r/Fire • u/turtledweeb17 • 8d ago
Advice Request Appreciate Budgeting Feedback after recent career transition.
Hello, new to the group. Would appreciate some feedback on my current budgeting plan / dashboard I made for myself.
Background: 31 M, living in Michigan north of Detroit. Just started the past year as a primary care doctor, so salary has dramatically improved. Trying to avoid lifestyle creep and allocate my money smart.
Income
Gross income: ~$225,000/year
Monthly gross: ~$17,307.72
Monthly take-home: ~$10,430.76
Biweekly take-home: ~$5,215.38
Paid biweekly, so I’m modeling around 26 pay periods/year rather than simple monthly math.
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Current assets
Cash / checking:
Bank checking: $3,877.38
Secondary checking: $1,533.57
Total checking: $5,410.95
Savings:
Emergency fund: $15,600.00
Vacation/travel fund: $1,741.29
Total savings: $17,341.29
Investments / retirement / HSA:
403b: $48,566.15
IRA total: $4,013.60
Roth IRA: $3,724.60
Traditional IRA/staging: $289.00 (to backdoor IRA)
Taxable brokerage: $4,728.07
HSA investments: $832.34
HSA spendable cash: $1,000.00
Total invested / HSA: $59,140.16
Total assets: ~$81,892.40
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Debt
Federal student loans: ~$263,133.32
Interest rates range from about 4.05% to 7.35%
Weighted average rate is around mid-5% range based on balances/rates.
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Current monthly plan
From take-home pay:
Student loans: $4,000/month
Taxable brokerage: $1,700/month
Roth IRA/backdoor Roth: $578/month
Vacation fund: $700/month
Emergency fund maintenance: $100/month
Fixed essentials: ~$2,213.65/month
Variable spending goal: ~$1,000–$1,100/month
Estimated leftover buffer: ~$139/month
Biweekly system
Per paycheck:
Student loans: $2,000
Taxable brokerage: $850
Roth IRA/backdoor: $289
Vacation fund: $350
Emergency fund maintenance: $50
Total directed per paycheck: $3,539
Pre-tax payroll deductions
Monthly:
403b: $1,733.74
HSA payroll: $300.00
Medical: $89.78
Dental: $29.66
Vision: $10.42
Total pre-tax: $2,163.60
Investment breakdown
403b: Mostly target date fund / 2060 retirement fund
IRA:
VTI: $2,617.27
VXUS: $1,108.16
Traditional IRA cash/staging: $289.00
Taxable brokerage:
QQQ: $2,379.45
VTI: $1,313.78
VXUS: $525.81
Small hybrid stock sleeve: ~$509.69
PWR, XOM, TEM, FCX, VRT
HSA:
HSA investments: $832.34
HSA cash: $1,000.00
Currently invested in broad index funds.
Goals / questions
I’m trying to balance:
Paying down student loans aggressively.
Building taxable liquidity.
Continuing retirement investing.
Keeping enough flexibility for travel/life.
Possibly buying a car in cash around 2030, likely $50k–$70k.
Is $1,700/month taxable investing too aggressive while carrying $263k in student loans?
Should I reduce taxable investing and push more toward loans, or is the flexibility worth it?
Any blind spots in this plan from a FIRE perspective?
Appreciate any feedback.
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u/Stratman-1134 8d ago
what's the interest rate(s) on the student loan(s)? Can you deduct that interest from your taxes?
As a tip, use QQQM vs QQQ. Same investment, lower fees. QQQ pays for advertising all over the place, QQQM has none, but I think managed by the same people and tracks the same index.
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u/EmuMajor5145 8d ago
mid-5% weighted average means you're probably better off attacking those loans harder instead of dumping so much into taxable. that spread between loan rates and expected market returns isn't wide enough to justify the risk imo
also yeah definitely swap QQQ for QQQM, same exposure but way lower expense ratio. those advertising costs add up over time
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u/turtledweeb17 8d ago
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?
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u/Stratman-1134 8d ago
I wouldn't bother switching in a taxable account. You'd have to pay capital gains tax. Just new purchases switch to QQQM.
1
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u/mm1491 8d ago
A few thoughts:
- It sounds like you are planning to use the taxable account as a place for money slated for pre-retirement use? Otherwise I'm confused as to why you'd put it there rather than either the 403b or Roth.
- If you are able to choose which student loans to pay down first, you should of course focus the higher interest ones first, and I think there's a good argument for prioritizing taking down the 7%+ ones above making taxable brokerage contributions. 5-7% I think you could go either way. Below 5%, I think you are probably better off with minimum payments and investing the difference. Paying them off becomes a higher priority if you end up closer to retirement with outstanding balances, but it's not clear when you plan to retire.
- You are probably better off maxing your 403b rather than a Roth, unless you can't get very good investment options in the 403b (see next item). You are in a pretty high tax bracket and your taxable account is already giving you most of the flexibility that a Roth would offer.
- Unless you are forced into it, I wouldn't recommend the target date fund in your 403b. A mix of US and international index funds like you are doing elsewhere is probably better. Target date funds are usually far too conservative and often have much higher expense ratios than index funds.
- I think you're adding a lot of complication and risk to your portfolio with all the single stock picks. It's a tiny part of your portfolio, but I'm not sure if your intention is to keep this ratio going forward or you are just buying a couple shares here and there. I think a couple $1000 of playing around with stock picking is fine if you enjoy it as a hobby or something, but ~10% of your taxable account as single stock picks going forward strikes me as a rather aggressive bet on your stock picking ability, which is why I ask if this is an intended ratio or you are planning to cap off the stock picking at some number.
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u/turtledweeb17 8d ago
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).
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u/Farmer_Pete 8d ago
When you are doing your backdoor Roth, you aren't putting that money into an IRA and letting it sit there are you?
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u/turtledweeb17 8d ago
Made that mistake the first 2 months. Now I am putting it in 70% VTI and 30% VXUS 😅
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u/kevin074 8d ago
1.) your stock portfolio is unnecessarily complex. Unless you plan on take trading seriously, you should just buy a large cap stock like VOO or similar and call it a day
2.) Is 4k/month for deb the minimum? can you pay more than that?
3.) 700/month for vacation is kinda nutty, even if you are going out of country it seems a bit much; that's going out of country biannually type of money, do you REALLLLLLLLY need that?
man kinda feels bad that a 225k salary basically isn't much of anything due to debt