Worst Year?

We start that last year in July (woohoo!) and I think that part of it is that you can only put off some things for so long...and think "we will be done soon."

Definitely give yourself credit for getting to fellowship without picking up debt, though. Is there any way that the move would be paid for by the practice he moves to? It doesn't help a ton, but at least a lot of those expenses are deductible.

We met with a financial advisor in DH's last year of residency and it helped us a ton. He helped us set up a good game plan and touched base with us every couple of months to act as our cheerleader and make sure we were staying on track. Just getting a plan in place helped to reduce stress.

Does your husband's new employer reimburse for business expenses? Maybe you could hold off on paying for any board, licensing, and membership fees until he starts his new job so that you can get reimbursed for those costs.

[mommax3]

We met with a financial planner last year, as we were getting out of the military and getting ready to start "real life". It was helpful.....not a magic wand, unfortunately, but it gave us some perspective and a plan. The guy didn't charge us anything, either, although he said that he hopes we will come back to him when we are out of debt and ready to start investing.

I would love to hear about the potential move!

Sally

[DCJenn]

Laura-

I feel your pain. This year has been a tough one for us, especially since I stopped working at the exact same time we spent 45k on the adoption for which I stopped working! and we're saddled with a house that isn't selling.

Can you rent it? That's what we've decided to do. I don't like the idea of being a long distance landlord (again) but it's better than nothing. I do think that the finanical markets will settle again and the housing markets will improve. An article in Business Week said that there's a 6-month inventory of houses available nationwide. That's a first in a long time and buyers finally are the ones in control.

We have a lot more credit card debt than that so don't despair.

We also have a financial planner that we got through our bank and he's been great in steering us through this nightmare of being a grown-up.

In fact, I plan to call him next week to get his input on Plan B.

Jenn

[Phoebe]

Ok... before I reply that I could have written your post during our last year of training, I haven't gotten past the part where you said you may be moving far away! Please tell me I am dreaming, then elaborate!

We were in the same boat during our last year of training. DH brought in about the same amount for moonlighting monthly and it still didn't help us get out of the hole. We went from zero to major credit card debt because I stopped working. It was extremely stressful and we had to buy a car right away after training. We were able to keep student loans in deferment for the first year because of consolidation and that helped us pay down a lot of our debt. DH was given a signing bonus which we used as a down payment for our house.

I understand your pain! Now again, what is up with this far away move idea?

Jennifer

[SueC]

Gosh, yes! That last year nearly did us in! Not only were we chawing at the bit to spend some money (and probably using credit a little too much), once we hit that 7th year, we had pretty much reached utilized every financial trick to try to keep our heads above water (you can only refinance your house and credit card debt so many times ). We are wrapping up our first year post-training and I can't say I have it quite under control yet, but I do feel like we are on the right track. I think we just have to give ourselves more than a year to really recover. I hope I didn't paint too bleak a picture--we actually didn't move into a bigger or better house, but we do drive nicer cars so I can't say all of the money is being thrown towards debt. Don't beat yourself up over the debt you've accumulated during training--you are doing the best you can and eventually you will get it taken care of!

our last year of training nearly broke us ... emotionally, financially - everything. we'd made some seriously stupid decisions, plus one HUGE expense that was unavoidable - and it caught up to us PGY6. it's made the jump to "real life" a bit anti-climactic, but as I say "we may owe everyone in the world, but at least now we can afford to pay them."

If we got out of training w/$15K in cc debt, I'd be dancing for joy (not that you should be ... just that we're in a LOT worse shape and you shouldn't feel so bad).

[Vanquisher]

15K is pocket change, and we aren't even done with residency. Sadly, it will be hard for us to even accumulate more debt because we have so much that no one else will lend us money. We don't even qualify to refinance our house. This is sad because if we have any emergency expenses, we are up a creek! If you don't count our house and student loans, we triple your 15K.

And, I will tell you that I own no designer duds, our cars are 10 years old, etc. Sad.

[Meenah]

Well, just lump us in there too. Our credit sucks royally now. Just don't get divorced and start over. As most of you know this is a second marriage. When we married we were both pretty much devastated financially from divorce, so we were starting out with debt, one kid in college and three in high school. When I decided to go to graduate school we looked at each other and said, WTF, we are already so bad off just go for it. I have put most of my tuition on credit cards We now have three in college (4 counting me). We also have alot of drivers on the car insurance and that is a real shocker. When people say save for the kids college I add start a second savings for when they start to drive.

We asked the accountant what our credit score meant and his response "like getting a 300 on your SATs"


With all of that said, we are pretty happy, we are in this together and 90% of the time have no regrets over the choices we have made (but not when I am PMS)!!!

[PrincessFiona]

Laura,

Our last year of training was our worst year financially as well. I think it was partly due to the fact that we knew we were almost finished and thought we'd "pay it off" soon.

Don't be hard on yourselves....even with an expensive move far away and the financial pressures of paying off loans and now the credit card debt...you guys will be o.k. You're not alone in having this problem.

Most docs that we meet need about 7 years post training to get the debt down substantially. The 15k in credit card debt will hurt mostly because of interest rates on the rise.

I think meeting with a financial planner would be a great move..we're almost 5 years out of training and are just now entertaining the idea.

kris

oy vey! another f'ing 7 years??? Everything in this stinkin' profession is 5 years or 7 years ... why can't anything happen quickly??

on the more rational side of things, I can see why it would take that long ... allowing for some "nicer living" along the way. I'm just generally tired of how taxing this all has been.

sorry for the super-bitterness, but paperwork for our house sale in Cleveland has just enlightened us to the fact that we will probably only see about $1,000 from the sale of that stupid house. truly absurd.

[PrincessFiona]

sorry for the super-bitterness, but paperwork for our house sale in Cleveland has just enlightened us to the fact that we will probably only see about $1,000 from the sale of that stupid house. truly absurd.

Oh...Jenn...I'm so sorry! :thud:

kris

Oh Jenn.... :thud: . I'm so sorry. That really sucks.

[SueC]

That does suck! But just think, every month you won't be paying for that mortgage and utilities.
I'm glad this post came up, actually, because I've been pretty much brooding about our finances lately. Now that we're done, there are so many things we want to do to our house, things we've waited years to do, and it is so frustrating to constantly have to reel ourselves back in. It's sort of nice to know that we're not the only ones in this boat.

[mommax3]

Jenn,

*Bummer*! But at least it is off your hands, and you aren't 1K in the hole (or worse)! On our last two houses, we made very little and if you counted some of the improvements we made in order for them to sell quickly, we actually pretty much broke even.

I am right there with you all, wondering where the money is and when did I miss the turn to get on Easy St.! DH is making really good money, but between doing what we know is smart (maxing out the 401K and being aggressive about paying down debt) and living life (albeit a nice life, but not luxurious) we pretty much have the same lives we had in the military, when DH was making half as much. I actually had to justify the purchase of some sparkly black flip-flops (on sale at Target, no less) to DH the other day.......seems like old times! We are trying to keep our eyes on the big picture, but some days it is harder than others. Especially when I realize that about the time our debt is paid off, DS#1 will be entering college! We could take the kids out of private school, which would give us (gulp!) $700 more dollars each month, but I would rather go back to work than do that, in our particular situation. It definitely isn't Nirvana, but it isn't horrible, either.

Sally