Couple Leverages a Dental Practice to Reach Financial Independence in 9 Years - MtoM Podcast #225

This is the White Coat Investor Podcast Milestones to Millionaire celebrating stories of success along the journey to financial freedom.

This is Milestones to millionaire number 225. Couple leverages a dental practice to reach financial independence in nine years since April 2021, more than 650 physicians in the White Coat community have invested over 300 million with DLP Capital, a 12 Time Inc. 5000 honoree that offers four private real estate investment funds. One of my favorite ways to invest in real estate. If you're eager to achieve success as a private real estate investor, DLP's impact focused sponsored funds offer the potential to earn double digit returns while making an impact on America's affordable housing crisis. Interested in learning more? Head to whitecoatinvestor.com DLP today. All right, we got a promotion going on here at WCI as well. If you will book a consult@studentloanadvice.com Between June 1 and June 30, you will get a copy of one of our online courses, our continuing financial education 2024 course. This is like 50 hours of material and we're giving it away free to anybody who books a consult@studentloanadvice.com I mean, if you've been following news, it's like there's a change in student loans every week all spring. And so if you're not sure if your student loan plan is still the right plan, now's the time to have a consult with a professional that can guide you through it. No, PSLF is not gone. No, not all IDRs are gone. They still exist. Are there changes that you need to know about? Yes. Do you need to have backup plans and things like that in case Congress or the White House decides to make some additional changes? Yes, but we'll help you walk through it. So you have a plan that's going to work for you that you don't have to lie awake at night worrying about your student loans. Whether you owe $80,000 or whether you owe $800,000, it can be worth your time and a few hundred dollars to chat with an expert@studentloanadvice.com and to bribe you to do it. We're going to give you a copy of CFE 24 to go along with that. All right. We got a great interview today. We got a couple who have become financially independent. So I thought after we chat with them, we're going to talk about the concept of fire and learn a little bit more about that. All right. We have two guests today on the Milestones to millionaire podcast who are going to remain anonymous, which isn't unusual. What I found on this podcast over the years is the further along the milestone is, the more people want to remain anonymous. And we grant them that opportunity because we like the details. And when people are anonymous, they share a lot more details. We know you guys like the details as well. And frankly, you don't care what their names are or whether they live down the street from you. So although somebody out there may recognize their voices, we're going to allow them to stay.

That's what I was thinking. It's not been easy. Just the other day I was telling not to buy a $1.5 million house because it would just set our retirement plan. Yeah, completely back.

So she's super forward thinking, I'll say that. So she's always got the goal in mind and keeps me from getting off track for sure. The other thing about this is, you know, it's really hard to make a million dollars a year profit in a dental office. So both of us were just there just working all the time, and that really helped us spend money as well, because.

Yeah, yeah, it's hard to spend when you're at work. Okay, now I can see you because I've got a video while we're chatting. Other people won't be able to see you, but you guys are, you know, 40s, I would guess early 40s. Not even that yet. No. Late 30s.

I'm 35.

Yeah, I'm 35.

Okay. Yeah. So you're young. And so I guess the question for me when I see somebody fi at such a young age, whether that's 35 or 45, is what does your financial life look like going forward now? Now that you don't have to work? How much are you going to work now that you have enough money to spend more than the 140 or 150,000 you've been spending? What do you expect your spending to look like going forward? Tell us what your vision, what your plans are going forward for your financial life.

So my plan is to really just stay at home and take care of my child and another one on the way.

Congratulations.

Thank you.

Thanks.

So you're. So you're going to fire. You're done, you're punching out. You don't expect to go back to. You don't expect to go back to dentistry at all?

Hopefully not for a couple of years.

How about on the other side? What's work look like for you going forward?

So I always have the goal, Right. I think Both of us always had the goal to retire at 40. Now that we're getting closer and, you know, we've achieved that to some sense, it actually becomes super scary in terms of what are you going to do afterwards? And then what I'm realizing is I actually, I really like working. I really like putting things out into the world that give people a lot of value. But what financial independence gave us is kind of that freedom, Right. To decide what that is for ourselves and not worry if it fails or makes any money. So, yeah, I think I'll probably just build another product and put it out there, but probably really, really slow.

Yeah. Now 3 or 4% of 8 million is something like, you know, $300,000 a year, about twice what you're spending now. Do you expect your spending to change or do you think you're going to keep spending about 150 year?

Oh, my gosh. That's the hardest thing, is trying to learn how to spend more money and break those habits. We were just talking about this last night as we were prepping for this. You know, we gotta learn how to do that.

Yeah. I mean, it's. Our spending hasn't changed. I think the only reason it would change is if we had a higher mortgage payment.

Yeah.

And our lifestyle. We already take vacation.

Yeah.

So that's another thing. Right. So we don't, I don't think we want for anything. We just live in kind of like a medium or low cost of living area because we're kind of out in. We're out on the outskirts of a large city, but kind of close to like the farm area. So it doesn't cost as much to live here. We take a lot of vacations. We kind of buy whatever we want, I guess. But yeah, I think the two things that we could really work on is maybe upgrading our lifestyle just a little bit and not delaying gratification, I guess.

Yeah. One of the best books out there that we've mentioned on the White Coat Investor podcast before for people with your challenge. Right. And it's a great problem to have. There's no doubt about it. This is the ultimate first world problem.

Right.

Is Die With Zero, which is a great book for people like you and me that maybe of the five money activities, the one we're not the best at is spending. And I know of no other book that's as good at making you really think about ways you can use your money in a manner that'll bring more happiness to your life and that of others. Okay, well, very cool. You got to tell us a little bit about the discussion, maybe an ongoing series of discussions between the two of you and how you got on the same page to work so hard and so aggressively toward early financial independence.

I think the hard working ethics of that really just comes from our parents and watching them work hard as they're immigrants.

Yeah.

So seeing them work, like, over time, over, like so many hours, working night shifts constantly, really made me feel like I owe it to them for making them since they came to another country and worked so hard. I think it's just something that we should do.

Yeah, I think I agree with that completely. You know, both of our parents are immigrants. They both came from different countries. But that hustle, that working, building a better life, that was, I guess, instilled in us from. I can't even remember a time when they would take vacations. Right. So I think that became innately part of our personalities and it's just something that we knew about each other when we met.

Right.

Both of us would do this in graduate school, and we do the same thing today.

Yeah. But there was never a time where one of you came to the other and said, why are we saving three quarters of our income? What the heck are we doing? There's no big disagreement like that along the way.

My gosh, I did that yesterday.

First of all, I don't even know the financial background of our income. I don't know how much we save. So I always frugal because I don't know my finances. I don't really look at my net worth or my stocks. I'm just like, hey, I'm in the same mindset as I was when I graduated.

Yeah.

So that helps.

Yeah. So when we got married, she basically handed all that responsibility to me and then never looked back. But yeah, we definitely have those conversations. We had one last night as we're planning to do this podcast today. And like, like you said, it's just something that we need to learn, something that we need to grow into. You know, there's going to be a balance. I think we're blessed to have the opportunity to grow our lifestyle and enjoy it a little bit more without having to worry about it for the most part. And now we both need to work on making sure that we take hold of that opportunity but not also waste it on, you know, frivolous.

Right. Well, congratulations to both of you. You've been very successful. Thank you so much for being willing to come on the podcast and share your success with others and hopefully inspire them to reach their own Goals. And I wish you continued success in all your endeavors, both financial and non financial.

Thank you so much, Jim. Thanks for letting us on this podcast.

All right. I hope you enjoyed that interview as much as I did. I love seeing people that are way more successful than me. I was telling them after we stopped recording that it took us seven years to become millionaires out of medical school. And lots of people are inspired by that. Right. I wrote a book, basically talks about how we did that and how they can do that and so on and so forth. Yet these guys got to $8 million in just eight or nine years. Dramatically more successful than Katie and I were. And so it's super impressive. But I think it's important to understand the concept of fire. Okay? FIRE is financially independent. Retire early. And the most important concept to understand here is that retirement is not an age, it's a number. It's the number at which you're financially independent. And you can quibble about the 4% guideline, but it's pretty useful to determine about how much you need to be financially independent. The equation's very easy, right? You just reverse engineer 4% into 25x, right? So 25x what you spend every year, including taxes and any advisory fees, is how much you need to be financially independent. So if you spend $100,000 a year, you need 2.5 million to be financially independent. If you spend 200,000 a year, it's 5 million. If you spend $300,000 a year, it's 7.5 million. If you spend $400,000 a year, it's 10 million. Right? And that'll get you in the ballpark about how much you need to be financially independent. Now, how do you get there? Well, especially with getting there rapidly about anytime, it basically boils down to your income and your savings rate, right? The more you save, the less you need in retirement, and the more you have to put into your investment accounts where that money can compound. Right? So you can make a chart. If you're saving 0% of your income, you're never going to be financially independent. You're going to work until the day you die. Unless, you know, maybe you're living on Social Security or something. If you're saving 100% of your income, you're already financially independent, right? Because you don't need any of your income to live. I don't know what you're living on, but you don't need your income to do it. Everybody else is somewhere in between, between 0% and 100%. Now, the recommendation I make to most doctors is that they save about 20% of their gross income for retirement throughout their career. And over the course of a 30ish year career, that'll get most doctors to the point where they can maintain their standard of living during retirement. They'll save 20% of their gross throughout their career. They ought to have enough by the time 30 years have passed that they can maintain that standard. Now, if you want to retire earlier than that, you got to save more, right? You save 25% or 30% or 40% and you start seeing the years being knocked off to the point where you do what this couple did and you're saving 50% and 60% and 70% of your gross income. You get to financial independence pretty quickly. Now, obviously, income matters, right? It's just way easier to save a lot of money when you make $800,000 a year than when you make $150,000 a year. And frankly, the vast majority of people dramatically overestimate the difficulty of doubling their income, right? There's lots of ways to increase your income. It's harder the more you make, of course, but when you have a $30,000 a year job, just doing a little Uber in the evenings might double your income, right? But for other people, it's getting an additional certification, it's getting an additional degree, it's negotiating better your next job opportunity, it's changing jobs, it's asking for a raise, it's starting a side gig. Those are the ways you increase your income. When you increase your income, yeah, you're going to pay more in taxes, but you also have more income available to save to get you toward financial independence. Now, you may not value becoming financially independent at 35 or 45, right? That's totally fine, right? There's no reason you have to be financially independent early. You're not like a failure if you don't fire by any means. In fact, I would love for doctors to be so happy with their work that they'll stick with it until they're 55 and 60 and 65 and 70. But I want them to be doing it because they love it, and I want them to be doing it on their own terms. And financial independence allows you to make the decisions and the changes in your career and your job that allow you to do that. So even if you don't retire early, you know, moving toward financial independence and becoming financially independent will open up those options for you. So I hope that's helpful in understanding the concept of financial independence. Our sponsor for this episode is DLP Capital, trusted by more than 3,500 accredited investors in all 50 states as of March 31, 2025. DLP Capital's strategic focus on attainable workforce, housing and fast growing Sun Belt markets gives you the potential to earn consistent monthly income, diversify away from stocks and bonds and generate double digit returns. DLP's current offerings include both private credit and equity strategies, making it easy to find the right fit for your risk tolerance and investment goals. And don't forget, DLP offers lower investment minimums exclusively for White Coat investors. Discover more@whitecoatinvestor.com DLP thanks for being part of this podcast. You can be on it too. Just go to whitecoatinvestor.commilestone and apply until next week. Keep your head up and shoulders back. You've got this. We're here to help. See you next time on the Milestone Podcast.

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