Debt Free DDS’ Friday Favorites are a collection of this past week’s (or month’s or year’s if still relevant) financial blog posts, articles, or other resources. These are resources I have found very helpful for me on my journey to becoming debt free, financially literate, and financially independent. I believe they will help you too.

If you need help with financial education, please see my Recommended Resources tab. If you are drowning in student loan like I once was, start by refinancing them to get a lower interest rate. See my Student Loan refinancing tab for great options. And if you don’t feel like you know enough to manage your own finances and you need help, see my Financial Planning Services tab for help.

And a Very Happy Valentine’s day to you all………..on to my Friday Favorites

Debt Free DDS’ Friday Favorites 02/14/2020

1) As you hopefully read in last week’s post, I love to travel. I read the Physician of Fire’s blog not only for his financial advice, but for his travel posts. He is retired and I have a busy dental practice, so I can’t travel as he does. However, I hope to emulate his traveling experiences one day. This week he gave us part 2 of his slow travel to Mexico with his family. What an amazing experience. I hope to be able to do that some day too.

2) Anyone who reads this blog knows I love talking about investing, however I don’t talk much about Real Estate. That is not because I don’t think it is a great way to invest. Rather, it is because I don’t feel I know much about it and I don’t want to write about stuff I don’t understand well. My plan is to educate myself better on Real Estate investing, then get involved with it, and then write about it. In some of my initial research I have come across Coach Carson. Here is a good article to start with. I have taken a couple of his courses and have read his articles and they are a fantastic way to get started with Real Estate. I highly recommend you check out his site.

3) As you start to earn more money and pay down some of your debts, it is ok to spend a little more on some things you enjoy. The key is to not go overboard. You still need to continue to be frugal and build wealth if you want to reach financial independence at a decent age. The Physician Philosopher had a recent post about some ways we can spend a little more on the things we love, but make sure we dial back on some other things. It’s fantastic advice that I myself adhere to.

4) I am not one to get political on the blog, and so mentioning this article is not meant to be political. CNBC recently posted this article titled “Why people with student debt are refusing to repay it”. As you may have read in my post on the White Coat Investor’s site called “Freedom from student loan debt: A dentist’s story” I too was unable to pay anything but my $2,000 interest payment a month. And even that was a stretch. I was lost, scared, and felt hopeless. I had three children to take care of. But I also knew I had knowingly taken out those loans and agreed to repay them. I had to move my family to a part of the country I had never been. I had to work two jobs for a while. But I did it.

I know dentist’s can get a salary that is well above the national average, but we also have debt 4-6 times the national average as well. I understand everyone has different circumstances, but we are responsible for paying off our loans ourselves. That might mean a lot of sacrifices, but it has to be done. And I do agree that school is way overpriced, but that’s the world we live in. Until it changes, we are stuck with the way it is. I hope my site provides some feeling of hope and help for becoming free from student loans.

5) A good way to pay of debt, build wealth, and become financially independent is to make more money. I would never advocate to make more money unethically. As dentist’s and other healthcare providers we need to make sure we are always doing what is best for our patients. However, there are certain things we can do to help our practices be more financially successful. One way is to make sure our patient’s like us. I recently read a great article in Dental Economics about how important our chairside manner is. We want to not only give our patient’s great care, but we want them to feel comfortable with us. Read this article for some tips on how to improve your chairside manner for a better patient experience.

This Week’s Recommendation

I encourage you to take your student loan bull by the horns. Pay down that debt within 3-5 years of graduating dental school. Make the necessary sacrifices in order for this to occur. Here are some things you can learn from how I paid off mine.

Remember you don’t have to be a slave to your student loan debt. Together we can become debt free, financially literate, and financially independent.

-Debt Free DDS

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*Nothing on my website is professional or legal advice. I am only sharing information that I have learned and it may or may not be accurate. I am not liable for any problems you may have by following this advice. Please do further research and get professional and/or legal advice about any of these topics. This post likely contains affiliate links. This site could be paid for clicks or purchases made through these links. See my disclosure here.