How to live longer, happier – practice part time for life (PTFL).
Timothy Brown
Recently, I was speaking with Dr. Milan Somborac, the founder of the Monday Morning Millionaire program and he produced this quotation: “Retirement is the leading cause of death, so let death be your retirement.”
I coined the phrase “part time for life” (PTFL) many years ago to explain the phenomenon of mature professionals (dentists) continuing to work part time, as opposed to full time, in order to stay active and to stay stimulated.
Dentists can do this. They can sell their practice today but keep their license and continue to practice dentistry part time for the remainder of their lives. There are many corporations and individual practice owners who are thrilled to have a senior experienced dentist in a part-time associate position.
The high stress level related to dentistry is in part connected to the business side of dentistry. The primary source of stress in dental practice ownership is human resource management. Most dentists are not properly trained for human resource management. Given it is a micro/small work environment, toxic employees impact everyone – and it happens everywhere – more often that we as owners even know. Thus, turnover is frequent. Turnover is also in part due to the fact that most of the people working in dental practice are young females.
Getting out of ownership equals getting out of stress. Keep your license. Continue to work part time for 10, 20 or 30 years and watch out for retirement. According to Milan, it is a leading cause of death.
