Yahoo! It’s tax time! Well, scratch the “ya” part, and insert “boo.” I’m sure most of you are just jazzed about this time of year. It’s a reminder of how much you actually make but don’t get to keep.

Now, I know our taxes go to keep up roads, schools, and infrastructure, among other things. But it’s just downright depressing to look at the numbers. Especially when you’ve got $180,000 in school debt alone.

As a “rookie” doc, I’ve made some pretty dumb monetary decisions in my lifetime, the worst being my house in Florida. When I matched in emergency medicine in Florida, we pictured warm weather, bike trails, and sunny beaches. And those things are there, not that I got to see much of them.

At a gathering a bank held for us after Match Day, we discussed our options at length with a guy at the bank, who convinced us that we could afford to buy a home there for up to $200K. Well, I never thought we’d be able to afford that ever, but he said it, so it must be true.

So in 2006 we bought a townhome near Tampa for about that price. And in the year following, the value dropped to about $140K. And since my husband couldn’t get a job in Florida, we returned to Alabama. And that house is now worth about $90K.

Now, I really don’t blame the guy who approved the loan, although I think he had no business loaning us that money. I thought, well, we must be able to afford it if the bank says we can! That was pretty dumb.

The following years were financially hard on us. We had to pay the mortgage on the house in Florida and rent in Montgomery where my husband was working, but at least I stayed with a friend for free in Birmingham during the first year and a half of my residency.

When I started as an attending, I began to use a different accountant (Art – god of accounting!). I’m set up as an LLC, and my check is paid to a business account. I send the info to Art, and he figures out my taxes and tells me how much I get to keep. His bookkeeper keeps track of everything and makes all my state and federal tax payments electronically. Well, last year I got a phone call around the end of March. Art said, “I think you need to come in as soon as you can.” I thought, uh-oh, how much do I have to pay this year?

“Pay?” Art said. “Oh, no, we’re talking refund – over $10,000, and I haven’t finished yet.” You see, he asked for my previous 3 years of returns to recheck them.

Apparently my previous accountant hadn’t been taking into account the depreciation of the moneypit house in Florida, as well as some other things.

Now here’s a question: Why don’t they teach things like this in medical school? In residency? In high school, for Pete’s sake!

All you newbies out there, my accountant’s fee is the best money I spend every month. My taxes are paid, my expenses are recorded, and I don’t have to worry about any surprises come April.

I suppose the moral of this story is that if you’re not astute at keeping track of finances, get somebody who is. You can pay for a good accountant, or you can pay for it in penalties, fees, and the Ativan you may swallow come the 15th of next month. Ativan may be nice and all, but I’m putting my money into my accountant.

Dr. Bundy is an attending physician at ERMed, LLC, in Montgomery, Ala., and a former photojournalist, who not only sings in the car, but talks to herself, is addicted to diet drinks and shoes, and thinks emergency medicine is the greatest specialty.