Why the hate for Ortho?
People are willing to spend $$$ to get into ortho. It's still extremely hard to get into ortho because ortho programs only select candidates with high class rank. Ortho programs have zero problem filling all the slots. The slots that are available after the match day get filled very quickly. An average applicant can't get in, unless he/she has a special connection.
Both for the lifestyle and money. Because the job is easy and less physically demanding, the orthodontists can see 60-80 patients a day, work more days a week, and work more years (until they are 70+ yo) than general dentists and other specialists. High patient volume per day + more work days per weeks + more years of pratice = more $$$. Low chance of getting sued + good work hours + mostly young healthy friendly patients = the best work-life balance job.
You aren't stuck at 8%, you can refinance your loans.
1200*6*49 = 352.8K
Another consideration is some specialty residencies are paid, and some you have to pay tuition. Like for most ortho, perio, endo, prost programs you have to pay tuition (sometimes A LOT); and for programs like pedo, anes, omfs, you are paid pgy salaries. I don't think you should base your decision off that, but it's a factor. For example, the difference between paying 60k in tuition and getting paid 60k is 120k per year of residency. That's significant, especially when interest is factored in. And specialists like pedo, anes, omfs all tend to do very well financially once they are out in practice. At the end of the day you should do what you like and what suits you best and in the long run the money will follow. But food for thought.
Is this true? Why does everyone think it does?
My wife and I owed $450k student loans. Our combined associate income right after graduation was slightly less than $350k and we lived very comfortably....bought (together with my sister) a $38k Lexus for my dad, bought a $385k house, took out another $120k loan to purchase an existing practice for my wife etc. In less than 3 years, we cut the student loan amount half thanks to the profit that we earned from selling our first house. By the 4th year, I set up my own office from scratch and that's when our income increased significantly. By the 5th year, the entire $450k student loan were paid off.
This $1000-1800/day associate pay is only 20-25% of what you produce for your boss. If you have your own office and manage to keep the overhead at around 35-40%, you can bring home 2-3 times more. And on the weekends when I have more P/T assistants to come help, I can book 1.5x more patients and make 1.5x more money than on the weekdays.
Yes, so in the context of the discussion on this thread, you student loan interest would capitalize yearly while in residency (this is assuming you are not making large student loan payments while in residency...which is pretty much everyone). So, if we’re not nit picking semantics, your student loan interest will in fact capitalize every 12 months (meaning it will be added to the principal balance of your loan).
I'd would do ortho again even for $1 million because I am not picky about the job offers, I can work 6 days/week, I am ok with treating low income patients and I am willing to travel to multiple offices. Doing general dentistry every day is hard work.....I am not sure if my hands and back can survive 20-25 years of such intense manual labor. I can do ortho even when I am 70+ yo and I plan to do so if God allows me live that long.
Ortho, of course.
Yes they do. Ask me how I know
No they don’t. Did you take out private loans or refinance your government loans into private ones? I just called and confirmed with my loan service provider, Nelnet, government loans will be deferred while in residency and will not be subject to capitalization.
Yes, this
Government. I had a different service provider though. It’s possible our terms are different? I’m just going off the terms of my government loans (I have since refinanced with SoFi)
If you refinanced them with SoFi then you don't still have government loans. That's what refinancing is. You took out a private loan to pay off your government loans. At that point, your contract could literally be anything which is why you might be seeing capitalization while in residency.
Ummm it is actually exactly how it works. The interest is calculated separately from the principle. When it CAPITALIZES, the interest balance combines with the principle forming a single balance. I think you need to have a better understanding of capitalization.
Lol that's not what you previously said. You did just accurately describe how capitalization works. However, you stated that your students loans are compounding while in school. They are not, it is simple interest only. Capitalization does occur after a certain period from when your deferment ends if you don't pay down the accrued interest. They are not compounding and then capitalizing. That doesn't even make sense.
Yes, for me. But I am not sure if ortho is worth pursuing for others because I don't know how hard today grad orthos are willing to work. Can they tolerate working at a corp office that has a boss, who only has a HS diploma and assistants who are unmotivated? Can they work at low tech offices? Do they know how to keep the overhead low? Are they willing to visit the GP offices to introduce themselves? Are they fast? Can they get their spouses on board with budgeting and paying off debt?
I checked and you’re right, it is simple interest in school.
I am well aware SoFi is private lol. I used to have government loans while in school and when I first graduated. For mine, after the 6 mo grace period after graduating dental school, then there is annual capitalization. So if you keep your gov loans and do a 2-3 year residency (and don’t make payments while in residency), then you will see annual capitalization. This is why SoFi has a medical/dental RESIDENT loan refinance program
Congrats on the MBA there aren’t many of us with a background in business. Experience to go with it? I feel like I studied up well because I was correct. But there are always plenty of opportunities for me to be wrong. Can you share with me a loan situation in which you would see compounding interest and capitalization together?
Maybe that’s how it used to be? I called mine and they said that was not an issue. Your loans go back into deferment and no capitalization.
No I refinanced
