Sorority sister helped pay off her now ex-husband’s medical school loans. He used the newfound financial freedom to go buy a $100K convertible Mercedes and began cheating on her. A lot of doctors are scummy narcissists and terrible with money. |
It's actually quite shocking how so many are god awful with money. I get it though. They've been sacrificing and pinching pennies for 12+ years since graduating high school. They are finally making some respectable money and feel they have arrived. So lots of them get no-downpayment doctor loans for a nice house and a pricey vehicle lease. And that's on top of paying back their loans and even taking out more debt to buy into a medical practice. |
It’s the singular focus on medicine and hubris. They have huge childlike blind spots but don’t acknowledge them. They arrogantly believe they always know better, so they often spend recklessly and ruin their finances. OP’s daughter has demonstrated fiscal responsibility, her husband has not, yet he believes he has the right to take charge of her finances to dig himself out of a hole. Once he uses her to get out of a hole, he’ll probably blow money on a Porsche and buying into a practice. |
If the bullet comes with that much silver hit me. Hit me twice. |
This is an odd take. His debt has value, it’s given him a skill worth more than the debt. I would be much more upset with 5K in credit card debt that shows my spouse cannot manage money than 200K in debt that raised my spouse’s earning potential. |
His debt has value only to him. If they divorce, she can sell a house or any other asset backed debt, she has no claims over his earning power. |
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It happens more than you might think... |
It's really rough out there for young doctors. My Dad just retired from medicine this year and he said with business takeovers of clinics and hospital and heavy student debt the new doctors he mentors can really struggle.
The reality is it depends a lot on how their view the marriage. If they're truly a team and the interest rate on that student debt is high, then paying down that debt aggressively is a good choice. As noted above if she is really worried about him bailing when his debt is gone, they can consider a post nup that addresses contingencies. Given the amount of money at stake, she could consider speaking to an attorney. |
When you're married, you're a team. She should see it as their debt and help get that balance to zero. |
Post nup may be sound advice but it’s not real world advice. An arrogant doctor trying to spend her money is going to gaslight her to no end if she tried to put a post nup on the kitchen table. |
I’d bet anything all the responses like this are either from severely indebted singles or tiger moms with kids is massive debt. |
Well considering that they are married and likely filing jointly, then her income counts towards his income and increases the amount of payment he owes if he is uses a payment plan for federal loans. I have no idea about private loans.
The SAVE plan mentioned here is 5-10% of discretionary income for married filing jointly, unless you file separately and then you can only count his income but may lose tax benefits. They got married, his debt is hers because her income is hers. Especially when it comes to student loans. |
Tax benefits are dwarfed by the dramatically higher monthly payment under SAVE. Married filing separately is the way to go if you're pursuing PSLF. The only way it makes sense to do married jointly is if your spouse is stay-at-home (aka, a tax shelter). |
Those aren’t answers other than some weird anti private school rant. Is he asking to pay it off quickly using their current joint accounts? Is he asking her to pay off using premarital assets in her name? Do they currently have separate finances? |