What are my realistic alternatives?
Your savings cover about 8.6 months of essentials after $0 in one-time costs. The Stay and renegotiate path fits your time best: about $252,707 a year after tax for 51 hours a week ($96/hour), $0 more than today.
What's at stake
- Runway after one-time costs
- ≈8.6 months
- $60,000 saved − $0 one-time costs, ÷ $7,000 monthly essentials.
- PSLF if you change employers
- Count ends
- Your employer qualifies today. The locums/1099 path does not; reducing hours keeps the count only if you still meet the full-time definition.
- Net income today
- $252,707
- 55 hours/week, 48 weeks.
- Stay and renegotiate
- $252,707 net
- 51 h/week · $96/hr · +$0 vs today · viable
- Reduce to 0.8 FTE
- $207,121 net
- 41 h/week · $98/hr · −$45,586 vs today · prepare: Reduced hours may drop employer benefits, and this path assumes $0 out-of-pocket.
- Nonclinical / hybrid
- $172,487 net
- 37 h/week · $90/hr · −$80,220 vs today · prepare: Outcome data for nonclinical transitions is thin; test with a project or part-time role first.
- Independent contract work
- $189,748 net
- 25 h/week · $148/hr · −$62,959 vs today · prepare: Health coverage and retirement move to you; the benefits cost line must cover them.
The strongest case for change
Stay clears your constraints today. Test the smallest schedule change at your current employer — a written cap on hours or call is easier to evaluate than an informal one.
If you decide to move forward
- Write down the three paths you would actually consider, with real numbers — not the ideal version.
- Ask your current employer for the schedule change or rate change first; it is the cheapest test. Check contract
- Compare the leading path against your current contract terms. Offer brief
- Set a decision date and the number that would make you stay. Decide hub
What this is based on (high confidence)
- Single filer with the standard deduction; state income tax only.
- Independent paths add the employer half of Social Security and Medicare and lose employer benefits.
- Autonomy is a 1–5 rating you assign to each path; it is not measured.
- The income floor is a constraint, not a recommendation: paths below it are shown but not chosen.