hm, if you don't mind my asking, where in the country are you, it's fairly cheap for me in the midwest to buy meat from farmers? And then where are the parents? And do you fly out each month to see them? Sure it's hard for grandparents to not watch kids grow up but you could try using internet video or something to chat with them more often in lue of flying out there and maybe cut down on the trips to every other? You mentioned it wasn't pure pleasure trips, but visiting family is a pleasure trip in my book, nothing against it but it isn't exactly a "business" trip... You mentioned it was a 2 day drive? That's about half the country, could you and parents each drive out 1 day then meet in the middle? If you come to the mid-west, pick up some meat? :D
with all that flying and spending, at least say you have a rewards card to help get you some flights every once in a while
Yeah, you might not drive a bmw/audi... but that doesn't mean much to me. The other doctors are most likely living off leashes too and plan to just keep trading up to "keep" costs down. $500/month forever and always keep driving the "new" car? Yes, 500 isnt a whole lot out of what doctors take home each month but it's the act/thought that it isn't very much that keeps doctors leasing cars then homes then everything else. If you can afford to spend a few hundred here and there without though, eventually you'll end up spending entire paycheck and not have a whole lot to show for it, nice new shiny car/house that you don't own? It's like seeing lottery winners, suddenly you have a large amount of money but haven't learned how to actually manage it to keep it.
edit again: you're a bit off on the "50% savings rate", you are including paying down the debt as a "savings" It's an expense. Sure it saves money eventually to pay it off, but it's still an expense, you don't get to live off it later. with just the IRA/401k being used to save then once they are maxed out you stop "saving" and go into paying debt, you're savings rate are about 20% give or take? I don't know if you are saving for 1 or both parents. Myself, I also max out my 401k/ira/have leftovers for taxable investing (about 10k/year) and I make 50k/year. Aside from a smaller house, I live pretty much similar to you but I'm actually a bit ahead in terms of retirement savings even if it is just 10k/year. Sure you can outpace me really fast since you make 4x my salary but you don't put it away into savings like I do which means that eventually I'll be retired long before you are especially if you think just maxing out IRA/401k will allow you do keep current $16k/month living style unless you keep working until you are 60+.
I'm going through this with my sister right now since she finished med school last month. She keeps telling me I should find a new job because I make so "little" compared to what she will after residency. But I keep telling her that by the time she's out of residency, I'll be close to FI and then what? She'll still have to work and I can sit back and watch her while enjoying life. And this is where we disagree, she chooses to "enjoy live" taking vacations while working, I rather "enjoy" life and take a retirement and not work. So she keeps telling us how she'll have a big house, I keep telling her sure and I'll end up "taking care of it" while she is off working and I can lounge by the pool. I find it odd that she has a MBA as well but has no sense in actually managing her own money. She's taught how to grow businesses but her own business of her life is no where to be seen.