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Chris and Meg Reis are on their way to long medical careers. Now it's time to deal with $500,000 in student loans.
Money Magazine) -- It's Wednesday evening and Megan Reis can't remember when she last saw her husband Chris. Small wonder. Since Sunday morning, Meg has worked more than 60 hours at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital, the Chicago-area facility where she is training in pediatrics.
I read this same article, before finding this post. Interesting story. That seems like a lot of debt. I thought the article actually said $700,000K in total student loans. Even with low interest rates....that's a sizable amount of money.....just in interest alone.
About 8 years ago, right out of college, I did a mortgage re-finance for a 2 doctors (husband & wife). Looking at his W-2, I could see he paid more in Federal Taxes, than I made that year. The wife wasn't making much yet.
They had $380K in student loans and about another $45K in credit cards. A re-fi consolidation loan put $1,200 a month back in their pocket each month. They only had $200 in the bank....at the time, but they did show me their $8K table, $9K curtains, $3K painting and $25K collector guitar. I was thinking.....sell some of this junk.
The could have gone to an in State medical school for $9K a year and left college with less than $100K in debt. They financed everything and did not work as much as they should. No pity.
Or, they could have received a government loan write-off for working for a couple of years in an underserved area, like a reservation or remote rural area. My father did this by working in Algeria and then Kenya after getting his MD (he was a Belgian citizen at the time, and there was some sort of political connection...), and my brother-in-law's wife did this by working in a small town on the upper peninsula of Michigan. Of course, she thought THAT was a hardship (hah!) and bought her way out of it after a year. Still, much cheaper. I don't see a lot of doctors willing to do that type of thing any more, though. Anyone know one who does house calls, for instance? My grandfather lived in Concord, NH and did tons of them, and had his practice on the first floor of his house. Those were the days when insurance was simpler, I guess. He didn't die rich, but apparently the church wasn't big enough to hold the crowd for his funeral. Other ways to be rich than that fancy collector guitar, hunh?
I can't think of this as being news. Medical and legal graduate programs have always been about insane debt.
What does frighten me is the prospect of being either one of their patients. I'm sorry, but I do not want a doctor that is as stressed out, exhausted and overworked as either of these people.
I can't think of this as being news. Medical and legal graduate programs have always been about insane debt.
What does frighten me is the prospect of being either one of their patients. I'm sorry, but I do not want a doctor that is as stressed out, exhausted and overworked as either of these people.
Most interns and residents are as stressed out, exhausted, and overworked as these people.
I actually feel sorry for them only because they will have a hard time actually getting the money they deserve from insurance companies when they start working after they finish school.
I don't feel sorry for them due to the fact that 5 years from now, he'll be pulling in major bucks. They'll survive.
Chris and Meg Reis are on their way to long medical careers. Now it's time to deal with $500,000 in student loans.
Money Magazine) -- It's Wednesday evening and Megan Reis can't remember when she last saw her husband Chris. Small wonder. Since Sunday morning, Meg has worked more than 60 hours at Advocate Hope Children's Hospital, the Chicago-area facility where she is training in pediatrics.
I read this and personally I don't feel bad for them financially. Why? Because 5 years from now the couple will be earning huge income via just Chris (larger than what is stated in the article). Once Megan goes back to work their huge income will grow to astronomical family income. OK, my choice of adjectives is obviously expressing some subjectivity.. but seriously they'll easily pay off all their debt I'd say in 8 or 9 years... perhaps 10. Of course the banks will have made a fortune off of them, but really, we're talking about a couple likely to earn in the ballpark of 500k-800k a year in the not too distant future (a lot more actually depending upon how hard & smart Chris decides to work in his very lucrative specialty - you can earn over 1 million per year in that line of work). For all intents and purposes the couple will be able to live off of 120k-150k per year quite comfortably and be able to pay off the loans with the rest.
I think for the layperson the numbers scare the heck out of them because they are so large. But the reality is that it is much like opening up a 50-70 million dollar Super Wal-Mart or other super-grocery store. Yea you might choke on your dinner when you realize that it typically takes 2-5 years to just break even... but after that the company does exceptionally well profit-wise and they can clear upwards of 1 million per week established in a decent market. 5 years - it'll go by in a blink of an eye for this couple. By the time their child is in high school they'll be multi-millionaires with at least one or two vacation homes in exotic locations if they are just a little financially savvy.
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