<prompt> Human: So I worry that Im kind of a noob to be posting here, so please be kind. I dont know much about finance, but I know my fiancé would like me to learn more and take charge more about our finances, so Im writing this to take the initiative and Im sure yall can help me gain some insight. We JUST got engaged, and of course with that, are talking even more than usual about our future. My fiancé, Charlie, has struggled for a long time about the fact that he doesnt like his career, and admitted to me last night that all he has ever really wanted to do is get married and have kids. He wants to become a stay at home dad when the time is right, and I fully support this. I am planning on having a robust career and I think it will work out well for us. Currently, he has a job in finance. He makes a little over 100,000 a year, has no debt, owns his car, and has about 30,000 in savings. He has a 401K, I dont know what the situation on that is. I am a grad student. My job as a teaching assistant gives me a great tuition reduction, and a stipend. From teaching, I only make about 5000 a year, and that goes toward living expenses groceries, gas, cat food and Im really unable to save. I have another job as a waitress, and that nets about 12,000 a year. That pays my rent, bills, and utilities. If anything gets saved, it goes toward my tuition. I am in my last year, and by the time I graduate, I will have about 33,000 in student loans. When I graduate, I will have both an Master of Science in immunology and a Master of Public Health. I intend to go to med school next. Im envisioning that it will probably be about the same situation as I have now, I will have 2 or 3 jobs that pay my living expenses and rent but not much else. Med students usually incur about 200,000 worth of debt during the course of their 4 years. The starting salary for a resident physician is about 50,000, and after about 5 years, that number increases to about 150,000 a year as an attending physician. I plan to work as a physician in the field of non-profit 501c3 organizations, so I would be eligible for the public service loan forgiveness program. I have attended public institutions, not private, and from everything Charlie and I can tell, I would qualify easily for that. I already have a lot of experience interning at these organizations. I would then like to transition into academic medicine, which I also have experience with. Those doctors make quite a bit of money, I know that the chair of a department at my universitys hospital is paid 300,000 per year, not including speaker fees, book sales, and several patents he has.Charlie has expressed that he is more than willing to continue working until we are ready to have children, which we think would be about 4-5 more years. It would be 6 years before I will make a resident physician salary. We have no plans to buy a house, probably what would happen is that when I get my residency info and we know what city we are going to be in permanently, we would probably buy some land and continue to rent until we have enough money saved to build a home. My questions:- Is the overlap of about a year between having kids and me making a salary unrealistic, or is it possible to live on my small jobs and savings for that year?- Is my amount of debt unreasonable? Does anyone have any experience with loan forgiveness plans? - Are my career plans unrealistic? As I will have useful masters degrees, I could go straight into a career after finishing them next year. Charlie encourages me to follow my dreams of becoming a doctor, but my parents are really on my case to start earning money, even though they dont support me financially in any way. - Is it a realistic plan for one spouse to work until children are born, and then for the other spouse to take over making income at that point? Unknowns are: my grandparents have mentioned paying my med school tuition, but we havent discussed it much. They are also very wealthy and in their 80s, so as much as I dont like to think about it, they may leave me an inheritance. But these are unknowns, so I dont want to factor them into what Im asking.Again, I apologize for not being as informed as I should be, but I really want to step up and be more involved in financial planning for my fiancé. Thank you in advance for your help!EDIT Thank you all so much for your feedback, this has become a very productive and enlightening conversation and certainly has given me some great perspectives to discuss with my fiance. Im very grateful! Assistant: 1. I dont think so, sounds like you have though it out. Working in Medical School seems a little shady my sister is in it and studies way more than a full-time job. 2. Just avoid debt, but not all debt is avoidable. Debt for a medical degree is alright, as long as you actually get the job on the other side. Be smart though and dont use debt you dont need. If going for PLSF, carefully review the requirements and dont make any foot faults make sure Federal Loans, qualifying IBR, etc. I suggest going over to PhysicanOnFire and reading about this blog meant for doctorsmedical students and finances. I am not affiliated with it at all, just a reader. 3. Dont really get point of getting a masters before Medical school unless need it to meet prereqs. Other than that doesnt seem crazy. If parents arent supporting you, dont let them pressure you to manage your financial affairs in a certain way. 4. A lot of people do it. Key is to have 1 high income and good spending habits. A lot of doctors and high income professionals dont save. The key is to have an understanding with your partner and both want the same thing. Make sure he doesnt want to mooch off of your hard work though. If he stays at home, he should be contributing to the household in other ways. I suggest reading through the sidebar extensively, it contains what I would consider an intermediate education in personal financial planning5. InheritanceGift would be windfall, I would plan without it. See Windfall in sidebar for more details around this sort of thing. Trust me, your post is better than 95 of what I see here, we like these posts here in rpf. I also suggest checking out rfinancialindependece since your goals involve early retirement of 1 spouse. Not to be blunt, but you may want to consider a pre-nup, it can protect you both from each other in the unfortunate event of a divorce. Divorce can be financially devastating. I suggest both of you being involved in your finances.As always, let me know if you have any follow-up questions or comments, I will be back to answer. My goal is to provide advice that enables you to make the best possible financial decisions.Human: Thank you so much, this is really helpful. As to working during med school, Im just talking about a very low-hours waitress job for extra money, but I guess when Im in med school Ill find out very quickly if thats doable or not.As to getting a masters before med school-- yes, I needed to complete my pre-reqs, and since they had a program that lined up with getting my dual degree, I went for it. Many I worked with in academic medicine had both an MD and an MS, or an MD and a PhD, or even MD and MBA. I thought it was a good choice for my long-term goal, and being in grad school has made me a really good candidate for med school admission. My partner definitely doesnt want to mooch off me, I have high respect for the emotional labor that goes into childcare, as well as the cost of hiring out for childcare, cooking, cleaning, etc. I dont think its an insignificant contribution. Hes fully on-board to do household tasks, and he has talked about becoming a part-time mortgage broker a la Phil Dunphy when kids get older. Weve both laughed about pre-nups, weve said well each get one, since he has the money now and Ill have the money later. Again, thank you so much for your thoughtful response. I really appreciate it.  <response>: Im in med school Ill find out very quickly if thats doable or not.Make sure to ask about the pre-clinical curriculum during interviews. My school had almost all optional lectures in the first two years. If youre one of those 10 of medical students who seem to pick things up lightning fast through self-study youd can have more than enough time for a part time job.During year 3 and part of 4 however youll be working 60-80 hour weeks in hospital rotations though. You wont have much time for anything else. 