THE BUSINESS OF PRACTICE: MANAGING PRACTICE CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITIES


vet. I graduated college early and took a year off between college and vet school. During that year I established residency by starting my own hunter/ jumper show barn/sales and training business. Upon graduation I was making six figures train-


ing and selling horses. I kept my business and started in practice for myself and basically just dab- bled in being a veterinarian. I did this for 2 years before my husband got a job and we moved. When I got a job as an associate (the fourth asso-


ciate at the practice) in a 100% equine practice. I worked on 100% commission. I have to look back at the exact numbers, but I definitely made less than $20,000 that year. Because of the very low pay I once again started training and buying selling horses and started a practice of my own with another of the associates that left the original practice. Dr. I I owed a little over 100,000 when I graduated in


2006. My husband and I both had jobs, so we lived off his income and used mine to pay off debt and we delayed having kids for 3 years. I picked up every weekend on call I could (we got 50% of what we grossed from emergency call) and we lived frugally. The practice I work in is large-animal exclusive and I do 50% equine. My debt was paid off completely in 7 years. Dr. J I worked for 5 years right out of school as an associate in mixed practice then went out on my own as solo equine only. I have no office and no employ- ees, so my overhead is very low. I consolidated at the lowest rates possible as soon as I took my loans for fourth year and started to repay even though I didn’t have to. I used my scholarships awarded at graduation to pay off a big chunk of my loans to start as my husband was gainfully employed and I had a job waiting. I wasn’t expecting those scholarships, so I figured my loans were a good way to use them. I paid more than the minimum every month and


when I could afford more I paid up to 3–4x’s my payment amount requesting the extra be applied to the principal. I also took advantage of the interest reduction for automatic withdrawal after 18 months of on-time payments, so I think my interest is only 2.75%. I do not own a home yet because my savings fails to grow much but I amdoing that later this year I hope. Imade strategic plans for my own practice by buying older, used equipment but have slowly been upgrad- ing things. I have had help from my folks with personal loans to buy some new equipment like my vet box. Dr. K I graduated in 2010 and did a 1-year academic


equine internship. I then did a 3-year residency in large-animal internal medicine (and was subse- quently board certified after passing boards). Dur- ing those 4 years of further studies, I deferred payment on my loans for 3 years bc I couldn’t afford


124 2019  Vol. 65  AAEP PROCEEDINGS


it (internship salary, $32,000/year; resident salary, $35,000/year). The final year of my residency I got married and my husband started paying $1000/ month toward the loans, which didn’t even cover the interest. My loans were $134,000 on graduation, and went up to $185,000 in the interim, at 6.8% interest, all federal. I took amixed-animal job, 80% small, 20% equine,


paying $75,000/year. I loved the improved quality of life with much less on call, and better pay. I then got a raise to $90,000/year the following year. Dur- ing all this, once I started working at my mixed- animal practice, I started paying $2100/month toward the loans. The only reason I was able to do this was because we basically lived off my husband’s income, didn’t eat out, and lived as cheaply (read: college student) as possible. My debt was paid down even more quickly when we moved to New York 2 years ago and bc of my husband’s increased salary, started paying $4100/month and living the same (college student style). I took a small-animal- exclusive job, bc I could not imagine working the hours, with on call, emergency duty, etc. for less pay that equine practice provides. I now make $100,000 per year as an associate, paid vacation, no after-hours duties, no on call, no weekends. As far as the debt goes, we are basically only making prog- ress because we live like we are poor, and I pay basically my entire paycheck to the loans and we live off my husband’s salary. Dr. L I was very lucky that at the time I graduated


(2007) I was able to consolidate about $100,000 of the debt at 1.7% interest. That was due to on-time pay- ments and borrower benefits that lowered my very low interest rate even further. That made a huge differ- ence. Secondly, I had about $20,000 in private loans and I threw everything I had at those to pay them down over the course of one year when I finally was making enough money to even try. Also, I have always had a “second” job. I did USEF drug testing, and vaccine clinics while I was an associate. In 2014 I left my position as an associate. I was making about $80,000 whatever I earned in side money ($10,000– $15,000/year). That was the year I knocked out the $20,000. I started in a sports medicine practice with the idea that I would be buying in after 2 years. Not having on call freed me up to work more efficiently and the higher margins of sports medmeans that I can earn more. In the beginning I took a part-time position with Banfield to keep my income up to where it had been, and from there I was able to transition to small- animal ER relief work, which is also extremely lucra- tive. So, I brought in about $200,000 last year with an even split between what I made in my business and what I made on the “side” doing ER. I do overnight shifts, and I sleep as I can on the overnights, and lots of times I “work” for 48 hours straight living off naps... Dr. M I graduated with $56,000 in debt with the majority being a federal student loan. I also had a small


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