To the OP here's my two cents
1- my loans are 220k, I went to a state med school and my 30 year payoff is 2k a month for those 30 years. I drove a 5 year old ford focus at the time and looking back waiting to get a BMW was worth it - I used it as motivation to work really hard to better myself to eventually get an M
2- if you're going into medicine for money (which it doesn't sound like you're doing but if you are) stay the hell away. You can make at shit ton more in business or finance- work one tenth as hard and not sacrifice anything. As a resident working 100 hr weeks (the 80 hr rule is bs and many residencies don't follow it- hell my family medicine residency didn't follow it) for 3 plus years gets really old quick and you sacrifice time away from family and friends
3- Some of the doom and gloom that everyone is talking is true but hard work can payoff. Medicine is changing quickly and I agree with everyone that ObamaCare will kill off the current system but pay for procedure based medicine needs to be changed anyways. The cuts are going to redirect money away from specialty care and direct towards primary care (I hope). Either way love what you do and make sure you're doing it because you can't see yourself doing anything else
4- to summarize- work hard, don't go into medicine (ESP for the $), drive a shitty car for med school if you do, all of our reimbursements are being cut so our salaries are going down, win the lottery, the govt is always going to f&@k you in taxes, get a wife in radiology, then buy a M
