There is so much information out there on personal finance, and much of what I have read I believe is of good quality and to make sense. Books that I have found helpful and thought-provoking include The White Coat Investor by James Dahle, The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey, Your Money or Your Life by Vicki Robin and Joe Dominguez and The Intelligent Investor by Benjamin Graham. However, like many practices in life, I think that the execution is the true challenge.
The goal: dig myself out of debt in 10 years. The obstacle: $291,248 in debt, including $222,936 in federal loans and $28,312 in private loans for a medical degree and $40,000 in federal loans for a bachelor’s degree. The plan, as of May 2021: pay myself first by depositing three to six months’ expenses in a high-yield online savings account. maxing out Roth IRA post-tax contributions, then spend up to 70% of the first of a five-year residency’s $56,433 annual salary. I am strongly leaning toward practicing family medicine full-time after a combined family medicine-emergency medicine training.
One tip for purchasing renter’s insurance. Make sure your renter’s insurance policy provides adequate loss-of-use, AKA displacement, coverage. For example, if a fire leaves your apartment to uninhabitable and forces you to rent a hotel and purchase prepared meals for several months, then you want to make sure ahead of time that you will not have to worry about associated costs. Of course, purchase renter’s insurance through an independent agent and make sure that you are not purchasing too much personal property coverage in order to obtain adequate loss-of-use coverage. My agent at GEICO showed me that I could purchase loss-of-use coverage more proportional to my personal property coverage through Traveler’s. My previous renter’s insurance underwriter, Liberty Mutual, required that I grossly over-increase my personal property coverage in order to have adequate loss-of-use coverage–not a great fit.
Following auto and renter’s insurance, my first task is to obtain disability insurance. Looking forward to providing more helpful details as things shape up.
Kevin T Beel 