Saving/ investing tips for new graduate

[Farmgurl20]

Hi everyone,

I am 2020 graduate with 300 K debt ( I know crazy). working as graduate intern at the moment. I have been reading lots of threads here regarding how to save from fellow pharmacist. I am new bee when it comes to investment, so I wanted to know how to get started.
background: Floater position once licensed.Currently no bills as spouse pays for everything but I may get divorce. Repayment starts in September and I plan on picking PAYE plan as spouse ain’t help me pay loans. No plans of buying house for year or two but it most likely will be in 300 K range.I plan on paying loans first but i also want to make sure I save on side, invest and get another side hustle.
what are some of the Area I should invest in ( 401 K, Roth IRA etc)???

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[mentos]

Omg you paid 300k for pharmacy school What's your salary, like $78,000/year?

Contribute to 401k up to the match (usually 5%) for the free money and put it in an S&P index fund. Then save up 3-6 months emergency savings. If you already have emergency savings then start making principal only payments now because the interest is piling up everyday, don't wait until September.

The rest of your money should be used to pay down your loans before you invest anything. 300k is crazy high. You have no business investing or buying a home until you get rid of those loans, which I assume have a high interest rate.

If you have no bills then you should knock this out in a few years. But if you get divorced then you'll be drowning for a decade or until you find another sugar daddy.

 

[Hedgehog32]

Omg you paid 300k for pharmacy school What's your salary, like $78,000/year?

Contribute to 401k up to the match (usually 5%) for the free money and put it in an S&P index fund. Then save up 3-6 months emergency savings. If you already have emergency savings then start making principal only payments now because the interest is piling up everyday, don't wait until September.

The rest of your money should be used to pay down your loans before you invest anything. 300k is crazy high. You have no business investing or buying a home until you get rid of those loans, which I assume have a high interest rate.

If you have no bills then you should knock this out in a few years. But if you get divorced then you'll be drowning for a decade or until you find another sugar daddy.

There's a chance that even if the $300k could be paid off within a few years, she'd still end up paying less overall with IBR/PAYE/REPAYE, even taking the tax bomb into consideration. One of the only scenarios in which she'd end up paying more on one of those plans is if she somehow ends up earning some sky-high salary for much of the duration of the program repayment period.

 

[Wickett]

Omg you paid 300k for pharmacy school What's your salary, like $78,000/year?

Contribute to 401k up to the match (usually 5%) for the free money and put it in an S&P index fund. Then save up 3-6 months emergency savings. If you already have emergency savings then start making principal only payments now because the interest is piling up everyday, don't wait until September.

The rest of your money should be used to pay down your loans before you invest anything. 300k is crazy high. You have no business investing or buying a home until you get rid of those loans, which I assume have a high interest rate.

If you have no bills then you should knock this out in a few years. But if you get divorced then you'll be drowning for a decade or until you find another sugar daddy.

I did exactly what you recommend here for my loans, 401k contributions, etc. I paid off my loans in less than 3 years and recently bought a house. I am all for getting rid of student loan debt fast. However, my debt was in the 160s. With her debt load that high and with pharmacy hours and pay being low for new grads, unfortunately her best option is probably ibr. Unbelievable that people would rack up that much debt for pharmacy, but there's no going back on that now for her. I would still wait a while before thinking of purchasing a home, especially if talking about possible divorce.

 

[Swishers]

Finding a 40-hour position ASAP is the best financial move you can make. Even better if you can pick up at least 2 shifts a month on top of that.

 

[Sine Cura]

Real best option is to debt-dodge and marry a Canadian who can support you

 

[PharmDBro2017]

Here is a 1-pager that will set you up for success. If you follow this, don't make any major idiotic mistakes, you'll be wealthier than the vast majority of the planet.

Dilbert’s One-Page Guide to Everything Financial

The story goes that Scott Adams wanted to publish this as a one-page book, but he couldn’t find a publisher to do it. In fact, he is quoted as saying that “if God materialized on earth …

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[Momus]

Manipulate your spouse to pay off your loan before you divorce him. I mean what else are you going to do? If you have to bend the knees a couple times a week, do that too. You aren't gonna make 300k net (500k gross) working as a pharmacist.

Don't divorce him until you can find a richer replacement. Any earnings (half) made in marriage is yours.

 

[JustFillIt]

This thread grosses me out.

 

[Farmgurl20]

Manipulate your spouse to pay off your loan before you divorce him. I mean what else are you going to do? If you have to bend the knees a couple times a week, do that too. You aren't gonna make 300k net (500k gross) working as a pharmacist.

Don't divorce him until you can find a richer replacement. Any earnings (half) made in marriage is yours.

lol yeah if I stayed in this marriage, he Will pay off loans. But I don’t want to sign up for life time misery for loans. He makes way more than pharmacist so if we end up divorcing I would get something out of it that would help me pay some of my loans lol

 

[Farmgurl20]

Omg you paid 300k for pharmacy school What's your salary, like $78,000/year?

Contribute to 401k up to the match (usually 5%) for the free money and put it in an S&P index fund. Then save up 3-6 months emergency savings. If you already have emergency savings then start making principal only payments now because the interest is piling up everyday, don't wait until September.

The rest of your money should be used to pay down your loans before you invest anything. 300k is crazy high. You have no business investing or buying a home until you get rid of those loans, which I assume have a high interest rate.

If you have no bills then you should knock this out in a few years. But if you get divorced then you'll be drowning for a decade or until you find another sugar daddy.

It’s undergrad plus pharmd and some of is just pure interest that’s accumulated over years.

 

[JustFillIt]

lol yeah if I stayed in this marriage, he Will pay off loans. But I don’t want to sign up for life time misery for loans. He makes way more than pharmacist so if we end up divorcing I would get something out of it that would help me pay some of my loans lol

Is SHC back?

 

[Momus]

Is SHC back?

You weren't around when SHC reigned SDN.

 

[Eye-eye]

First thing's first, get a good job that pays well and refinance your loans privately if you have the credit score (unless going for PSLF). For actual investing advice, be prepared to get deep into the works of people like the white coat investor, Paul Merriman, Bill Bernstein, etc., and/or get a fee-only investment advisor. Only do the latter once you're saving enough to make it worth it, and look up the advice of people like the white coat investor and Paul Merriman on whom to trust - they both have written/talked extensively on it and its easy to make a wrong choice and screw yourself over on this one. Good luck!

 

[Chrish]

My buddy worked crazy hours with Walgreens for first two years. He was an overnight; worked 7 days straight and then picked up extra shifts on his week off. According to him, he even worked day shift once right after finishing his night shift! At that time Wag was paying $20 extra an hour for any OT. He paid off all his loans in 2 years and now he owns couple of indys.

It can be done but it requires working crazy number of hours without having much days off. I would say only two out of 10 rphs can do this.

 

[mentos]

My buddy worked crazy hours with Walgreens for first two years. He was an overnight; worked 7 days straight and then picked up extra shifts on his week off. According to him, he even worked day shift once right after finishing his night shift! At that time Wag was paying $20 extra an hour for any OT. He paid off all his loans in 2 years and now he owns couple of indys.

It can be done but it requires working crazy number of hours without having much days off. I would say only two out of 10 rphs can do this.

Do they even offer OT anymore? They just laid off a bunch of pharmacists so why would they pay someone 1.5x?

 

[Sine Cura]

I've only worked ~130 hrs in a pay period once (11 straight days). Even if I wanted to again, those days are long gone

There would literally have to be Spanish Flu 2.0 and I lucky enough not to get infected or not to be laid out to get those types of hrs again

 

[farmadiazepine]

At CVS I once worked 35 days in a row. I'm not kidding. They were overnights, 7 on 7 off, between 2 stores. I made $28,000 pre-tax for doing that.

The problem I see nowadays is that people graduate from pharmacy school with tons of debt, and they don't want to work their ass off like that anymore.

For 4 years straight after graduating I must have worked almost every single day. I took maybe 5 days off a year. I made well over $800,000, not including 401k matches, benefits, etc within 4 years.

 

[TateThePharmacist]

If you have to bend the knees a couple times a week, do that too.

Nothings ever free in life huh? lol

At CVS I once worked 35 days in a row. I'm not kidding. They were overnights, 7 on 7 off, between 2 stores. I made $28,000 pre-tax for doing that.

The problem I see nowadays is that people graduate from pharmacy school with tons of debt, and they don't want to work their ass off like that anymore.

For 4 years straight after graduating I must have worked almost every single day. I took maybe 5 days off a year. I made well over $800,000, not including 401k matches, benefits, etc within 4 years.

Don't get me wrong, I 100% respect the hussle, but one of the main reasons I got in pharmacy was because it's a job that pays 6 figures but is still paid hourly so nobody wants me working over 40 hours per week. Er I mean I got into pharmacy because I love the profession and want to help patients......
That work/life balance is extremely important to me.

 

[rxkrafted]

What will be your annual income? If you aren't getting full-time hours at that floater position, I'd think twice before trying to buy a $300K house in a year or two like you mentioned... Esp with that $300K loan on top.

 

[mentos]

At CVS I once worked 35 days in a row. I'm not kidding. They were overnights, 7 on 7 off, between 2 stores. I made $28,000 pre-tax for doing that.

The problem I see nowadays is that people graduate from pharmacy school with tons of debt, and they don't want to work their ass off like that anymore.

For 4 years straight after graduating I must have worked almost every single day. I took maybe 5 days off a year. I made well over $800,000, not including 401k matches, benefits, etc within 4 years.

Damn dude that's hardcore.

To be fair, a shift today takes its toll more than before. My night shift was pretty easy in 2015 but the work load and responsibilities nearly doubled within 3 years.

 

[DagS132]

lmao, wtf. Is this a troll thread? 300k in debt and wants to buy a house in the future in the 300k range?

 

[NorthTexasPharmacist]

There's a chance that even if the $300k could be paid off within a few years, she'd still end up paying less overall with IBR/PAYE/REPAYE, even taking the tax bomb into consideration. One of the only scenarios in which she'd end up paying more on one of those plans is if she somehow ends up earning some sky-high salary for much of the duration of the program repayment period.

I agree with this 100%. If you do the math, you would be paying less on REPAYE for 20-25 years on a pharmacist salary than to pay the whole amount off. Especially if you have over $200k.

As far as investing, besides the obvious such as ROTH, 401k, ect, there wouldn't be much you can do until you're able to obtain about $100k of your own money before you could start investing in something meaningful. i.e. real estate, commercial businesses.

 

[Hedgehog32]

I agree with this 100%. If you do the math, you would be paying less on REPAYE for 20-25 years on a pharmacist salary than to pay the whole amount off. Especially if you have over $200k.

As far as investing, besides the obvious such as ROTH, 401k, ect, there wouldn't be much you can do until you're able to obtain about $100k of your own money before you could start investing in something meaningful. i.e. real estate, commercial businesses.

Also, in regards to PAYE/REPAYE and if I'm not mistaken, the 10% someone has to pay is calculated off the person's post-tax earnings as well as after an amount that is 150% of the state poverty level income has been subtracted from their earnings. So in other words, a pharmacist earning $80-$90k depending on how many hours they get would only pay a fraction each month of what they'd pay on a standard 5- or 10-yr plan.