First, the big news: I’ve signed a contract! Come August 1st, I’ll start my first big-boy job doing both interventional pain and OR anesthesia. I’m obviously excited for a number of reasons, but most relevant to this blog is the fact that my pre-tax income will be going up by about…SIX TIMES. Post tax about four times. Meaning that if we can keep our spending fairly constant, that’s a guaranteed savings rate of at least 75%. Pretty cool. Now there will of course be some lifestyle expansion, but that’s a lot of room to play with.
Budget/Cash Flow
My 2009 Nissan finally went to a better place last month. It had been given a death sentence about 18 months ago so it wasn’t unexpected, but there was still a part of me that hoped it would last until the end of fellowship. In any case, it means we had a rather large expense this munch, which I have omitted from the monthly budget so the numbers don’t look ridiculous.
I ended up getting a loan through Lightstream, an online division of SunTrust bank that gives unsecured loans after only a few questions online (assuming you have excellent credit). A few days after the five-minute process, $23,000 was deposited into my checking account no questions asked. No lien on the vehicle and didn’t even have to provide evidence that the money was ever used for a car! Great interest rate as well. Honestly, it was almost a little scary how easy it was, to the point where I was looking over my shoulder thinking that Javier Bardem was going to come after me with a bolt pistol if I didn’t pay the money back.
Otherwise, this month was nicely propped up with a large reimbursement from work for a lot of the expenses I’ve incurred over the past few months, a big tax refund, and of course my wife’s supplementary income.
Net Worth
I think I may have said this before, but with the big car expense, I’m hoping that this will be the nadir of our net worth. And until cash flow improves a little bit, I’m putting off contributions to our IRAs. Should have plenty of time and cash to catch up at the end of the year.