Yeah, some people enjoy traveling to see the world. I enjoy driving a new car every 2-3 years. I don't need to see the world for I already live in the best cournty in the world.
Why in the world would anyone purchase an ELECTRIC bmw?
I need a lot more than that every month. Thatās a big lifestyle downgrade if I only collect that much every month. I donāt have any mortgage payment but I still have to pay at least $3k a month in property taxes/insurance/maintenancesā¦for the rest of my life. With inflation, everything will be much more expensive.
My wife is doing some of the things that you mentionedā¦..joining bible study groups, coaching the academic decathalon team at my sonās former junior HS, chatting on the phone with her other "stay-at-home mom" friends etc. I donāt find any of things that she does enjoyable. I find doing ortho is a lot more fun, especially now when I no longer have to talk to the referring GPs nor have to please every patient.
Nah, I canāt give up CAās beautiful weather and delicious food. The whole point of my hard work for all these years is to be able to retire anywhere I want. I actually downgraded a little bit. I sold my 5400sf house a couple of months ago beause the house was too big and I was tired of paying for all the maintenances. My son will go to college soon and I don't need a big house.5. You won my friend. No debt. Empty nester life soon and still 50. Time to make life about you. Consider relocating to a cheaper city. I hear Arizona is the new California, and we have a good mutual SDN friend who lives there that can show you around.
Yeah I miss the luxury interior and comfortable ride quality of the German cars. Thatās why I returned the model X and leased the X7. Electric cars are the future. I wish they could put the Teslaās motor inside that X7. Thatād be perfect.
Iāll say this for the people in the back to hear. There is no way on Godās green earth that I am grinding through school to then graduate and get anything less than a 4 wheeled machine that is loud, loaded with horse power, and that spews sweet petrol. I get electric cars have more torque, but they just simply cannot replace something like a porsche 911
Well. Now that we've sidetracked to a topic that I like. Yes. The 911s are amazing. Had three of them. 2 Twin Turbo 911s and a 911 cab. Great cars, but ............... boring after a while. 911s are no longer sportscars. They are bloated, heavy GT cars. They are cars attempting to please all facets of your driving duties. Carrera S is good. The GT3/GT3RS cars are better.
). Research the Alfa Romeo 4C. You don't need high horsepower. You just need a very light chassis. The 4C has a carbon fiber tub with aluminum substructures. It weighs around 2500 pounds. 240 horsepower. Has a power to weight ratio of a modern GT3. These cars don't hide all the mechanical sounds. The 4C is loud and obnoxious. Can you daily drive a 4C? Absolutely not unless you are insane.
See this is what they should be teaching in dental schoolWell. Now that we've sidetracked to a topic that I like. Yes. The 911s are amazing. Had three of them. 2 Twin Turbo 911s and a 911 cab. Great cars, but ............... boring after a while. 911s are no longer sportscars. They are bloated, heavy GT cars. They are cars attempting to please all facets of your driving duties. Carrera S is good. The GT3/GT3RS cars are better.
I don't like cars that coddle me like a Lexus. Had a R8 V10 for awhile. Great car. 525 horsepower. All naturally aspirated. Red lined around 8500. A GLORIOUS sound indeed. Great car, but it was designed to be a daily driver exotic. Inside felt like any ordinary Audi. Problem with high horsepower cars is that you cannot exploit all that potential speed without possibly going to jail. I didn't go to jail, but spent an entire day with the DUI losers in a court mandated class, high insurance premium, $$ for the ticket due to an Exhibition of Speed ticket. In Arizona exhibition of speed is a class one misdemeanor, which is the highest classification of a misdemeanor offense that we have. It also carries with it eight points that would go on your license. If you get convicted a second time within two years, this turns into a felony. Yea. Sold the R8 after this fun experience.
I like cars that are abusive to drive and are flawed. (kind of like my wife
Electric cars. At this point they are simply appliances to move you from A to B. It is the future, I will be buying an electric car as a COMMUTER car soon. As for electric sportscars. There is no denying the advantages electric has. But there is far more to the "driving" experience than instant torque and speed. I'll pass.
Actually, a few of our non-dental friendsā kids wanted to pursue dentistry when they visited us. I didnāt even need to convince them. I did warn them about the high student loan debt but this didnāt change their mind. Just last weekend, an optometry friend asked my wife to write the letter of recommendation for her son. My niece helped my wife a few times at her office during her college years. She is now a dentist and will start perio residency this Fall. And as you already knew, my nephew is a D2.
We need a 7-seat SUV because we usually take our parents out to eat with the kids. My wife drives the X7. It is our weekend car. I use the model S for my daily commute because of the autopilot feature. I just get behind a slow moving truck (to avoid other cars cutting into my lane)ā¦activate the autopilotā¦.and the car drives me home. The X7 has this autodrive feature too but itās not as good as the Teslaās one. Itās good that the German automakers produce more electric cars to compete with Tesla. Iāll have more choices in the future. This X7 will probably be our last gas car when the lease ends in 2 years. Even with the V8 engine, it feels slow in comparison to the Tesla. After driving an electric car for a while, it felt a bit inconvenient to have to go back to dealing with the key, start/stop button, gas station, clunky transmission, and the required routine maintenance (oil change) of an ICE car.
There has to be more to this story. Did you street race? How fast did you pass that traffic cop? lol
Nice car! It's possible for you to own such nice car because you're a dentist. And you think denstistry is a horrible profession.There has to be more to this story. Did you street race? How fast did you pass that traffic cop? lol
I love my 992 Carrera S in Aventurine green. Itās 2WD. I agree, this new generation of 911ās are more tamed beasts. But I love it!
Are you a partner in any restaurant businesses?
Thatās crazy..
I would wager itās one of the Boston schools, probably BU. They are all private institutions over there. No public schools in the northeast.
You were able to make those risky decisions because you're a dentist. Your good stable dental income would help bring you out of financial troubles if you lost your money on these risky investments. If you weren't a dentist, who had good income from your thriving practice, the banks wouldn't loan you the money for your other investments.
Luck definitely played a role in your case. Having a lot of money to invest doesnāt necessarily guarantee financial success. A lot of people lost their money because they invested at the wrong time. I lost my money on Bitcoin because I invested at the wrong timeā¦.itās not a big deal because of my good ortho income.
I have charged below the Medicaid fees since I graduated 20 years ago. And I am doing fine. That's how I survive in this competive market. I still make more at my own practices than what I make at the corp working as an associate.
I'm pretty sure everyone here will agree that you have done very well through mostly HARD work, low overhead and low fees. Rather than complain .... you found a niche that works well for you. You've mentioned it many times that most of your colleagues will not do what you do.
Debt has been normalized by society IMO. In America, we can get anything we want with credit or a loan. So indebtedness is not feared but seen as an essential to everything in life. All corporations offer debt. Every new young generation thinks no debt stops people from their goals. Also, Debt in many ways is what keeps this country going. In dentistry, there is a disconnect between schools raising their tuitions and dental insurances paying low fees. All pre-dents should need to understand and base their decisions to become a dentist are - can those two factors be pieced together? Clearly not.
Yes, low overhead, low fees and hard work have worked well for me even in a saturated market. I am very proud of my accomplishments. I want to share my story to the students who want to pursue dentistry because I want them to have a successful career like me. I want to let them know that working hard is not bad. I still get to do a lot of fun stuff. I have the kind of lifestyle that many people envyā¦.and the financial reward is GREAT in the end. If working hard was so bad, I wouldn't come on here and talk about my wonderful life as a practicing orthodontist. All the photos of my cars and my houses that I posted on here were not meant to show offā¦I use these photos to reassure the predents and dental students that choosing dentistry is the correct decision. I try to steer them away from choosing another career (even with much lower debt) that they may later regret. Iāve seen so many college grads who still have to depend on their parents for financial support. Iāve seen many college grads who work at jobs that are not related to their degreesā¦.and they are struggling to pay back the student loans with the little incomes that they earn.
You canāt compare dentistry with the stuff that you buy at Walmart. Walmart stores sell everything at low price because they import cheap low quality items from China. Dentistry is a healthcare profession. All dental procedures have to be performed by a licensed dentist, and not by some non-liscensed assistants. I have the same degree and level of education as the ortho who charges twice as much as what I charge. Therefore, the quality of care that I provide for my patients should be at the same standard as what other orthodontists provide for their patients. In order to maintain the success of my business, I need the referrals from general dentists and word-of-mouth referrals from my patients. I have to take good care of all the patients, whom the general dentists refer to my office. The thing about ortho is the treatment results will not only be judged by the patients but also by others (friends, relatives, referring GPs etc.)
German automakers are very good at marketing their products. They are very good at āfoolingā a lot of people. They produce more luxurious and better looking cars but their engines are definitely not as reliable as the much cheaper Japanese cars like Toyota Camry and Honda Accord.
Not every dentist has the right business skills that help him/her become a successful owner......Dentists like ColdFront and Taman are an outlier. I am not an outlier. Every dentist is capable of working hard like me (or harder than me)ā¦.it is within his controlā¦it is within his reach. If one chooses not to work hard, then one shouldnāt go around telling the predents that dentistry is a horrible profession. A $600-800k student loan debt is like a typical loan on a house. A dentist should be able to buy several of these $600-800k houses before he retires. If he canāt do this, there must be something wrong with his clinical skills and his work ethic.
Say if one wants to become a general dentist, does not want to become an owner, and would like to work as an employee for their entire career, would you still recommend the profession for $600k student loan debt? Provided that the individual is willing to work hard (5-6 days a week).
The problem is the associated price tag to become one...(i.e 600k)
And the fact you have to go through dental school...@charlestweed I think no one is saying that dentistry is a horrible profession
Yes, if this person starts dental school at 21, 22 and will earn the DDS degree at 25, 26. No for older non-traditional students.
If one can bring home (depends on one's work ethic) $2-300k or more then this $600k debt amount is not that much. A dentist should be able to buy several $600k houses before he retires.@charlestweed I think no one is saying that dentistry is a horrible profession
@charlestweed I think no one is saying that dentistry is a horrible profession
Nothing wrong with good ole fashioned hard work.
You worked 11 hour days for 5-6 days? Thatās 55-66 hours a week.
That's nothing.
Charles is really ramping it down with those 10.5 hour days xDThat's nothing.
Rumour is that when Charles was young. He walked to school 3 miles in the snow uphill both ways. At school .... he could study, eat lunch, rub his belly and tap his head all AT THE SAME TIME. Speaking of school. Charles worked so hard that he skipped pre-school, grade school, high school and went straight into college. All before he was 16. At work ... he could run and operate multiple offices all ..... without a single computer. 11 hour work days were the norm for many years. Charles is 50 now and is finally slowing down. He works 10 1/2 hours a day now. He complains that with all his extra time (1/2 hour) he might need to start another practice. Not only can he juggle 11 hour work days. Multiple practices and a Corp side gig .... he also has time to post on SDN.
In all seriousness. Thank you Charles. You're an inspiration to what hard work can accomplish.
Itās 12 hours a day (1 hour lunch). No, I only worked like that 2 days a week. There werenāt enough patients to work more days because it was a brand new office that I set up from scratch. I would work more days if there were more patients. My wife also came to help me both at front and backā¦collecting the payments from patients, sterilizing instruments, cleaning the chairs etc. My wife brought our 18-month old daughter to the office. Our daughter could have stayed home with the live-in nanny but we wanted to see her face while we worked. I also asked one ortho RDA, who worked with me at the corp, to follow me to my office and I paid him $60 for assisting me. After work, we had a nice dinner at a Chinese restaurant that stayed opened until 12am. I had only worked this late for about 2 years.
I donāt know. All of us have choices to make for our lives.
That's nothing.
Rumour is that when Charles was young. He walked to school 3 miles in the snow uphill both ways. At school .... he could study, eat lunch, rub his belly and tap his head all AT THE SAME TIME. Speaking of school. Charles worked so hard that he skipped pre-school, grade school, high school and went straight into college. All before he was 16. At work ... he could run and operate multiple offices all ..... without a single computer. 11 hour work days were the norm for many years. Charles is 50 now and is finally slowing down. He works 10 1/2 hours a day now. He complains that with all his extra time (1/2 hour) he might need to start another practice. Not only can he juggle 11 hour work days. Multiple practices and a Corp side gig .... he also has time to post on SDN.
In all seriousness. Thank you Charles. You're an inspiration to what hard work can accomplish.
