Optometrist salaries if I am willing to work 70 hours/week.

[James9999]

I have read lots of threads regarding the positive and negative aspects of optometry; thus I think I am aware of what I am getting in. I genuinely like optometry for many reasons, but I really hate the fact that I will have a lot of student loan debt (~250k, including interests and living cost during four years of school). And with 70k-85k starting salary as a new grad, I just regularly lose sleeps because of it. (Long story short, the money is not just for me, I have old parents to support.)

Yes, after graduation I would like to stay and work in SoCal. I am a hard-and-effective working guy, so work during weekends and long hours for the first few years won’t scare me.
Thus, my questions is that, If I am willing to find 3-5 part-time jobs to work 7 days/week (and/or ~70 hours), is it naïve to expect around 140k/year?

Thank you so much for your time.

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[percyeye]

I have read lots of threads regarding the positive and negative aspects of optometry; thus I think I am aware of what I am getting in. I genuinely like optometry for many reasons, but I really hate the fact that I will have a lot of student loan debt (~250k, including interests and living cost during four years of school). And with 70k-85k starting salary as a new grad, I just regularly lose sleeps because of it. (Long story short, the money is not just for me, I have old parents to support.)

Yes, after graduation I would like to stay and work in SoCal. I am a hard-and-effective working guy, so work during weekends and long hours for the first few years won’t scare me.
Thus, my questions is that, If I am willing to find 3-5 part-time jobs to work 7 days/week (and/or ~70 hours), is it naïve to expect around 140k/year?

Thank you so much for your time.

If you are working 70 hours a week and only making $140K I'd rather just jump off a bridge, or at least move the hell out of California if that is the case. Sorry but some cities in California making only $100K puts you at the poverty line.

I know most states working corporate 40 hours a week anywhere else in the country you will do about $100-$120K. Or you can move to more rural America And work maybe 40 hours, no weekends and make around $200-$250K.

TLDR: Move out of California.

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

Its quite exhausting to do 70 hr work weeks all the time. I'd only suggest it if you're single and have no kids. I'd look for a 50+k population area that has little corporate practice (maybe just a Walmart). You can make great money in these markets. I'd also look for this market that is maybe 50 miles away from a large metro area.

My first year out of school from August 06-Dec 06 I made around 35k.
2nd-3rd year out of school 2007-2008 I strung together 4 different locations working 7 days a week and made around 225k a year. It wore me out though and my wife made me cut back. 7 days a week will burn you out eventually.

I currently practice in an area that has around 450k people but can tell the difference in competition.

Work during college and optometry school. Keep costs as low as possible, and live with room mates or if you're very lucky stay at your parents place (if they live in an optometry school area).

 

[Dr. Dangerfield]

Burn out becomes a huge factor. It affects everything. How you deal with patients, how you deal with staff, how you deal with your family. It can also affect how well you do your exams, even if subconsciously. In my opinion it's not worth it.

I did 7 days a week for about a month at the beginning of my career and I was miserable. Since then I had a span of about 2-3 years where I did 6 days a week - Sundays off - which wasn't nearly as bad, but, it still affects you. I have two separate OD friends each who had a Lenscrafters lease, one did 6 months without a day off and the other somewhere around 7-8 months without a day off. They both swore to me they would never do it again. Six days a week is way more doable, but I still would only recommend it if there was no other way to make ends meet.

If you've got your mind set on doing it though, I would strongly recommend you decide on an end date and stick to it. Just from experience and outside discussions I've had I'd shoot for no longer than 6 months. I think that would help your mindset immensely if you had a light at the end of the tunnel, so to speak. You can do almost anything if you know it's only temporary.

 

[James9999]

If you are working 70 hours a week and only making $140K I'd rather just jump off a bridge, or at least move the hell out of California if that is the case. Sorry but some cities in California making only $100K puts you at the poverty line.

I know most states working corporate 40 hours a week anywhere else in the country you will do about $100-$120K. Or you can move to more rural America And work maybe 40 hours, no weekends and make around $200-$250K.

TLDR: Move out of California.

Thank you percyeye.
200k-250k in rural areas is really inspiring. Could you suggest the specific rural areas? (I checked around central California, Texas, and Arizona, and the (average) pay is usually less than 130k according to indeed, salary, or Glassdoor.) If 200-250k is possible, I will move there for a few years, work hard to pay off or nearly off my debt, then move back into California.

 

[James9999]

Thanks Dr. Dangerfield and Ryan_eyeball for the advice. Yes I realize that working 7 days/week is too much. I, however, just want to do that for the first few years (1 or 2) to pay for the student debt a little bit faster. Then, as you said, I will cut off to 6 days/week.
Ryan_eyeball, were you able to string 4 jobs together in California?

 

[percyeye]

Thank you percyeye.
200k-250k in rural areas is really inspiring. Could you suggest the specific rural areas? (I checked around central California, Texas, and Arizona, and the (average) pay is usually less than 130k according to indeed, salary, or Glassdoor.) If 200-250k is possible, I will move there for a few years, work hard to pay off or nearly off my debt, then move back into California.

There probably won't be anywhere you can just go and work for a few years and make $200K, the only people who do that are practice owners/partners. If you are just dead set on getting rid of debt then military service or going and working at an Indian Reservation.

But the way it works for corporate is you get paid hourly or daily, even if you do total revenue of $600K or $1 million you are probably only getting $120K and working your butt off. Getting in as a partner/owner the usual net is 25-30% so if a guy owns his practice and has $1 million they are bringing home around $300K per year. And I have talked with multiple guys in my rural area who do that much or more.

We always hear of the doom and gloom of Optometry, but that is usually from Optometrists in big cities or on the coasts. If you can stand being more rural in the Midwest or South you can do damn well. Texas is a good Optometry state to look into. But owning your practice is the only real way to make money in my opinion.

 

[Ryan_eyeball]

I'd also like to add I did not work 7 days a week for two years straight. Some months I'd take every other Sunday off.

Months such as January, Feb, March, July, August, and December I'd work every sunday. Its mentally exhausting and miserable. I'd suggest doing longer days instead. Start at 7am work til noon take a 2 hr lunch break, and then work til 7pm. Patients like early morning or late options.

James9999 I do not practice in California but Kansas. Usually to string 3 or 4 locations together you usually have to be willing to drive 30-60mins.

 

[Dr. Dangerfield]

I mentioned this in another post. If I had to do it over again, I'd move to a place, even if I didn't "like" it, with the best income to cost of living ratio and work my butt off for a year or two. THEN move to where you want to live.

I'm not disagreeing with Ryan, but owner/partner setups that pay 200-300k don't grow on trees. Especially in desirable to live areas.

You must absolutely factor in cost of living, taxes and benefits (including vacation). Benefits can add an additional 30-35% value to your income.

 

[20DOC20]

The BIG money in optometry in CA lies in working as an optometrist in the prison system. They'll try to get you to work for 400 per day and they'll pay travel expenses, but they'll go higher if you negotiate. I heard they were paying 650 per day plus travel expenses at Pelican Bay Prison. That's a really high per diem rate. Usually the gig is only a couple days a month and those days are together. It would be worth a trip.

 

[20DOC20]

One "good" thing about California is this: there are lots of jobs right now because no one wants to live there because of the democratic run state government.

 

[percyeye]

One "good" thing about California is this: there are lots of jobs right now because no one wants to live there because of the democratic run state government.

It could be that.

Or could be because a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house with 1300sqft will cost you about a million dollars.

Where you can get paid more as an Optometrist in the Midwest and buy a house with 3000sqft for $250K.

 

[310]

I have read lots of threads regarding the positive and negative aspects of optometry; thus I think I am aware of what I am getting in. I genuinely like optometry for many reasons, but I really hate the fact that I will have a lot of student loan debt (~250k, including interests and living cost during four years of school). And with 70k-85k starting salary as a new grad, I just regularly lose sleeps because of it. (Long story short, the money is not just for me, I have old parents to support.)

Yes, after graduation I would like to stay and work in SoCal. I am a hard-and-effective working guy, so work during weekends and long hours for the first few years won’t scare me.
Thus, my questions is that, If I am willing to find 3-5 part-time jobs to work 7 days/week (and/or ~70 hours), is it naïve to expect around 140k/year?

Thank you so much for your time.

I left CA for a different metro in the East Coast and do a lot better than 140k only working 5 days a week. I see a high volume of Medicaid and Medicare and my earnings are >50% from comission of exam fees. Private optometry in CA is run by vision plans and not medical plans because it's HMO heavy, among other issues.

To answer your question about 200k+, i think there are several border towns in New Mexico and Texas where you can get those jobs. I think Connecticut is supposed to be the best New England state.

 

[James9999]

Thank you everyone for the answers.
Btw, does anyone know about medical panels?
An optometrist I talked to briefly mentioned these panels but I forgot to ask how hard to get in and the benefits of getting in.

 

[310]

Thank you everyone for the answers.
Btw, does anyone know about medical panels?
An optometrist I talked to briefly mentioned these panels but I forgot to ask how hard to get in and the benefits of getting in.

It's easy if the plan is allowing optometrists in. The problem with CA is that many plans will divert medical care to the HMO center, limiting the optometrist.

 

[20DOC20]

It could be that.

Or could be because a 2 bedroom 1 bathroom house with 1300sqft will cost you about a million dollars.

Where you can get paid more as an Optometrist in the Midwest and buy a house with 3000sqft for $250K.

WHOA!!!! Yeah, that too.