future planning - family doctor salary

[AC2014]

just starting FM residency in july but trying to start planning for the future... i.e just bought a house, getting married..

 

Honestly, would anyone offer some insight into the average income I can expect after my FM residency. Plan to work as a GP in both clinic and hospital settings (hospitalist or palliative care).

 

Don't want to feel like we are going to get swallowed whole or live paycheck to paycheck with a mortgage of about 2600 a month next year.

 

Thanks

[Renin]

I'd be scared to take on such a big loan throughout my residency - don't forget you might not get the job you want right out of the gate once you're staff.

[NLengr]

just starting FM residency in july but trying to start planning for the future... i.e just bought a house, getting married..

 

Honestly, would anyone offer some insight into the average income I can expect after my FM residency. Plan to work as a GP in both clinic and hospital settings (hospitalist or palliative care).

 

Don't want to feel like we are going to get swallowed whole or live paycheck to paycheck with a mortgage of about 2600 a month next year.

 

Thanks

 

That's a pretty big mortgage to bite off unless your spouse has a well paying job. Be careful.

[Loafy]

The figure will depend on your location. However, typical salaried contracts in NS right now are ~$235k. If you went FFS and supplemented your practice with call, ED coverage, inpatient, nursing homes, palliative or combo of the above you could bring in $400k+ in your first year but you'd be working hard for it. Keep in mind that income is gross and your actual take home would depend on your strategy as far as whether or not to incorporate.

 

I'd recommend sitting down with an adviser at MD Financial as they will undoubtedly know the local remuneration for family docs. They can also get you thinking about your strategy for transitioning into an incorporation or not.

[Jochi1543]

$2600/mo is a lot, unless your spouse is also making the equivalent of a resident's salary (or more!), you should rent if that's a cheaper option. I'm not particularly debt-averse, but I certainly wouldn't knowingly go into further debt in residency. I pay $800 in rent living alone, and I pay about $750 a month in govt loan payments and LOC interest. This allows me to live comfortably on a PGY-1 salary. If I had to pay >$1200/month in rent or mortgage, I'd certainly feel the squeeze.

[medicine man]

just starting FM residency in july but trying to start planning for the future... i.e just bought a house, getting married..

 

Honestly, would anyone offer some insight into the average income I can expect after my FM residency. Plan to work as a GP in both clinic and hospital settings (hospitalist or palliative care).

 

Don't want to feel like we are going to get swallowed whole or live paycheck to paycheck with a mortgage of about 2600 a month next year.

 

Thanks

 

Agree with the people above. You actually don't make that much as a resident once union dues, taxes etc.. are taken out. So plan very carefully. Even if your spouse is a resident or makes an equivalent income, its still pretty tight to afford that as resident

 

Also think, by taking upon even more debt, you may defer actually doing a +1 fellowship or something.

 

GP Hospitalist gigs I understand are 200-250 in my city, with 1/4 weekend rounds and occasional home call. Not too shabby. Of course, if you go rural, its pretty much what you make of it if you do OB call, ER etc.. You can make bank then but your lifestyle would be terrible.

[bloh]

I wouldn't worry about it. If you need money, you will get it but you'll have to work for it after residency. $2600 isn't a hell of a lot if that's split with your partner. Things like CMPA, union dues, etc are tax deductible. You will be able to use your tuition credits that you've accumulated in the last 8+ years to bring the tax down even further. So you will be paying very little tax during residency on your gross income.

 

I got by on like 35-40,000$ each year of medical school WITH paying like 13k in tuition. So a salary of like 50-55k in residency should certainly be plenty.

 

And then there's always LOC as a safety net.

[AC2014]

Thanks for the input. Sorry may have sounded confusing. First year of residency we are renting but have a house for completion in my second year of residency.

 

And yes my spouse does work full time already making about 80 k a year.

 

Guess I was asking more what a first year in practice salary might look like. We already know the second year of residency might be a little tricky financially.

 

Thanks!

[aaronjw]

Thanks for the input. Sorry may have sounded confusing. First year of residency we are renting but have a house for completion in my second year of residency.

 

And yes my spouse does work full time already making about 80 k a year.

 

Guess I was asking more what a first year in practice salary might look like. We already know the second year of residency might be a little tricky financially.

 

Thanks!

 

so you're worried about finances yet building a house with a $2600/mo mortgage?

[BoyInTheBubble]

Usually the planning comes before the purchase.

 

Contrary to the scary vibes some of the other commenters are putting out, it's totally doable. Especially since you spouse has a solid income. You likely won't be saving a lot of cash in the bank, but you are building equity and hopefully have leftover room on the line of credit if unexpected things happen.

 

First year out, you should be able to pull in 150k and likely more. Depends on how much you want to work, how quickly you get patients, yada yada.

 

 

If you are really worried, I would try anticipating how much mortgage + taxes + bills will be when the house is complete. Subtract your current rent from that amount and try to save the difference each month during first year. You don't have to do it all year, but you'll be able to plan for what life is like with your disposable income that is left over.

[Renin]

And get insurance. If anything happens to you or your spouse (*fingers crossed* it doesn't happen, but...) you want to be able to have another source of income if you're going to stretch your finances that thinly.

[herewego]

Of course, if you go rural, its pretty much what you make of it if you do OB call, ER etc.. You can make bank then but your lifestyle would be terrible.

 

Is the lifestyle always terrible for rural or is basically you choose how much extra you decide to do?

[Chamilt]

Is the lifestyle always terrible for rural or is basically you choose how much extra you decide to do?

 

I don't like when people say lifestyle is terrible in rural areas. Lifestyle may be terrible for YOU. But for many it is enjoyable and that is what they prefer. Not everyone (me included) wants to work in a major city. Growing up in a small town, I prefer working in smaller communities.

 

Lifestyle is what you make of it.

 

In terms of renumeration, you can make a killing, depending on what you do. I know a nurse who was making 185 a year in north west territories. Another nurse makes 325 on a reserve i've been too......So docs can definitely do well....

 

Also met a cop who makes 145 working part time, 2 weeks in, 2 weeks out...

[BoyInTheBubble]

Agreed.

 

Lifestyle is a personal question. Some people think a full week is 30 hours, and others do 80+ hours regularly because they choose to do this.

 

Most rural family docs do ER or OB (or both) to replace time in the 'regular' family medicine clinic. You don't have to do it in addition to a full week of clinic. Actually that's true for urban and rural. People add on something to split their time, whether it be nursing home, hospitalist, pall care, etc. It's not necessarily more, just different - and when you go rural, you usually have more choice (because there is less competition from colleagues for the job).

[rmorelan]

Agreed.

 

Lifestyle is a personal question. Some people think a full week is 30 hours, and others do 80+ hours regularly because they choose to do this.

 

Most rural family docs do ER or OB (or both) to replace time in the 'regular' family medicine clinic. You don't have to do it in addition to a full week of clinic. Actually that's true for urban and rural. People add on something to split their time, whether it be nursing home, hospitalist, pall care, etc. It's not necessarily more, just different - and when you go rural, you usually have more choice (because there is less competition from colleagues for the job).

 

there are a few general problems I think people have with some rural family med careers. Pretty obvious - since you are one of a few doctors you are very often "on" all the time (coverage is a problem, vacations more of a challenge), some people think sure your income is higher but some options to spend it are reduced (big city would have a more diversity of course), you may be a bit more cut off from people with similar educational backgrounds (may be an issue with your spouse as an example - not all careers are simply available in rural locations)

 

that all being said personally I think if I was a family doctor I would prefer to go more rural as the actual work sounds more interesting to me.

[Chamilt]

there are a few general problems I think people have with some rural family med careers. Pretty obvious - since you are one of a few doctors you are very often "on" all the time (coverage is a problem, vacations more of a challenge), some people think sure your income is higher but some options to spend it are reduced (big city would have a more diversity of course), you may be a bit more cut off from people with similar educational backgrounds (may be an issue with your spouse as an example - not all careers are simply available in rural locations)

 

that all being said personally I think if I was a family doctor I would prefer to go more rural as the actual work sounds more interesting to me.

 

I agree that the majority of people don't want to be rural, but the few that do may see the "on-call" as a pro. It gives you more responsibility, that you wouldn't likely get in a large centre, without the extra training you would require to be a surgeon, trauma doc etc...

 

Also, agree with lack of educated peers to relate to, and if you have a wife and/or kids, that can also complicate things if rural living is not what they want.

 

But as far as the inavailability of stuff to spend money, compared to a large city. This again depends on what people value. Some may value designer clothes, fancy restaurants, nice cars, pro sports, theatre etc...

 

While some of us simply want a house/cottage on a river/lake, sweet boat, four wheelers, skidoos, seadoos, helicopter, couple guns....etc...

 

Just kidding, I only really want the house and boat

[rmorelan]

I agree that the majority of people don't want to be rural, but the few that do may see the "on-call" as a pro. It gives you more responsibility, that you wouldn't likely get in a large centre, without the extra training you would require to be a surgeon, trauma doc etc...

 

Also, agree with lack of educated peers to relate to, and if you have a wife and/or kids, that can also complicate things if rural living is not what they want.

 

But as far as the inavailability of stuff to spend money, compared to a large city. This again depends on what people value. Some may value designer clothes, fancy restaurants, nice cars, pro sports, theatre etc...

 

While some of us simply want a house/cottage on a river/lake, sweet boat, four wheelers, skidoos, seadoos, helicopter, couple guns....etc...

 

Just kidding, I only really want the house and boat

 

hehehehe - I would simply say most people don't think being on call all the time is a perk -just because it really can mess with your family life in ways. The worst part is probably the idea you cannot ever shut it off (of course that is a rather extreme version of rural )

 

and you just nailed the second part on the head - getting the boat and house is easy comparatively - real estate is comparatively cheap after all. Let's say you do that - now what? You can pay off the mortgage on a rather nice house quite fast if you want as an example. I mean of course you can find things to spend money on, the point was more the diversity of things you have access to is just less in a rural setting. What remains may be more important to a particular applicant but overall to the average applicant is probably worth a bit less.

 

More reason to make sure we have a diversity of people in medical school from a variety of backgrounds.