I Retired at 40. Now I'm Going Back to Work.

I'm an orthodontist. I finished dental school at UNLV in 2006 and my orthodontic residency in 2008. I turn 50 this December, and I'm starting my second career after ten years of being mostly retired.

I want to tell you how that happened: how I got out early, how the plan came apart, and why I'm going back.

Christmas 2008

When I finished school, I owed more than $500,000 in student loans. Then I bought a practice in Henderson, Nevada, just outside Las Vegas. The doctor who started it had been open for about a year, then decided not to live in the Las Vegas area anymore and was moving to another town. Times were tough, and they just wanted to get out. I paid a little over $250,000 for it. Then I had to borrow working capital on top of that to build the practice and keep it running. All in, that came to about another half a million. I was a million dollars in debt before I'd really begun.

Six months into my first year, it was Christmas 2008, right in the middle of the financial crisis. I owned a practice, but it barely had any patients and no cash flow. I was losing money every month. By Christmas I was out of money. I couldn't sleep. The bank wouldn't lend me any more.

I thought I was going to go bankrupt in my first year, after doing everything right and going to school forever.

At the time I was working a couple of days a week as an associate for another orthodontist. I asked him for more time. He took mercy on me and found me work in Las Vegas. I went to six days a week: five days for him and one day for my own practice.

I loved my practice. I hated the grind. That winter I decided I would do whatever it took to build enough to have freedom.

Running the business instead of being the business

My first goal was simple to say and hard to do: get out of debt, and get to where I was running a business instead of being the business.

So I worked six days a week for a long time. It took about ten years to pay off the debt. By 2016 it was pretty much all gone. I kept a few very low-interest loans a little longer, until about 2017.

By 2016 my practice had grown enough that I had several orthodontists working for me. I was 40 years old. The practice made enough that I only needed to work one day a week. I had basically retired from being an orthodontist.

The Tuesday years

I worked on Tuesdays. I'd see a few patients, just enough to keep my license current. I'd check on the business, make sure the staff was doing well, and help with hiring and training.

The rest of the week was mine. I have five kids, and I could afford to send them to private school. I went to every single game. I spent time with my wife. I golfed. I worked on personal projects. I took care of my health: eating well, exercising a lot, keeping my weight in check.

Those were some of the best years of my life. I had worked really hard to get there.

When the plan stopped working

Fast forward ten years. My kids are mostly grown, and things have changed.

As they went off to college, they needed cars and help getting their lives started. The practice took some hits and got a little less busy, so it wasn't making quite as much.

We've owned our house for fifteen years, and my wife had wanted to remodel it for a long time. Finally I said yes. It cost half a million dollars. Our mortgage had been really low, but we took out a second one to pay for the remodel, and that added a lot to our monthly expenses. I didn't realize it was going to end my retirement, but it did.

I also lost a lot of money playing around with trading on the internet.

And life just gets more expensive every year. What I had retired on wasn't enough anymore to keep the same lifestyle. I still own the practice, but my great plan had fallen apart.

Round two

So here I am. I decided to go back to work. I want to make more money, build up more for retirement, pay off some debt, and then retire one last time.

My goal is to be done by 55. Then I'll go back to the semi-retired life and keep the practice. I don't plan to ever fully walk away from it, because it's such a great business. I probably won't sell it until my 70s or 80s.

I've come to believe in retiring at specific times, for specific things. For me, the reason was to raise my kids. Now that most of them are grown and out of the house, I have time to go back to work and get set for the last part of my life.

Would I do it again?

Yes. I would do the same thing over again.

A lot of people miss their kids growing up. I got to be there for a good part of it. I always knew I could afford to live retired while they were young and then get busy again when they were older. I knew I'd have plenty of time to work at 50.

There's another reason, too. Right now, when I'm home, I don't feel like I have enough going on. I need to be productive. Being more active in the business helps my mental health. As much as I'd like to be retired, this is a good time for me to go back.

If I could talk to my 2008 self, the one lying awake that Christmas? I don't think I'd tell him to do anything differently. I think I did everything right.

Your turn

Everyone's road to retirement looks different. Some people get there early. Some get there late. Some get there twice, like me.

If you've retired, are getting close, or had to change your plans along the way, I'd love to hear your story. What worked? What surprised you? What would you tell your younger self?

It takes a few minutes, you don't need an account, and you can use a pen name.

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