What are you going to buy with your first real Doc paycheck?

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ERK123 said:
Few doctors make more than $406,000 (single) or $457,000 (married) to pay into the 39.6% tax bracket. Even fewer doctors make significantly more than $500,000 so if their income does make them qualify for the 39.6% bracket than very little of their income will actually be taxed at 39.6%. California's 13.3% bracket does not kick in until the income is greater than $1,000,000, which few doctors make. I would assume that most doctors pay an effective federal tax rate of around 30% (probably a little lower) and in California you can add around 9.5% for state income taxes.
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Many physicians are married to spouses with well paying careers and its easier to hit that bracket than you think.
Of course being too upset about paying an extra few percent on your income over $500k is a bit out of touch with the reality of the majority of the citizens.
 
the financial management in this thread is scary. different for the attendings actually making money but all the med students that are like " as soon as I get a job I'm gonna buy a 100k car and a 500k house"

lol ok good luck with your financial future
 
colbgw02 said:
What am I missing about these performance wagons? Apart from additional storage space, do they offer something not available on the corresponding sedans? To me, they just scream, "I've got to get the kids to soccer practice RIGHT NOW."
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that and " I need to have these groceries home in under 5 minutes"
 
Paying off dept and enjoying a night out... and sleep ... maybe...
 
PL198 said:
the financial management in this thread is scary. different for the attendings actually making money but all the med students that are like " as soon as I get a job I'm gonna buy a 100k car and a 500k house"

lol ok good luck with your financial future
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Technically our financial future may have been screwed the second we put down our deposit for medical school. Where this country is going with medicine is a question I already asked my 8 ball and my response was worse than expected.

images
 
IlDestriero said:
You forgot, "and tuition was half as much,"
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yeah... tuition doubled in 10 years from 1992-2002 and then it almost doubled again... good thing everyone's salary doubled as well. This is getting easy peasy to pay back

upload_2015-4-21_7-34-9.png

debt 2014.png
 
IlDestriero said:
Many physicians are married to spouses with well paying careers and its easier to hit that bracket than you think.
Of course being too upset about paying an extra few percent on your income over $500k is a bit out of touch with the reality of the majority of the citizens.
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They would still not be paying 39.6% on their entire income, which the original post implied.
 
colbgw02 said:
Aren't state income taxes generally deductible for federal purposes?
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I'm not sure about that, but that's a good question that I'd like to know.

Chipster. said:
Do you know what effective tax rates are? Or tax deductions for that matter?
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I do, but I've never been able to apply tax deductions and a lot of people that I know who did got screwed for it later because they either counted things as deductions that weren't supposed to be or they ended up owing the gov instead of getting a return. I actually know 5 or 6 people that got audited and a few of them were penalized pretty harshly (I thought audits weren't common, but with the number of people I know that have had it happen it makes me wonder). As for the effective tax rates, I understand them, but I also realize that oftentimes a person lives in a household with 2 earners as Ildestriero said. Plus when you add the 7.65% from medicare and social security it brings a significant portion of that income up anyway. Also, many states have a flat tax rate (both states I've paid taxes in did), so the effective rate doesn't matter at that level.

ERK123 said:
In the U.S. People only pay payroll taxes on the first $110,000 of income so not all of a doctors salary will be subjected to the 6.2% and 1.45% employee share for Medicare and social security. Also, since the U.S. has a progressive taxation system docs will only be paying 33% of their income on amounts over $186,000. Likewise, docs are not going to pay 11% on their entire income. I am not saying taxes are low or high, but calculating the percentage of income owed to the government is not as simple as looking at the income tax bracket for a specific income and multiplying this value by the amount earned.
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I've never heard of that, but then again neither myself nor my family have ever made anywhere near that much in a year combined, so I wouldn't know. Obviously for the latter part it's not going to be the full rate on the entire income, but it's still a significant part of the a high-earner's income when you average it out (at least 1/3 if you're making 100k+) and I don't think it would be incredibly uncommon for a doc to be paying 40% or close to that after medicare, ss, and everything is taken into account.
 
ERK123 said:
They would still not be paying 39.6% on their entire income, which the original post implied.
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Someone said they thought we had lower taxes than Canada, and my original post said that some people would be taxed at over 50%, which basically never happens in Canada strictly talking about taxes. I never implied that it was their entire income being taxed at that rate, just that some people would be taxed at a rate over 50%. Saying 39.6% on the entire income is something that was misconstrued from the post, maybe I should have been clearer.

I also never said that I was talking about physician income, that was also something that was added in later by others. It would be pretty rare for a physician (anywhere in North America) to pay over 50% of their income to taxes, but for most they will be paying a very significant amount of their earnings to the gov.
 
Winged Scapula said:
It's bougie and kids running around all over the place.

Seriously, if you're spending that kind of money you can get FAR more luxury, relaxation and views elsewhere. For $15k you should be looking at the Maldives or Bora Bora, not Atlantis.
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Yeah, this X10

Or Bali
Or Seychelles

Seychelles was heaven on Earth. Bali was a close second.
 
IlDestriero said:
Bed.
Ain't nothing like sleeping on a mattress that costs more than some peoples cars. (You can spend a hell of a lot more than $5k on a mattress.)
Seriously.
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I don't have a car. Did you pay someone a dollar for a bed?

fancymylotus said:
Lobbs and C&J's
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Fixed

fancymylotus said:
More money more problems. I feel like everything I make rapidly disappears as soon as it gets deposited into my account. I need to negotiate a raise. ><
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Don't you work for your parents?

masaraksh said:
Maybe you shop too much for clothes/shoes?
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Unpossible!

Vesh said:
A Burberry coat, a Tom Ford suit, a pair of Berluti oxfords, and a Jaeger LeCoultre Reverso. Fight me
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Replace JLC with IWC portofino and we're talking. Slash, what are you going into again?

PS: Burberry coats are overrated.

Winged Scapula said:
There's plenty of data that says just that: women dress for other women, not for men.

Very few men recognize the significance of the red soles or the names Choo, Blahnik, Weitzman et al
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And very few men know how to dress. So there's that.

fancymylotus said:
Is that indian friend of yours still single? 😛
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You rang?

masaraksh said:
I love you. That is probably one of the absolute best car choices you can make. Unfortunately, Audi doesn't bring their high end wagons into the US anymore. But, you should get it.

I have an unhealthy obsession with fast german sport wagons and once I'm done with training hope to import some of the euro only models.
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So you're saying you like big booty?
 
fancymylotus said:
Yeah, this X10

Or Bali
Or Seychelles

Seychelles was heaven on Earth. Bali was a close second.
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GO TO BORNEO!!! I'm going there this summer. And India. And Ladakh in the foothills of the Himalayas. And Thailand. And Malaysia. And Cambodia or Vietnam.
 
ridethecliche said:
GO TO BORNEO!!! I'm going there this summer. And India. And Ladakh in the foothills of the Himalayas. And Thailand. And Malaysia. And Cambodia or Vietnam.
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I've been to the homeland of course. And to Ladakh 😀 I've been all over Tibet and China. Japan, Thailand, Malaysia too. I used to be fun 😀
 
fancymylotus said:
I've been to the homeland of course. And to Ladakh 😀 I've been all over Tibet and China. Japan, Thailand, Malaysia too. I used to be fun 😀
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I'm going to disappear for 6-8 weeks this summer as pre-med school huzzah. Are you saying it's all downhill from here?
 
ridethecliche said:
I'm going to disappear for 6-8 weeks this summer as pre-med school huzzah. Are you saying it's all downhill from here?
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I graduated a semester early from undergrad, so I got to spend a bunch of time doing world traveling then. We go to the homeland once every few years, and I've been on some trips with friends and past SO's.

Its not so much all downhill, but everyones schedules get hard to coordinate, and its sort of tough for me to take tons of time off now, bc my parents like to travel, and i cant go anywhere if theyre gone. Since I'm the bottom of the food chain and "SOMEONE HAS TO WORK, FANCY!"(their words)
 
fancymylotus said:
I graduated a semester early from undergrad, so I got to spend a bunch of time doing world traveling then. We go to the homeland once every few years, and I've been on some trips with friends and past SO's.

Its not so much all downhill, but everyones schedules get hard to coordinate, and its sort of tough for me to take tons of time off now, bc my parents like to travel, and i cant go anywhere if theyre gone. Since I'm the bottom of the food chain and "SOMEONE HAS TO WORK, FANCY!"(their words)
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I'm going by myself!
 
fancymylotus said:
Its looking like my next adventure will be to Morocco. 😀
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I could go hang out with a friend there in June but I don't think it's going to work out for my timeline and will probably be cost prohibitive due to airfare.

I'm trying to do my trip on the cheap!
 
colbgw02 said:
What am I missing about these performance wagons? Apart from additional storage space, do they offer something not available on the corresponding sedans? To me, they just scream, "I've got to get the kids to soccer practice RIGHT NOW."
Click to expand...
,,,,,,,,,,
 
Today I learned that when med students finish residency & fellowship, are sitting on ~$400,000 in student debt, and collect that first paycheck in the $10,000 - $20,000 range, they will:
- get another loan for a luxury car,
- get another loan for a luxury house, and
- go on vacation and not be seen for another month
 
sazerac said:
Today I learned that when med students finish residency & fellowship, are sitting on ~$400,000 in student debt, and collect that first paycheck in the $10,000 - $20,000 range, they will:
- get another loan for a luxury car,
- get another loan for a luxury house, and
- go on vacation and not be seen for another month
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beat you to it sucker
 
sidefx said:
I find this unlikely... In Canada nobody is ever paying more than 50% of their income in taxes, no matter how many billions you earn, and doesn't the US have less income taxes than Canada? Or is that a myth?
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tax%20rates%20ranking%20100k.jpg

tax%20rates%20world%20ranking%20300k.jpg

The-Numbers-Jan-2012-International_1.gif

Canada is 27 ranks higher than us in the amount that a person making 300k a year pays in tax. I love when Americans complain about their taxes without having any idea how bad taxes are in other countries lol. Canada has a lower income tax rate, but higher social security/health care tax rate, and by higher, I mean a LOT higher.
 
Stagg737 said:
Depends on the state. The for 2015 people in the highest tax bracket will pay 39.6% in federal income tax. California's highest bracket pays 13.3%, totaling 52.9%. The only other state above 50% is Hawaii (11% for highest state), however there are many states where the highest earners pay over 45%. Most places in Canada actually have lower tax rates than that for the highest earners. It's one of the myths about U.S./Canadian taxes that Canada has a much higher tax rate than the U.S.
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You're leaving out their equivalents of social security and medicare, which boost their tax rate by over 13% compared to their American counterparts, while in the US you stop paying SS tax after $118,000 (dropping your tax rate by 6.2% after $118,000) leaving you to only pay Medicare tax (1.45%) above that income level. In Canada, you pay 13% for social security programs, regardless of income, effectively giving them a 12.55% addition to their tax rate over what Americans are paying in income tax. While the top Canadian tax bracket may be 29%, adding in this 12.55% premium bumps it up to an effective 41.55%, excluding provincial and local taxes, which are generally higher than US state and local taxes.. Their tax system also much more heavily taxes earnings in the lower brackets, further increasing their average tax burden over a US citizen.
 
M.MD said:
So many boring answers in this thread. Loans? Retirement? Really? You can't treat yourself to one little bit of luxury with your first big paycheck after getting through over a decade of training?


I'll probably start with a bottle of Macallan 25, then take my girlfriend first class to New Zealand for a backpacking trip.
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I'm going to be 400k in the hole, but with some hard work, I can sink that debt in a couple years and live the rest of my life fairly well. I'll sleep much better knowing I'm debt free and on the way to an early retirement than I will being 400k in debt hiking around Hobbitland. I'm going to be dropping $28,000 on interest alone every year if I let that debt accumulate. As an internist, that's seriously going to cramp my finances, as I'll likely start at around 200k, which nets me 119.4k after tax, and 91.4k after just paying the interest and not touching the principle. So debt reduction is a huge priority if I ever want to be financially stable, particularly in an environment when physician finances are not going to keep pace with inflation.
 
Mad Jack said:
You're leaving out their equivalents of social security and medicare, which boost their tax rate by over 13% compared to their American counterparts, while in the US you stop paying SS tax after $118,000 (dropping your tax rate by 6.2% after $118,000) leaving you to only pay Medicare tax (1.45%) above that income level. In Canada, you pay 13% for social security programs, regardless of income, effectively giving them a 12.55% addition to their tax rate over what Americans are paying in income tax. While the top Canadian tax bracket may be 29%, adding in this 12.55% premium bumps it up to an effective 41.55%, excluding provincial and local taxes, which are generally higher than US state and local taxes.. Their tax system also much more heavily taxes earnings in the lower brackets, further increasing their average tax burden over a US citizen.
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Canadian provincial tax rates are typically more expensive than the state taxes in the U.S. However, the lower federal tax brackets are much more similar than you'd think if you look at just the taxes.

Canada taxes 15% for the first 44,700 made, the U.S. taxes 15% on the first 37,500 made (unless you make less than 10k, then you pay 10%).

Canada then charges 22% from ~45k up to 89,400. The next U.S. bracket charges 25% from 37.5k to 90.7k.

Canada then charges 26% from 89.4k up to 138.6k. The U.S. charges 28% from 90.7k to 189.3k.

Canada's next bracket is the highest, over 138.6k and you pay 29%, which is only 1% higher than the U.S. if you're making between 138-189k. Really not all that much.

Over 189k-411.5k you'll pay 33% in the U.S. from 411.5-413.2 (yes, there is a bracket that's less than 2k difference) you'll pay 35%, and anything over 413.2 is taxed at 39.6%.

So in reality, most Canadians (except those in extreme poverty or those falling in the 138-189k range) pay less in federal taxes than they would in the U.S. Canada also uses effective tax rates. Here are the links:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx


Also, can you link a source to the bolded. I saw a similar statistic, but it was 13 cents to every tax dollar spent went towards social programs, not that it was an additional 13% taken from people's income.
 
O Grady said:
First paycheck? Maybe a nice steak dinner.

If we're talking wish lists, I want a luxury sedan and a ~5k sq foot house w/ a pool.
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Where I live, no physician can afford a 5K sq ft house. Maybe an ok steak dinner. The only people living in a 5K sq ft house are contractors and dot.com. I'm still driving my 14 year old car that I bought before fellowship.
 
If you live in California, and are lucky enough to make millions of dollars, your total income tax rate could be close to 52%, which is higher than China, Russia, Cuba, and North Korea.
 
Stagg737 said:
Canadian provincial tax rates are typically more expensive than the state taxes in the U.S. However, the lower federal tax brackets are much more similar than you'd think if you look at just the taxes.

Canada taxes 15% for the first 44,700 made, the U.S. taxes 15% on the first 37,500 made (unless you make less than 10k, then you pay 10%).

Canada then charges 22% from ~45k up to 89,400. The next U.S. bracket charges 25% from 37.5k to 90.7k.

Canada then charges 26% from 89.4k up to 138.6k. The U.S. charges 28% from 90.7k to 189.3k.

Canada's next bracket is the highest, over 138.6k and you pay 29%, which is only 1% higher than the U.S. if you're making between 138-189k. Really not all that much.

Over 189k-411.5k you'll pay 33% in the U.S. from 411.5-413.2 (yes, there is a bracket that's less than 2k difference) you'll pay 35%, and anything over 413.2 is taxed at 39.6%.

So in reality, most Canadians (except those in extreme poverty or those falling in the 138-189k range) pay less in federal taxes than they would in the U.S. Canada also uses effective tax rates. Here are the links:

http://www.cra-arc.gc.ca/tx/ndvdls/fq/txrts-eng.html
http://www.bankrate.com/finance/taxes/tax-brackets.aspx


Also, can you link a source to the bolded. I saw a similar statistic, but it was 13 cents to every tax dollar spent went towards social programs, not that it was an additional 13% taken from people's income.
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how in the world did you guys turn this into a tax debate

guide to life success as physician:

Save 20% minimum
live like a resident and pay yo **** off
don't be an idiot and buy the giant house you can't really afford or even want, or the new 150k car like a lot of idiots do

congrats you've officially now won at life
 
Screw your luxury cars, I'm going for one of these:

upload_2015-4-21_16-29-49.jpeg


Cuts the traffic out of my daily commute. I will go into emergency medicine so that the trail of crushed enemies that I leave in my wake will ensure job security for years to come.
 
Last edited:
PL198 said:
don't be an idiot and buy the giant house you can't really afford or even want
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Depending on one's state, this could be bad advice. In some states, a physicians primary residence is off the table for tort purposes. It may be a reasonable approach to over-invest in a house if you're doing it to protect an asset from lawyers. Obviously, you don't want to be 'house poor', so to speak, but under-investing in your house could expose you to unnecessary risk.
 
mellow-yellow said:
Screw your luxury cars, I'm going for one of these:

View attachment 191444

Cuts the traffic out of my daily commute. I will go into emergency medicine so that the trail of crushed enemies that I leave in my wake will ensure job security for years to come.
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Come with me to come drive MY TANK!
 
22031 Alum said:
I've been thinking about the Maldives and (the?) Seychelles all morning. Thanks guys. Maybe one of those can be my "loans are paid off" trip.
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doooo it. unreal beautiful. the flight was a pain though. jfk-> dxb-> sez
we had a few hours to explore dubai though, so it wasnt as bad as it could have been.

jfk->lax->taipei->singapore->bali was horrid
 
IlDestriero said:
I tests drove an E63 AMG 4matic wagon today. Impressive.
Probably not a first paycheck vehicle, but it depends on the paycheck.
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I totally posted this as one of my more 'practical' dream cars on SDN recently.

Cause who doesn't want to goes 0-60 almost as fast as a Shelby Mustang GT500, with two kids in the backseat.
 
0kazak1 said:
I totally posted this as one of my more 'practical' dream cars on SDN recently.

Cause who doesn't want to goes 0-60 almost as fast as a Shelby Mustang GT500, with two kids in the backseat.
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... by 'practical' you're still talking about a >100k car.
 
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