Is specializing worth an opportunity cost of almost $1 million?

[TanMan]

haha, I was looking something up then came along these forums again. Decided to peek through.

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[Cello]

haha, I was looking something up then came along these forums again. Decided to peek through.

Well I am humbled that your eighth response in over a decade was directed towards me!

 

[TanMan]

I love the sarcasm... haha. I'm surprised my login even worked. I would think that I would be purged out of the database at some point.

 

[TanMan]

Anyway, in all seriousness, I think you should be looking beyond the 1 million dollars ... Most of your money will not come from dentistry but from the investments that you make during your lifetime. Another way to look at it is whether you plan to work for the rest of your life, or do an early retirement strategy. General dentistry will definitely help you make those investments earlier so that you no longer have to practice (or at least part-time) and you'll be way ahead of your counterparts in the long run.

 

[Firm]

Nope.

 

[510586]

Anyway, in all seriousness, I think you should be looking beyond the 1 million dollars ... Most of your money will not come from dentistry but from the investments that you make during your lifetime. Another way to look at it is whether you plan to work for the rest of your life, or do an early retirement strategy. General dentistry will definitely help you make those investments earlier so that you no longer have to practice (or at least part-time) and you'll be way ahead of your counterparts in the long run.

Is it really that easy to invest?

 

[Cranjis McBasketball]

Is it really that easy to invest?

A 401 k and stuff similar to that then yes

 

[TanMan]

Yes, but the general rule still applies, more risk, more return. Your traditional investment vehicles don't allow you to retire as fast, since a lot of them assume you're going to work for 30 years...

 

[786783]

Yes, but the general rule still applies, more risk, more return. Your traditional investment vehicles don't allow you to retire as fast, since a lot of them assume you're going to work for 30 years...

Penny stocks, emerging markets, and IPO's?

 

[Flemish]

Undergrad: 233k.
Dental: 446k
OMS residency (2 med school years): 104k.
By the time I'll be done with residency I'll easily have over 1M in loans. I'd say between 1.1 and 1.2. Not yet though!! I'll come back if no one beats me to it and this thread is still alive.

Godspeed.

 

[786783]

Nope, anecdotal (the worst kind of evidence) - my own experience and comparing myself to other providers and specialists in the area. If you know what you're doing in the business, you'll do better than your specialist counterparts.

This is assuming that your specialist counterparts don't excel in business. I can't see how a highly productive specialist who ALSO runs his business like a true CEO can't collect more than a general dentist with a mean practice.

 

[TanMan]

This is assuming that your specialist counterparts don't excel in business. I can't see how a highly productive specialist who ALSO runs his business like a true CEO can't collect more than a general dentist with a mean practice.

Not saying that a specialist can't do it. I'm saying it's not worth it since even with all our abilities, dentistry as a business is not as profitable and isn't the end-all means of where we're going to get the bulk of our wealth. Yes, I could open a chain of dental offices, and so can a specialist, however, the exclusiveness of our profession is the source and headache of our profitability as well. What I mean by that is that by being a licensed dentist, members of the general population cannot practice dentistry and we're only competing against ourselves. BUT... that is also the source of our increased costs as we look into expanding into more offices. That means I can't pay a fellow dentist 15 dollars an hour to see patients. In a highly saturated area such as Southern California, I can probably get away with paying someone 400/day, but that kind of practice breeds hostility and attracts a lot of "not-so-good" dentists whose messes you may have to clean up. My job is not to create more jobs for marginally more profit.

Our hands can only produce so much until it starts to take its toll. If I have an associate taking 25-40%+ of production, my profit margins shrink significantly. Additional offices does not mean double the profit, but moreso incremental profit. I looked into opening a few other offices, but each one would potentially increase my profit by only 13-20% each office with double the headache and topheavy corporate management that a lot of multioffice models tend to fall into (again, goes into the "not in the business to create jobs)

Unfortunately, most other businesses that can outproduce dentistry with respect to ROE/ROI are also capital intensive. If a GP had a 2-6 year headstart over their specialist counterpart, who would potentially accumulate more wealth over time? I still say the GP. One of the most important lessons I've learned in life is that we only have so much time in this world until our physical body starts to decay. Why would you spend more of your peak life doing a residency and specializing unless you really love what you're doing? I don't want to wake up at 50 and realize I've been working for most of my life and I don't have that much time to enjoy what I've worked for. I don't think you can put a price on your youth and experiences during your youth.

Anyway, tl;dr:
- GP's have a +2-6 yr headstart to save capital to build wealth through other means
- Dentistry is not as profitable as a multioffice business model since dentists are expensive labor.
- Enjoy your money and wealth while you're still young. Don't be that 50 y/o driving a Lamborghini (just an example)
- Can't put a price on time. Work to live, not live to work.