The Bulletin is the official publication of the Second District Dental Society. It is published bimonthly, by the Journal of the Second District Dental Society, Inc. The opinions expressed are those of the writers and are not necessarily those of the Second District Dental Society. Subscription rates; members, $4.50 per year; others, $5.50 per year. Material for publication must be typewritten and double–spaced and must be received six weeks prior to the month of issue. Business communications and requests for advertising rates should be directed to the Second District Dental Society, 111 Fort Greene Place, Brooklyn, NY 11217 The Bulletin reserves the right to alter or reject any copy. ADVERTISING POLICY The SDDS Bulletin and website welcome advertising as an important means of keeping the dentist informed about new and better products and services for the practice of dentistry. Such advertising must be factual, dignified, tasteful, and intended to provide useful product and service information. The publication of an advertisement is not to be construed as an endorsement or approval by the SDDS Bulletin and website and/or its publisher, the Second District Dental Society, of the product or service being offered in the advertisement unless the advertisement specifically includes an authorized statement that such approval or endorsement has been granted. As a matter of policy, the SDDS Bulletin and website will sell advertising space when the inclusion of advertising material does not interfere with the purpose of their publication. The SDDS Bulletin and website reserve the right to accept or reject advertising, at its sole discretion, for any product or service submitted for publication. A Publication of the SECOND DISTRICT DENTAL SOCIETY 111 Fort Greene Place Brooklyn, New York 11217 Tel (718) 522–3939 Fax (718) 797–4335 STUART L. SEGELNICK, EDITOR Jeffrey M. Galler, Business Manager ASSOCIATE EDITORS Paul S. Albicocco Gabriel D. Ariola Babak Bina Alyson K. Buchalter Jacques Doueck Howard I.A. Lieb Lauro F. Medrano–Saldaña Deborah A. Pasquale Craig S. Ratner Reneida E. Reyes James J. Sconzo Paul W. Teplitsky OFFICERS President–Raymond A. Flagiello President–Elect– Tricia S. Quartey-Sagaille Vice President–Paul W. Teplitsky Secretary–Valerie Venterina Treasurer–Phyllis G. Merlino Librarian Curator–Position Vacant BOARD OF TRUSTEES Paul S. Albicocco William W. Bongiorno Alyson K. Buchalter Saad A. Butt Christen J. Carute Joann M. De Leonibus John P. Demas Michael J. Donato Cherry Libramonte Marc Meiselman Mitchell D. Mindlin Charles J. Mistretta Gisele F. Richard Sari R. Rosenwein Stephanie B. Sager Sandra S. Scibetta Stuart L. Segelnick Aia Shalan Ronald Turchak Kirstin A. Wolfe OFFICE STAFF Bernard Hackett, Executive Director Stephanie Carter Shayo Farinre Christine Terrio SDDS BULLETIN Continued from Page 1 » and keep on going, never to look back. There is semi-retirement, where you are not ready to walk away completely so you continue working but less than you did when you were younger. There is also temporary retirement, where you stop working but decide for many reasons that you are not ready to throw in the towel yet. There are many factors that go into retirement, but you can typically narrow them down to financial requirements and what to do with your extra time. There are many venues for financial advice on how to save money for retirement. These include but are not limited to an IRA, a SEP-IRA, a Roth IRA, a Roth 401K and many more entities. This article is not intended to give any financial advice and every person should seek out whatever advice they feel they need. I will also add at this point that funding many of these retirement accounts reduces your taxable income. Another consideration is your Social Security status: should you draw this at age 62 or work longer up to age 70, where you will draw the largest benefit possible? What are the benefits of retiring early or working longer and earning more money. Continuing to work for as long as possible will absolutely give you more choices and financial freedom in retirement, as you will have a larger monetary cushion. Another consideration is your health status and your psychological outlook. Are you burned out and do not want to see one more tooth in your lifetime? If you are in relatively good health as you get older, consider yourself lucky and chosen. Other factors to examine are if you are in debt, if you want to have a second career in another profession, or if you want to learn something different. Now let’s look at the opposite of retirement—you decide to continue working as you get older. Perhaps you find fulfillment in an organization’s or your own work. You will certainly improve your retirement finances if you continue to work and you do not need to draw on your savings. You can continue to support and donate to what you think are worthwhile causes. And if you continue to work as you age, you will probably stay mentally sharper. One of the thoughts to consider as you ponder retirement is what will you do with your dental practice. You can always just lock the door and walk away from a lifetime of achievement. Much of this depends on your real estate situation. Do you lease or own your space? If you lease, which is what most people do, you will have to get your landlord to offer a new lease to the incoming dentist so that you both can sell your practice and make sure it retains its value. Dealing with a landlord has its own set of issues and I would always recommend having legal representation in these matters. If you own your real estate, do you want to sell it along with the practice? Or do you want to become a landlord and get monthly rental income from what was your office? In this case the practice and the real estate are two totally distinct entities. Another side of the coin here is do you sell your practice earlier so it maintains more of its value and you would presumably get a higher price than if you worked a few more years? Or do you sell it later when the practice has regressed over time, as many of them do as the dentist gets older? The psychology here is somewhat difficult to potentially deal with. Most dentists identify who they are through their profession. Dentistry is a lucrative profession, which leads to the question —should you sell your practice earlier to get a top price? Or do you work even part time and continue to generate revenue at your pace, even if this distracts from the ultimate value of the practice? You must also consider what you will do with your additional time if you opt to sell your practice instead of continuing to work and possibly making less revenue, but at the same time keeping yourself occupied. It could come down to how much do you like or dislike your profession, as well as your health status. And let me conclude this article with some truisms that I found researching this topic. What is considered a good net worth at age 70? One rule I found suggests having a net worth equivalent to 20 times your annual expenses. And according to Charles Schwab’s annual modern wealth survey, Americans say you need a net worth of at least $2.2 million average to feel wealthy. The beauty of private practice dentistry is that you, as the practitioner, can make whatever decision you feel comfortable with. There is no right or wrong answer. As the old Yankees and Dodgers announcer, Red Barber, used to say, you are in “the catbird seat.” 2 SDDS BULLETIN JULY/AUGUST 2023 — VOLUME 40 ◊ NUMBER 4
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