PETE Q&A PT 2

You can read Meet PETE here.

You can read PETE  Q&A PT 1 here. 

FYI, with my current 228k fed loan, my daily interest dollars are $33, which makes it $1,000 interest accruing monthly, roughly.
[when you graduate, the interest you accrued during medical school will capitalize. which means your new principle is 228k (assuming your current total debt = interest accrued thus far + principle you borrowed each semester is the 228k you quoted me.) So going forward, your 6% federal interest rate will be accruing simple daily interest on the entirety of ~228k of principle debt.

So daily interest is 228k (debt principle) x 6.08%/365 = $ 38/day = $1140/mo.]

Q11. Now, I have a better idea for my options with your help, but still have questions about which option will work the best for me:
Option 1. Refi for lower interest (Which refi market is the best? I know you are for DRB, but any others I should consider?)

A11. There are only 2 companies that will refinance residents & fellows: LinkCapital and DRB. The other companies only qualify people with attending level income.

Because there are only 2 banks, they got so much business from PGY’s that LC ran out of money to lend (LC is in a capital raise and will contact me as soon as they have money to lend. because they also will give DMW readers a cash back bonus.) So this leaves DRB the only company that refinance residents and fellows with high debt-to-income ratio. Even with DRB, I have noticed that they are taking longer to get the whole process done. I have a co-resident who got 4.5% rate offered a few months ago, but DRB has yet bought his federal loans (in other words, his fed loans are still feds, collecting 7% interest.)

Once you pay down your debt more and/or make more income, your debt-to-income ratio will come down and more banks will refinance your student loans, and you will have more options such as common bond, first republic (the lowest most amazing interest rate I’ve seen, but again, only will qualify people with attending level income, given a typical debt burden of 200k or so), earnest, etc.

Q11a. I am not confident to make monthly payment more than $1,000 during my first 6 months right after graduation in May, 2016 since I have to relocate to internship site in Reno, Nevada. What does DRB make me do in this case?
A11a. For DRB, you monthly minimum payment is $100/month; LinkCapital, you monthly minimum payment is $0/month during training. So you can choose to be aggressive, and throw all your $5000 tax refund at your student loan one month and the next month only pay the $100 requirement. The $100/month minimum with DRB ends 6 months after you become an attending/finish fellowship, so your payment will jump then, but you should be able to afford that payment. Plus your goal and all pgy’s goal should ideally be to pay off all student loan w/n 2-5 years of finishing training (which I think with your mentality, you are well on track to do so.)

Q11b. Even though if I get 4.5% fixed rate, for 228k loans, monthly payment is easily over $2100 for 10 yrs. plan when I used the DRB loan calculator with their rough estimator. Is there some flexibility for residents in terms of how much I can pay per month depending on emergency situations that may happen out of nowhere, for example? I believe that I will be able to pay ~ $1,000/mon for student loans or little bit more if have a room, but not more than $2,000/mon until I go into more upper level of PGY 4-5 with more moonlight chances in Houston.
A11b. See above.

Q12. Option 2. Repaye with PSLF: I am not sure if I want to go into academic or private practice for radiology (50/50 for now). But, if I want to make my both options open, like you mentioned, should I still apply to PSLF?
A12. Yes definitely.

Q12a. For this option 2, this only benefits me if I pay the very minimum of their required monthly payment for next 6 yrs. so I can save from the interest subsidy and then get a job at non-profit for 4 more years to get leftover amount forgiven (with current allowable maximum amount forgiven is $57000, right?).

A12a. Yes, the maximum interest subsidy occurs when you pay minimum Repaye. In other words, you are encouraged/incentivized to let your student loan grow larger. The bigger the difference it is between your monthly payment and your monthly debt growth, the greater the absolute amount of Repaye subsidy there will be.
No, currently there is no cap on amount of forgiveness, but there has been lots of talk of it, with Obama attempting to cap all forgiveness at $57,000. So if you want to sign up for PSLF, do so ASAP before anything changes.
Remember, most people are able to sign up for IDR and PSLF after grace period, which usually ends December the year of medical school graduation. This means that you will get 5.5 years out of training, then you will need 4.5 years as attending radiologist in a non-profit as W2 employee.

Q12b. In this plan, I will have some cash flowing on me since I am not a big spender and won’t be one during residency, what will I do with these cash flow?
A12b. Any freed up cash, I’m a big proponent for Roth IRA, getting company match, etc. i.e. start saving for retirement. Put your dollar to work early in your career, so that it can work as hard as you. But if you refinance your student loans as PGY, you get even MORE cash flow. Because usually the $100/mo. requirement is lower than the IDR repayment monthly requirement. Read the top post in this search, it gives you an idea where to best put your money

https://www.drwisemoney.com/?s=where+to+put+my+dollar

Q12c. Save them for maybe emergency fund? I rather prefer to spend this extra to pay loans during residency to pay off quicker.
A12c. I agree with you. I like the idea of putting my money where I get the most return. In the case of student loans with 4.5% interest rate, I know every dollar I put towards this loan will get me guaranteed, post-tax, return of 4.5%.

Here’s my idea of rainy day funds. Not everyone agrees but it has served me well in helping me pay off my student loans and now saving 23.5k/year in retirement.

Rainy Day Fund

Q12d. since I cannot pay more than or close to the interest accruing each month under this option of RePAYE with PSLF, I am not sure if this option is the BEST plan for me because I am willing to pay at least $1,000 a month consistently starting internship. RePAYE without PSLF option won’t work for me neither if I want to pay more monthly…
A12d. you hit the nail right on the spot, I cannot pay more than or close to the interest accruing each month under this option of RePAYE with PSLF.
Exactly, the whole idea of PSLF or Income Driven Repayment is that you are Encouraged to let your debt grow rather than to take it seriously and pay it down. That’s why I’m pretty much fundamentally against PSLF for doctors. In fact, PSLF was initially designed for school teachers with 100k debt and will make 50k for the rest of their lives, not for doctors. But companies which give “financial advice” start telling PGY’s how much “they can save” by taking advantage of this doctor’s loop hole. And this get people into the mentality of the more I borrow, and the less I pay for the next 10 years (given that I get a 503c W2 job right out of training), the more I save!
This mentality is quite opposite to yours and mine. My blood gets boiling when I see my debt get larger rather than smaller.
So yes, if you are committed to paying your student debt DOWN during training, PSLF is NOT for you, none of the IDR plan is for you.

Q13. Option 3. IBR without PSLF (I do not think I am considered new borrower since I borrow my first Direct Stafford loan in 2012)
A13. yes you are new borrower.
Q13a. Under this plan, I am expected to pay at least $500 a month starting in PGY2.
Good, but I hope that you will pay $1000/mo. so you can get your debt to not grow or even become smaller.

For every IDR options, I do not need to start making payment for a whole year during my internship, correct?

A13a. All IDR monthly payment are calculated based on your prior year tax return. Assuming you made little in tax year 2015, you are probably required to pay $0 to $50 dollars/mo. with any IDR plan (including IBR, REPAYE, PAYE, and ICR.) Your 2016 tax year will be composed of half a year of nearly no income as a MS4 and half a year of PGY1 income, so the payment may not be as high as $500/mo. either.
But again, if your goal is to make more payment anyways, it does not make sense to stick with federal loans and pay the higher interest rate.
The only reason to pay the higher interest rate while paying down your debt aggressively is to keep your option for potential PSLF open.

Q13b. I believe this option is better than option 2 in my situation where I can/am willing to pay more monthly, but compared to option 1, option 1 will save me more money from less interest during the waiting time before I can start pay under IBR option, correct?
A13b. To start repayment, you will need to waive out of the grace period. Contact your loan servicer to find out how (if they allow you to do so.) The other benefit to waive grace period and to consolidate your loans into one direct consolidation loan now is that you can start counting your 120 PSLF payments as soon as July hits and you are working as a residents. For most others, they just wait till the grace period ends and the loan company to contact them for first payment, so their PSLF repayment clock does not start until 6 months into residency, which pushes back their potential forgiveness by another 6 months.

IBR is not necessarily better than PAYE or REPAYE when you make payment equal to or greater than you’re monthly accrued interest; because all IDR share the same interest rate when you are paying down your loans. They just have different payment requirement which you can see by using the loan repayment estimator.

https://studentloans.gov/myDirectLoan/index.action

the differences between IBR (PAYE) vs. REPAYE are

REPAYE will count your spousal income for payment requirement regardless how you file (where as IBR/PAYE don’t count your spousal income if you MFS, married filing separately.)

REPAYE does not have a payment cap (where as IBR/PAYE cap your monthly required payment at 10 year standard payment on the loan amount you entered IDR with.) This means for those going for PSLF, you potentially will pay back more on REPAYE compared to PAYE/IBR after training/lower income years.

If you are currently in IBR/PAYE, to switch to REPAYE, you will be entered into 10 year standard repayment plan first, then make at least one payment, before you can elect REPAYE. Plus, your interest accumulated under IBR/PAYE will capitalize when you leave IBR or PAYE.

Q14. Option 4. PAYE without PSLF: I am going without PSLF if I decide to go with either IBR or PAYE since I am willing to make more monthly payment as I stated above. I believe that to get the best benefit with PSLF and any of the IDR options is to make the minimum monthly amount for 6 yrs. and work at the non-profit for 4 more years. But with a good salary from radiologist compared to other specialties, I think PSLF is not a viable option for most radiology residents?
A14. I agree with you. This is why I was so aggressive with paying off my student loans.

“Best benefit with PSLF and any of the IDR options is to make the minimum monthly amount for 6 yrs. and work at the non-profit for 4 more years.”
I did not like the idea of PSLF for the following reasons

  1. It’s not a guarantee that I can find a PSLF-eligible job.
  2. I like my job options to be open and not limited by the fact that I NEED a PSLF-eligible job for my out of control debt.
  3. the whole ideal of PSLF creates an internal conflict for me in that on one hand, I hate seeing my debt grow but on the other “potentially” all my growing debt will be forgiven via working for a PSLF-eligible job right out of training.
  4. I could not stand watching my debt grow at 6.8% for 6 years wondering whether I’ll be the one paying these interest or not.
  5. There are still more private jobs than PSLF-eligible jobs in radiology. Even if you work for the hospital, most of the time you belong to a private radiology group that contracts with the hospital. So most radiologists are NOT going to be W2 employees to 503c hospitals, which is what PSLF requires.
  6. I like the idea of being paid as a contractor 1099 rather than W2 employee because there’s much more flexibility in taxes and retirement savings. Again only W2 employees of 503c organizations are eligible for PSLF.

Compared to IBR vs PAYE, the key difference will be paying 15% and 10% of discretionary income, respectively and for just during my next 6 yrs., isn’t IBR option giving me slightly faster way to cut down the interest since I am forced to pay more under IBR compared to under PAYE? If I have to choose between IBR and PAYE, what would you recommend, realistically?
If I’m choosing between IBR and PAYE, and PAYE requires less payment, I’d go for PAYE, knowing full well that I will be paying way more than both out of my motivation to become debt free. I think you are in the same boat. All the IDR repayment amounts are just the minimum you HAVE to pay, you can always pay above and beyond. It’s completely up to you. For instance, I like the fact that my mortgage is $925 on a 7/1 arm 30 year rather than $1500/mo. on 15 year fixed, this is because it gives me the flexibility to pay however much I’d like above $925 but does not require me to pay $1500/mo. minimum.
You sound very conscientious about finances/debt, you probably have the discipline to pay the amount you are committed to, rather than just the bare minimum required under a plan. So ask yourself, if you choose a lower payment required plan (lowest is Refi at $0 or $100/mo.), will you still be make the largest payment you can afford to annihilate your debt? If so, it actually doesn’t matter which plan you pick at all.

Overall, I am leaning toward either refi option vs. IBR(or PAYE) without PSLF for 6 yrs. and then refinancing when I earn attending salary since I am willing to make at least $1,000 monthly consistently during my residency to at least equal out my interest accruing monthly.
This is my suggestion if you are committed to pay the $$1140/mo. during intern year.

  1. refinance now, you can pay as little as $100/mo. or as much as you’d like (but you enjoy a lower interest rate and faster pay down no matter how much you choose to pay)
  2. throughout residency, re-evaluate debt-to-income ratio
  3. Reapply to different companies to re-refinance your student loans. (when companies compete, you win the best deal)
  4. When you become attending, there will be many more banks other than the current 2 (LC and DRB) that will refinance you. Because you are a much lower risk with an attending income than you are with PGY income. People who are attending now are enjoying rates as low as 1.95% with first republic.

The principle is lower your interest rate whenever you can. There is no fee in refinancing your student loans and you can re-re-refinance as many time as you want. It’s completely up to you, if you pit banks offer to refinance you against one another, you’ll get the best rate.

Q15. Which market should I apply and compare from each other?
A15. Right now as PGY, only LC and DRB.
But let’s say somehow your debt become 100k and you are making 100k as pgy3 with moonlighting income. Then potentially other banks MAY consider you because you’d demonstrate a much lower debt-to-income ratio than you do now.

Q16. I will reapply to DRB and call Fedloan servicing (my lender) to get their opinions, too.
A16. Definitely call Fedloan servicing to grill them with questions. They are collecting 6.08% interest on your 228k. Ask them all the questions you have and get a clearer idea of how things work specifically with them.

209x209_SoFi_SLR_Doctor
One of the strongest lenders with lots of funds, quickest closing and best rates. Apply here and get the DWM reader bonus!

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Dr. Wise Money Image - DRB
One of the only 2 companies that will refinance residents and fellows (PGY income) during training. The other companies only refinance a typical attending (high income) with typical student loan burden.
Email drwisemoney@gmail.com to get personal referral & $200 bonus when your loan closes. DWM gets a referral bonus too.
Email [email protected] to get personal referral & $200 bonus when your loan closes. DWM gets a referral bonus too.
refi-240x240
credible allows you to use one application to check out multiple banks for refinancing options. you get $100 bonus when applying as a DWM reader using this link. You will also support this site by applying here. Thank you!

DWM readers:

You get $300 bonus when your student loan refinancing closes with DRB, Earnest, or CommonBond when you apply from this site.

Click above to start your application, and you will get this bonus and support this website at the simultaneously.

Note – you must click the “APPLY NOW” button after clicking on the link above.  If you navigate away from the DWM link, your participation will not be tracked.  If you would like to explore the site before applying, I recommend you do so in a separate tab.

To get First Republic Bank $200 bonus, you need to email [email protected] for personal referral so the banker can track and credit your application when your loan closes.

Read more about how refinancing student loan saves you money here. 

DWM First Net Worth Update Since 2015 January (on White Coat Investor)

Welcome to the first DWM Net Worth Update.  This is inspired by my great friend/ colleague/ fellow blogger Future Proof MD. He’s such a smart and organized dude that I decide to use his template for my net worth updates  🙂

 

Below you will find details on how I manage my money.  I plan to update this bi-annually so you can grow with me and help hold me accountable.

 

ASSETS:

date assets amount pre or post tax
7/30/2016 cash -7327 post
rainy day fund 0 NA
Roth IRA 17,976.11 post
Roth 403b 30074.28 post
401k 810.69 4% pre, 96% post, & 4% pre from employer match
H.S.A. 0 pre
529 2000 post
taxable  investment 500 taxable
home euity 0 NA
car 0 NA
total 44034.1

 

  • Cash – negative $7327 (accounts for the personal debt I have)
  • Emergency Fund– $0 ($50k from any new credit card open, available in 14 days)
  • Roth IRA- $17,976.11
  • Roth 403(b) – $30,074.28
  • 401k Roth/Traditional blend- $ 69
  • Mini’s 529-$2000
  • Health Savings Account (HSA) – $0
  • Taxed Investments– $500
  • Car- $0 (was a generous gift/hand me down from family, so I don’t count it as asset)
  • Total- $ 44034.1

LIABILITIES

  • Big zero. Zero mortgage, student loan, credit card debt  🙂

SELF ASSESSMENT:

 

  • Last net worth was debut on WCI in June 2015, at -31k (it was net worth on the day of January 2015). So in 19 months, my net worth increased by to $44034 by 75k. that’s pretty good! I’d have to thank the big banks for lending me negative to 0% interest rate money to invest/pay expensive debts like student loans, allowing me to build my net worth much faster than I could have otherwise.

 

GOALS:

 

  • My 2016 goals are to max out my Roth at 23.5k, get 4% pre-tax 401k match from BUMC (~1k for the last half of 2016 as I transitioned to banner July 1st, 2016), max out Mini’s 529 @ 14k, max out her Roth IRA @ 5.5k, and try to contribute a couple k’s to my and Mini’s SEP-IRA.
  • Since the last day to contribute money to tax-sheltered saving accounts is on tax day. I will give myself until then to accomplish my goals.
  • This means I need to save $31689/9.5 months= $3,335 per month.
  • That’s not a small number for a PGY3; but I’ve always been able to exceed my goals, not just financial, but in most aspects of my life.
  • Sources of my income include: PGY3 W2 pay, internal moonlighting, writing, blogging, books, and tutoring/consulting.

 

date assets amount pre or post tax
4/15/2016 cash -7327 post
rainy day fund 0 NA
Roth IRA 17,976.11 post
Roth 403b 30074.28 post
401k 9000 4% pre, 96% post, & 4% pre from employer match
H.S.A. 2000 pre
529 14000 post
taxable  investment 500 taxable
my SEP IRA 2000 NA
Mini’s SEP IRA 2000 NA
Mini’s Roth IRA 5500
target total 75723.4
gap= work to do 31689.3

 

Thank you for your time. I will check in and let you know how I’m doing. Feel free to submit your net worth update as guest post. We are here to inspire and encourage each other!

 If you like this article, you might enjoy other DWM articles on Personal Finance, Investing, Retirement, Practice Management, & Lifestyle.

All articles by DWM are for informational purposes only and not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a professional accountant, financial adviser or lawyer, before making financial decisions.

Credit Card Companies Offer Credit Watch, Free!

The era of having to pay $19.99/mo to monitor credit score &  activities is gone! Credit card companies are offering free credit score and selective credit activity details let & right. One can get great sense of his/her credit health as well as how to improve credit score & borrowing power with these free credit watch.

Discover offers FICO credit score and key factors impacting your credit score. For instance, it says below that loan to credit ratio is too high, and this debt/credit ratio is dragging my credit score down. Yes, my discover card is carrying >50% balance, ideally you’d like to keep your revolving debt/credit limit ratio <15% for the best score possible while other factors held constant.

Discover Card Your FICO® Score

Discover2

Citibank offers FICO score and impacting factors. Again, it says below that loan to credit ratio is too high, and this debt/credit ratio is dragging my credit score down. Yes, my citi card is carrying >50% revolving debt balance because it is 0% APR for 18 months. Another factor is pointed out here, low (average) length of time accounts established, which indicates to lender that I’m freshly seeking new credit lines rather than just sticking with what I had. Of course I’m seeking new credit cards periodically; I like taking advantage of sequential 0% APR and opening bonus (usually at much higher % cash back than after promotional period right after account opening.)

 

Citicards FICO

Citi FICO F&Q

Last & Best, my favorite free credit score package: 

Capitol One’s Credit Wise

Credit Wise even provides a credit score simulator. You can play with changing various factors about your credit activity and see how your credit score improve or worsen. Perfect way to analyze/foresee the impact of a financial decision/move. These are like free financial consultation & shed light on how one can Ace their credit score before big item purchases (mortgage, student loan refinancing, etc.).

CreditWise from Capital One CS

You can see indeed I have lots of credit cards with $0 balances, this is what I meant when I mention before that I like keeping old credit cards (I don’t use, and just file away) open to keep the denominator of my debt/credit limit ratio a high number. My phenomenally high (relative to my 60k pgy3 income) denominator of DTC provides a nice cushion for taking on interest free credit card debt revolving balances without much hit to my credit score. For example, carrying 20k debt balance on 25k credit limit hurts one’s credit score tremendously. However, carrying 20k debt on 250k total credit limit is “piece of cake” in the eyes of lender, you are still VERY trust worthy borrower with a high credit score to quantify it 🙂

Here’s the toy I Credit Wise provides. This feature along, makes it worth it to open a Capitol one credit card, not to mention its 1.5% cash reward policy on Everything purchased.

Sign up, log in and start planning to Ace your credit score (you want to aim for >760 on your middle score of your 3 scores from the 3 different credit reporting agencies to get the best interest rates on financing such as mortgage.)

CreditWise from Capital One simulator

For example, the action I selected was “cancel/close my oldest credit card.” I hit simulate. Wahla, comes the predicted impact on my credit score from this action. It’s hit if I close my oldest account, which makes sense because lenders see the longer credit history as indicating higher credit-worthiness.

 

  • How do you monitor your credit score/activity?
  • How frequently?
  • Which credit company’s credit reporting/monitoring package is the best?

Share your questions & insights below!

 

 

Financial Heroes: WCI, the Godfather of Physician-Money-Blogger

WCI
WCI and DWM at his physician finance lecture at University of Arizona.

Since joining the FI (Financial Independence) community, every day I’m discovering more awesome blogs to learn from. So I decided to start a series of guest posts under the “Financial Hero Series.” I got the idea from PoF’s Christopher Guest Post. (PoF is full of great ideas; I like following his footsteps 🙂 You can check out my Christopher Guest post on PoF here.

This series features a whole bunch of amazing personal finance bloggers whom I admire and look up to. Each hero will answer a set of questions from me and sometimes add their own Q&A. I’ll publish this series of posts once every few weeks.

Today, I’m honored and excited to spotlight White Coat Investor. WCI is the godfather of physician money bloggers. I remember asking him lots and lots of questions when I was a MS2, 3, 4, and PGY1. He walked me through numerous critical financial decisions. In general, I can’t agree with WCI more on money and medicine.

So here you go. I’m sure you will find lots of money, life, and medicine pearls from his responses to my questions below.

What do you do for a living?

I guess it really depends. I used to say I practice emergency medicine, but technically more income now comes in from the website than medicine, so I guess I blog for a living.

 

Why do you blog?

I’ve always enjoyed writing and teaching. After a multi-year personal finance and investing self-education process I realized that I knew more about it than the vast majority of other doctors, and that no one was teaching those who did not yet have this knowledge. It was an easy gap for me to see and easy for me to fill. At the time I was also very intrigued by the idea of a passive income, and the internet was the wild west of passive income with almost no barrier to entry. So I launched it as a business from the very beginning. It didn’t make much that first year, $930 (and I wrote it all off) but eventually I figured out a model to actually make some great money as traffic grew.

 

Why is your blog awesome?

The best part about it is the community that has developed around it as it gets passed around from one student to another, one resident to another, and one doctor to another. The comments section and the forum really facilitate interaction between readers and my habit of one guest post a week helps provide alternative voices to the blog. Another unique thing about the blog is the degree of openness I run it with. Not only do I reveal all of my financial conflicts of interest, but a long-term reader gets a very in-depth look into our personal finances, family, and marriage. The combination of valuable, needed information and a personal voice works wonders.

 

How many days left until you obtain financial independence?

I’m at that stage where my FI date is more determined by my spending than my portfolio. The less I spend the sooner I’m FI. At our current level of spending and earning, I think we’re about 4 years out, but that date has some dependence on future market performance.

 

Any sage advice on money and marriage?

One house, one spouse, one job. The largest expenses in life are related to those three. Seriously though, there is plenty to disagree about in marriage, why add finances to the list when it is so easy to get on the same page with that. Have a short money meeting each month of your marriage and you can essentially eliminate money-related conflict completely.

 

What are the top 10 things you’d tell your younger self?

1) You’ll care a lot more about your income and lifestyle in fifteen years than you do as an MS3.

2) Don’t buy that whole life insurance policy.

3) Financial advisors don’t have the same education and ethical commitment as doctors.

4) Residents (and med students) shouldn’t buy houses.

5) Deployments will bother you a lot more at 35 than 25.

6) Kids grow up fast.

7) Double check that the A/C works before you buy a car.

8) Assume most people become offended more easily than you, and act that way.

9) Lock your carabiners. Every time.

10) the most important part of evaluating a new job is the people you work with.

 

What is the #1 money mistakes you’ve made that want your readers to avoid?

Growing into their attending income too quickly.

 

What are the 3 most important money lessons you teach your kid(s)?

Money comes from work.

Debt is stealing from future you.

Owners make more.

 

What are the 5 smartest money moves you’ve made in your life?

Spend less than I earn.

Learn about personal finance and investing early in life.

Use retirement accounts.

Meet with my spouse monthly about finances.

Learn how to spend in a way that increases happiness.

 

What are 3 things you’d do if money is no object?

Go to space.

Do all travel on a private jet.

Hire someone to follow my kids around and make them pick up their stuff.

 

When did you first start contributing to your own Roth IRA?

Intern year

 

When did your child first contribute to his/her Roth IRA?

The youngest in her first year of life. Basically as soon as they have earned income they get the daddy match.

 

What does financial independence mean to you?

Less than it used to. It’s just a number really. If you actually like what you do and wouldn’t change your work habits if you were FI, that’s all it is. Too many people going for early FI hate their jobs. Better to create your ideal life now than do all you can to escape from your less than ideal life ASAP. Draw out what your ideal life looks like and try to mold your life into that model ASAP. For most of us, that will include some type of work. If you are going to retire early, you’d better have something to retire to. When I have something I enjoy doing more than work, I do it.

Thanks for the opportunity.

 

Jim

 

James M. Dahle, MD, FACEP

Founder and Editor

The White Coat Investor

http://whitecoatinvestor.com

 

Dear DWM, my Lover Loves a Soulless Trashy Someone Else

Dear DWM,

 

My heart is so broken; I don’t know where to start.

 

I love this man, the father of my child, the man who has had my heart for the last decade since we started chatting randomly at a college gym in our early 20’s.

 

He is amazing in so many ways: full of compassion for animals and the underdogs (in fact, he’s an under-dog and stray animal magnet), plays the piano like a virtuoso, has super human will power over his body (rowed for Ivy League in college at near Olympic level), incredibly smart, can learn anything as complex as neurosurgery from YouTube, dedicated father and partner, moved for us more than 10 times in the last decade, take care of all logistic and mechanical stuff in our family life.

 

The list goes on.

 

But as much as I love him singularly in ways different yet same from loving my child, he loves some else. What hurts the most is that this someone is soulless and trashy; she’s full of trash, someone else’s trash.

 

 

 

He loves dumpsters.

dumpster girldump

Since his Ivy League years, where he prides himself in finding a 1.5k brand new camera among other trophies in the dormitory dumpster, he has had this never ending, ever escalating affair with dumpster(s).

 

While I think he is my true love, the very first and last partner of my life; he has never place me or our kid above his love affair.

 

Our house is laden with trash from strangers. Our garage is packed full with someone else’s trashed belongings. Just when the living room floor cleared from moving stuff to a new storage we now pay $92/month, after an incredible day of my eyes feasting on the precious space… the void… the lack of suffocating clutter, 4 more cardboard boxes showed up.

 

Seeing my sullen face from working a 4th of 7 20-hour day, when I muttered “are you kidding me?” He said right away, “Anything we don’t use from these boxes, we send to goodwill. There is some good stuff in there, trust me.”

 

The hurt is becoming revolting; I want to vomit. I hold back the vomit of the meanest, bitchiest words about of torrent out of my mouth. I bit my tongue for the day when a house meeting my needs comes on the market.

 

I finally said to him calmly, “I love you, but we have irreconcilable differences. I would be content living in a 500 sf apartment with you, with the littlest belongings. Because wherever you and I and our kid are is home. But you want to be surrounded by stuff, lifeless, soulless trash from a stranger. You labor over them (moving, sorting, storing, and walking around them) and can’t be bothered with spending time with your ‘loved’ ones.’ This is not how I want to live.”

 

He responded by, “I totally understand how you feel. You have every right to feel this way. I will…. [Promises of actions spoken of but never taken in the past.]” We’ve been here before. We still have stuff from your first dumpster dive since our relationship started 10 years ago, after 10 moves, most people would have shed the trash from dumpster that they didn’t use for 10 years. One would think.

 

I can only take so many disappointments. Call me idealistic, I believe lovers should make each other better people. A partner should not drive the other into deep despair, shame, sense of powerlessness, and visceral feeling of wanting to vomit up foul, bitchy, curse words to express his/her feelings.

 

I’m tired of feeling like I’m less than his love affair, a soulless, loveless, trashy dumpster.

 

Just needed someone to listen, thank you DWM.

 

 

Sincerely yours,

Worth-more-than-dumpster.

 

Now exercise for you, substitute dumpster for another noun.

Does your lover or yourself love another “noun” more than the people we should love, cherish, and embrace in our lives?

What are your plans to change things so that we love and receive the love we deserve?

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All articles by DWM are for informational purposes only and not intended as a substitute for professional advice. Please consult a professional accountant, financial adviser or lawyer, before making financial decisions.