Private Practice Olio

[R. Matey]

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For therapy, I'm completely guessing, but if assuming $150/hour, you need to see 27 patients/week to hit numbers similar to the first example above (i.e., $190k gross). That doesn't sound horrible.

Back to this, my napkin math typically assumes 4-5 weeks off a year and about 30-40% in taxes and expenses before net income, some of which would probably be distributed to me in earnings and some would be distributed to me as a reasonable salary. Is this right? Too conservative? Depends?

 

[R. Matey]

Agree, people definitely do think about the tax breaks, or the extra opportunities to shield revenue from taxes when they are comparing the two. Also, I see a lot of people dismiss PP revenue as "that's before taxes!" as if their W2 paychecks don't have taxes. Either way, if people are thinking about the two options and don't have a solid grasp on taxes and other business stuff, they'd probably be better off in consulting with a financial specialist who has knowledge in their area about what this could look like so they can compare some real numbers. You also bring up a good point, even if I don't make a lot more than I did in a hospital job and was just breaking even, I'd still go PP if just for the significant flexibility that I have. It's been huge with kids and other non-work responsibilities.

This is sort of the rub for me. My org pays me a pretty competitive salary for straight clinical work (toward the upper end of Sanman's above scale), I work four days a week, and have great benefits. For kids, clinical work would require me to work nights and weekends so I worry that I would be actually spending more time away from them than I would like. I think eventually I would like to be in a free agent just to dictate my own schedule and have the experience of hard work = more money for me personally. Right now, I'm one of the highest earners in our system for my position and don't really see much gain from it.

 

[WisNeuro]

Back to this, my napkin math typically assumes 4-5 weeks off a year and about 30-40% in taxes and expenses before net income, some of which would probably be distributed to me in earnings and some would be distributed to me as a reasonable salary. Is this right? Too conservative? Depends?

You can limit the taxes quite a bit with shielding, and overhead will completely depend on your area (e.g., rent). I pay a lower figure in taxes/expenses than that. But, I'm also not operating a physical office in say, a NYC/Boston/San Fran area.

 

[Sanman]

Back to this, my napkin math typically assumes 4-5 weeks off a year and about 30-40% in taxes and expenses before net income, some of which would probably be distributed to me in earnings and some would be distributed to me as a reasonable salary. Is this right? Too conservative? Depends?

The funny part is that the math is different for everyone. I get 11 federal holidays and I have 9 weeks of annual leave racked up. That means I only have to work 41 wks this year not counting sick leave. That would hurt in PP.

 

[AcronymAllergy]

The funny part is that the math is different for everyone. I get 11 federal holidays and I have 9 weeks of annual leave racked up. That means I only have to work 41 wks this year not counting sick leave. That would hurt in PP.

Did VA increase the annual leave limit for psychologists finally? I remember at least once or twice, I lost ~20 hours because I just forgot to take leave before the use-or-lose date hit. I really wish VA were like some other systems that let you buy back the time.

 

[Sanman]

Did VA increase the annual leave limit for psychologists finally? I remember at least once or twice, I lost ~20 hours because I just forgot to take leave before the use-or-lose date hit. I really wish VA were like some other systems that let you buy back the time.

Should be the same. I get 20 days per year and can roll over up to 30 days before use or lose starts. COVID led to lots of rollover.

 

[PsyDr]

Becoming a big fan of wondershare over adobe. One time expense vs monthly, faster, etc.

 

[WisNeuro]

Becoming a big fan of wondershare over adobe. One time expense vs monthly, faster, etc.

I am not familiar with this, can you say more? Always looking for adequate tools that do not require a monthly subscription

 

[PsyDr]

I am not familiar with this, can you say more? Always looking for adequate tools that do not require a monthly subscription

It's just an adobe replacement. One time purchase of ~$120, compared to $19/month for adobe.

Seems work better, without having AI forced down my throat. With adobe, OCR for a large series of documents wasn't finished after 24hrs. Wondershare did OCR for the same series in under 3 minutes.

 

[Sanman]

Becoming a big fan of wondershare over adobe. One time expense vs monthly, faster, etc.

Glad to hear this. Adobe is way too expensive for what I need it for and I am tired of having to cancel/restart it.

 

[Therapist4Chnge]

I use PDF Expert, same idea. $140/lifetime retail, but I bought it from MacHeist as part of a bundle a couple years ago. Def don't miss Adobe.