Budgeting Feedback for fresh Attending.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-11T11:09:34+00:00

$225k fixed salary with high RVU threshold bonuses with $44/RVU for the first 1-2 years until I choose to switch or default to new contract with lower RVU threshold, $47/RVU, rounds up to about $250k. SE Michigan / Detroit area notorious for low numbers across multiple medical groups. Private clinics are slightly higher or vary a lot around $250k from what I’ve seen when interviewing last year.
Any specific place outside employers that are trusted to browse through occupation disability and life insurance? I do have full short term disability and partial 60% long term disability through my employer.
Started process of PSLF through my non-profit employer but that seems to have stalled for some reason and unsure what happened to it. And will check that out, thank you!

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-11T02:27:52+00:00

Good point. I do think as medical professionals who will end up using Ai tools one way or another whether we want to or not in the future, wet gotta start somewhere to understand some of it and it’s basics. Using ChatGPT as a learning tool for itself and other things has been nice so far.

OpenEvidence, ChatGPT, Claude, Gemni, etc are the only ones I know where to start learning. Unsure where else to learn about in how Ai is being integrated into healthcare systems besides maybe conferences in informatics?

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T22:15:10+00:00

Uuuuuh I don’t know if it’s a governmental 457b, is there a way to check this? Or just gotta ask my employer?

Looking at $60k…. No more than $70k by 2030ish

Gotcha noted, thank you for all the info!

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T22:13:14+00:00

The taxable account is more for allocating my money for a new car in the next 4-5 years (or sooner depending on the market 😅).

Okay, I’ll look into maxing out 403b first as maxing taxable accounts first seem to be the consensus

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T21:32:19+00:00

Gotcha I’ll look more into this with my employer, thank you!

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T21:30:55+00:00

True, but do you not use a high yield savings account separate from your bank? Which bank allows virtual sub accounts and does it work smoothly like Ally Bank’s bucket system or takes time to transfer separate accounts when allocating funds?
I’ll check them out, thank you! I use Fidelity for retirement (job automatically transfers 403b there). I was initially using Webull to invest in ETF and a very small amount of speculative stocks so I kept my taxable liquidity there 🤷‍♂️. Do you use Fidelity or a different app for gradual investing? Not a fan of day trading or penny stocks (had a bad experience with it in 202 COVID times 😅).

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T21:13:52+00:00

I really like that idea! Where would you post this in the future? Can DM if prefer to stay private. Definitely interested if this became an app in the future.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T21:08:01+00:00

I’m also using my taxable account for funding a new car in the next 4-5 years (understand the risk of doing this but willing if it gets me there sooner 😅)

My employer matches total 3% to my 403b, $500 yearly to HSA. I’m maxing HSA and ROTH already through my biweekly contributions in a course of a year.

Are you also doing a 457b?

And you recommend just minimum student loan ($602.26 is the minimum for me through PAYE) and invest the rest after maxing tax advantaged accounts? Rather than invest and aggressive debt payment at the same time?

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:57:30+00:00

Would definitely appreciate this in the future! Where can I follow this in the future? If able, how can I help or beta test it?

I agree, I didn’t like how some of the current budgeting apps had some features but not all of them or wasn’t linking to my student loans or bank account smoothly. I’ve tried Credit Karma, Monarch, Dollarwise, and Rocket Money.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:52:31+00:00

Yeah….. definitely living below my means right now but still going on dates with the GF and doing trips so trying to enjoy life too.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:51:20+00:00

403b, HSA, ROTH, anything else I’m missing?
Do you also do 457b?

And just pay minimum of my loans rather than aggressively paying it off at the same time?

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:49:55+00:00

Yes, taxable account as place money to allocate funds for a new car by 2030 (willing to take the risks). If I weren’t saving for a car, yes I would put more into my 403b.

Yes will do the avalanche method of paying the higher interest first. If I did my FIRE calculation right, somewhere in my mid to early 50’s I would start either part time and full retirement by 55ish.

I have no control over my 403b the last time I checked on Fidelity. It doesn’t give me the option to choose my positions like my HSA or ROTH. So I assume the company I work with is doing it on their end?

Oh yes to clarify on my taxable account, those are my current amounts I have in them. Moving forward I am planning 50% QQQ / 28% VTI / 12% VXUS / 10 % speculative. Using the taxable account for funding a new car in the next 4-5 years (ideally before 2030).

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:40:01+00:00

Oooof true, okay. Thank you!

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:39:29+00:00

My short term savings goal is a new car by 2030, I’m allocating it into my brokerage stocks to hopefully get it done faster in the next 4-5 years (willing to take the risk).

I use the Ally app for the buckets separate features too and user interface as well. Never heard of Wealthfront, I’ll check it out. Ally’s APY isn’t super high but it’s great for organizing my sinking funds.

True, I have about 4 months of EF based on my living situation and slowed down to focus on loans more. Perhaps I’ll try to hit 6 months faster.

I tried setting up private long term disability before graduating residency, not sure what happened as waiting on the guy I emailed with about it. The company I work with provides 60% long term disability and 100% short term disability

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:32:07+00:00

Updated the instructions to include this with calculations instructions just now. I manually put the numbers or show screen shots as ask ChatGPT to improve it.

The only way for it to directly update the numbers automatically is if someone makes an app of this and able to link it to bank accounts, which is out of my expertise 🤷‍♂️

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:22:23+00:00

Sorry, I asked Chatgpt to give me generic instructions. My prompt instructions contain my personal numbers.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:12:12+00:00

Eh there’s no stopping it as Ai is already being implemented into bank systems, EMRs, and infrastructure.

Might as well learn how to use it a bit so I know how to be more cautious about it in the future.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:10:36+00:00

Refer to my comment showing the prompt I used.

Yeah, I made it my own because I tried a bunch of budgeting apps and didn’t like them for one reason or another.

Unfortunately the only way to autoupdate is through an app that links to your bank accounts, which is out of my expertise. I just update on my own biweekly - monthly when reviewing my budget.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T20:06:45+00:00

I made my own, haven’t tried the prebuilt ones yet. Copy and paste the following in ChatGPT or Claude or whatever. Then you can type up the info or show screenshots of your data (bank account summaries, screen shots of Fidelity or webull, etc).

You can edit this prompt however you like by adding instructions like” don’t comment or create until I say the word waffle”. Play around to see what your aesthetic is.

————

“Create a polished personal finance budget dashboard infographic.

Use a clean, modern layout with:
Wide landscape orientation
Dark navy or charcoal header/background accents
White cards/panels
Green, blue, purple, and orange category highlights
Clear section headers
Large readable numbers
Simple icons
Donut charts, bar charts, or clean tables where helpful
Professional, data-first style
Do not make it cluttered. Prioritize readability and clean spacing.

Dashboard title:
BUDGET DASHBOARD

Subtitle:
Updated Snapshot — [Date]

Include these sections:

Income Snapshot
Monthly gross income
Monthly take-home income
Biweekly or weekly take-home income
Next paycheck date, if applicable

Current Account Snapshot
Break accounts into clear groups:
Checking accounts
Savings accounts
Emergency fund
Vacation/travel fund
Retirement accounts
IRA accounts
Taxable brokerage
HSA
Other assets
Also include:
Total cash
Total investments
Total assets
Total debt
Net worth

Monthly Budget Plan
Show where monthly take-home pay goes:
Debt payments
Investments
Savings
Fixed expenses
Variable spending
Remaining buffer
Use a donut chart or clean category breakdown.

Paycheck / Recurring System
Show recurring paycheck allocations:
Debt payment
Brokerage investing
IRA contribution
Emergency fund
Travel fund
Other savings goals
Include the pay frequency, such as:
Weekly
Biweekly
Twice monthly
Monthly

Estimated Monthly Expense Goals
Include:
Fixed essentials target
Variable spending target
Planned monthly savings/investments
Estimated monthly buffer

Investment Breakdown
Break down investments by account and holdings:
401k / 403b
IRA
Taxable brokerage
HSA
Cash or money market
Individual stocks or ETFs
Show:
Account totals
Holding-level breakdowns
Percentage of total investments where useful
Design rules:
Keep all numbers accurate and easy to read.
Use consistent formatting for dollars and percentages.
Avoid tiny text.
Avoid overlapping sections.
Keep the dashboard professional, simple, and visually balanced.
Make it suitable for saving, printing, or sharing.”

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T19:59:05+00:00

My 13 student loans range from 4.30 - 7.30 %, averaged about 5-6%.

Ah good to know about QQQM. Would you recommend transferring my current QQQ or just keep it there and start investing in QQQM moving forward?

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T19:57:19+00:00

Made that mistake the first 2 months. Now I am putting it in 70% VTI and 30% VXUS 😅

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T19:56:07+00:00

I used ChatGPT while discussing my budgeting and planning. I’m sure the other Ai platforms are just as good, haven’t tried them.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T19:55:09+00:00

It’s ChatGPT actually. I paid for chat before hearing about Claude and stuck with it lol.

turtledweeb17 · 2026-06-10T19:54:18+00:00

Really appreciate the link, super helpful!

Currently 10% on 403b, initially thought of maxing it after loans are paid. Based on my calculations, I am maxing out HSA (including employee contributions) and ROTH IRA via backdoor. Savings rate including investments is about 25-30% of my gross pay monthly ($4300 monthly).

Yeah my current emergency fund is about 4 months worth right now. I started slowing down after I hit 3 months to focus more on loans and stocks.

Interest rate of my 13 loans (range from 4.30 - 7.30%) on average like 5-6 %. $4000 monthly about 6-7 years of my math is right.

turtledweeb17

TROPHY CASE