Negative outlook on life

[hoosier1]

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Do any of you worry about your health in the future as an optometrist? I always wonder what would happen if I got arthritis or got into an accident that forced me to be in a wheelchair, or anything along those lines that could possibly force me out of my career. We are investing time and tons of money into our future profession, but what if someone can only work 10 yrs after studying for 4 yrs in grad school due to a problem out of their control? I mean seriously, ANYTHING can happen to any of us and the thought of it really bothers me. How do you guys cope with these thoughts?

😕

 

[al-majhul]

Do any of you worry about your health in the future as an optometrist? I always wonder what would happen if I got arthritis or got into an accident that forced me to be in a wheelchair, or anything along those lines that could possibly force me out of my career. We are investing time and tons of money into our future profession, but what if someone can only work 10 yrs after studying for 4 yrs in grad school due to a problem out of their control? I mean seriously, ANYTHING can happen to any of us and the thought of it really bothers me. How do you guys cope with these thoughts?

😕

That thought actually does cross my mind every once in a while. I don't know if you're a religous person, but I believe that everything happens for a reason and that God has ordained everything that will ever happen to us (good or bad) to begin with (without the exclusion of giving us free-will). (When you bring the future and fate into the picture, your bound to bring in ideas on religion). So I try not to dwell on things like that.

Besides, I figure, if something like that happens, there's always options left for people with our training in things like teaching -- which is something I think I could do if I've reached a physical state where I can no longer practice in our field.

Keep in mind though that if people occupied their minds with thoughts of hopelessness and despair and worry about the "what if", then nothing would ever get done in this world -- so why worry? just go with the flow.

Simple advice: PREPARE for death as though your going to die before the end of the day; but PLAN your life out as if you are going to live for eternity.

 

[subtractrock]

Well, if you are sufficiently concerned about it, and it sounds like you might be, you could perhaps take out an insurance policy on your ability to perform the functions required to earn a living as an optometrist. I know surgeons who have insurance policies like this.

Don't be such a worrier though, lots of things can happen everyday. There's no sense in wasting your time worrying about the possibilities.

 

[JennyW]

Do any of you worry about your health in the future as an optometrist? I always wonder what would happen if I got arthritis or got into an accident that forced me to be in a wheelchair, or anything along those lines that could possibly force me out of my career. We are investing time and tons of money into our future profession, but what if someone can only work 10 yrs after studying for 4 yrs in grad school due to a problem out of their control? I mean seriously, ANYTHING can happen to any of us and the thought of it really bothers me. How do you guys cope with these thoughts?

😕

One of the first things you should do when you graduate is to take out disability insurance on yourself. This is a critical component to any successful financial plan. (regardless of what your career is)

Disability insurance is not the cheapest but it is so very important. And it should be taken out as soon as possible because once you have it, it can not be taken away from you. (in most states.) You are much more likely to be approved when you are young and out of school than when you are 45 and start with cholesterol and high blood pressure and all of that.

The only drawback is that most insurance companies will only insure a percentage of your income (usually 50-80%) In the first few years of practice, your income will likely not be very high so these policies should be updated as time goes on.

Jenny

 

[file014]

nm

 

[rpames]

He said sometimes you might be disabled from being an optometrist, but if you could still work at WalMart as a door greeter you wont get social security disability benefits. What a crock.

As long as you can work I don't think you should collect SS disability. That is there for those who are truly disabled from working at all. I know a lot of people abuse it, but that does not mean we should. Taking out an insurance policy is fine, but making everyone else in the US pay for you is not fair. Those kind of abuses of the system is why the US is in financial trouble.

If something happens that prevent you from working as your first choice carrier, it does not entitle you to the government paying you. There are many situations that prevent people from continuing their carriers, spouse relocation, kids, down-sizing, etc. The government does not send these people a check, nor should they.


Back to the main subject. There is no job that will ever provide for full security. But all things considered, optometry is a pretty good one. If you have your own practice, and you become disabled, you could bring in a partner or employee. Say you are taking home $125,000 a year. Hire a new grad and pay them 70K. You now have a 55k left for you. You could then take over as office manager perhaps. That would save you another 25k. You now have 80k for you. Plus, as you as manager you will have more control and over sight where the money is going, you will save more there too.

That is just one example. You have many options as a business owner. You will be much better off as an OD than most other carriers.

 

[JennyW]

Back to the main subject. There is no job that will ever provide for full security. But all things considered, optometry is a pretty good one. If you have your own practice, and you become disabled, you could bring in a partner or employee. Say you are taking home $125,000 a year. Hire a new grad and pay them 70K. You now have a 55k left for you. You could then take over as office manager perhaps. That would save you another 25k. You now have 80k for you. Plus, as you as manager you will have more control and over sight where the money is going, you will save more there too.

Though I understand your line of thought, this is not a good analogy.

If you are taking home $125k as an "owner" and you become disabled, it is highly unlikely that you will be able to bring in a new grad and have that new grad generate the same level of revenue. You are also not going to be able to bring in a "partner" because there is no "partnership." You're disabled. Lastly, if you are so disabled that you can not practice optometry, then I can not imagine a situation where you would be able to be a full time office manager.

If you have such poor control or insight over where your money is going that you can save $25000 or even more by being the office manager, then you're doing something wrong. As the owner, you should have maximum insight and control of your money.

The best way of handling the risk of disability is with disability insurance.

Jenny

 

[al-majhul]

As long as you can work I don't think you should collect SS disability. That is there for those who are truly disabled from working at all. I know a lot of people abuse it, but that does not mean we should. Taking out an insurance policy is fine, but making everyone else in the US pay for you is not fair. Those kind of abuses of the system is why the US is in financial trouble.

If something happens that prevent you from working as your first choice carrier, it does not entitle you to the government paying you. There are many situations that prevent people from continuing their carriers, spouse relocation, kids, down-sizing, etc. The government does not send these people a check, nor should they.


Back to the main subject. There is no job that will ever provide for full security. But all things considered, optometry is a pretty good one. If you have your own practice, and you become disabled, you could bring in a partner or employee. Say you are taking home $125,000 a year. Hire a new grad and pay them 70K. You now have a 55k left for you. You could then take over as office manager perhaps. That would save you another 25k. You now have 80k for you. Plus, as you as manager you will have more control and over sight where the money is going, you will save more there too.

That is just one example. You have many options as a business owner. You will be much better off as an OD than most other carriers.

rpames's insight rocks!!

 

[rpames]

JennyW,
Every-time I make a statement, you point out every possible loop in the theoretical analogy. I'm saying you would save 25k by replacing the current manager, not find a way to save 25k is changes in the operations of the office. I guarantee that you would save some money in your office with you as manager than any employee would as manager. Plus, from the employees in every office, business, or clinic that I have ever observed, I would bet that most any of us would be able to replace 2 full time staff in an office. Therefore, if I were disabled and still had my hands and full brain function, I could run my office as manager while working part time.

As far as there being no partnership...what definition of partnership are you using? If I own the practice, and I sell you part of MY practice, we are now partners. We will be partners even if I stop working. As long as I own part of it, we would be partners. Have you ever heard of a silent partner? These are people who put up the money (usually), but let someone else run the business. The silent partner is rarely around or sometimes knows very little of the operations, but they are still...partners.
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DISCLAIMER:
I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes in the above post, but if you agree with the general statement, don't bother pointing out the implied generalities. These generalities where left in the post with the assumption that anyone with an IQ above 80 could draw the implied conclusions. I have also left off the pie charts and fiscal graphs explaining the financial statement made in the above post because any statement made in said post was made with the intension that these statement were for giving EXAMPLES of what could happen, not absolutes.

 

[JennyW]

The point I was trying to make is that optometrists (and business owners in general) should not count on being able to continue to maintain their same level of income or even an adequate portion of their income simply by hiring someone else to do the work they once did before they became disabled.

Disability insurance is critical.

JennyW,
Every-time I make a statement, you point out every possible loop in the theoretical analogy. I'm saying you would save 25k by replacing the current manager, not find a way to save 25k is changes in the operations of the office. I guarantee that you would save some money in your office with you as manager than any employee would as manager. Plus, from the employees in every office, business, or clinic that I have ever observed, I would bet that most any of us would be able to replace 2 full time staff in an office. Therefore, if I were disabled and still had my hands and full brain function, I could run my office as manager while working part time.

As far as there being no partnership...what definition of partnership are you using? If I own the practice, and I sell you part of MY practice, we are now partners. We will be partners even if I stop working. As long as I own part of it, we would be partners. Have you ever heard of a silent partner? These are people who put up the money (usually), but let someone else run the business. The silent partner is rarely around or sometimes knows very little of the operations, but they are still...partners.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DISCLAIMER:
I'm sure there are plenty of mistakes in the above post, but if you agree with the general statement, don't bother pointing out the implied generalities. These generalities where left in the post with the assumption that anyone with an IQ above 80 could draw the implied conclusions. I have also left off the pie charts and fiscal graphs explaining the financial statement made in the above post because any statement made in said post was made with intension that these statement were for giving EXAMPLES of what could happen, not absolutes.

 

[rpames]

The point I was trying to make was that you won't be screwed. You can still survive and will have more options as your own boss than you would if you worked for someone else, and optometry gives you this option.