Blog #4: Future Lifestyle and Finances

I am going to write about what my lifestyle and finance would be like in ten years. In 15 years, if all goes planned and as I hope, I would be a licensed surgeon. However, from the end of high school, that is about ten years of nonstop schooling and training. So, in ten years from now, I would have graduated medical school and entered surgical residency at a hospital.

• The total of my future expenses each year will be around $30,000-$35,000, if I were to live in an apartment or small house. This cost includes a split rent, transportation, entertainment, food, and health. I got this information from http://www.expatistan.com/cost-of-living/san-francisco.
• According to salary.com, the average salary of a surgical resident is around $400,000. The schooling to get this job will cost around $400,000 for four years of college and four years of medical school. 
• For my "rainy day fund" I'd like to have enough money to live for six months, which would be around $16,000. I want to save around 10% of my income each year for retirement, which would be $2,500. This means by the time I am 65 years old I would have $250,000. However, this is very unrealistic because after surgical residency, surgeons make a lot more money. The average salary is %300,000. At this rate, by the time I am 65 years old, I would have $1.5 million saved for retirement.  
• Comparing my future income and expenses made me realize that during medical school and surgical residency I will be on the edge of debt. I will have to pay my college and med school loans every month, as well as support my living costs. The one benefit of being a surgeon is during the day you don't need many clothes, because you wear scrubs most of the time. Shifts are long and some times on the weekend, so there wouldn't be a lot of time for entertainment or shopping, so I don't think unnecessary spending of money will be a problem.