Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Summer 2021 - 72

Pearls for Student Loan Debt
Two-thirds of the way up the upward slope:
I graduated orthodontic school in 2012 with
$584,000 in student loan debt. I was so sure
everything was guaranteed to work out, and I did
not need to worry about my debts-that it would
work itself out in the " future. " I did not pay much
attention to business finances; I was a clinician
first, and whatever bills needed to be paid did not
concern me. After all, school would not cost more
than it would give me the ability to pay back,
would it?
The steep steps upward: If times got lean, I put
my student loans into forbearance. It was super
easy to do that-just a phone call. I did not realize
all the capitalized interest that I was adding, and
if I did hear about it, I was not concerned. I could
pay it off later. I would not even bother looking at
the balance when I made my minimum payments.
In hindsight, it was very foolish.
The end of the upward cliffs: About 4 years
later, in 2016 or so, I actually started looking at
the balance each month as I made a payment. I
noticed something disturbing. My debt kept going
up! Month after month, I made payments, and
month after month, the balance would increase! I
started to track it to make sure I was not imagining
things. Then I realized that the minimum
payments that I had set up did not even cover the
interest each month. This was disturbing on a very
deep level. I started to realize what I had done.
The plateau at the top of the mountain: I stopped
putting my loans into forbearance and started
looking at them more often. I started paying more
than the minimum payments. I was not very
optimistic, realizing how many years this was
going to take. I calculated that I had capitalized
$236,000 in interest! Such a gut-wrenching feeling
when you realize your big mistakes. But there
is no changing the past, only improving so you do
not keep making the same mistakes over again.
The downward slope! 2018. I got serious. I started
paying extra. It was actually kind of fun-like a
game. I started tracking everything. I found this
simple website to be very helpful at visualizing
how the graph would look in the future if I paid
a little more each month: https://www.calcxml.
com/calculators/restructuring-debt.
I told my team how much debt I was in and that
the focus of all the financial decisions at the office
was to get me out of student loan debt as soon as
possible, after which we would all go to Hawaii.
Everyone got on board and started helping make
the office run more efficient and generate more
revenue.
The downward cliffs: Paying off my student loans
helped me realize how important it is to get out
of all my debts. I started paying off as many other
small debts as I could to make a debt snowball.
I went to financial classes through The Church
of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I set goals.
My wife and I talk about the goals. I refinanced
my loans to a lower interest rate. I teach my kids
what it takes to become a professional anything
and to avoid debt at all costs. There is no shame
in talking about this openly.
That's it. My mountain of debt. I am hopeful that
the downward slope will be steeper than the
upward slope and will be over soon! I am still
learning and welcome any advice.
72
PCSO Bulletin Summer 2021
https://www.calcxml.com/calculators/restructuring-debt https://www.calcxml.com/calculators/restructuring-debt
Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Summer 2021

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Pacific Coast Society of Orthodontists Bulletin Summer 2021
