Pearls of Personal Finance (for Veterinary Students)

 
“Don’t be follower; be a student. Make sure your actions are the product of your own conclusions.” - Jim Rohn

I've struggled mightily with my own personal finance.  I've made many mistakes...some I've discovered, and some I will probably find out later in life.  So I wanted to try to help those starting on their journeys through sharing what I've learned and the mistakes I've made.   This blog is my own personal opinion;  I want readers to do their own research, and make their own decisions! 

Habits and Values

 “Most people have it all wrong about wealth in America.  Wealth is not the same as income.  If you make a good income each year and spend it all, you are not getting wealthier.  You are just living high.  Wealth is what you accumulate, not what you spend…It is seldom luck or inheritance or advanced degrees or even intelligence that enables people to amass fortunes.  Wealth is more often a result of a lifestyle of hard work, perseverance, planning and most of all, self-discipline.”  – Thomas J. Stanley, The Millionaire Next Door.

Building wealth and getting out of debt is more about your habits than your income.   Develop good habits of saving and living within your means.  Of course where you spend your money and what order to place your financial goals depends on what you value.  How does debt make you feel?  Can you live with debt or does it cause you great anxiety?  How important is owning vs. renting?  Can you be content with less than the Jones?   Should you investing in USA funds or global funds?  What about tithing and giving?  You should probably spend some time thinking about what is truly important to you because your values should be reflected in your financial plan.

A Basic Plan

I’ve been reading as fast as I can (with a book in one hand and toddler in the other) to learn about personal finances.    It started with taking Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace through a local church, but I started to question some of his teachings.   So I read blogs and websites (Money Girl: Quick and Dirty Tips, You Need a Budget Podcast, Dave Ramsey, The Vin Foundation Student Debt Center).  Then moved on to books: The Millionaire Next Door, The White Coat Investor, and more soon).  Most financial gurus have quite a bit of similarity in their plans.  All of them involve good spending habits, consistent saving/investing, and having a plan for debt.   Here’s a basic plan adapted from Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace and The White Coat Investor with a touch my own opinion.  This is not meant to be a be-all-end-all guide to your financial future, but a springboard to dive in.  Y’all are some of the smartest people I know, you can do this! 

The Plan Components

1. Save for an emergency.
2. Formulate a debt strategy
3. Protect your Assets
4. Save for retirement
5. Save for children’s college
6. Pay off your home
7. Give and live life!

The order you accomplish those items will depend on your values and goals, but I recommend doing the first 3 STAT.

Over the next few weeks, I plan on going through some of the basics I've learned on each component.  May it help someone out there! 

1. Emergency Fund

If you take Dave Ramsey’s Financial Peace University or read his Total Money Makeover,  his “Baby Step 1” is to rapidly save $1000 for a rainy day.  Sell some furniture. Sell so much, the kids worry they are next.   If you don’t have this much in the bank, do this NOW.   Commit to not spending more than you make.  If that means cutting up the credit cards, cut them up!  The last thing veterinarians need is consumer debt on top of student debt.   Although Dave Ramsey recommends saving $1000, paying down debt, then saving 3-6 months for a real emergency fund, I was far from comfortable only having $1000 in the bank for the time it takes me to pay down (or serve my time on IBR) my 6 digits of student loans.  For that reason, I’m not committing to his order. For my own stress level, I want an emergency fund fully funded first!

Where to put it?

–       Consider your habits and your feelings toward debt/risk.

–       Money Market/High Yield Savings– less volatile than mutual funds, but earns less.  Readily available through banks.  This is where Dave Ramsey recommends putting it.  This was too close for me.  It only took 1 tiny little transfer to get to it…

–       Mutual Funds – May not instantly be available, but might earn more…or it might lose all value!  If you need money instantly, do you have enough credit to cover it?  How do you feel about credit?  This is risky but has more potential for it to grow.

–       Roth IRA – Your contributions can be withdrawn without penalty.  Risk level depends on how it’s invested.   More on Roth IRAs later…

But Wait… How does one save money?

 “Some may say it is easy to save when you have a high income, but the savings and donations percentages I listed essentially remained the same regardless of whether we were making 45,000/yr as a resident or the much higher income that we now earn.  If you are not disciplined to save on a $45,000 income, it won’t be any easier on a six-figure income.” – The White Coat Investor

If you are living paycheck to paycheck, in order to start saving something must change.  If you keep doing the same thing and expect a different outcome, that’s insanity.  You really only have 2 options:

• Make more
•  Spend less

If your life is anything like mine, the thought of one more job exhausts me.   How could I possibly pick up another side-hustle? Another part-time job? I still have kids to raise.  However, I can always spend less.  The key is a BUDGET.  You need a budget.  Even if you make more, without a budget you will find that your expenses rise to consume that money.  You have to work for your money, so put your money to work too!

“A budget is telling your money where to go instead of wondering where it went.”  - Dave Ramsey

I'll blog about budgeting and post it in the next week or so.

Peace and Love, y'all!

The aftermath, a constipated chinchilla, first football games.

The Aftermath....

Last week was the first week after the boys went home.  Monday was the hardest night for me emotionally.   Since Chase is working on his dissertation, we decided not to take any more placements until he graduates.

 So what happens now?  Well life resumes as usual. Of course as a veterinarian, I can't just have normal, healthy pets at home so I'm never bored.  For whatever reason, Chimichanga got sick and stopped eating.   My best guess is that he injured his back paw, stopped eating because it hurt, and then got constipated because he stopped eating.  Poor little fellow...he was promptly started on antibiotics, pain medication, and syringe feeding.   


Poor little, constipated chinchilla....

He was a bossy little patient, but I think he actually liked the syringe feeding.  When he finished swallowing a bolus, he would bite the syringe for more.    Syringe feeding was followed by a gentle belly massage...and half a dozen little poops.   Hooray for constipated chinchilla poop!

Stevie the blind kitten...

If you read last Monday's post all the way to the bottom, you know I took home a blind kitten.  Here's a picture of little miss Stevie!  I've decided her 2 major defects are eyelid coloboma and possibly microphthalmia.   I think she may have a tiny amount of vision in her left eye. 



Luke and Lando's first football games...

Much to our delight and surprise, Chase and I got invited to go cheer on the boys during their first football games.  They didn't get hurt and had fun - so I'd consider their first games a success.    We hope to go cheer them on at some more games!  We consider ourselves very blessed that their family still wants us to be a part of their lives as family friends.

While we were at the games, I had fun watching a little girl play and dance with her umbrella.  She warranted a picture...and maybe I'll paint it later :)


What else did I do since we didn't have the kids last week?  I restored the bedrooms to guest bedroom status and cleaned the house.    I signed up for a Children's Book Illustration Class at the local community center...and a Facebook networking class for work.  I bought 2 books: Orphan Justice and Blog Inc.   Hopefully I can read those and blog about them soon! 



To all that support and encourage us as we stumble along trying to make a difference in this life....thank you.  You are very dear to me.


Peace and love, y'all!

Hugging my Dogs and Chin-drama

Today was one of those days.   I came home, and loved on my own dogs...and told them never to get old.  It would be nice to have super human veterinary powers -  to talk to animals, assuage their fears, ease their suffering...

In other news, Ruby and I are still training for a 5K.  We're up to 8 minute intervals.   She's a pudgy little thing, but I'm determined to get the extra weight off of her!  She's on a low cal, high fiber diet and we're working to increase her exercise.  I've lost 20 pounds in the last year without really trying...it just doesn't seem fair that poor Ruby has to work so hard to loose weight!  Little fatty...

In the chinchilla realm of my household, drama has been the theme.  We let the three boys run together for a little bit while we're still awake.  There was the standard barking, humping, and peeing on each other.  Then...Bert bit Gus in the face. They are separated again...hopefully no one will put them back together for a while to let things settle down.  Poor Gus-gus...he's really stressed now and he won't come out of his hidey-box.  I hope he'll be ok and didn't get too stressed...but I'm pretty worried about him.  His wounds will be fine, but he just got so stressed!  We'll keep a close eye on him - make sure he's eating, pooping, and behaving normally.  :(  If Gus-gus declines, you can bet I'll do everything I can for him.   I'll admit, seeing any of my fur-babies hurt brings tears to my eyes.

A Vet's Own Dog

Ruby looses a tooth...
I don't tend to blog much about my work, because I try to keep my personal life separate from my professional life as much as possible.  BUT sometimes the two collide.  A couple of weeks ago, my Ruby-dog suddenly started shying away when I touched one side of her face.  Upon further examination, I realized she had a very subtle swelling underneath her left eye.   Her energy level-normal, appetite-normal, behavior-basically normal.    She's a good little dog and she let me do a full exam of her mouth and teeth...not bad - just a little calculus and mild gingivitis, no fractured teeth that I could see.  However, the most likely cause of the swelling observed in my own little Ruby-dog is a tooth root abscess.  So I decided to anesthetize her, clean her teeth with our ultrasonic scaler, and shoot some intraoral films...and remove an teeth with abscessed roots.  I dreaded it, but I had a strong inclination that it was the big, bad carnassial on her left side.  This bad boy is the biggest tooth in the dog mouth and has 3 roots.  So removing it involves using a scapel to cut a mucosal flap, drilling away the alveolar bone covering the roots, sectioning the tooth into 3 pieces corresponding to each of the 3 roots, elevating each root, smoothing out any sharp bony points that might poke on her gums, and then suturing down the flap covering that big ole hole.  Basically...it's outright oral surgery.  So I take her to work with me one Saturday so I can get her done after I finish seeing appointments.

 She had the first allergic reaction I've ever seen to our anesthetic protocol.   My boss in all her years of using this protocol has never had a dog break out in immediate hives either.   Therefore Ruby-dog got a shot of benedryl and her hives cleared right up.   As soon as I took the dental x-rays, my fear was confirmed...Ruby-dog's carnassial tooth needed to come out.  It had a big ole periapical lucency (ie, an abscessed root).  The procedure itself went fairly well.  I held back my tears as I sectioned her tooth and drilled away bone from my Ruby-dog's mouth.  I fussed that the gums didn't suture as pretty as I would like...I fussed that there was so much blood.   I admit...I  fussed a lot.  The techs couldn't understand why I was fussing so much when the procedure was going along just fine.  I fussed as she was waking up, because she cried with every breath unless I had her in my lap.   I even had the senior technician come in so I could fuss to her as well.  In the end, my Ruby-dog was up and walking within 10 minutes of sewing up her mouth, and the bad tooth was out.  I cried as I drove her home, and spent the rest of the evening snuggling with her on the couch and hoping her pain meds were strong enough.   Her little swollen face upset me so badly.   That night, I even tucked her in next to me in bed...under my sheets and the heating blanket.  

So here's my conclusion...I can't calmly and rationally be a veterinarian to my own precious doggies.  Their blood freaks me out, and even giving them a shot makes the tears start flowing.   And..and I never...never...want to perform anesthesia on my own doggies again.   Chase and I don't have any human children, so our pets are like our kids...especially our dogs.

2 weeks later... She's not gaurding that side of her face, and her face is almost back to its symmetrical cuteness.  Now I can address the next health concern with my Ruby-dog....


Ruby-dog has a fat butt...
Here's a picture of my Ruby-dog...my family is constantly teasing me that my dog is fat.  They say she looks like a sausage with pointy little toothpick-legs.    Well...hmph...she's not that fat.  However...I will grant you that she is...a touch...overweight.  So if you read the above story about removing her tooth, you probably know that I'm not entirely rational about my dogs.  So when a food rep came and talked to us about an objective way of measuring body fat and calculating a healthy weight, I volunteered Ruby.  According to Hill's new Healthy Weight Protocol measurements...Ruby-dog has a body fat index of 40% and she needs to lose 8 pounds.  8 pounds!!!  8 pounds is a ton of weight when you're talking about a 30 pound dog!  Regardless if I agree with her target weight of 22 pounds or not...I'm going to give this new prescription weight loss dog food a shot...We'll see what she looks like with every pound of weight loss and stop when she gets to a healthy weight.  If I can get my own dog to loose weight...I'm sure this plan will work for clients too.





Ruby has lost her girly figure - her waist isn't as prominent as it should be and you can't easily palpate her ribs.

When viewed from the side, she should have a distinct abdominal tuck.  She doesn't.  If you look at her from behind...she has a distinctly plump rear end.  Oh, Ruby-dog, you are indeed...fat.



Prayers for my grandpa
My grandpa is in his mid-90s... He fell at the assisted living facility last week and broke his femur.  His surgery to repair the fracture went well, but he has a long road to recovery.   Please send him your prayers and good thoughts.   He's been ready to be with the lord for quite some time now, and I can't imagine how discouraging this must be for him.

Peace and Love, y'all!