HFWR
Give me a museum and I'll fill it. (Picasso) Give me a forum ...
Yeah, organic stress relief; that's the ticket!! O0
MedicalDoc said:Anyway, my impression is that people looking to retire early generally all into one of 2 categories:
1. Those who seek to retire as early as possible, even if it means having a significantly diminished standard of living now and in retirement. For them, any money spent delays retirement (and is therefore bad). You can recognize these folks as the ones who pride themselves on how little they spend
2. Those who seek to retire early but are willing to work a bit longer if it means maintaining a "comfortable' standard of living. They enjoy splurging for the occasional extravance, but don't want to work until they die.
MedicalDoc said:Another person commented on how they make it on $50k/yr. Our after-tax child care costs approach that (we pay salary, health care, car expenses, room and board, and social security for our child's caregiver). Is that an extravagance? Not in our mind. My wife and I both work long (and sometimes unpredictable) hours and feel that having trustworthy and dependable care for our child is worth the cost. So do our patients who don't have to worry that we aren't showing up to care for them because our child's school is closed because of snow.
Would I love to have $6 million in the bank and live a $250K/yr lifestyle? I'm sure one could easliy get used to it Smiley But I wouldn't trade that for all those days from the time I used to take my child to the park to let him crawl on the grass to now when I take him to the park to play catch, and all the time in between. That's what life is all about, at least to me.
MedicalDoc said:My wife and I are physicians in our mid-40s
Our total gross income: $~580K/yr
403B and academic annuity savings: ~$1,000,000 (90% stocks)
After tax retirement account: $500K (75% stocks)
Take home: ~380K/yr
Savings (403B and after tax accounts): ~125K/yr
Academic annuity (paid by our employers) 60K/yr
MedicalDoc said:I think that alot of the comments have been thoughtful and useful. Obviously a small number have not. First, one person's reference to our salary and the cost of medical care. Physician's salaries represent only a small fraction of the cost of medical care. Hospital costs, drugs costs, nurses, and insurers get their share. Second, consider the cost and years of training. 4 years of college, 4 years of med school, 1 year internship, 3 years residency, 2 years fellowship. On an hourly basis, I made less than minimum wage throughout residency and fellowship while working more than 80 hours each week. And during that time, the interest on my loans accumulated. Thankfully, my work week is closer to 60-65 hours now.
Another person commented on how they make it on $50k/yr. Our after-tax child care costs approach that (we pay salary, health care, car expenses, room and board, and social security for our child's caregiver). Is that an extravagance? Not in our mind. My wife and I both work long (and sometimes unpredictable) hours and feel that having trustworthy and dependable care for our child is worth the cost. So do our patients who don't have to worry that we aren't showing up to care for them because our child's school is closed because of snow.
Anyway, my impression is that people looking to retire early generally all into one of 2 categories:
1. Those who seek to retire as early as possible, even if it means having a significantly diminished standard of living now and in retirement. For them, any money spent delays retirement (and is therefore bad). You can recognize these folks as the ones who pride themselves on how little they spend
2. Those who seek to retire early but are willing to work a bit longer if it means maintaining a "comfortable' standard of living. They enjoy splurging for the occasional extravance, but don't want to work until they die.
Ed_The_Gypsy said:Spanky,
However, the big egos in engineering go into management--where they usually sink the ship.
The trick is to know when you have "enough" and then stop working.
MedicalDoc said:1. Those who seek to retire as early as possible, even if it means having a significantly diminished standard of living now and in retirement. For them, any money spent delays retirement (and is therefore bad). You can recognize these folks as the ones who pride themselves on how little they spend
2. Those who seek to retire early but are willing to work a bit longer if it means maintaining a "comfortable' standard of living. They enjoy splurging for the occasional extravance, but don't want to work until they die.
MedicalDoc said:For more helpful (and accurate) comparisons, here is my data:
My wife and I are physicians in our mid-40s
Our total gross income: $~580K/yr
403B and academic annuity savings: ~$1,000,000 (90% stocks)
After tax retirement account: $500K (75% stocks)
Take home: ~380K/yr
Savings (403B and after tax accounts): ~125K/yr
Academic annuity (paid by our employers) 60K/yr
So we save about 1/3 of our take-home salary. How does that compare to you? Any advice?
We are hoping to retire in about a dozen years and figure that we should have around 7 million by then
Enuff2Eat said:is it true that husband and wife physians couple have ZERO SEX??
MedicalDoc said:I think that alot of the comments have been thoughtful and useful. Obviously a small number have not. First, one person's reference to our salary and the cost of medical care. Physician's salaries represent only a small fraction of the cost of medical care. Hospital costs, drugs costs, nurses, and insurers get their share. .