Originally posted by JonR
I am not sure why you are posting those numbers...yes, you are correct sir...300K over 30 years @5% is 1600/month and over 10 years is 3200/month. If you reread the post the number I talked about was if one tried to pay off that 300K in 5 years, which is what Penn tells its students is possible. THAT number is $5700/month, which I am saying is unreasonable for anyone to pay no matter what their income. Just use an amortization calculator.
Sure, 170K is net for the latest figure, but of course you take 1999 data with a grain of salt knowing that the numbers go up. The reason I use that data is because the 1999 data for salary, overhead, patient visits, etc. is used in the complete study for entering dentists on the ADA site.
Extrapolating the new data would give you roughly an 8% increase in GP salary since 1999. If we figure the same amount of increase in associate pay (which is a considerable guess), we would get an average of 108K for associates who are 10 years or less out of school. Now at which point do you think most of the money is made to get that average...the first year out of school or the 9th? Obviously, the numbers that will bring the average up are at the latter years...most people that are in their 10th year of associateship are going to be making considerably more money than they did when they started...in fact, if you know anything about production, you know that the numbers will skyrocket as your patient base is increased by the senior doctor and you actually learn how to be efficient.
So, if we know that you are much more productive after 10 years of practice and we are guessing that the average is 108K/yr for all associates, someone has to be bringing the values down, and I can guarantee you that it is the brand spanking new associates. If everyone started at 100K, the average for associates with ten years or less experience would be much higher...either that or the average associate only increases their net 8K after 10 YEARS of practice. 🙄
Once again, I am sure that there are people who will get out and immediately be making 100K-net...make sure you are talking net, not gross (and of course remember fees are much higher in certain areas ie northeast), but to say this is the norm is just ignoring the facts. The point of all this isn't that dentistry sucks or something...it is one of the most economically rewarding professions around. The point is more to make people think about exactly how much money they will have and NOT have when they get out of school.