Early career Emergency Medicine physician trying to navigate the financial world
- August 2026 Update
August Total Income:
Another busy month for our household. Because of vacation/shift schedules, I did not end up doing much telemedicine this past month so income has been much lower.
Expenses
Lots of expenses this month, continue to have a lot of maintenance expenses with house, boat, pool, cars, etc. I am looking forward to the next month when something we own doesn’t seem to break!
This month, we actually almost purchased a new lot to build a home on. We ended up getting outbid which I have mixed feelings on. We would have had to empty out the majority of our taxable account (We did consider an SBLOC) but the land was a great deal. For now, we are just waiting and watching.
Investments
August was a great month for the stock market and we continue to move up and to the right.
We are just shy of maxing out our goals for the year. I am also planning to add $5k to my sons 530A Plan (Trump account). I received the Dell gift for $250 so I will fund the rest this month.
Investment Accounts:
Big move up this month, over +$151k in the green. Compound interest is a magical thing. I did end up moving all the money out of my coinbase account. I sold everything and then rebought FBTC in our taxable account.
My Financial Goals for 2026
- Hit $3 million in investments: We did this, June 1st!!!!!
- Pay down mortgage and recast – DONE – 260k extra payment (family gift) and mortgage recast done, payment changed from $3,759 $2,450
- Obtain umbrella insurance – DONE! We finally obtained a $1 mil policy.
-AMJ
- July 2026 Update
July Total Income:
My wife got paid three times in July (lets goo). We ended up having a fun month with one week of a staycation with friends and then also another trip to the Midwest for a wedding and family. I ended up working 12 shifts this month as I was asked to work extra due to short staffing (and got paid a bit extra to do so). Telemedicine was on the back burner again this month. I plan to have a lighter clinical load moving forward the next few months so hopefully can start doing some more telemed work.
I definitely love the flexibility of my schedule working part time (or PRN) for two local groups, I can essentially pick my schedule. Hospitals in my area continue to open free standing emergency departments all over thus there is essentially endless work at both groups.
Expenses
I continue to be surprised at how high our credit card bills having become. We continue to have maintenance issues each month with our house and have also taken a few smaller vacations/weekend trips and thus expenses continue to add up each month. Our quarterly HOA dues were in this month thus higher expenses there.
Investments
There was a big pullback in the market this month but it recovered fairly quickly. No major investment moves for us, still hovering around the $2.9mil mark.
My wife should have her 457 maxed out by the end of August (two more paychecks) and then we will have officially hit our investment goals for the year at $204k. I now have about $60k saved up in HYSA to pay our end of year tax bill. My goal is to have about $100k saved for federal taxes but we also have some larger bills coming up ($8k for my sons tuition and about $14k for property taxes).
Investment Accounts:
Slowly moving up and to the right.
My Financial Goals for 2026
- Hit $3 million in investments: We did this, June 1st!!!!!
- Pay down mortgage and recast – DONE – 260k extra payment (family gift) and mortgage recast done, payment changed from $3,759 $2,450
- Obtain umbrella insurance – DONE! We finally obtained a $1 mil policy.
-AMJ
- June 2026 Update
June Total Income:
Another busy month for us, I ended up working 13 clinical shifts this month as the ER groups I work for are super short staffed and begging for work. My director called me and offered increased pay to do so. That meant I did very little telemedicine this month as we had a vacation and a few fun short trips planned on days off. L
Life has really become a lot more fun and enjoyable being a “part time” doc, particularly no longer working night shifts has made me much happier and likely healthier too. It is somewhat hard to accept lower monthly income (compared to what I can and was previously making), but I remember how much we have done on the investing side and it’s worth it for the long term.
Expenses
I continue to be surprised at how much our expenses have increased over the last year or so. We have had a lot of maintenance items come up on our home and boat this year greatly increasing our usual expenses and there is likely more to come. We have also started to open up a bit on our spending with vacations, weekend trips, etc. The other big bill this month was for my CPA/payroll/tax stuff.
Investments
While we hit $3 mil briefly in early June, the market and crypto dumped pretty hard thereafter and we came back down to reality.
No major changes with our retirement contributions, my wife continues to contribute to her 457, about 11k left so should be maxed in about 2 more months. I continue to save up for my end of year S corp tax bill.
Investment Accounts:
Slight drop for the month but still trending up and to the right for the year.
My Financial Goals for 2026
- Hit $3 million in investments: We did this, June 1st!!!!!
- Pay down mortgage and recast – DONE – 260k extra payment (family gift) and mortgage recast done, payment changed from $3,759 $2,450
- Obtain umbrella insurance – DONE! We finally obtained a $1 mil policy.
-AMJ
- May 2026 Update
May Total Income:
Another month with our income on the lower side. I’ve honestly probably never been happier in the past few months despite a decent pull back in our income. Having moved to half time clinical shifts in the emergency department allows me to get out of night shifts (which I hate). Most recently, I got offered an extra $1000 cash to work a night shift (thus about $4,000 total) for a single night shift and happily turned it down.
I’ve got a spend a ton of time with my wife and son, doing lots of weekend trips and adventures together which has been a lot of fun. With the stock market ripping the last two months, our net worth continues to climb despite a drop in income.
Expenses
Last month, we went on an all-inclusive Caribbean vacation so we had a lot of extra expenses related to that. The trip was amazing and probably cost about $15,000 in total. This is the big reason our credit card bill are so large and total expenses almost $16k for the month. I had some licensing fees I had to take care under business expenses.
Investments
$3 million!!!! Crazy how much our accounts have grown over the past three years. The market continued to go nuts in May and we finally breached $3 million. Crypto/bitcoin has taken a large dip from last year.
My wife continues to work on her 457 contributions. Otherwise, I am now saving up cash for end of year tax payments and other big expenses (S corp taxes, property taxes, school tuition, etc)
Investment Accounts:
A net positive change of $171k for the month. Compound interest has taken over.
My Financial Goals for 2026
- Hit $3 million in investments: We did this, June 1st!!!!!
- Pay down mortgage and recast – DONE – 260k extra payment (family gift) and mortgage recast done, payment changed from $3,759 $2,450
- Obtain umbrella insurance – DONE! We finally obtained a $1 mil policy.
-AMJ
- April 2026 Update
April Total Income:
Definitely a lower income month for us. We had family visiting the beginning of the month and then took a vacation the last week of the month so really only had two weeks of full work. Thankfully the stock market rebounded significantly this month.
Expenses
This is our first month with our newly re-casted mortgage payment, now $2450 (previously $3759). I continue to be surprised how high our monthly credit card bills have become, it seems like every month we have an unexpected issue with the house, car, maintenance, etc. We purchased some Ikea closets and then had an unexpected plumbing issue this month resulting in some extra expenses.
Investments
The market took a wild upward swing in April. Our investments dipped below 2.4 mil and by the end of the month, grew to 2.8 mil. Totally wild swing of 400k in just one month. Just goes to show you how important it is to just stay invested for the long term.
I have now hit my initial investing goals for the year, my wife just has to max out her 457 which she should be able to do within the next 2-3 months. I am now planning to save up a cash cushion to pay for end of year taxes. Once I have enough saved (likely around 100k), I will contribute some more to our taxable account.
Investment Accounts:
Again, we experienced a wild swing up in the stock market this month. Our delta on debt vs investments was 351k. Hope we continue to see some market returns for the year!
My Financial Goals for 2026
- Hit $3 million in investments: We are currently at the $2.8 mil range, contributions continue to go in every month, need some growth in the market to achieve this goal.
- Pay down mortgage and recast – DONE – 260k extra payment (family gift) and mortgage recast done, payment changed from $3,759–> $2,450
- Obtain umbrella insurance – DONE! We finally obtained a $1 mil policy.
-AMJ