Young doctors in debt

Chris and Meg Reis are on their way to long medical careers. Now it’s time to deal with $500 000 in student loans.

The lives for medical residents aren’t easy: med school graduates getting years of on-the-job training, putting in brutal hours for salaries that, on an hourly basis, work out to a little more than they could earn stocking the shelves at Costco. But it will pay off, they say, once they become full-fledged doctors, they’ll have six-figure incomes, more reasonable hours, a respected occupation and work that they love.
But for this generation of doctors, financial security won’t come guaranteed with their medical licenses.

The couple’s work is rewarding, but not in the monetary sense. While they don’t have to make student-loan repayments yet, their low salaries qualify them for hardship deferrals the interest keeps accumulating, and the amount they owe keeps growing at the rate of about $17 000 a year!

The advice:
° ignore the usual advice
° get protected (insurance)
° deal with debt
° keep plugging away

In my opinion there is a serious problem in the US, student loans shouldn’t be as high as they’re at the moment. And it’s true that when people hear that you’re a doctor, they immediately associate it with high salaries and luxury lifestyle, but they seem to forget the accumulated debt and the hard work you put in it. The government should do something so that student don’t be discouraged to follow medicine in university.

Laura

Source: http://money.cnn.com/2007/11/16/pf/young_doctors.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2007111611