I like my job?

[erdoc]

Hello,
I was referred to this page from simpleliving.net and have really enjoyed reading posts. I am 38 DW is 36 and 2 small kids. Current NW is around $1M not including equity in our primary residence and we own a rental property. I got turned on to LBYM when I read Your Money Or Your Life but like many posters here thought the fianancial advice was ridiculous. I love the thought of FI but I'm not so sure about ER. I'm an emgency physician and honestly can't imagine not doing what i do now. I'm sure I won't feel that way in about twenty years though. I'm trying to get my wife to cut way back at work and in turn spend less money with little success. She is a physician as well and very type A workaholic whose "part time" job takes up 35-40 hrs a week.
We are both working like crazy to pay off a renovation which grew from 50k to 110k with alarming ease and took a serious bite out of our emergency fund.
My only question from veteren posters is this: My instinct is to pay off our mortgage as quickly as possible. I had a plan worked out that, with a little pain, would have paid off our 30 yr mortgage in about 16 years. My CFP thinks this is a stupid idea since it would be just one more assett a plaintiffs lawyer would go after in the event of a lawsuit. Currently we are just paying the minimum and it just doesn't feel good knowing I'll be paying it for 27 more years. Anyway, thanks for reading and I look forward to reading replies.

 

[brewer12345]

Welcome. I will need to read up on how to shelter assets from liability for docs. But on the mortgage, I wouldn't sweat paying it off early as long as you aren't fritering the money away. If you build up the assets, you can kill the mortgage any time you like, and in the meantime it is very cheap after-tax money.

 

[Gumby]

Some states have more generous homestead exemptions than others. For example, unless it has recently been changed, Florida has an unlimited exemption, making the house a good place to store wealth. Accordingly, if you live in Florida, a desire to shelter assets may drive the decision to pay down the mortgage. Note that this is from memory and you should check the current state of the law in Florida (or any other state where you may own property).

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Welcome to the board. I suffer from the same malady -- I really like my job. My goal is not to leave it, but to scale it down or switch to a "smaller" job in the next year or two or three (depending...); maybe locum tenens, maybe a negotiated down-sizing of my present job, maybe a total switch.

What Gumby may be thinking about is that in Fla, your house is not subject to malpractice liability claims in most instances, as I understand it. During one of the recent malpractice crises, many physicians switched large proportions of their assets by buying gigantic houses, transferring title to their spouses, etc. This never struck me as a wise strategy, but there you have it. Now, with housing prices very soft and marriages very disposable in some quarters my guess is that they regret it.

Anyhow, hope you enjoy the board.

 

[Nords]

Welcome to the board, erdoc.

If you're wondering about paying off the mortgage, look at the difference between the interest rate you're paying on it and the interest rate on long-term CDs. Even after taxes it might be worth making the minimum mortgage payments and investing the extra "mortgage payoff". Or if you want to "splurge" and make a one-time payment of a few thousand additional principal to see if you're happier.

As Brewer says, if you save your money then you can always pay down the mortgage. It's a lot harder to go in the other direction.

Welcome to the board. I suffer from the same malady -- I really like my job. My goal is not to leave it, but to scale it down or switch to a "smaller" job in the next year or two or three (depending...); maybe locum tenens, maybe a negotiated down-sizing of my present job, maybe a total switch.

Rich, maybe you've already done so off-line, but I'd invite erdoc over to your board. What better time to find out about those 50ish issues when you're in your 30s...

 

[MooreBonds]

My instinct is to pay off our mortgage as quickly as possible. I had a plan worked out that, with a little pain, would have paid off our 30 yr mortgage in about 16 years. My CFP thinks this is a stupid idea since it would be just one more assett a plaintiffs lawyer would go after in the event of a lawsuit. Currently we are just paying the minimum and it just doesn't feel good knowing I'll be paying it for 27 more years. Anyway, thanks for reading and I look forward to reading replies.

One other suggestion - if you make your mortgage payments bi-monthly (twice a month), with simply your standard monthly mortgage payment halved for each payment, it can shave off 3 YEARS from your mortgage payment. It doesn't sound like it would mean much, but paying half of your payment 2 weeks earlier (or even making a full payment a month earlier) can snowball into huge effects later on.

However, you might need to have this set up with your lender before you finalize the mortgage. It's worth a check.

 

[Rich_by_the_Bay]

Rich, maybe you've already done so off-line, but I'd invite erdoc over to your board. What better time to find out about those 50ish issues when you're in your 30s...

Funny you should mention it.. The board has never been publicized in earnest and was not reallyactive. Recently it has been getting hacked left and right, so far with no success (like this board). But it made me realize that my forum software was not up to the task of defending against this. So I'm gonna rebuild it with new software and then try to publicize it in earnest. For now, it's just show and tell, a way to claim the domain.

 

[Martha]

ERdoc, what state do you live in? There is good sense in knowing what your state exempts from creditor claims and in what amount. As Gumby and Rich says, Florida has an unlimited homestead exemption. This is rare, most states do have a dollar limit and there are a few states which have very low limits.

The best recommendation is to have good insurance with limits that make sense in your state. Then the odds of having a claim resolved for more than those limits is very small. Of course, it doesn't hurt to care about and communicate with your patients. Patients who like their doctor are far less likely to sue.

I used to be a bankruptcy trustee and have seen a number of medical doctors over the years file bankruptcy. NONE of them were as a result of medical malpractice. Instead, it was because they got into goofy side businesses and investments where they personally guaranteed the debt. Or they didn't pay their income taxes and tried fancy tax dodges. Don't do that.