How do you pay off 400-500K in school loans?

I've often wondered this myself.

Part of the problem is that 400K-500K loans are relatively new...our generation of dentists will be among the first to have them. So you're not going to find a 40-year old dentist who has paid it off (or even a 30-year old dentist). It's going to take these new dentists time to pay it off.

You mentioned "timely manner"- so I will assume you are NOT doing IBR/PAYE which are over 25-30 year periods (if you were, it would be just above 3K/month for a total of around $1.2M at the end of 30 years).

So, in my approach, I'll assume that you are willing to work a little harder than the average dentist, and that you want to pay them off ASAP ("timely manner"). I will also assume be on the conservative side and assume that your hourly income NEVER increases. All my calculations are in today's dollars.

Let's figure this out...

The typical starting salary for a dentist working 50 weeks a year at 40 hours a week = $120K pre-tax. That's $60/hr.

Let's say you pick up side hustle like @AlyssaRof2012 said and begin to work 60 hrs a week. Salary? $180K.

Assuming one personal exemption, the max contribution to tax-advantaged retirement accounts (18K...i'll assume you don't get an HSA), and a standard deduction, your federal tax burden comes out to $35,547/year.

Let's assume you live in a state with no state income tax.

$180,000-$18,000 Retirement-$35,547 taxes = $126,453 post-tax income/year.

Now, there are going to be professional fees, licensing fees, CE you want to take that bosses won't cover, etc.. Let's just put a budget of $5K aside for that.

You have $121,453 left.

Now, a single person can live comfortably on $3K/month (assuming you aren't in NYC or San Francisco or some other place with an outrageous cost of living). So take out $36K for living expenses including food, housing, vehicle, etc.

$85,453 left to throw at your loans.

Let's assume you graduated with $450K loans, and that you pay the loans after interest accumulates on them.

End of year 1: $450K * 1.07 = $481.5K - $85.4K payment = $396.1K.
End of year 2: $396.1K * 1.07 =$423.8K- $85.4K payment = $338.4K
End of year 3: $338.4K * 1.07 = $362K- $85.4K payment = $276.6K
End of year 4: $276.6K*1.07=$296K- $85.4K payment = $210.6K
End of year 5: $210,600*1.07 = $225.3K- $85.4K payment = $140K
End of year 6: $140K*1.07= $150k-85.4k payment = $64.6K
Year 7: loans paid off.

So, your answer: seven years. Working seven years, 50 weeks a year, at 60 hours a week, living on $36K a year, maxing out your retirement accounts each year, you should be able to pay off a $450K student loan. Again, this assumes your hourly wage never increases. If it does increase, then obviously your time horizon will be shorter.

Obviously there are other strategies out there. Build a practice for more cash flow. Specialize for more cash flow. IBR/PAYE. Military loan repayment. NHSC loan repayment.

But this was just intended to be one example/sample calculation. Hope it helped!

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How do you pay off 400-500K in school loans?