Early Retirement Difficult with Student Loans

A recent article from the AAPA showed that PAs over 55 are retiring earlier than expected. This is consistent with recent finding for physicians, showing half are planning to retire early due to changes in healthcare.

This will be my eighth year working as a PA and early retirement is sounding great. A lot of people look forward to days without a schedule, going on vacations and spending more time with family. I’ve always thought I’d continue to work as long as I’m capable, but recently have been feeling burdened by changes in health care.

No longer is practicing medicine about treating patients, we now have to keep patients happy. We are told to not over prescribe opioids, but when we don’t prescribe them, patients complain. When patients complain you get low scores on patient satisfaction surveys. We’re in a no win situation.

Our time is spent doing screening tests that have no correlation with the chief complaint. Depression is on the rise, not because it is affecting more people, we are just screening everyone who comes through our doors.

For older providers who learned to practice medicine using simple paper charts, the challenges of using an electronic medical record can be overwhelming. Looking towards early retirement is an option for those who are adverse to change.

I had an older physician ask me what I thought about practicing medicine with all the changes, my answer was simple: “I don’t know anything different”. I’ve seen a lot of changes since I first started practicing, which has taught me to be adaptable.  Younger providers understand that change is happening and it’s going to continue to happen.

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Another change from the old days is the cost to attend school. Only a few years back there were Bachelor and Associate programs for PA education. Now you must obtain a Master’s degree to become certified as a PA. Also, the cost of education has continued to rise over the years. Paying for an Associate’s degree is much less than paying your way through a Master’s degree program.

I was discussing this with an older gentleman who was telling me that when he was going to college he would pick fruit during the summer, and he was able to pay for his college doing this. The cost of education is much more than working for minimum wage over the summer. It might help supplement your expenses, but there is no way that’ll cover all your costs of education.

I love the idea of retiring early, but right now that seems unrealistic. Eight years into my career and I still have a lot of student debt and most of my financial focus is on paying these off before really saving for retirement. We’ve seen increases in PA salaries recently but the cost to become a PA has also been increasing. Paying off student loans and saving for retirement is a balancing act. I hope one day that I’m in the position to retire early or work less, but for now I’ll just keep making my monthly student loan payments.

For older providers early retirement might be an option, for the up and coming generation it is important to continue to be adaptable, and change your practice as health care changes. If we focus on paying off our student loans, then save for retirement, hopefully we will all be retiring early as well!

Has your student loans affected how you think about retirement?  Please comment below the original post, sign up to receive future posts by email and share with your friends!