ya 20K can be eaten up pretty quickly in educational expenses