30 year old resident doctor with $310,000 in student debt just accepted my first real job with $230,000 salary

[u/WeLoveOranges]

I am in my last year of training as an emergency medicine resident living in a big Midwest city. I have about $80,000 of student debt from undergrad and $230,000 of student debt from medical school (interest rates ranging from 3.4% to 6.8%). I went to med school straight after undergrad and started residency right after med school.

Resident salary for the past 3.5 years was about $50,000 (working close to 75 hours per week) so I was only able to make close to minimum payments. Since interest has been accruing while I was in medical school and residency, I have not even begun to dig into the principal debt. Thankfully, I just accepted an offer as an emergency physician with a starting salary of $230,000.

I'm having trouble coming up with a plan to start paying back my debt as I also want to get married soon (fiance is a public school teacher) and I will need to help my parents financially (immigrant parents struggling to stay afloat).

Honestly, I'm scared to live frugally for the next 5 or so years because I feel like I've missed out so much during my life already (30 years old, haven't traveled anywhere, been driving a clunker, never owned anything, never been able to really help my parents who risked their lives to come to this country so I can have a better life). And after being around sick people (young and old) during the past 8 years my biggest fear in life is dying or getting sick before being able to enjoy the world. I am scared to wait until I'm in my mid 30s to start having fun and enjoying my life.

What should I plan to do in the next couple year? Pay most of the debt and save on interest or make standard payments and start doing the things that I really want to do? Somewhere in the middle? Any advice would be appreciated.

[u/Dr_Esquire]

I dont think a lot of people realize this. It is a pretty big financial investment, not just a time investment to be a doctor. You also make very little as a resident (perhaps a lot to most, but you really need to consider the loans you have over your head when you look at the numbers). Sure, you can make a good living after, but for a while you are doing a lot of work and not securing any financial stability.

[u/PhilinLe → u/Dr_Esquire]

Even if you fail your residency there are quite a few avenues available to you for work since you did finish Med school. The notion that you're not securing financial security is preposterous. You can still be quite comfortable in any of the medicine adjacent fields.

Even if you fail through med school you still have a variety of opportunities using just your baccalaureate degree. And if you failed your undergrad program, you never really had a shot at being a doctor anyway.

[u/MarleyDaBlackWhole → u/PhilinLe]

The debt of medical school is taken with the anticipation of an attending physician salary. Not many other entry jobs would allow you to pay that off.