I've been reading articles all morning about how Millennials, as a whole, are fucked regarding the upcoming recession and I realize that I am not a twenty something with pending financial doom.
My partner and I are in a happy, healthy, loving relationship. We plan to be married next summer. We both have chosen to advance our academic careers and currently have a combined income of ~70k but there is green tinged light at the end of this tunnel.
We both currently have no debt and live within our means. However, 1 year from now my partner is going to begin looking at fellowships for when she finishes her residency, a proccess I'm told will cost in the neighborhood of 10k-15k. We plan to have at least 5k in savings, and hopefully more, but we will need to take on debt to pay for the costs.
Also, in 3 years we plan to start a family and add at least one less dumb motherfucker to the gene pool. The timing is pretty non-negotiable because my partner's expected specialty within academic surgery is both hyper competitive and one of the last true bastions of male dominion. The reality of this is that I will have to put my graduate degree on hold and we will raise a child for 3 years on mostly debt while my partner completes her fellowship.
The upside to this is that 6 years from now we will have a family and the means to service this debt. We recognize that the financial decisions we make between now and then may drastically affect our decisions and want to do what is both responsible for ourselves and future children as well as leave us with the best set of options.
Is a traditional bank loan the best way for us to get the money we will need or is there a better alternative? Have any of you made decisions like this, and if so, how did it work?