Agreed. It is not simple to save that much per year. But it can be done. If you have a successful practice ..... you will be looking for any tax saving strategies to offest your tax penalty. Some what old fashioned, but early on .... I set up a profit sharing plan for myself and my staff administered by a 3rd party. It allowed me to put away pre-tax a large amount of money every year. I did this for many years. It makes up the bulk of my retirement assets.
Everyone needs to make a serious effort to start retirement savings. But it is tough. I had posted previously the difficulty in SAVING money. As you get older .... your expenses (personal) typically only go up. If you are single .... that's easier. But with a growing family. It is difficult to save money.
Also .... everyone hear is suggesting passive income. Well. That costs money, or worse you leverage yourself too much. Sometimes an investment works and sometime it doesn't. I won and lost. It will happen. It's all about TIMING.
Back to the ortho bubble. I can't speak for rural areas since I've practiced only in a saturated, desirable urban area for many years. To open an ortho private practice in a saturated area ..... it is getting tougher and tougher. There is SO MUCH competition for patients looking for braces, aligners. Private ortho practices. GP and Pedo practices offering ortho. Corp ortho is everywhere. DIY ortho. I don't see this with the other specialties. JUST ORTHO. When I graduated ... there were less than 300 new orthodontists graduating per year. I believe there is double that now (don't quote me lol). But that is still a small number.
Now the good. There is huge demand for orthodontic services. This will never change. With so many practices offering ortho services ..... there are PLENTY of high paying ortho jobs. PLENTY. It took my DSO employer almost 8 months before they could find two new orthos to hire. I've been constantly wined and dined to work for two other DSOs to fill in for their vacant ortho positions. One DSO wants to pay me more than I'm making now, but I would need to see more patients since they offer low fee braces. I'm not interested right now. I enjoy seeing fewer patients at higher fees.
So. Right now. The future is bright. Open a small private practice and a PT job at a DSO. Be diversified. As
@charlestweed has said many times ..... open a low overhead office (skip the bells and whistles) and be willing to travel for a PT Corp job. You'll make plenty of money.
Oh. I almost forgot. KEEP THE DS, RESIDENCY DEBT LOW.