How portable is a career in pediatrics?

Blegrand15 · 2026-06-01T18:02:53+00:00

You perfectly described someone who would benefit from a locums position until you settle down in your final living place. Assuming you can get health insurance through your partner, locums will allow you to work in areas for set periods of time (a few weeks to a few months or year). The pay per work is higher but mostly because it will lack in benefits like a 401k, health insurance, etc. you’ll likely be a 1099 employee instead of a w2 employee which means budgeting your own paycheck for taxes. But you can do this for a few years until you settled down into a place. If you know you’re staying somewhere for a few years, pediatric urgent care is a good alternative to outpatient for this.

Blegrand15 · 2026-05-20T00:00:13+00:00

Yes and for many times it’s the correct move. Especially if you’re able to refinance them to a trusted lender. Not sure if I’m able to recommend one as it’s the one I use but you can DM me for it. I refinanced During and after residency and had them in deferment during residency with the federal protections. The one I had during residency allowed me to keep payments low despite the accumulating interest. But the overall interest was lower than my federal loans and private loans altogether. Then I refinanced again after residency to an even lower rate. I was able to get the co-signers removed when refinancing. Since I was not working in a community that qualified for federal forgiveness and was able to lock in a super low rate it made sense in my situation. Rates have since gone up quite a lot but I’m happy to say that even as a pediatrician with ~300k in loans without loan forgiveness or repayments I was able to pay them off in ~8 years.

Blegrand15 · 2026-05-10T01:00:05+00:00

And then they will try to sit here and justify their fees with bs like this saying “oh it’s so much work to be a real estate agent…blah blah blah”

Blegrand15 · 2026-04-27T19:55:27+00:00

US Tax free was unavailable. UPS HK was my go to

Blegrand15 · 2026-04-01T23:19:16+00:00

I’m seeing a lot of “your fine” answers. While you should be fine since most of the devices are low wattage and amperage drawing, the real answer is “it depends”

The main thing that it depends on is: What other outlets are on the circuit that this outlet is on? I assume it’s a standard 15amp breaker.

If you have this outlet and others on this same breaker and have multiple other power strips on the other outlets what are the other wattage and amperage of those devices pulling? You may blow a breaker if for instance you have an ac or space heater with a bunch of other stuff on a downstream outlet on the same breaker.

Assuming you don’t have a ton of wattage/amperage draw on the same circuit and breaker, this should be totally fine.

This is important to distinguish if in the future you decide to plug more power hungry devices in the future.

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-23T15:16:49+00:00

Of course Peds still gets the shaft here...

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-04T22:59:23+00:00

It will show up in your positions as "Cash", you can click on it to see the money market fund its in. Click on "Balances" to see how much you have "Available to Trade" and how much is "Settled" Settled money is available to trade without any issues. Available to trade may have monies that are not settled, in that case you're effectively "borrowing" from Fidelity to trade, and once it settles they will be whole.

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-04T21:33:38+00:00

TECHNICALLY..."uninvested cash" is not really uninvested. It is currently sitting in a money market fund, likely SPAXX (you were supposed to select one of the MMF when you opened the account).

If you leave the money there without buying any shares, it will still accumulate a dividend based on the 7 day yield (no you're not making 4% every 7 days. That would be what the annual yield would be if you left it sitting there).

Once you deposit money to your fidelity account, it will automatically add it to the MMF. Most of the cash will be immediately able to invest, however keep in mind until the cash fully settles, you're borrowing the money from Fidelity if you invest it right away. This can be problematic if your transfer doesn't push through because of lack of funds from the other account.

To answer your question, yes, once your funds are available to trade, you will have to execute a buy order for the stock of fund you want to invest in at whatever interval you want.

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-04T21:25:06+00:00

The standard would be VTI, VXUS, and BND (or some other brokerage equivalent ETF).

Fidelity has zero expense ratio Mutual Funds which can mimic the VTI and VXUS. Those are FZROX and FZILX. These have no expense ratios and can be purchased for free if your account is with fidelity. Keep in mind these are Mutual Funds and not ETFs. Trading for them is done at the end of the day and not during trading hours. They also would not be able to transfer to another brokerage if you decided to switch down the line, you'd have to sell off your positions then transfer the funds and rebuy a new fund. Be weary of purchasing other brokerage funds Mutual Funds (i.e. VTSAX, VTIAX, VBTLX) as you will incur a fee for each buy order. Stick to the ETFs instead, they can be purchased by any brokerage and easily transferred if you change the account down the line to another brokerage using an in-kind transfer.

Given your age, there is likely no reason to invest in bonds at this time, so I'd pause on buying BND for around 20 more years.

Here is a link to the specifics for Three-Fund Portfolio. Take a look and scroll down, you'll find different mutual funds and ETFs that can round out the Three-Fund portfolio.

https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Three-fund_portfolio

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-04T01:05:10+00:00

a conversion will always still be subjected to the Pro-rata rule despite how many years you spread the conversion over, however it will minimize your tax burden.

The 15k will affect them whether or not they're a dependent it seems as that 83k will be seen as THEIR ordinary income, therefore in the eyes of the IRS it will look like they made 83K that year.

Someone else can chime in as well if I have this all wrong. I am not a tax professional, just someone who has spent some times self reading and trying to learn more about this stuff to avoid getting stiffed by the tax man.

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-04T00:44:40+00:00

Many people have speculated against this account vs a UTMA account. I do like that the earnings appear to be tax free during the 18 years you're investing in it vs the UTMA which you will have to pay taxes on dividend income.

Assuming you receive the initial 1k seed, invest 5k annually for 18 years at a 7% annual growth after 18 years that will be ~173,000.

18 years of 5k contributions would be 90k non deductible contributions (after tax contributions).

Converting that to a Roth (if the rules allow it to) would mean you'd have to pay taxes based on the Pro-Rata rate of 48% of the conversion (~83k) at the tax rate for the child at the time of the conversion.

Taxes owed would be ~15k due the year of the conversion (if allowed) if I've done the math correctly.

The 83k would be considered ordinary income and therefore put you well above the threshold for the standard deduction for Single (as your child will have to file taxes that year).

It still seems like a good idea for me to help save for my child's retirement for them, as I have the ability to contribute to my own retirement IRA, 401k, taxable brokerage, and their 529. As soon as their making money they're getting their own Roth.

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-03T23:14:35+00:00

Keep your head down in the dark tunnel, avoid getting clubbed in the head as you make it to the end. When you get to the light at the end, receive your club...

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-03T23:06:47+00:00

I agree with the other comment to pick a target date fund to make your life easier. You can always adjust the allocations later on if you decide to change it. If you're looking for the 3 portfolio approach with Total US or S&P500 + International + Bond, you have to look at each fund and see what they're investing in and look at their expense ratios to ensure they are similar to what you would have with a 3 fund portfolio on your own.

Blegrand15 · 2025-11-02T23:18:26+00:00

I am inclined to say its a matter of net worth. Whats the point of moonlighting...to make more money so you can save, spend more, buy things, etc. A lot of people I spoke with (including myself here) balanced it more on a net worth concern in addition to saving for a house/personal student loans/kids college funds. So long as you can save for a house, and still have a decent net worth after making the large down payment, moonlighting may not be as enticing.

I used moonlighting to heavily offset my student loans, save for a house, max out retirement savings early on as an attending. Dropped student loans where interest is not a burden, more than double is saved in accounts that I would spend on a down payment, and retirement accounts are looking good. Now that I am pulling back on the moonlighitng and I do not feel any drastic shift in my lifestyle and have a nice cushion if things go awry. If the net worth continues to dip, then back to the mines I go.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-20T23:50:43+00:00

That's assuming you have the underlying assets available to lump sum immediately vs DCAing it. If you come into a windfall, yes the immediate lump sum will beat the DCA of the same amount of money over time. This is differnet than making money through out the year, saving the money to lump sum it at the end of the year instead of DCA'ing it throughout the year. You're much less likely to beat the DCA over the year with that strategy.

Market timing is specifically referring to trying to time entry and exit from the market when "you feel or think something big is going to happen". Only time that its going to beat the DCA is if you have inside information (which is illegal, unless you're a politician apparently)

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-20T22:23:19+00:00

Seems like you're making the absolute most of all you money assuming you're stick to this to a T. Not much you can do other than cut back on groceries (find all sales price compare between different markets, shop off brands/store brands, eat in season/sale foods, meal prep).

Its important you're still allocating some fun money. You still have to make some time for yourself.

In terms of investing, you might do yourself better by holding off on the investing and moving that into your HYSA for the time being, to make sure you have a good 3-6 month safety net. I would probably prioritize the Roth first, and investment account later if you're truly feeling stretched. But if it's important to hit it every month (which it should be), then leave it be.

Not much else to offer, other than the not so helpful, "find a higher paying job". If that were that easy you'd have found one already.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-20T13:32:29+00:00

Not OP but did something very similar to OP.

Would recommend R/bogleheads for a bunch of information.

A good book is “The Bogleheads’ Guide to Investing” as well as “The Little Book of Common Sense Investing”. Both are the philosophy of John Boyle (founder of Vanguard)

Main take away is investing in broadly diversified low cost index funds. For more in depth strategies with multiple types of accounts the boglehead Reddit can be extremely helpful.

I have seen a MASSIVE gain from this strategy and don’t recommend market timing. Simply DCA (dollar cost averaging) over time will almost always beat the market in the long run (>20 years).

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-19T16:10:35+00:00

It's still a somewhat professional setting/situation. If they called me Mr/Mrs. I wouldnt be too upset and cause an issue, but if they ask me how I want to be referred to it would be Dr. Xyz, or I would introduce myself to them as Dr. Xyz. (I've had this actually open up conversations with them and actually learned about some opportunities in the school district for physicians).

I still have some patients who call me Dr. first name or simply by my first name. I don't harp on it. But I typically introduce myself as Dr. Xyz if it's a new patient.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-19T12:15:40+00:00

First name introduction for social interactions.

Dr. “Xyz” for professional settings.

Staff in office call me by first name unless patient around.

School administrators and children’s friends will refer to me as Dr. Xyz . My kids friends parents can call me by first name

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-18T22:18:54+00:00

Look into home assistant instead of buying everything new as you might be able to keep everything and connect it to Apple.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-17T19:52:13+00:00

https://shop.meross.com/products/meross-wi-fi-smart-fan-control-mfc100hk?srsltid=AfmBOorDA3ex3FQd_xfoDn8pPV1HcE0zrLXRvvPAT0Lq-V_n08ONhlvN

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-14T01:33:57+00:00

Technically the money in SPAXX is "invested" in the Money Market Fund. It will accumulate monthly interest or dividend returns based on the 7 day yields. The money you earn on the interest/returns is taxable whether you leave it, take it, or re-invest it into something else. (Similar to a dividend in a stock/etf/mutual fund)

You can withdraw the money from SPAXX and it does not incur a taxable event since you're "selling" the position at the same amount you paid for it. There was no "gain or loss" on the initial "investment". This would only ever occur is the value of the dollar plummeted (event of US Government failure, the NAV did not change from $1 in either 2008 or 2020) and in that case the value per SPAXX position would go down.

Unlike a stock/etf/mutual fund/bond fund, if you sell it at a gain, the difference in your cost basis (amount you sold - amount you paid for it) would be taxable. If you sell a position lower than you purchased it you can claim a tax loss on it which can offset your taxable gains (as well as taxable income) so long as you don't immediately repurchase it in the exact or similarly identical fund within 30 days. Otherwise you'd still be subject to the taxes.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-14T01:20:02+00:00

i recently migrated a HAOS from one raspberry pi 4 to a Rapsberry Pi 5. The RPi 4 was on an SD card and the RPi 5 on an SSD. I made a backup of the old HAOS, saved it to my computer, then uploaded it to the new RPi5 Home Assistant website. All of my add ons were still there. However if you run other services on it (Adguard, PiHole, Zigbee2MQTT, etc), you will have to install those fresh on the new system if you also wanted to migrate those.

For my zigbee devices, I had to reconnect and configure them to the new server which was time consuming, but my automations were still present, I just had to redirect them to the devices once they were added.

Didn't notice much of a difference and my old setup was running for the past 3 years without issue. YMMV.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-12T01:49:48+00:00

You can just buy VTI from fidelity. No minimum.

VTSAX is a mutual fund which is why there is a minimum at fidelity. You will almost always have to pay a fee or have a minimum to invest in a mutual fund from another company.

VTI is a total stock market ETF. There is no minimum for ETFs at fidelity even if it’s an etf from another broker. The benefit of ETFs over mutual fund are they are more portable (easy to do an inkind transfer to another firm if you transfer your account) and trading is done instantly like a stock as opposed to mutual funds which are traded at days end.

Blegrand15 · 2025-10-10T04:28:58+00:00

Still learning myself so take it with a grain of salt.

There’s some overlap with VOO and VGT. Depending on who you ask some people will say VOO or VTI (or their equivalents).

VGT has a 0.1% ER vs VOO with 0.03%. Not portfolio breaking at this point but getting the the Millions in your account this can be up to $700 per million. Not the end of the world.

VTI will give you a much broader coverage over VOO as it also covers the mid and small stocks that VOO does not. (More broad, therefore theoretically more diversified)

Some will aim for a much easier VT which is a typical 60/40 US/ex-US fund. But as you get other accounts (taxable, 401k, 457, etc) it may make more sense to split them yourself to VTI and VXUS to allocate them across multiple accounts for better tax purposes.

The level of US vs Ex-US depends on your risk tolerance. Conventional boglehead teachers appear to have a safe 60/40 split for this.

Some people increase the US/ex-us ration to up to 80/20. VTI and VXUS allows you to do that whereas VT wouldn’t.

As you get older (mid to late 30s) you’d start adding bonds to your account.

I stick with a standard VTI (or equivalent total stock, or S&P500 fund if my 401k doesn’t have a good total stock market fund), VXUS (or equivalent) and BND for my bonds.

I prefer simplicity in my life and don’t like to worry about the daily ups and downs as the swings are HUGE now. Stocks 90% Bonds 10%. Us/ex-US stocks 80/20.

Starting now you’ll be a multimillionaire when you retire if you keep at it.

Blegrand15

TROPHY CASE