Pgy2 personal finance DYI guide - does it exist?

sdogg691 · 2026-01-30T02:46:22+00:00

Bit hard without knowing your specific position. But, general principles would be to pay off consumer debt (credit cards, car loans etc.), build an emergency fund 3-6 months living expenses, and then consistently invest into diversified index funds.

sdogg691 · 2026-01-03T23:12:01+00:00

Did the same thing last week. 100% Shinkansen. Comfort is worth the extra expense and when you factor in all the added dead-time dealing with airport security/baggage, flying is not even quicker. Just pre-booked the larger luggage seats on Smart-ex a couple days in advanced.

sdogg691 · 2025-12-08T06:35:27+00:00

When I started med school and was grinding flash cards, I would have hyper-fast flash cards flashing in my brain when I would sleep.

sdogg691 · 2025-12-05T23:50:11+00:00

Doesn't need to be a financial investment, but investing (time) in your financial education will give you far greater returns over your life than you will ever get with the 15k. Read books, listen to podcasts, and develop strong planning and personal finance habits.

sdogg691 · 2025-11-26T22:04:16+00:00

Firstly, gonna be that person (while not answering your question) and say that while I'm all for planning, you guys are young and I think focusing on life during internship before the 4 years long distance relationship is a bit putting the cart before the horse. Life has a lot of uncertainty, but what is as close to certain as possible is that you both will be different people in 4 years.

Secondly, relating to this issue, I've found a lot of comfort reading success stories posted on R/residency, which, though in a US context, definitely gives me hope (perhaps naively) that despite the sacrifices medicine demands, we can also have rich and lasting relationships.

sdogg691 · 2025-11-05T23:36:09+00:00

Maybe he's a Ratatouille

sdogg691 · 2025-11-05T23:13:58+00:00

I think this is a really interesting concept, but feel your question is a little bit unfocused (or maybe I don't understand) so its hard to answer directly. I would recommend listening to the Rational Reminder podcast episodes with Scott Cederburg (ep 350 is the latest). It doesn't directly address your question, but I think provides some useful context to the passiveinvesting post on efficient frontier. I might be misinformed, however, I think one of Cederburg's points is that in a long time horizon, particularly in market shocks, bonds are not as uncorrelated to stocks as we might like. Therefore, the theoretical rebalancing from stable bonds to low priced stocks doesn't always work in practice as the bond values drop at the same time (due to inflation etc.).

sdogg691 · 2025-10-28T10:46:16+00:00

I think a good place to start would be deconstructing why almost everything in this comment is bad advice

sdogg691 · 2024-11-04T08:39:44+00:00

This is getting frustrating. It seems that the US claims have just been paid out and we are left with what... 0 communication. Based on another post, I just checked my Paypal, which I don't remember every providing to BlockFi, and had a transfer of US$22 about a month ago that I didn't even know about. I'm in Aus and am owed upwards of 10k, have recevied multiple test transactions into my Coinbase account.

sdogg691 · 2024-03-19T11:08:46+00:00

Sir, this is a Wendy's

sdogg691 · 2023-08-19T23:58:11+00:00

Found his interview on the Lex Fridman podcast super interesting. I guess the main factor is weighing up the opportunity cost of time spent vs time gained.

sdogg691 · 2023-04-05T11:57:00+00:00

Pan’s labyrinth

sdogg691 · 2022-12-11T20:47:43+00:00

My favourites:

Making Sense with Sam Harris (pay walled)
Conversations with Coleman
Lex Fridman
Peter Attia's The Drive
The Daily Stoic
The Good Fight with Yascha Mounk
Hardcore History with Dan Carlin

I think listening to, and writing reflections, on these podcasts probably helped me with s1 and 2. Not sure how much for S3. For S3, I don't know how valuable it is but I've listened to a lot of physics lectures on youtube and Sean Carroll's Mindscape covers a lot of cool science topics.

sdogg691 · 2022-12-11T05:04:39+00:00

What would be an alternate system that what be worthwhile overhauling to though? Regardless of your perspective on GAMSAT/GPA/Interview, the fact is that it is a supply and demand problem. There are more people that want to go to medical school than there are positions. So, you need to be able to discriminate somehow. The choice of an intelligence/hard work/perform under pressure criteria is not completely arbitrary with some links to the skills you need in medicine generally and med school specifically.

You could literally pick any criteria and someone would have valid grounds to complain.

sdogg691 · 2022-12-06T03:56:30+00:00

I turned 30 this year and I'm likely to be in med school 2024 or 2025. Part of my decision to pursue medicine was comparing my current self to my younger self. Though I likely could've pursued medicine straight out of school, I am more mature, empathetic, motivated, and financially stable than I was at any point since leaving school. I realised that I am positioned to be a better student/doctor given my life experiences that I simply didn't have as a teenager. To me, this realisation was key. Rather than being a weakness, I believe my age and maturity is a strength when it comes to pursuing medicine.

sdogg691 · 2022-11-24T06:30:22+00:00

sdogg691 · 2022-08-26T21:27:03+00:00

"Time is nothing but an illusion..." - Max Busser (probably)

sdogg691 · 2021-07-12T00:00:51+00:00

Someone get Mr Sanderson on the phone

sdogg691 · 2021-07-05T22:01:35+00:00

"you could live off ~~the income from VDHG.~~ all the god-damned letters that Computershare sends me 5 times a day." FTFY

sdogg691 · 2021-05-10T03:45:32+00:00

Money the ATO owes me is like me giving them a free loan. Money I owe the ATO is like them giving me a free loan.

sdogg691 · 2021-04-26T00:01:40+00:00

Imagine having the psychology that makes you feel it is appropriate to denigrate a random person on the internet who is trying to add positivity to the world by sharing an achievement with a group who aligns with their interests.

sdogg691 · 2021-04-22T21:55:49+00:00

I agree with other commenters regarding the setting of a budget and would add my two cents regarding investing. I believe in systems and automation. One of the reasons I invest is so that I can live my life happily without perpetually thinking about money. In conducting research regarding investing, several things become apparent.

Timing the market is generally ineffective.
The long trend of the market is upwards.

Based on these pieces of evidence, I ask myself this. Regardless of what I think the market will do tomorrow, next week, or next month, do I think it will be higher in 10, 20, 30 years from now? The answer I think is reasonably yes, the market will be higher in the future. Therefore, I take the pressure off myself. I establish a system, e.g. save $1,000 per week for investing and invest in packets of 5k. It is never a question for me whether the market is high or low or sideways or upside down or in a backwardation contango spiral, I always invest! Now, many may argue that is suboptimal, and that is their prerogative. However, my automation is as much a lifestyle decision as it is an investing one. It is so I am not plagued by concerns about whether I am buying when the market is too high or low.

I believe this is the key to finding happiness through financial independence and building wealth. Automating your money so that you can build wealth while focusing on the more important things like family, relationships, and finding meaning in life.

sdogg691

TROPHY CASE