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Don’t Make These Super Common 5 Expensive Mistakes During Medical School
Fools say that they learn by experience. I prefer to profit by others' experience." - Otto von Bismarck I'm sure there are things you regret: Bringing kids to the grocery store. Not double-checking to see if you tucked in your shirt into your skirt properly. Not...
3 Social Mistakes You’re Making That’s Repelling New Friends Away From You
As your DrSpouse goes through medical training, they have to match in different cities to do residency and fellowship for a few years. So you have to be prepared to be whisked off to a city that you don't know where the nearest grocery is. If you are going to thrive...
Could Filing Your Taxes Separately Save You On Student Loans?
Blogger Physician Zen came out with a very comprehensive post that said there are about 70 physician blogs at this time of writing. However, I'm not aware of a physician blog that focuses on the financial issues of a family with one physician still in training and one...
FAQ To Getting Disability Insurance For Your Dr Spouse
When I married my husband while he was in his first year of medical school, I had no idea that individual disability policies existed. All I knew was when I started my first W2 job out of college as an engineer, my employer offered me a group disability policy. And...
When You Are Jealous of Other Medical Families (And How You Should Deal)
Community is where someone says to you, "Me, too!!!" And that's why medical families are who we hang out with and are a huge part of your community. We implicitly understand what you are experiencing: the nervousness and complexities of the Match, moving around to a...
Does Life Really Get Instantly Better When Done With Medical Training?
Everybody knows that it takes a super long time to become a doctor. In fact, it's soooo long that there are official names to the years you spend in residency and fellowship such as PGY-N, where N = the number of years after medical school. For instance, PGY1 mean...
Why Life Insurance On Stay-At-Home Parents Is A Must Have
Most finance physician blogs say that a stay-at-home parent (SAHP) shouldn't carry life insurance and that an attending physician's high salary should be able to make up everything when you're gone. I disagree. And I'll tell you why: It's far, far, far more expensive...
You Know You Are Married To A Doctor When…
Just a tongue-in-check, light-hearted post. If you have experienced any of this, you are not alone! We ARE a community that gets one another! You Know You Are Married To A Doctor When... You plan to eat dinner alone every day. If they join, it's just a cherry...
How To Measure Wealth: An Analysis of Money, Freedom, and Health
Society places an enormous focus on wealth as measured by how much money you make. That's why some of us in medical training automatically believe that once training is over, we'll be rich. That explains why some feel that training is the "final hurdle" and that once...
Does Medical Training Get Easier As Each Year Goes By?
A few weeks ago, my husband completed his first year as a GI fellow. "How did it go?" you ask us? My husband would say he didn't learn ANYTHING this entire year! Turns out, this is a very common response for any resident or fellow who just finished their year. He's at...
Should You Have Kids During Medical Training Or Wait Until Attendinghood? Pros Vs. Cons
Your friends who are not married to a doctor got married, bought nice homes, and had kids pretty much afterwards. Instead, medical couples decided that we like forever renting, that our late 20s/early 30s should be about "80" hour work weeks, and that our late...
Money Dates: A Great Way To Review Finances As A Couple
When my husband and I first married, I knew his ring size but not his credit score. That's how far away money was on my mind. Sure, I always believed money was serious and important, especially the day to day cash flow. I knew how to not spend more than we earned and...
To Doctor Dads Who Share The Load, Thank You
I want to take the time to talk about the DR DADS in our families. I know some of you don’t have kids. Or you're not a mom & dad household. I also realize some of you may be married to a Dr Mom. You are all important to me and I blow kisses to all of you! But for...
How To Do Date Night When You Are In A Medical Marriage
"How on earth is it possible to have date night when in medical school, residency, or fellowship?" everyone asks. There are some legitimate obstacles: How do you sync up our schedules when your DrSpouse has to wear a pager?! How do you find a reliable babysitter...
10 Ways To Have Less Stress and Busyness and More Freedom And Joy As A Family
Recently, my oldest asked me to play magnatiles with him. "Mommy, can you please play with me?" he asked. "Maybe later, I have to finish something," I said. He would ask me every day for three days. Finally, he said, "Mommy, you don't play with me." He wasn't...
Do “We” Go To Medical School? Do “We” Match? Do “We” Go To Residency? – A Look At Teamwork In A Medical Relationship
After my husband opened up the letter on Match Day to find the results of his Match and where we were going to live for the next three years, I proudly posted on my Facebook wall, “We matched!” A commenter asked, "Are you a dual-physician couple?“ I wrote back, No,...
Creating A Strong Family Culture: Make A Family Mission Statement
In our society, we emphasize defining your purpose as an individual. We do sports and extracurriculars to try to find our gifts and talents. In college, we explore electives. We “eat pray love” our way to finding meaning. Then you and your DrSpouse got married, and...
Medical Families Fighting The Virus On Two Fronts: Hospital & Home (And To Get Through COVID)
“How are you holding up?” people ask me. We’re about two months into corona. And I still don’t know how to answer it. But we’ve had time to adjust to it. However, I still have some sort of phantom feeling that there’s somewhere I need to be. But when I open up my...
7 Tips (I’ve Been Using For Years) To Work Remotely From Home With Kids
While in full-blown corona right now, are you a full-time worker, full-time parent, full-time teacher at the same time? Are you feeling like you're failing at all of these? I feel you. This has been me and it has been so C R A Z Y lately. I've been working 100%...
Spreading Compassion During Uncertainty: 5 Ways To Help During COVID-19
It's been C R A Z Y lately, hasn't it? With the coronavirus outbreak, all of us have had to quickly make adjustments to help prevent the spread, from schools closing, workers going remote, and restaurants & bars shutting their doors. I believe these are...
30 Things That Are Sure To Make Your Medical Marriage Stronger
Let me tell you our story. I'm Theresa, I am an engineer-turned recruiter, and my husband is a GI fellow. My hobbies are writing, real estate, and personal finances. We have three small kids in a cute, small house. But that's not where our story begins. Our first date...
3 Biggest Challenges Of Medical Marriages During Residency (And How To Overcome Them)
You said "I do" to the person of your dreams, and that person happens to wear a white coat. Lots of joy and happiness follow when you get married, but you know like all marriages, it's not going to be all rainbows and unicorns 😀 The truth bomb is that there will be...
How To Hire The Best Financial Advisor Whom You Can Trust
Walk into any local bank or brokerage and you see people working there with these titles: Wealth manager. Stock trader. Financial planner. Broker-dealer representative. It looks like they all had a lot of financial education. And they all sound alike. But you suspect...
8 Ways To Make Medical Training Years Less Stressful
In medicine, we have a super nerdy saying: "Like an EKG, if life didn't have its ups and downs you would be dead." It's true, though. There are days that are better than others. Some days are downright awful. For those in residency and fellowship, the hard days...
How To Save For Retirement When One Of You Isn’t Working — The Spousal IRA
Take these two medical spouse's situations. Medical Spouse A: Their DrSpouse is in medical school. They are working to put them through medical school. Medical Spouse B: They stay home to care for the family. Their DrSpouse is working. Are any of these you? If so, it...
I Just Had A Baby — Should I Stay Home Or Go Back To Work?
We bought home Child #1 during fourth year of medical school. But nobody told me how much my life would change... His birth signified the last time I would ever truly put myself first. When he took his first breath, he took mine away. As he grew, it was like I had a...
3 Toxic Habits To Stop When Arguing With Your Dr Spouse
Like all couples in the history of humankind, you have had your fair share of fights in your marriage. It doesn't mean you are not a SUCCESSFUL couple, though. In fact, you WANT to have some disagreements because it means you are working and building together. Not...
Are You Making Any Of These Common Student Loan Mistakes That’s Costing You Tens Of Thousands?
Student loans are the bane of the existence for every single medical family I know of. As a medical spouse, you're likely in charge of managing these loans for your DrSpouse. Or at least, you're helping your DrSpouse manage it correctly. At best, it's just one more...
Why Your Dr Spouse’s CV Sucks — According To A Recruiter
It is time to apply to programs or jobs? You need to know these tips to make your CV impeccable.
3 Options In Case Your Dr Spouse Does Not Match Into A Fellowship
SOOO...I hear you're trying to match into fellowship...are you nuts??? Wasn't residency torture enough?? Just kidding! We were the same! 😝 After residency, my husband applied for GI fellowship. Sadly, we didn't have a straight-forward experience getting into one....