<prompt> Human: Hello Everyone, I figured I would do an update from my post from last year Although this post will come across as humblebrag, please note this is not my intention! Its simply therapeutic for me to share with you all, and hopefully help others if they are in the same boat. THE DEBTThis is kind of embarrassing, but in my initial post, my original debt amount was far higher than I reported. It was actually 440K federal 26K private. My apologies. I ended up paying off my 26k private loan much sooner than expected. The reason being is that as a variable rate loan, the interest rate doubled from 1.8 to a little over 3.6. I decided that it would provide me with a piece of mind to just pay it off completely. The remaining debt is still consolidated, under the PAYE repayment program with average interest rate of 6.8. Just to reiterate, I am also still enrolled in the Public Service Loan Forgiveness PSLF program as being in residency qualifies 3 years down, 7 more years to go. Although my organization is not a 501c3, it still qualifies since it is a nonprofit and provides public health services. I am still worried that this program will not last, but there remains the likelihood that current enrollees will be grandfathered in if it goes away. I believe October will be the first time any such loans will be forgiven under this program, so well see what happens. Again, I have no credit card debt, and pay off everything at the end of the month.PERSONAL STUFF AND EXPENSESStill not married and have no children. My paid off car now has 120k miles, and is still running great although the brakes, rotors, and tire change expenses hurt a little. I have since discovered the benefits of luxury outlets, and decided to splurge by buying 4 high-end shirts for 100 :. I think I spent a grand total of 300 in clothing in the past year. Another shoutout to rfrugalmalefashion! 2 major trips planned in the next few months, one to the west coast and another to Hawaii. However, airline tickets were free since I had points accumulated through my Southwest and Chase rewards credit cards see rchurning for more details.I reduced expenses: I bought my own modem and router which have already paid for themselves, saving me an additional 7mo in rental fees. My total monthly Internet bill is 30 total for 5010, and was supposed to go up by 10 this year. I ended up calling my ISP and the representative was more than willing to keep me at the same rate. No cable. I did a little bit of research and decided to go prepaid for my cell phone plan, and went from 75 for unlimited talk, text, and 3GB of data to 55 for the same except with 10GB of data. I have the exact same reception, but with more data and saving 20 a month no brainer, right??. My apartment building and workplace have free coffee, so that saves me another 20-30 a month. I recently paid for a Costco membership, and started to buy meat, toiletries, and other necessities in bulk. Im still debating if this makes sense financially since I am single. THE JOBSlight salary bump after my hospital went from RVU based model system to comp based model. For the layman, this means I am basically salaried and no longer have to worry about meeting milestones to earn my pay. THE BENEFITSINVESTMENTS 403b: fully maxed out Non-governmental 457: fully maxed out. I understand the risks, but I am willing to take a gamble that my hospital system is stable and not going to go bankrupt anytime soon. 401a: employer contributed. I wont qualify until next year due to some odd rule that I need to work 1000 hrs per year before I am qualified. Since I started late, I didnt qualify for a contribution this year _ツ_ Emergency fund: fully funded and spread out between 6 separate Ally No Penalty CDs. The reason I spread them out is because if I ever need to liquidate one of them, I can just close out each one as needed. Taxable brokerage accounts: Since my tax-sheltered accounts have been maxed out, I opened up brokerage accounts with Schwab and Vanguard. I like the option of having 2 competing companies, as both offer products at great rates. I may also open one with Fidelity as well. THE PLAN FOR THIS COMING YEAR1.Continue with PSLF payments. I want to see what happens after October before deciding to continue with it, or re-financing at a lower rate with a private lender. 2.Max out 403b, 457, and backdoor Roth IRA at beginning of 2018. Contribute remaining to taxable brokerage accounts with a goal to save a minimum of 35 of my gross salary annually. 3.Start a custodian Roth IRA for my nephew and niece, with the promise that I would match 50 of their contributions once their earned income hits 5500. Unfortunately, through no fault of my parents, financial education was lacking for my family...I want to make sure the next generation doesnt make the same mistakes we made. 4.Avoid lifestyle creep. Unfortunately, having friends in the same field means having friends who have started to splurge on cars and trips. The pressure is always there: Dude you can buy a nicer car now, Why rent, you can definitely buy a really nice house?!, Lets go to dinner every Friday!. Im slowly trying to change them to see my point of view, but its difficult to change their opinions sometime. Ah well, Ill keep trying. As before, thank you for reading this admittedly very long post! Any suggestions, comments, or criticisms you can provide will be much appreciated!Assistant: Just finished my first year as an attending. I think you have a great plan, but I have to ask, what exactly is your goal? Do you want to retire at age 50? Save for a few years and then buy a really nice home?I only ask because some of the examples you provided seem over the top for your salary I mean I can get free coffee too, but a 40 dollar coffee maker and cheap coffee are not something I quantify as lifestyle creep. Only spent 300 on clothing in a year? I mean I agree with the big things...I have not bought a house yet, I drive a 2009 truck and I am not married or have kids, but I feel that going out to eat with friends and enjoying more life experiences are a must.Personally, this past year I have paid off all private loans, refinanced my federal loans was not doing loan forgiveness, maxed out my 403b, backdoor roth IRA, plus some additional money in mutual funds and stocked my emergency fund. I have also taken about 8 trips most not overly expensive, some work related so they were paid for, picked up some new somewhat expensive hobbies moved to a different part of the country...cold weather so had to learn some new things, eaten out a lot probably more than I should, and treated my parents to a nice vacation. I do not feel that I went over the top no new house or expensive car. Also, like you, not having a wife or kid frees up a lot of money and time. I agree that physicians in general go way over the top, but I guess I disagree with the level of frugal you have chosen because I do not think it is necessary. I know people will give me this but every little bit counts argument. At some point you do have to enjoy the fruits of your labor because you cannot only plan for a future that isnt for sure coming...weve done that too long.Human: I think youve hit the nail on the head when it comes to goals. Ive been bitten by the FIRE-bug pretty hard, so I have a goal of being FI by 45, and then going part time until I simply dont want to work. Yes, I agree with the coffee part, of course that shouldnt be considered lifestyle creep...frankly thats just me being cheap haha. The clothes...well what can I say, thats what Ive spent, give or take 20-30. Luckily all of my older clothes still fit well, and since theyre not threadbare, I havent had a desire to throw them out. Granted, Im a little color-blind, so the majority of them are earth tones with the occasional blue thrown in. I think I only have 1 blackred shirt, and one yellow T-shirt in my entire closet. But to get back to your question, I guess it all depends on priorities. Although Ive written that I try not to let lifestyle creep happen, I of course have relaxed a lot more. I do go out with friends for dinner and drinks. I tend to pay the tab when me and my team go out for drinks after work. And despite me getting free airplane tickets, I still spend money on nicer hotels for vacation but still no splurging on 5 star hotels, I have a limit dammit. My parents unfortunately wont let me pay for any vacations. I think they feel significant guilt for not being able to help pay for medical school, which I think is ridiculous. I still think Im trying to find that balance between being frugal and being miserly. Sometimes, I can be resistive to letting loose occasionally, and I realize that perhaps I dont need to keep the purse strings closed tight ALL the time. At some point you do have to enjoy the fruits of your labor because you cannot only plan for a future that isnt for sure coming...weve done that too long.That struck a chord with me...time for some introspection. Thanks for the comment, its much appreciated!  <response>: Yeah I suspected there were ways you splurged when compared to being a resident. I think you are right, you have to pick your battles. Having a nice luxury car is not important to me, but traveling is. The real trouble is when you want everything right away I am sure you have friends that are like this. I also really liked your response in the post to the pre med student saying that everyone thinks you are in the top 1. When you finish, everyone thinks overnight you become this rich doctor when in fact your are in a ton of debt, have no savings, know nothing about money and dont own much of anything. Having everyone tell you you can afford it, you are a doctor is a part of the problem. 