Take home pay.

This forum made possible through the generous support of SDN members, donors, and sponsors. Thank you.
M

Mazz

Full Member
10+ Year Member
Joined
Feb 14, 2009
Messages
103
Reaction score
1
Im thinking of doing the military route for dental school. I was prior navy so I have a very good idea about compensation for officers. What i dont really have an idea about is the bonuses and actual take home pay.

As an O3 what is your take home pay including your yearly bonuses? Do all branches offer the same bonus or or they different? If so, what are the differences?
Members don't see this ad.
 
Short answer: Ranges from 70-80k a year depending on where you live and how many years of prior service you have done.

Long Answer: A good practice will keep down the overhead, ie those expenses it takes to keep the lights on, staffed, etc. With the military, your life overhead is lower. Virtually no, or little student loans to pay off, no medical insurance, px and commissary privelages, around 45 days of paid time off, etc.

You can easily find out the exact amount you will make by googling military pay calculator, but these only take into account what you will be getting paid. They don't factor in what you arent paying that most civilians will be.

Just my 2 cents though.
 
I did some rough calculations since we can't predict with accuracy, the 0-3 salary 4 years from now. But just taking a historic 2-3% raise per year, the base pay at 0-3 with less than 2 years of service will be around $46,000. Add on the dentist special pay @10,000 and you're taxable income will be $56,000. The additional housing/food allowances are non-taxable and it varies but simplicity purposes, we will say it's $2000/month or $24000 annually.

I'd say the average pay (4 years from now) would be $56000 minus tax + $24000.

You'll probably net $60,000 after taxes from this. Compared to a civilian job with higher federal and state income taxes, military pay is equivalent to $90-100,000 civilian pay.

You can also take into account the money the gov't spent on you for your 4 years of dental school and the $60,000 you net per year suddenly increases to $120-$140,000. This NET is equal to almost a $200,000 per year civilian salary.

Financially, the military is a fantastic deal if you attend a private university.

SORRY if this is confusing
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Not confusing at all. I was in the Navy for 6 years an electronics technician. I am VERY familiar with the military pay system. I was just unclear about the bonus pay for being a dentist and if each branch was the same or handled them differently.

If I do decide to do the Military thing, i'll be entering service as an O3 with 8 years of service. 6 years active, 2 years IRR.
 
xhamburgersamx said:
I did some rough calculations since we can't predict with accuracy, the 0-3 salary 4 years from now. But just taking a historic 2-3% raise per year, the base pay at 0-3 with less than 2 years of service will be around $46,000. Add on the dentist special pay @10,000 and you're taxable income will be $56,000. The additional housing/food allowances are non-taxable and it varies but simplicity purposes, we will say it's $2000/month or $24000 annually.

I'd say the average pay (4 years from now) would be $56000 minus tax + $24000.

You'll probably net $60,000 after taxes from this. Compared to a civilian job with higher federal and state income taxes, military pay is equivalent to $90-100,000 civilian pay.

You can also take into account the money the gov't spent on you for your 4 years of dental school and the $60,000 you net per year suddenly increases to $120-$140,000. This NET is equal to almost a $200,000 per year civilian salary.

Financially, the military is a fantastic deal if you attend a private university.

SORRY if this is confusing
Click to expand...

you forgot the Variable Specialty Pay(VSP) that all dentists get - $250/month
 
Mazz said:
Not confusing at all. I was in the Navy for 6 years an electronics technician. I am VERY familiar with the military pay system. I was just unclear about the bonus pay for being a dentist and if each branch was the same or handled them differently.

If I do decide to do the Military thing, i'll be entering service as an O3 with 8 years of service. 6 years active, 2 years IRR.
Click to expand...

From what I've learned on these forums, the pay for dentists is uniform throughout all branches.

Thanks krmower! I probably put in the 250/month into the 2000/month allowance but that's for the clarification.
 
I dont think IRR time counts toward what you will be making. The pay scale only measures Active Duty time, unless I am mistaken.
 
jmick101 said:
I dont think IRR time counts toward what you will be making. The pay scale only measures Active Duty time, unless I am mistaken.
Click to expand...

Jmick,

IRR time will goes towards the year point you get paid for your base pay only. ex. an 0-3e with 8 years. The VSP and ASP will paid based on your active duty time as a dental officer.
 
i get paid as an O-3 with 8 yrs service at fort campbell, living off-post. i get roughly $5400/month after taxes are taken out. then i also get a $10K bonus (30% of which gets taken out for taxes.)

according to my W-2's. i made around $82K last year.
 
umkcdds said:
i get paid as an O-3 with 8 yrs service at fort campbell, living off-post. i get roughly $5400/month after taxes are taken out. then i also get a $10K bonus (30% of which gets taken out for taxes.)

according to my W-2's. i made around $82K last year.
Click to expand...

not too bad, not great, but if they are going to pay 300,000 for my school then i think i could live with 82k a year for a few years ;-)
 
The exact number seems to be a mystery. Doesn't anyone have their W2? You could just read off the numbers. Someone mentioned 82k/yr but that is with 8yrs of active duty which most people won't have and would thus earn less than that. I've heard 70k, but it would be nice if someone took a look at their W2.
 
Members don't see this ad :)
Aceofspades said:
The exact number seems to be a mystery. Doesn't anyone have their W2? You could just read off the numbers. Someone mentioned 82k/yr but that is with 8yrs of active duty which most people won't have and would thus earn less than that. I've heard 70k, but it would be nice if someone took a look at their W2.
Click to expand...

Someone can read off their W2, but your pay may be +/- 10,000 because of the difference in housing allowance. 70k is a good estimate.
 
MAZZ

Dental Pay in addition to all other pay.

DASP (annual bonus)
- 0 to 3 years in dental corp is $10,000
- 3 to 8 years in dental corp is $12,000
- 8 to 20 years in dental corp is $15,000

VSP (Paid monthly)
- 0 to 3 years is $250
- 3 to 8 years is $583
- 8 to 12 years is $1000

So add $13,000 to all your officer pay and this is what you get as a general dentist in the Army for the first 3 years.

CAPTAIN (less than 2 years)
$3540 per month (base pay)
$1500 per month (housing...changes based on location and if you have dependents...this is called BAH...also tax free)
$220 per month (bas)

Total= $63,120 add dental pay of $13,000 then you get $76,120 for the first 3 years


I am a Major (0-4) with 7 years in the Army stationed in Hawaii and I make $135,000 per year thanks to the Housing Allowance and Cost of Living Allowance. (but milk costs $10 per gallon...just kidding)

I will be eligible for a retention bonus of $50,000 per year in 2011.

Bottom line: First 4 years are not great for pay or location....if you specialize and can hang in there than pay is great. Your choice of locations gets better too. Our Colonels are making close to $200,000 per year and most don't see heavy patient loads.

You can look up BAH rates at http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/bah.html (make sure you get the zip code for the Army base and your rank is 0-3.)
 
Last edited:
Aceofspades said:
The exact number seems to be a mystery. Doesn't anyone have their W2? You could just read off the numbers. Someone mentioned 82k/yr but that is with 8yrs of active duty which most people won't have and would thus earn less than that. I've heard 70k, but it would be nice if someone took a look at their W2.
Click to expand...

here's what you do. i told you about how much i make as an O-3 with 8 yrs. look up a pay chart in the internet. see how much an O-3 with zero years would make and compare it to what i make. that will get you in the ballpark.

salaries can really vary by $10K, depending on where you are located. i think i get around $1300/month for BAH at Fort Campbell. that is probably one of the lowest places in the country, however that information can be readily found on the internet as well.
 
If a base is located in a particular city and you chose to live off base - will you get the BAH for the city the base is in or can you chose to live in an area outside the city for higher BAH?
 
BAH rates are calculated using the zip code for the base. In some cities the base is in a high rent area and in some it's in a lower rent area.
 
You can look up BAH rates at http://www.defensetravel.dod.mil/perdiem/bah.html
(make sure you get the zip code for the Army base and your rank is 0-3.)
If you choose to live 50 miles away in a more expensive city your BAH is based on the Military Base Zip code not the city you live in.

Example: Stationed at Ft. Hood Texas but live and commute from Austin TX. Your BAH is listed for Ft. Hood regardless.

The only time your BAH is tied to a different city than the base is if you are serving an Unaccompanied Tour in Korea and your family lives in a city not near a base. In the example above you would then get the BAH for Austin, TX not Ft Hood.
 
anyone know when we get this? does it come with our first paycheck?
 
socaldentdoc said:
anyone know when we get this? does it come with our first paycheck?
Click to expand...

BAH and BAS are automatic with your paycheck once you are on active duty. All other bonuses take up to a few months to kick in. Your ASP is dependent upon you having a license, so if you don't or it takes the state a while to issue the license, you will not be able to submit for your ASP until then.
 
Last edited:
is that the case with the VSP as well?

so until our license arrives we work without one and just get paid base pay / bah / bas?

how long do we have to get our license btw?

thanks
 
socaldentdoc said:
is that the case with the VSP as well?

so until our license arrives we work without one and just get paid base pay / bah / bas?

how long do we have to get our license btw?

thanks
Click to expand...
In the AF, VSP is turned on when you get to COT. Occasionally, it isn't and you just take care of it at your first duty station.

Ideally, you'll have it before you arrive at your first duty station. If not, you have 18 months from the time you reach your first duty station. All costs for travel to take a board, etc... are on you. You have to be supervised if you don't have a license and that can be a burden at a non AEGD base.
 
socaldentdoc said:
is that the case with the VSP as well?

so until our license arrives we work without one and just get paid base pay / bah / bas?

how long do we have to get our license btw?

thanks
Click to expand...

In the Army VSP should also be automatic for all officers. You have 12 months after you come on active duty to get your license before you are converted from a dental officer to a medical service corps officer.
 
krmower said:
In the Army VSP should also be automatic for all officers. You have 12 months after you come on active duty to get your license before you are converted from a dental officer to a medical service corps officer.
Click to expand...


I've actually seen that once. I seperated when it was coming to that point. He had somehow manage to fail multiple board exams.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Next unread thread

Similar threads

W
FY2024 Navy Special Pay Guidance
Replies
4
Views
921
Recip
R
R
Navy HSCP Payback/pay
Replies
4
Views
1K
Rongeur_dat
R
ken0101
Active Duty pay for Dental School?
Replies
5
Views
1K
schmoob
S
T
What does an Army OMFS take home per month?
Replies
20
Views
4K
ModifiedBass
ModifiedBass
C
rank and pay
Replies
2
Views
1K
Chunkydogs
Chunkydogs
Top