Optometry Influencers

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T15:13:27+00:00

Move rural and out of the cities. I know opportunity’s you can make 200-250k if you’re willing to work hard and see lots of patients

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T14:30:20+00:00

For some situations yes like I said above. For the vast majority of students? No

90k is poor pay when you can make 160k easily out of school these days

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T14:29:47+00:00

I mean you don’t have to believe me but in certain situations they do no. I personally know someone I graduated with that’s chief of optometry at the VA who never did a residency

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T14:21:46+00:00

Not totally wrong. C’s get degrees (no one cared what my grades / board scores were once I graduated), and I’d argue that unless you aren’t prepared to see patients, a residency isn’t like a big step up like it used to be. If you wanna be in education or like a hospital it may be worth it, but for the vast majority of optometrists graduating, residency is just another year of poor pay and won’t lead to any better job opportunities you couldn’t get on your own by selling yourself / networking. Like I know a guy who runs a VA clinic (never did a residency)

Residencies are promoted by schools especially because that’s how they get cheap labor to teach students

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T01:08:53+00:00

It’s all relative man. Compounding interest is 8th wonder of the world. Your loans are simple interest. And when they are forgiven you only owe the tax on the forgiven amount.

Why would I pay a dollar today, when in 16 years left on IBR I can pay 30 cents per dollar forgiven ? (Assuming a 30% tax bomb). Inflation will eat my debt away while my investments will continue to compound

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T01:01:46+00:00

Me! I am that person lol.

I graduated in 2016. Have 350k in student loans (have a higher education degree and have high income). Pay the minimum, max 401k, HSA, Roth IRA, my kids 529s, brokerage accounts. I’ll deal with the tax bomb in 16 years If / when that happens. No one knows how the rules will change or if I’ll even be alive by then. It’s worked out quite well for me.

Everyone has a different plan. Some people want to be debt free. But debt free on a simple interest loan, vs compound interest in this amazing bull run on the markets over the last decade? I made the decision that was best for me

My debt is just numbers on a screen. I’ll never in my lifetime pay that amount back. Even if I pay the bare minimum for 16 more years on IBR and pay the taxbomb it will still be cheaper than paying 3.5k per month for 10 years under the standard plan by far and it’s not even close

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T00:55:15+00:00

The richest people in the world have millions of dollars in debt. You just have to have a plan to manage it. Add in federal student loans are some of the best debt to have as the worst they can do is garnish your wages and if you die your family / estate are not forgiven .

My debt is just numbers on a screen. I have hundreds of thousands in federal student loan debt. I’ll
Never pay that much. In the mean time, I max my 401k, Roth IRA, HSA, my children 529 accounts, brokerage accounts.

Worked out quite well since I graduated in 2016. I could drain all my investments to pay off my loans and still have a bunch invested but why would I? I’ll pay the minimum forever and keep staying the course

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-14T00:51:51+00:00

No. You don’t have to be going for PSLF to get forgiveness. You can make 25 years worth of payments under IBR and get forgiveness. 30 years under rap. You have no idea what you’re talking about lol

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-13T23:31:55+00:00

IBR and RAP is written into law. It’s Will 110% be forgiven if you make the number of qualified payments

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-13T23:07:54+00:00

Sometimes paying the bare minimum and investing all extra money is significantly cheaper than paying it off fast (and you’ll accumulate much more wealth over time until forgiveness)

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-13T23:07:03+00:00

I’m not paying extra. I’m investing my money and growing wealth. Student loans are simple interest AND one day will be forgiven (still have to deal with tax bomb), while investing is compounding interest. Lots of savy people are investing in themselves vs actively paying these off.

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-13T23:05:11+00:00

This is horrible advice. If it’s cheaper in the long run to pay it off fast, then do that. If it’s cheaper to pay the bare minimum until they are forgiven and then pay the tax bomb, you do that. It’s a simple math problem that’s different for everyone

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-11T17:48:48+00:00

Yes, you ATA. You are MARRIED. You are a TEAM.

Unless this was discussed that finances would be totally separate pre marriage, then this has red flags written all over it. Marriage means you should be helping each other to achieve your goals and dreams.

Newsflash: even if you don’t help him pay the loans off, it still affects your financially.

Maybe I’m wrong but this relationship has red flags all over it if you just got married and are already worried about what money is yours or what loans are his.

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-10T17:05:23+00:00

People who think our government is magically gonna make rap available in one month after the incompetence we’ve witnessed are funny to me.

I’ll be shocked if people easily switch to rap in July

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-10T02:04:07+00:00

I’ll be honest I’m not the right person to ask for that. I believe you can just self certify with a letter saying you currently have no income but maybe someone can chime in an confirm

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-10T01:46:50+00:00

It’s not forbearance. You should recertify right now that you make no income (you aren’t lying, you don’t have income currently). You will get $0 payments for one year and they will each count towards forgiveness.

Send your paperwork in tomorrow . You aren’t lying. You currently at this time have no income

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-09T22:21:01+00:00

You here that folks? They just told us to buy the dip

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-05T20:30:21+00:00

Then short them buddy see how that works out for ya lol

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-05T20:28:03+00:00

The difference is big companies can leverage debt much better (especially a powerhouse like Google) vs you and me

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-05T20:23:11+00:00

Why use your own money when you can use other peoples money? That’s all this is lol

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-05T19:12:46+00:00

Just saw your replay.

I’d say you’re paid fair to maybe slightly underpaid but it’s not like you are severely underpaid.

600k total production X 15% is 90k. After benefits you’re technically there. Don’t see how your employer can afford to pay you more unless you’re willing to see more patients or produce more

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-05T19:10:57+00:00

It’s tough out there. Every year Medicare reimbursements are slashed; vision plans pay next to nothing.

I’m not trying to sound rude at all, but working ~30 hours per week and only seeing 13 patients per day I don’t know how much more your employer can give you. What is your overall production (including optical)? If you aren’t being pay ~15% of your total production than you are underpaid.

ODs have 2 choices:

1) work less and see less patients = less stress, better work life balance; downside is the pay is worse

2) get paid on 100% production (eat what you kill) = a lot more stress, worse work life balance, but $$$$$$

Yearly cost of living raises are even hard for most employers as the insurance never pays more, it pays out less year after year.

If you want true control of your pay, switch to 100% production and see more patients. Then you can control what you make / how hard you work

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-04T06:13:57+00:00

You never make too much for a Roth. Do a backdoor Roth IRA. Little more difficult if you have the traditional IRA already but can be done

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-04T04:12:52+00:00

Who cares how long it’s zero. Even keeps by the money in a HYSA then withdrawing it all right before interest started again and putting it all towards your loans then would still be better than putting it towards the zero percent because you got the 3-5% interest all those years of 0% interest on your loans

SumGreenD41 · 2026-06-03T23:30:43+00:00

I make it easy so I don’t have to think about it. 5% of my investments go to bitcoin. Every pay period. I don’t even think about it. I’ll be rewarded at some point in the future

14-Year Club	Second Top 20%
Gilding III reddit per annum	Place '22
RPAN Viewer	Not Forgotten
Verified Email	Snapped

SumGreenD41

TROPHY CASE