MtoM #18 - Cancer Researcher pays off $130K

This is the White Coat Investor Podcast. Milestones to celebrating stories of success along the journey to financial freedom. Here is your host, Dr. Jim Dali.

This Milestones to Millionaire podcast number 18, cancer researcher pays off 130,000. Still not sure what to do with your student loans? Overwhelmed with how to tackle that giant debt in an ever changing political climate, the experts@studentloanadvice.com are here to help guide you through the best options to manage your loans. Our experienced staff have consulted on over $250 million in student loan debt, and the average studentloanadvice.com client has saved over $190,000. You will receive a customized student loan plan using the principles of the White Coat Investor. Get answers to all of your student loan questions, gain clarity about your financial future, and start down the right path toward financial freedom. Put book a consult today@studentloanadvice.com you can do this and the White Coat Investor can help. Okay. Our next guest on the podcast is Dr. Mary Ruizi, a cancer researcher, actually. Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, Jim. Happy to be here.

We're here to celebrate something you accomplished in the last little bit. You've managed to pay off your student loans. Congratulations.

Yes, thank you.

How much did you pay off?

So total, it was about $130,000.

And how long did it take you to pay that off?

It was eight years after fellowship.

Eight years after fellowship. And what was your average household income over that time period?

So you asked. This average is kind of hard. Why don't I give you the range first?

Range sounds good. Let's do a range.

Yeah. So when I started, it was. So my husband is also working and we had a combined total income of about 150k when I was in training. Then when I got out of training, it went up to about 300k. And currently we're averaging about 500k. So I don't know, somewhere in the.

Somewhere between 150 and 500, kind of the range of all Dr. Incomes, basically. And you paid it off over eight years. Was it a constant effort over eight years, or did you get real serious at the end? What exactly happened?

So it was constant, but it was definitely more focused towards the end. And I really wanted to be done with it. And I think one of your questions too was, was it easier or harder than I thought? And I think it was harder because of conflicting priorities in my life. I have three kids, two in elementary school and one in middle school. And we were also trying to buy a house during that Period of time. So having to focus on what took priority at what time sometimes was difficult.

And so how did you make those decisions? I mean, you're sitting there looking at a 401k going, we can max this out and we can save up for the house here, we can boost our emergency fund, we can pay back our loans. What'd you use to help make those decisions?

Well, so first it was we needed a place to live. So saving up for a house was.

One of a real simple priority was the roof overhead.

Exactly. And I mean, we actually rented for three years too, so that we could save up for a down payment and avoid pmi. But we wanted our own place. And after. So I trained in Manhattan and after living in pretty terrible conditions and being in rental properties for a long time, if something broke, we wanted it to be our issue and not have to worry about a landlord or a superintendent. So that was the first priority, was saving up. And we didn't have a lot of savings. When I came out of training, I was living a very high cost of living place. Sometimes little things too. Like a lot of my grandparents died within three years of each other. So paying for those flights during training to attend their funerals actually set us back a fair bit. And we ended up in some credit card debt as well.

So you had pretty significant debt on top of the student loans?

Yeah, it ended up being about 10k in credit card debt that we were just making the bare minimum payments on while I was still in training. So that we started attacking that first.

Wisely, I might add. So how's it feel now to have not only the credit cards gone, but the student loans gone?

A huge weight off my shoulder. I mean, it's freedom. I can think about other things, I can focus on other things. I hate to admit it, but I didn't even have a 529 for my kids until about a year and a half ago. And that's because I didn't have any money to put into it. So I can focus on bigger priorities. And I have one that's about eight years, not even that, five years away from college. So I could now put away money. And we made a promise to all of our kids that they should be able to go to any undergraduate that they want want and we'll pay for it.

That's exciting. You know, especially once you, you felt the pain of being in debt for your schooling and are trying to prevent that for them. But it's really hard to pay for their schooling while you're still paying for Your own?

Yes, definitely. Yeah. And I didn't have anyone help me with my schooling either. It was all I had to pay my way through scholarship. So it was important to me to be able to make that promise to them so at least for undergraduate that they would be able to go where they want to.

Well, you must have done a pretty good job getting the scholarships if you came out with only 130.

I did. You know, I actually found out that there are some scholarships for medical school. I remember I did. I went to the bowels of the library and I looked for some and I got one that was about 10 grand a year for my third and fourth year. And I remember when I first took it to the financial aid person, she said, oh, nobody ever gets this. And I was like, well, let me just try. And it was more just a exercise and persistence and can I fill things out like they want it to be filled out? And that was great to have that little help.

Cool. What a great experience though. So were you ever tempted to kind of carry the debt and try to out invest it?

No, absolutely not. I needed to be out from that indentured servitude, just the emotional burden. And quite honestly, I wasn't educated for investing up until about. And I still don't feel fully educated. But about two years ago, I found your podcast and your books and started realizing that I needed some continuing financial education that I never got that in all of my training.

Yeah. One of the really nice things about paying down a debt is it's really simple. Number one, you just pay on it and you get the return. And number two, that return is guaranteed. You know, whether it's 2% debt or 10% debt, that's a good guaranteed return. And there's not a lot of investments out there that offer that these days. So what advice do you have for someone that's just like you were a few years ago?

Right. So. Okay, bear with me for a second. I actually wrote a few things down.

Awesome.

So what I would say is research federal programs before you consolidate. So the. What is it? The federal student loan repayment program wasn't even an option when I was getting out in 2005, but I have a friend who's been working for the city of New York as a lawyer and she unfortunately consolidated with the wrong program. So after paying for 10 years, she was told she didn't qualify.

What a tragedy.

So make sure you know what is available to you. I would say research the annual salaries for any specialty you're considering. I was Pretty naive. And I chose my specialty. I'm actually trained in pediatric hematology, oncology, but I had no idea. I chose the specialty just because I liked it. I liked the science behind it. But then when it comes down to it, you do have to pay the mortgage and you do want to live a good life. So make sure you know what you're getting into and have a good sense about job opportunities and geographies for job opportunities. Originally, I needed to stay in the New York area because of my husband. And it's very saturated in terms of people who do what I do. And there's a lot of people who get out and they end up taking on research positions that are very low paying just because there's no openings in their chosen field. And I would say also be open to other opportunities that you didn't necessarily consider going into medical school. If you asked me 10 years ago, would I be a research physician full time? Absolutely not. I'd say no. But the opportunity presented it. I had a friend who went and worked for Johnson and Johnson, and she was the one who suggested it to me when I was getting out of training and I was looking for a job and I started looking into it and previously I never had considered it, and it's been a pretty good thing. And increase your financial awareness early on. I'm always amazed at the people on your podcast that are medical students calling in, and I wish that I had been that savvy at that age. I wish I'd opened up a Roth IRA when I was in training. But now I'm considering opening up the Kid Roth IRA and other accounts for my children so that they don't make the same mistakes that I did.

Paying it forward?

Yes. Trying to, at least.

Awesome. So what's next for you and your financial goals?

So we need a financial plan, and we have been talking to certain advisors. I looked on your website. I have maxed out the retirement accounts. I've started maxing out the amount for the 529s. We'd like to pay down our mortgage a little bit early and that potentially we would actually love a second house. I know you advise against that, but we are big skiers. We spend a lot of money renting houses on Airbnb to go up and ski. And in our town, a lot of people have little cabins that they go up to and just a place for the kids to go and kind of decompress. But we would only do it if we could afford it outright. So that's kind of our long term goal for family time and having a vacation place.

Awesome. Well, congratulations on your success. You sound like you're headed for the good life.

Thank you. I appreciate it.

Dr. Ruici, thank you for being on the podcast.

Thank you, Jim.

All right. I hope you enjoyed that interview. A lot of good lessons there to learn. Perhaps the most important one was that when you start medical school, you may not end up doing what you thought you were going to do later on. And it's important to be flexible in your career. Not only does that improve your longevity in the career, which helps your finances, but also probably makes you more happy and maybe more effective as you go through. Still not sure what to do with your student loans? Overwhelmed with how to tackle that giant debt in an ever changing political climate, the experts@studentloanadvice.com are here to help guide you through the best options to manage your loans. Our experienced staff have consulted on over $250 million in student loan debt and the averagestudentloanadvice.com client has saved over $190,000. You will receive a customized student loan plan using the principles of the White Coat Investor. Get answers to all of your student loan questions, gain clarity about your financial future, and start down the right path toward financial freedom. Book a consult today@studentloanadvice.com you can do this and the White Coat Investor can help. Keep your head up, shoulders back. You've got this and we can help. We'll see you next time on the Milestones to Millionaire podcast.

My dad your host, Dr. Dal, is a practicing emergency physician, blogger, author and podcaster. He is not a licensed accountant, attorney or financial advisor, so this podcast is for your entertainment and information only and should not be considered official personalized financial advice.