For example this dude is just gonna ignore the fact that dentist fees have not risen at all despite tuition rising substantially and just pretend they'll rise magically just in time so it will convenience him haha
And this dude ^^ is planning to make six-figures (without comparable education/training/risk) in what industry exactly?... Good luck complaining to the rest of America about your
'pittance' of a $130k salary with great job security and significant salary growth, because I promise you that your whining will fall on deaf ears.
So the costs of dental education has literally doubled since the mid 2000s, has dentist fees even increased over inflation?
Dental demand flat, the supply of dentists is growing, and income is falling. Great time to take out 500k loan to be a dentist.
Posted by the CEO of dental town, Howard Farran DDS, MBA.
I'm not trying to be the 'loom and gloom' guy. But, be aware of the changes that are happening in dentistry and the climate you are entering into, adjust your expectations, its not the golden age it used to be.
Average net income peaked in 2006 and steadily declined during the recession.
Reported salaries are stagnant because let's face it, when people are getting back on their feet financially the last thing they think about is getting expensive cosmetic dental procedures done. They've got bills to catch up on, credit to restore, and loans to pay off (sound familiar?). I also assume that because dentists took a hit during the recession, advertising went down, and there was a lot more bread-and-butter dentistry going on than many would have liked. I've notice an uptick in the number of flyers for dentists recently, so perhaps a recovery is looming? "
You don't know when you're in a trough until you're coming out, and you don't know when you're on a peak until you're falling down."
I have no way of knowing if dentistry will "recover" just as no one can forecast major weather patterns beyond a few weeks. But, like a good meteorologist, we can rely on past data and trends to help us anticipate the future. Dentistry was a mess in the '70s and then again in the '80s, prompting lots of school closures (Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Emory, Georgetown, Farleigh Dickinson, WashU, and Loyola in the span of just 9 years). This idea that ALL of the
"golden years" lie in the past is not just pessimistic, it is naive. I wonder what dentists were saying in the '70s and '80s when the economy was in decline and dental schools were having trouble filling their seats. I am reminded of physicists who told their students not to go into the field of physics because there was nothing left to learn and no puzzles left to solve.
Student loans for dentists weren't as bad back then as they are now, but again, this is true across the board. Student loan debt has exploded, and everyone in this country is spending way more to get a degree than they used to. I'm not arguing that someone should just light-heartedly take a $500k loan upon themselves, but if they REALLY want to be a dentist, then why not? Who are any of us to ridicule someone for deciding that they want to spend their money on their education and career? Do we criticize dentists with $1 million homes or $100k cars? How many of you are planning to buy $500k houses or expensive cars someday?
If you think other industries are better, then why not give them a try? Remember though, that if you think it's bad for us, you should put yourself in an MD's shoes. Roughly the same debt burden, plus a 3-5 year residency without loan deferment... Yet people are still becoming physicians, and many of them are still doing quite well financially, especially if they choose to specialize. I have a few friends who are physicians, and despite their debt, all of them love their jobs and don't really think all that much about their automated loan repayments.
I see lists of alternative career choices here on SDN occasionally and they make me laugh. You have people extolling the virtues of other industries full of people who are saying the exact same things about healthcare or even dentistry. There is lots of cherry-picked information out there (like the guys who insist that once you factor in education a DDS/DMD or MD isn't really as lucrative as it initially appears). These arguments often fail to address the fact that other folks have student loans too, and that they often work insane hours. Investment banking? No thanks, I'm perfectly happy not working 80+ hours and only being as good as my last trade.
Perhaps some of you will remember a certain physician with a popular website who argued that nurses (and even teachers) earn about as much as doctors. He tallied up time spent in school (counting undergrad), debt burden, tax policies, training, etc. for physicians, but ignored those same factors for nurses and teachers... No wonder then that the data skewed to fit his agenda. Nurses take out loans, receive advanced training (particularly if they want to move into a specialty), and spend time in school too.
As a final note, it's important to remember that once you are established, you should immediately begin investing. Depending upon the types of funds you choose, you can expect some pretty healthy returns (especially since most of you are still very young and can be a bit riskier). If those returns exceed the interest costs of your loans, then it makes more sense to put your salary into investments than to pay off the loan. $50k into the market with a ~12% ROI over 30 years (I saw 18% over 4 years on my 401k at my last job) vs. $50k against your loans to save you 5% interest should be an obvious financial decision; that is, if you can stomach the
inevitable bear markets. If you can't, then investment banking is certainly out of the picture for you too!
