can any practicing dentist elaborate about how you have been managing these big student loans?
I feel like the replies are missing the main points of this post
2 ways to manage the student loans (you can approach either or both options)
1. Be frugal, save your money towards loan repayment
2. Make more money to pay towards loan repayment
When you first start out, don't let these numbers look daunting. You're going from non-doctor/student income (if any) to doctor income. Option 1 works, but it's a futile approach based on associate income. Option 2 is more important than option 1. This doesn't mean that you cannot do option 1 and 2 simultaneously. Even if I had been frugal with an associate income of 360k+, it still wouldn't have been enough to build a good retirement. Unfortunately, associate income does have its limitations, so therefore, you have to look at ownership as your quick escape from your transitional poverty.
For those that are willing to do what it takes, I say borrow as much as you can with student loans (in excess), hunt good bargains for dental equipment in dental school, keep them for your future practice or resell on ebay, when you get out, find the highest paying job anywhere in the US, save as much money as you can, while paying as little as possible on student loans and housing, live frugally at this stage of life, then when you save about 100k at least, start construction on a cheap, new office. Keep working at your current practice and ramp it up until you're making more as an owner. Done! I make it sound easier, it doesn't happen all at once, but time flies. It was my formula, and it's the formula that makes the most sense. Buying a practice and paying into it for many years just sounds like another layer of unnecessary expense. Once you have your practice going, you don't have to worry about money as much. Student loans can be paid within a year once you have your practice ramped up. Mass marketing is the key to extreme practice growth. Only thing that sucks... you are recognizable in public.
If you have no desire for practice ownership, then finding the highest paying associateship is the next best thing. Either medicaid mill or denture mills would be your best bet, but burnout is real for associates, especially for the relatively meager compensation (compared to your production). If you are unable to move to the highest paying associateship, then you are stuck within your region's income limitations and you just have to exercise extreme frugality and/or work multiple jobs, 6-7 days a week. For those that think practice ownership is more stressful, I'd say it's the opposite. Being an associate is worse. I don't like being told what to do nor listening to what the "boss" says. Thankfully, I got paid as an IC, so I was able to deduct my startup expenses and tell them no when they wanted to have unpaid meetings. I just tell them, I'm not showing up unless I'm getting paid. Also, you have to work their hours, not your hours. That's the great thing about being an owner... you work when you want to. There's something liberating about setting your own hours. I don't want to wake up early, so I start at noon, so can you (if that's your cup of tea).
As an owner, my main problem is just being bored. I'm thinking of taking an apico course just to spice things up... seems natural in the progression of tooth lifespan: fill > rct/bu/crown/CL > apico > ext + implant >>>explant/implant/dentures . Being able to provide any of the needed services during that spectrum (except dentures) seems to be the natural progression of being a "single tooth specialist".
