Comments on: Sell, Sell, Sell! Investing for Healthcare Providers

By: NM

NM — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 23:17:44 +0000

I have a scary ~$80K in undergraduate/Masters student loans and am about to begin medical school in August. I assume it would be unwise to use a loan to pay off a loan. I was considering using some (very minimal amount) of my medical school loans, if I can hold a low interest rate, to pay off some of my undergraduate loans from 2003 (those with higher interest rates) before the interest compounds. If I did the math, surely paying off some of these higher interest, older loans could be a good deal. Fortunately, I was able to consolidate most of my loans and lock in some low interest rates.
At 25, I wish I could start saving $300 a month, but as it is, I make $12/hr doing research and pay $360/month in rent, etc.. and the first place any extra money should go is to paying at least the interest on my undergraduate loans. You would advise me to focus on paying off my loans as opposed to saving, right? Or would it be possible to do both?
Have you heard any feedback from those who do Army/Navy, etc. medical scholarships?

By: Ivan

Ivan — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 23:42:11 +0000

Do not wait to invest. Since your loans bear a low-interest rate, paying them off early gives you little benefit.

The rate of return on your investment, however, will be much higher.

By: Resident2B

Resident2B — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 18:14:23 +0000

Thanks for the great article! I am a medical student who feels extremely uneducated about finances. I was wondering, is it better to pay off my loans completely before I begin investing?

Thanks!

By: Resident2B

Resident2B — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 08:27:27 +0000

Thank you for the excellent article! I am one of those medical students who is incredibly uneducated about finances. How does one strike a balance between paying off loans and beginning to invest?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 21:48:02 +0000

Alright, that makes sense if you’re investing with a dollar cost averaging strategy. Thanks

By: Rb

Rb — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 15:43:20 +0000

Concur with DD’s remarks.

By: DD

DD — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 13:30:58 +0000

Etfs are costly to run, i.e. buying and selling will cost you tons in fees unless you have a lot of dough to begin with, and the amounts you are wagering are high.

Generally, as the author of this article alluded to, if you invest on a regular periodic basis a set amount of money, avoid etfs like the plague. They will bite into your investment badly. For periodic investments of a set amount, go for mutual funds.

That my 2 cents.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 08:01:32 +0000

Why should you stay away from ETFs? Are the costs substantially different from equivalent mutual funds? The biggest reason I can see why you guys aren’t recommending ETFs is the easy with which one can trade them, which obviously could drastically cut down on returns.

By: JJ

JJ — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 19:11:43 +0000

Agree. Stay away from ETF. The urge to trade is too much and that will cut down on return. Fidelity Spartan Total Market Index Fund (FSTMX) has only 0.1% fee.

If you want some fun for your ROTH IRA’s and pick stocks individually, you can’t go wrong with large-cap U.S. stocks that have substantial foreign revenue; you can the best of both worlds: American rigiorous companies who get money from foreign currencieis.

Agree with RB on his/her picks. There are just so many out there to pick because large/mega caps have been underperforming for so long. PFE with its 5.7% yield and can you imaginge compounding that dividend even more? AA, FCX, PEP,NYX.

By: Rb

Rb — Mon, 11 Feb 2008 18:40:49 +0000

Good say, jj. I concur. Stay away from etf’s. Also, for Ginger, here are some good mutual funds: T Rowe Price (cap appreciation), Aim dynamics, Buffalo funds, Vanguard.

Good buys for individual stock to invest in Roth IRA’s: Exxon Mobil, Disneyland, Capital one, and Walmart.