Career and Life Planning Guidebook for Medical Residents

One of the driving forces that puts career ahead of family is debt. If your debt and expenses are out of control, you will feel an immense drive to earn more money. Make a balanced budget a priority. Lifestyle creep can be easily avoided by setting your money and lifestyle priorities. What things that require money are truly important to you? I remember one of my fellow residents who was always complaining about his large pile of debt. He worried about how he could pay it all off. One day he drove into the hospital parking lot with a new sports car that was fully financed. I asked him why he financed a new car with all the debt worry he has. He told me he needed a pick-me-up because he was a bit down. Just how he thought going deeper into debt was going to help relieve his worry about debt is beyond me. I’m sure he felt good until the first payment came due. Many new doctors immediately buy expensive new cars. There are other priorities to deal with first. Before your first paycheck arrives, make sure you have prioritized your spending. If you haven’t decided what you will do with your income before the money is burning a hole in your pocket, you will likely make a bad decision in the heat of the moment. Make all money decisions while you are thinking clearly, before your first paycheck arrives. What housingwill meet your needs?What car is right for your family? How much should you be spending on vacations? Do you really need to buy anything besides your first house using debt? Lifestyle creep is a big problem for physicians. We tend to try and jump our spending all the way up to our new income before we have taken care of all the important new expenses we now have. Then we strap ourselves with debt payments for cars, houses, boats, motorhomes, and other extravagances and find we have no money left for the important things like insurance, retirement savings, kids’ college and giving to others. Buy the house of your needs, not the house of your dreams. SECTION II: T MINUS TWO YEARS CAREER AND LIFE PLANNING GUIDEBOOK FOR MEDICAL RESIDENTS 144