I recently got a chance to interview one of our Mastermind members, Russ Manalastas in the PT Entrepreneurs Facebook Group.
It’s a great conversation but one thing that I think really stuck out is just how fast Russ and his wife have been able to pay down their student loans.
By the end of this year he and his wife will have paid off over $160,000 in student loans.
The coolest part is, they will have accomplished the bulk of this in just 2 short years.
Student debt is a real problem for our profession.
Per the APTA, the average DPT graduate will have about $142,000 in debt, which includes both undergrad and their DPT program.
Honestly, that number shocked me when I saw it.
Here’s why…
The median salary for all PTs in the US is about $89,000 and for new grads, the average is about $66,000.
Let’s compare this to our General Practitioner MD friends.
Their average salary is about $213,000 and their average total student debt is about $241,000 including both undergrad and medical school.
The ratio is the important part.
If we look at the debt to average income, here’s what we get.
DPT
$89,000 / $142,000 = .627
MD General Practice
$213,000 / $241,000 = .884
Computer Programmer
$86,000 / $35,000 = 2.45
The higher the number the better. In this example I even threw in the debt to average income ratio for a computer coder.
The computer coder pays on average $35,000 for school and makes an average of $86,000. They crush us with a ratio of 2.45.
No wonder there are so many people entering the workforce as computer programmers!
Neither the DPT or MD ratios are great considering one year of median income doesn’t even equal the total amount of debt but…our MD friends are much closer than we are.
They also have about $124,000 more income per year which can help pay off student debt much faster….assuming they are fiscally responsible.
So what options do we have?
There really are only 3 that I think are valid if you want to continue to work as a PT.
1. Live like a miser and put all your additional money towards paying off debt.
2. Make a lot more money and put that additional money towards debt.
3. A combination of both where you have a very strict budget but still make a lot more money.
Option 3 is what Russ and his family did.
It’s the fastest way to eradicate debt long term.
Russ was able to do it through the vehicle of a performance based cash practice.
Imagine making $140,000 a year instead of $89,000 but keeping your same lifestyle.
That’s an additional $51,000 a year.
That can pay off a lot of debt!
I know many of you are saddled with massive student debt.
It’s not going anywhere and it’s important that you start creating a plan to dig yourself out of this hole.
Our community has found the most success with getting rid of debt by building successful businesses that allow them to make just as much if not more than our General Practice MD friends.
You will not be able to make that kind of income working as a staff PT or a clinic director for someone else.
A successful practice is your vehicle to both time and financial freedom and if you’re looking to get there faster, we should talk.
If you’d like our help building a business that supports your life and doesn’t become your life… I recommend jumping on a totally free, quick 20 minute call with our team.
You’ll talk to a real person and they will give you customized guidance on your next skills or steps to take to gain momentum in your business.
We don’t sell anything on this call and you literally couldn’t buy something from us if you wanted to in this call.
We just know we can help and we want to prove it to you for free.
Pick a time that works for you.
It’s time to start making some serious progress in your business.
