The Inaugural Slick Deals Career Thoughts and Compensation Thread

Lots of great information here! Hoping there will be more contributors...

Quote from xkairos_hxc : It's interesting to see everyones pay, but what I'm curious is how that stacks up to the cost of living.

+1

Quote from chuck07 : If you don't mind me asking, are you getting the full salary until you are cleared? I am looking at jobs in that area for when I get out in May. (also in DC area)

Where I work there was no salary adjustment after getting it. If you want that you have to change jobs. I really don't think that having it affects my salary much, if at all, but probably helps my employability a great deal. I was probably making less than I should have at my previous job though.

Thanks for shearing. its very good post.

Gender: Male
Age: low 30's
Location: western NY
Occupation: MD
Education: HS, BA, MD, residency (dual boarded)
2010 Compensation: $200k 2011: $233k
Future Salary Projection: based on how much I work. Cutting back hours this year since wife is back to work and I want to spend more time at home.
Benefits: Free cell phone, full medical with deductable but HSA fully paid by work, matching 401k, continuing eduation money (pays for pretty much all yearly expenses for work), full malpractice paid
Environment: stressful at times but also a lot of down time. I work in a unique niche in the medical community and honestly work less for more pay than a lot of other people in the field.

btw would this information not be great in wiki format?

Quote from randallF : Gender: Male Age: low 30's Location: western NY Occupation: MD Education: HS, BA, MD, residency (dual boarded) 2010 Compensation: $200k 2011: $233k Future Salary Projection: based on how much I work. Cutting back hours this year since wife is back to work and I want to spend more time at home. Benefits: Free cell phone, full medical with deductable but HSA fully paid by work, matching 401k, continuing eduation money (pays for pretty much all yearly expenses for work), full malpractice paid Environment: stressful at times but also a lot of down time. I work in a unique niche in the medical community and honestly work less for more pay than a lot of other people in the field. btw would this information not be great in wiki format?

Was looking for an MD on here Good to see your 2011 compensation is going up significantly, congrats! Just a quick question, curious since you said "unique niche" are you at a hospital or are you in private practice?

Gender: Male
Age: 28
Location: TX
Occupation: RN
Education: RN
2011 Compensation: $62k
Future Salary Projection: Jumping hospitals: $4000-5000. Staying 2-3%
Benefits: Full medical, 401k 4% match (up to 10% at 10 years), cutting back on EIB/Short term disability. Seems like even though they made $24M we need to cut back

Quote from Mindylane : God, this is depressing... I have been out of school for almost four years now, got a completely worthless degree and have been making a bit less than 30k for the last 2.5 years. I just got a new job as a Medicaid Service Coordinator here on Long Island, NY which pays 32k. I am trying to get into nursing school. But 32k on Long Island is laughable, and just about pays the rent + utilities and nothing else. My husband makes about $15k more than I do.

This is a skewed sample. The only people that are willing to post exactly how much they make are young people that feel they are doing very well. It is partly bragging, partly feeling good about their position (which they should). Don't let this thread discourage you. I am 31 now and my career route didn't really take shape until I backed into a job I didn't think I wanted a few years ago. Now I make enough to be completely out of CC debt, go out with friends regularly, own a condo, save a significant portion of my income and have a positive outlook on my future.

REMEMBER, The average gross income for a family in America is still between 50-60k. So a 25 year old making around 100k is very much out of the ordinary (top 3% of all 25yos). You are in a perfectly average position. You just have to be creative in how you make that work for you and your family.

Gender: Male
Age: Early 20's
Location: NYC
Occupation: IT Support Level 2 at Global Lawfirm
Education: BS. Finance with Comp Sci minor ( A+, Network+, CCNA)
2010 Compensation: $46K
Future Salary Projection: Well, no raise or bonus this year because of the "down economy"
Benefits: Free cell phone, full medical with deductable but HSA fully paid by work, matching 401k, 23 paid vacation days
Environment: stressful at times working for angry lawyers. Micro-managed but not that heavy of a work load. I'd like to actually be able to put my CCNA or Finance background to use!

Quote from 1stbuy : Was looking for an MD on here Good to see your 2011 compensation is going up significantly, congrats! Just a quick question, curious since you said "unique niche" are you at a hospital or are you in private practice?

hospitalist but we provide more than the usual hospitalist services. No office though

Quote from randallF : hospitalist but we provide more than the usual hospitalist services. No office though

Wow, that's definitely impressive!

Not trying to be nosey randallF but did you have any med school loans? And if so what was the amount and are you still paying the loan back or is it gone? Did you use the income based repayment schedule or just the regular one?

Son is a current MS1 and he is trying to get a handle/future grasp on how long it will take to pay off the loans. I am trying to advise but am struggling with the info and process.

Thank you, and again I apologize if the questions are too personal.

Hmmm...I think that I can help you out with your question, kat.

Just to preface, long time member here at SD (since 2004), but figured that it'd be best to set-up a new profile for the finance board.

My hubby is a physician, trained in family medicine, did a fellowship in Hospitalist medicine and now is working locum tenens (fancy word for physician contractor).

He came out of medical school around 2006 with about $150k in loans (tuition was at a very expensive private college). We were lucky in that:

1) we had family assist with paying off at least 1/3 of the loans when he graduated med school
2) I worked throughout most of his medical school to cover day-to-day expenses. Otherwise the loans would be much higher.
3) We were lucky in that we were able to consolidate ~$80k at less than 2% interest.

As a result, we are down to the last $30k, with loan payments of under $300. We used the regular repayment schedule and the loan is through Sallie Mae. I believe that there are options to request a change to a lower monthly payment on their website after you receive your loan. We always paid way more than the minimum, but did not make a big effort to pay off the loan completely as we have been saving for a house. (And while historically low, the interest on a mortgage is still twice the consolidated loan). Otherwise, the repayment term would be over 30 years.

The med school loans sound daunting, but if your son chooses correctly, he will not lack for a job. (Congrats to him for getting in!) Family medicine (while relatively not paying much compared to other specialties) seems to be in huge demand. Also hospitalist medicine seems to be growing right now, plus they typically have a nifty schedule of working long hours in alternating week long shifts, so it would give him time during the weeks between to pursue other opportunities. (But in any case, he doesn't have to figure out where he wants to specialize until later, so the rotations in med school will be very important.)

Best wishes to your son!

Gender: Male
Age: 25
Location: VA
Occupation: Special Education Teacher Assistant
Education: BS. Biology, minor in Psychology concentration Marine Biology, in school for Masters in Sp.Ed
2010 Compensation: $19K
Future Salary Projection: $41K+
Benefits: Decent medical and dental 401K 100% paid by my company and VA DOE, The usual time off for teachers, sick and personal days. Masters degree paid in full via special ed grant/company reinbursement
Environment: Middle school, with the top 1% of my companies special ed population (fully verbal fully functional low behavior) It is stressful at times but my coworkers are great and the gen ed teachers are great. This is not the career I was expecting but I am set up great for the future and have a plan to work my way up through the company. (Teacher, ed specialist, principal) Teachers start off at 41K a year so it would be a very nice bump in pay from what I am getting now. Bought a house last July and just got engaged so my bills will be increasing. Having my Masters degree paid for by grants and my company is a great perk too.

Good company to work for if you can manage stress well and leave certain aspects of your job at work.