Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

I disagree with this mindset. I’m a older med student who is pregnant and I feel well supported. It is certainly doable and the eventual pay and flexibility as a physician is worth it. Most female doctors become mothers- why limit yourself so early?? She can finish all her training before having kids and work part time making good money

I don’t know. Let’s say you decide to be an NP instead, and you make $120k/yr instead of $180k/yr (avg salaries on Glassdoor).
Nurse practitioner school is 2 years instead of four, so that puts you up $240k on the med student. Then you have 3-6 years of residency plus fellowship making about $45k/yr. Let’s say 3 years here. 3 x ($120k-$45k)= $225k.

Then the med student has paid an average of ~$200k vs ~$50k for NP school. Let’s say that’s a difference of a little over $200k to pay back if you include interest.

Now we have $240k + $225k + $200k = $665k.

But now the physician is making more money...

If both are working 1/2 time, the physician outearns the NP by $30k/yr. ($60k vs $90k).
So, that’s 665 \ 30 = 22 years after the physician gets her first job before the NP and the physician break even. Assuming they both started school at 25, they are 54 years old. In the next 13 years before retirement, the physician out earns the NP by a total of $390k. Over a lifetime.

That’s not counting the additional hours in med school and residency OR the years of investing from ages 27-32 that are lost. If the NP saved 20% of her salary for those 5 years, that’s roughly $1.2 million at retirement age.

If you want to go to med school, then go. But your motivation should be becoming a good physician, not getting a high paying part time job. The math just doesn’t work out.

There are a few flaws in your argument. Where is NP school $50K? It's more like $150K at the DC/Baltimore area schools plus you need a BSN first.
Also $120K for an NP salary is high. You're looking at more like $90K in the greater DC area. I've been job searching in this area and am familiar with actual
salaries and not just glassdoor estimates.

Then move. Look at the tuitions at multiple schools and apply to many places so that you have options. There is no reason to pay $75k/yr for NP school.

And I don’t know what to tell you about your salary. If the Glassdoor estimates are significantly higher than what you are being offered, you should bring that up with your prospective employers. Either they aren’t offering you what you are worth, or there is some reason for the discrepancy. I did a quick google search and didn’t find any exact salaries listed, which makes me think there is room for bargaining here.

Good grief.
I'm giving you DC salaries and tuition costs because you're posting on a DC area message board.
Sure, an NP could move to Montana and make more. But a physician could move there and make substantially more as well. (My husband is a physician and hospitals in rural America are always recruiting for big $$$). But the point remains. In the DC area, NP school is $150K+ and salaries are $90k (and jobs are scarce). And get back to me when you apply to 10 jobs, get one offer (after you're chosen over 20 other candidates) and you tell the hiring manager that you want $120K instead of $90K because that is what glassdoor tells you should be paid.
I know what I"m talking about (as an NP, working with NPs, friends who are all NPs, etc).

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

I disagree with this mindset. I’m a older med student who is pregnant and I feel well supported. It is certainly doable and the eventual pay and flexibility as a physician is worth it. Most female doctors become mothers- why limit yourself so early?? She can finish all her training before having kids and work part time making good money

I don’t know. Let’s say you decide to be an NP instead, and you make $120k/yr instead of $180k/yr (avg salaries on Glassdoor).
Nurse practitioner school is 2 years instead of four, so that puts you up $240k on the med student. Then you have 3-6 years of residency plus fellowship making about $45k/yr. Let’s say 3 years here. 3 x ($120k-$45k)= $225k.

Then the med student has paid an average of ~$200k vs ~$50k for NP school. Let’s say that’s a difference of a little over $200k to pay back if you include interest.

Now we have $240k + $225k + $200k = $665k.

But now the physician is making more money...

If both are working 1/2 time, the physician outearns the NP by $30k/yr. ($60k vs $90k).
So, that’s 665 \ 30 = 22 years after the physician gets her first job before the NP and the physician break even. Assuming they both started school at 25, they are 54 years old. In the next 13 years before retirement, the physician out earns the NP by a total of $390k. Over a lifetime.

That’s not counting the additional hours in med school and residency OR the years of investing from ages 27-32 that are lost. If the NP saved 20% of her salary for those 5 years, that’s roughly $1.2 million at retirement age.

If you want to go to med school, then go. But your motivation should be becoming a good physician, not getting a high paying part time job. The math just doesn’t work out.

There are a few flaws in your argument. Where is NP school $50K? It's more like $150K at the DC/Baltimore area schools plus you need a BSN first.
Also $120K for an NP salary is high. You're looking at more like $90K in the greater DC area. I've been job searching in this area and am familiar with actual
salaries and not just glassdoor estimates.

Then move. Look at the tuitions at multiple schools and apply to many places so that you have options. There is no reason to pay $75k/yr for NP school.

And I don’t know what to tell you about your salary. If the Glassdoor estimates are significantly higher than what you are being offered, you should bring that up with your prospective employers. Either they aren’t offering you what you are worth, or there is some reason for the discrepancy. I did a quick google search and didn’t find any exact salaries listed, which makes me think there is room for bargaining here.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

I disagree with this mindset. I’m a older med student who is pregnant and I feel well supported. It is certainly doable and the eventual pay and flexibility as a physician is worth it. Most female doctors become mothers- why limit yourself so early?? She can finish all her training before having kids and work part time making good money

I don’t know. Let’s say you decide to be an NP instead, and you make $120k/yr instead of $180k/yr (avg salaries on Glassdoor).
Nurse practitioner school is 2 years instead of four, so that puts you up $240k on the med student. Then you have 3-6 years of residency plus fellowship making about $45k/yr. Let’s say 3 years here. 3 x ($120k-$45k)= $225k.

Then the med student has paid an average of ~$200k vs ~$50k for NP school. Let’s say that’s a difference of a little over $200k to pay back if you include interest.

Now we have $240k + $225k + $200k = $665k.

But now the physician is making more money...

If both are working 1/2 time, the physician outearns the NP by $30k/yr. ($60k vs $90k).
So, that’s 665 \ 30 = 22 years after the physician gets her first job before the NP and the physician break even. Assuming they both started school at 25, they are 54 years old. In the next 13 years before retirement, the physician out earns the NP by a total of $390k. Over a lifetime.

That’s not counting the additional hours in med school and residency OR the years of investing from ages 27-32 that are lost. If the NP saved 20% of her salary for those 5 years, that’s roughly $1.2 million at retirement age.

If you want to go to med school, then go. But your motivation should be becoming a good physician, not getting a high paying part time job. The math just doesn’t work out.

There are a few flaws in your argument. Where is NP school $50K? It's more like $150K at the DC/Baltimore area schools plus you need a BSN first.
Also $120K for an NP salary is high. You're looking at more like $90K in the greater DC area. I've been job searching in this area and am familiar with actual
salaries and not just glassdoor estimates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

I disagree with this mindset. I’m a older med student who is pregnant and I feel well supported. It is certainly doable and the eventual pay and flexibility as a physician is worth it. Most female doctors become mothers- why limit yourself so early?? She can finish all her training before having kids and work part time making good money

I don’t know. Let’s say you decide to be an NP instead, and you make $120k/yr instead of $180k/yr (avg salaries on Glassdoor).
Nurse practitioner school is 2 years instead of four, so that puts you up $240k on the med student. Then you have 3-6 years of residency plus fellowship making about $45k/yr. Let’s say 3 years here. 3 x ($120k-$45k)= $225k.

Then the med student has paid an average of ~$200k vs ~$50k for NP school. Let’s say that’s a difference of a little over $200k to pay back if you include interest.

Now we have $240k + $225k + $200k = $665k.

But now the physician is making more money...

If both are working 1/2 time, the physician outearns the NP by $30k/yr. ($60k vs $90k).
So, that’s 665 \ 30 = 22 years after the physician gets her first job before the NP and the physician break even. Assuming they both started school at 25, they are 54 years old. In the next 13 years before retirement, the physician out earns the NP by a total of $390k. Over a lifetime.

That’s not counting the additional hours in med school and residency OR the years of investing from ages 27-32 that are lost. If the NP saved 20% of her salary for those 5 years, that’s roughly $1.2 million at retirement age.

If you want to go to med school, then go. But your motivation should be becoming a good physician, not getting a high paying part time job. The math just doesn’t work out.

There are a few flaws in your argument. Where is NP school $50K? It's more like $150K at the DC/Baltimore area schools plus you need a BSN first.
Also $120K for an NP salary is high. You're looking at more like $90K in the greater DC area. I've been job searching in this area and am familiar with actual
salaries and not just glassdoor estimates.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would've chosen a much higher paying one!


-a teacher

I have a lot of respect for teachers but you had to know it didnt pay well when you studied to do it, right?

DP here, I'm not a teacher but I can say that at 18 years old I was pretty ignorant of how expensive life is and what I would need to get by. I didn't have any idea how much money my dad made to support our lifestyle, and what different lifestyles would be offered by different jobs. I mean, I kind of knew intellectually that teachers are paid less than bankers but honestly it didn't feel like the differences were that big. I was also an idealist who thought that being motivated by passion and helping people was more important than salary. I was raised in a total bubble suburb though and was kind of sheltered/dumb.

This was true for me as well. I grew up LMC with parents who didn't make much money. $42,000 seemed like a huge amount to me at the time

Also no financial education here. My undergraduate degree was in languages because to my parents any college degree was going to get me a job--they had only been to high school. They had no idea how to advise me about majors and my dad was under the old government pension system so he had no idea about self-funded retirement either. I also grew up under that "motivated by passion" umbrella since I knew my parents hated their jobs and I didn't want to be like them. Now I know though that any job that is motivated by passion also means they get to pay you less.

Additional evidence that the teaching industry attracts idiots. Seriously?! You couldn’t even do the basic math that showed 2 + teacher = middle class?! Didn’t you notice that all the teachers in your high school were either married well or driving Mazdas? IT is and always has been COMMON KNOWLEDGE that teachers struggle financially, it’s in every movie, book, and tv show. To ignore this is willful ignorance.

I'm not the one who posted the top, but this is such an unnecessarily harsh response. I also grew up with no financial knowledge and a single mom in poverty. Teachers looked like they had a wonderful life when I was in high school in the early 90's. They dressed well, brought lunches that looked delicious, always had cars to drive to work.Looking at them, I would have thought teaching was a great choice to go into. Thanks for calling me an idiot though.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

I disagree with this mindset. I’m a older med student who is pregnant and I feel well supported. It is certainly doable and the eventual pay and flexibility as a physician is worth it. Most female doctors become mothers- why limit yourself so early?? She can finish all her training before having kids and work part time making good money

I don’t know. Let’s say you decide to be an NP instead, and you make $120k/yr instead of $180k/yr (avg salaries on Glassdoor).
Nurse practitioner school is 2 years instead of four, so that puts you up $240k on the med student. Then you have 3-6 years of residency plus fellowship making about $45k/yr. Let’s say 3 years here. 3 x ($120k-$45k)= $225k.

Then the med student has paid an average of ~$200k vs ~$50k for NP school. Let’s say that’s a difference of a little over $200k to pay back if you include interest.

Now we have $240k + $225k + $200k = $665k.

But now the physician is making more money...

If both are working 1/2 time, the physician outearns the NP by $30k/yr. ($60k vs $90k).
So, that’s 665 \ 30 = 22 years after the physician gets her first job before the NP and the physician break even. Assuming they both started school at 25, they are 54 years old. In the next 13 years before retirement, the physician out earns the NP by a total of $390k. Over a lifetime.

That’s not counting the additional hours in med school and residency OR the years of investing from ages 27-32 that are lost. If the NP saved 20% of her salary for those 5 years, that’s roughly $1.2 million at retirement age.

If you want to go to med school, then go. But your motivation should be becoming a good physician, not getting a high paying part time job. The math just doesn’t work out.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would've chosen a much higher paying one!


-a teacher

I have a lot of respect for teachers but you had to know it didnt pay well when you studied to do it, right?

DP here, I'm not a teacher but I can say that at 18 years old I was pretty ignorant of how expensive life is and what I would need to get by. I didn't have any idea how much money my dad made to support our lifestyle, and what different lifestyles would be offered by different jobs. I mean, I kind of knew intellectually that teachers are paid less than bankers but honestly it didn't feel like the differences were that big. I was also an idealist who thought that being motivated by passion and helping people was more important than salary. I was raised in a total bubble suburb though and was kind of sheltered/dumb.

This was true for me as well. I grew up LMC with parents who didn't make much money. $42,000 seemed like a huge amount to me at the time

Also no financial education here. My undergraduate degree was in languages because to my parents any college degree was going to get me a job--they had only been to high school. They had no idea how to advise me about majors and my dad was under the old government pension system so he had no idea about self-funded retirement either. I also grew up under that "motivated by passion" umbrella since I knew my parents hated their jobs and I didn't want to be like them. Now I know though that any job that is motivated by passion also means they get to pay you less.

Additional evidence that the teaching industry attracts idiots. Seriously?! You couldn’t even do the basic math that showed 2 + teacher = middle class?! Didn’t you notice that all the teachers in your high school were either married well or driving Mazdas? IT is and always has been COMMON KNOWLEDGE that teachers struggle financially, it’s in every movie, book, and tv show. To ignore this is willful ignorance.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No regrets. I think more important than the field, is instilling in your child a sense of logic. When you reach that point of being in the rat race and knowing it can't continue, having the intelligence and bravery to pivot. For me, I worked in management consulting, 80+ hour weeks, and could write my ticket anywhere. Had kids, moved out of DC, and [b]now I work as an exec in an industry, 830-4 every day, it's great.

[/b]

Can you give any info on how you made this pivot? What you looked for? I'm in 80+ hour a week management consulting and it is sucking the life out of me.

Yes I took an industry job. The easiest way to do it is to take a job with one of your own clients. I was actually recruited. I now work as a healthcare administrator. Consulting is amazing experience but I don't know how people do it long term!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.

I disagree with this mindset. I’m a older med student who is pregnant and I feel well supported. It is certainly doable and the eventual pay and flexibility as a physician is worth it. Most female doctors become mothers- why limit yourself so early?? She can finish all her training before having kids and work part time making good money

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would've chosen a much higher paying one!


-a teacher

I have a lot of respect for teachers but you had to know it didnt pay well when you studied to do it, right?

DP here, I'm not a teacher but I can say that at 18 years old I was pretty ignorant of how expensive life is and what I would need to get by. I didn't have any idea how much money my dad made to support our lifestyle, and what different lifestyles would be offered by different jobs. I mean, I kind of knew intellectually that teachers are paid less than bankers but honestly it didn't feel like the differences were that big. I was also an idealist who thought that being motivated by passion and helping people was more important than salary. I was raised in a total bubble suburb though and was kind of sheltered/dumb.

This was true for me as well. I grew up LMC with parents who didn't make much money. $42,000 seemed like a huge amount to me at the time

Also no financial education here. My undergraduate degree was in languages because to my parents any college degree was going to get me a job--they had only been to high school. They had no idea how to advise me about majors and my dad was under the old government pension system so he had no idea about self-funded retirement either. I also grew up under that "motivated by passion" umbrella since I knew my parents hated their jobs and I didn't want to be like them. Now I know though that any job that is motivated by passion also means they get to pay you less.

Additional evidence that the teaching industry attracts idiots. Seriously?! You couldn’t even do the basic math that showed 2 + teacher = middle class?! Didn’t you notice that all the teachers in your high school were either married well or driving Mazdas? IT is and always has been COMMON KNOWLEDGE that teachers struggle financially, it’s in every movie, book, and tv show. To ignore this is willful ignorance.

Anonymous wrote:Would pick the same career but with no kids.

Anonymous wrote:Another tax attorney here. I wouldn't change anything. I'm a partner in big law and work majority from home, super flexible hours. Like, the partner i get my work from today asked what next week's plan, and we both agreed that we'd be around until noon on wednesday but wouldn't be looking for work. So i'll probably spend most of the week hanging out with DS who's home from school all week.

When i graduated from law school and summered at my firm, i saw that certain areas had tons of female associates, and almost no female partners. And the corporate department had 2 female partners, neither of whom had kids. Compared with tax, where the vast majority of partners under the age of 60 were all women, and all had kids.

I didn't even know if i wanted kids back then, but i sure as hell knew that i didn't want to be a job where the hours were so long that you COULDN"T have kids - even if i never had kids. Because who wants to be 50 years old and still working 80 hours a week? Kids or no kids. So i picked tax. Great decision.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have great flexibility and love my work but only get 60k. Good thing DH earns more. My DD is choosing not to pursue an MD for work life balance concerns, as well as the cost and length of med school.

I think your daughter is smart.
I am jealous sometimes of people on this board who made a ton of money before they had kids and were able to SAH a few years or have some flexibility that way.
Yes. I make pretty good money, but I didn’t get my first real job until I was 31, and even then, I still had almost $200k in student loan debt. Staying at home when kids were little was not really an option.