Continuing Education

Here is a recent sports headline.  It describes the Minnesota Wild acquiring two free agents and the fact that the season ticket sales went "Wild."  Nice play on words.

One of the things I've seen for years is the lack of commitment by recent grads to continue their education.  Think about how much you've already spent and it was not deductible.  Now every dollar you spend on CE is reduced by your overall Federal and State tax rates.  For instance, spending $2000 on a course and travel seems like a big investment when not much is coming in.  If, however, you don't spend the money, you will pay taxes on that full amount.  If your overall tax rate is 40% now, that means you will keep at the end of the year $1200 of the $2000.  Spend the $2000 on a course and you don't pay taxes on that money since you no longer have it.  So the course costs you $1200 in real money not the $2000 it seems to cost at first glance.  Talk to your accountant if this does not seem perfectly clear.  Spend it or lose it.  Up to you.

Now back to the headline.  I see new residents build a new office and feel they have to compete in esthetics with the guy down the street so they max their buildout and have nothing left for CE.  Big mistake. Business people like the Krafts who own the Patriots don't say "I can't afford to buy new free agents.  I'll wait until I earn some more money."  They say "Let me put a winning team on the field and the money will come."  And that is what happened to the Wild.  They ramped up their team and ticket sales exploded.

Now there is a lot of CE on the web.  I would encourage you to look at Ormco, Unitek, Invisalign, etc for economical ways to enhance your skills.  When you travel for a course, do your due diligence and find out the best courses to take.  Usually, this mean two days with one doc not two days at a national meeting.  Those meetings are for socialization.

Things to consider:

McLaughlin's in office course

Warshawsky's Incognito in office course.

Cope TAD in office course

if you like 18 slot, Wick Alexander's in office course

if you want more on TADs, 2 days with Ludwig in Germany

3 days with Tim Tremont in  Pittsburgh for Dx and Tx Planning