I’VE PASSED MY ANESTHESIA BOARDS.
There is now nothing standing in between me and life as a successful physician. It is actually surreal to not have something looming in the distance, some wall or storm on the horizon. There has always been one more interview, one more test, one more reason to hedge my excitement in the future. But for now the path is clear.
The new reality has been illuminating. I have moments every day now when I feel a creeping anxiety, a sense that something isn’t being done or that time isn’t being used well. But when I stop to address those emotions and try to put them in context, I find that there is none; my body and mind have gotten so used to the restlessness and guilt associated with the ‘next’ hurdle that they are producing the feelings out of thin air.
And the relief that follows is something foreign and wonderful.
Budget/Cash Flow
Getting back to brass tacks.
$1,600 registering for Pain boards (lol), $450 for various test-prep materials (reimbursable from book fund), and $700+ for my DEA license means that the slow hemorrhage of money had a few large spurts. Fortunately fixed recurring expenses remains relatively low.
Net Worth
In the big move of the month, rolled my and my wife’s 403b/401k plans into our IRAs and converted everything to Roth. We’ll pay the tax bomb in 2019 when I only have half a year of attending salary and am not at the maximum marginal rate. Next step will be to backdoor Roth our IRA contributions for the year. Unfortunately, in my excitement at the beginning of the year, I already contributed $1,000 a piece for each of us, which I will have to recharacterize as non-deductible traditional contributions first and then convert (whew!). But after all that our finances should look a good bit more simple, with almost everything consolidated into Vanguard.
I did a deep dive into my old Mint history to reconstruct my numbers going back to the moment I started medical school. Sobering to say the least.
So close to $100,000 in assets! I swear if our debt drops below -$250,000 and I have to redo this graph again I will lose my mind.
Excited to watch your net worth shoot up like a rocket. You spent a lot of time and effort preparing for this point. Enjoy the ascent!
I’m looking forward to following along.
Thanks! Looking forward to the inflection point.