Repaying loans in residency

[mariposas905]

How much would likely be possible to pay back per month if I wanted to start repaying back loans once in a 3 year primary care residency? Assume a 180,000 loan amount after the four years of medical school.

How much would I reasonably be able to pay back per month with a primary care physician salary after residency? Assuming I will be starting a family in residency and am living in a good city with a good apartment.

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[getdown]

Depends on many factors like will you refinance to a lower interest rate or stick with your 7% government rate? The COL of the area. How "good" of an apartment are we talking about. Is your spouse working too? Are you still planning on maxing out your retirement accounts. The overall salary of your job post residency. Childcare? Family nearby?

Without knowing these things I'd venture probably 500-1000 a month in residency if you budget properly. Afterwards you could do 2-3k.

 

[Med Ed]

How much would likely be possible to pay back per month if I wanted to start repaying back loans once in a 3 year primary care residency? Assume a 180,000 loan amount after the four years of medical school.

How much would I reasonably be able to pay back per month with a primary care physician salary after residency? Assuming I will be starting a family in residency and am living in a good city with a good apartment.

The time-value of money dictates that you will likely end up paying off as little as possible during residency. And there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you end up taking a job with a loan repayment incentive.

 

[mariposas905]

The time-value of money dictates that you will likely end up paying off as little as possible during residency. And there's nothing wrong with that, especially if you end up taking a job with a loan repayment incentive.

So you have an idea of what the estimated amounts might be on a pediatrician salary?

 

[jamaica jan sun princess]

So you have an idea of what the estimated amounts might be on a pediatrician salary?

That depends on filling status and salary. According to Medscape 2019, the average pediatrician salary is $225,000. In a location with high taxes, such as NYC, your monthly take home before any insurances or retirement would be $11,664. That's assuming you're single and don't have any dependents.

Without getting into exactly how much it costs to live in NYC, let's just say it's half of your take-home income for simplicity. So you'd be left with $5,832 to put towards any loans.

If you paid $500 per month during residency on $180,000, you'd still owe roughly $200,000 after a 3 year residency. Why did it go up? Because you're accruing interest at a higher rate than you're paying. If you paid $1,000 a month during residency, your loan balance would be about $180,000 after.

If you put that $5832 towards your loan every month, it would take you about 3 years to pay off the remaining $200,000.

I used my HP 10BII financial calculator from undergrad, so I'm confident these figures are accurate.

 

[TakotsuboOkazaki]

National Median for Physicians is ~$189,000

Say you keep 65% of that after taxes --> $122,850/yr

Per month take home is --> $10,237/mo

If you have 180,000 loan at 7% at graduation and make no payments in residency that becomes (180,000*1.07)+(180,000*0.07)+(180,000*0.07) or 217,800.

Standard 10y monthly payment is ~1815/mo, but you'd need to pay more to beat interest.

Still, can take home more than $7,000/mo while paying off loans on national median salary.

 

[Med Ed]

So you have an idea of what the estimated amounts might be on a pediatrician salary?

Would it impact your decision to become a pediatrician?

 

[mariposas905]

Would it impact your decision to become a pediatrician?

No, I don't think so. But I am curious to know what the pediatrician salary is most likely going to be coming out of a residency at a good hospital in a state like VA or TX. Also, consider the total loan amount to be ~200K by the end of M4 year. It's basically around $194,773 but I didn't add loans fees in that calculation, and this is assuming I get some family support.

How much do most peds earn in 2019? And what do you expect the calculations might be, years to repay etc? Trying to achieve a better idea of what my future looks like...

 

[Med Ed]

No, I don't think so. But I am curious to know what the pediatrician salary is most likely going to be coming out of a residency at a good hospital in a state like VA or TX. Also, consider the total loan amount to be ~200K by the end of M4 year. It's basically around $194,773 but I didn't add loans fees in that calculation, and this is assuming I get some family support.

How much do most peds earn in 2019? And what do you expect the calculations might be, years to repay etc? Trying to achieve a better idea of what my future looks like...

I've seen 3-year contracts to work in underserved areas where the signing bonus alone would wipe out a quarter of your debt. I've seen 4-year contracts where the employer will put $50K/year toward loan repayment (unfortunately you would still have to pay taxes on it). Or you could take an outpatient job in a high COL area and spend 25 years paying off your loans. Or you could do an additional 3-year peds fellowship and then make enough bank as to render your loans almost inconsequential.

Your question is understandable, but your future could look like many different things.

 

[UnderservedPC]

I realize this is an old thread, but there are also loan repayment options for people going into primary care in an underserved area. This is offered by the federal government through HRSA and many states have programs too. I'm a primary care internist and have already completed Doctors Across NY (DANY) and am in the HRSA program now. The DANY program paid $150,000 for 5 years (tax free), and the HRSA program is $50,000 for 2 years (also tax free). I practice in NYC at an academic institution.

Also, primary care reimbursement is improving due to more value based care contracts looking to improve long-term outcomes and efficiency which is all centered in primary care. The current US system of reimbursement fee for service will not be sustainable.

 

[Blueprint Med School]

How much would likely be possible to pay back per month if I wanted to start repaying back loans once in a 3 year primary care residency? Assume a 180,000 loan amount after the four years of medical school.

How much would I reasonably be able to pay back per month with a primary care physician salary after residency? Assuming I will be starting a family in residency and am living in a good city with a good apartment.

1st year ER resident here. If you're going primary care, look for the scholarships and public service loan forgiveness. You could end up paying a lot less than you expect.

Especially with things like Revised Pay as you earn, you have monthly payments of zero during intern year, save the money and build up other things like retirement funds or pay off credit cards.

Long story short, do your research and you could end up doing quite well for yourself.

Cheers,

David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
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