What Are the Best Jobs for 2015 and the Worst Jobs?

According to Us News and World Report, the best jobs for 2015 are stated below,
but I do not agree. My opinion is based on my personal experience and that of
many of my colleagues. In particular, I do not agree with Dentist as number one,
and Physician as number four. The Nurse Practitioner and Physician Assistant, and
computer jobs, I do agree are top fields considering the preparation time coupled
with the income.
The best jobs in America in 2015

US News & World Report List Best Jobs Ratings As:

1. Dentist
2. Nurse Practitioner
3. Software Developer
4. Physician
5. Dental Hygienist
6. Physical Therapist
7. Computer Systems Analyst
8. Information Security Analyst
9. Registered Nurse
10. Physician Assistant

When I read the list of best jobs for 2015 by US News and
World Report, I was appalled.

It was as though the industries representing those jobs wrote the article.

The number one job for 2015 was “Dentist”. Since I am a Dentist, now retired, I can
speak to this.

I have many friends who became physicians also.

I feel the computer jobs and nurse jobs, if school loan debt is kept to a
minimum are truly among the best jobs. There is both demand and a potential for high
salaries compared to time of training and salary. Especially the nurse practitioner
and the physician assistant jobs. Those two easily make over $100,000  per year.

The problem physicians have with heavy school loan debt is that their school loan
payments have to be made while in residency or fellowship. This can be anywhere
from 3-8 years and the pay is very low. So, they are very poor for a long time
before they start to make a physicians salary. Even after this, if they attend
a private school the school loan payments can be very high compared to salary,
and painful to make each month.

The biggest problem with dentistry is that 1) school loan debt tends to be
outrageous, no matter what school you attend, 2) you don’t start to make decent
money until after you start your own well-managed practice, in a community where
there is a large population with well paid jobs. Sometimes it takes as long as 5-10 years
to start your own practice. Then after you start your own practice, you could have
a monthly school loan payment and a practice loan payment  that literally takes
most of your  income.

The biggest problem my classmates and I had when we graduated were finding jobs
as dentist so we could start to pay our massive school loan debt. The jobs were
scarce and still are. Most jobs right out of dental school are in low wage clinics.

When I went to dental school 95% of my class took out school loans. At that time,
we were over-burdened with loans due to the fact that we attended a private school.
Also, we were over-burdened compared to our ability to get jobs or earn income that
justified our monthly school loan payments. The joke was usually, “did you make
enough this month to pay your school loans”.

The article stated a very high average income for dentist, and over 20,000 openings.
Both are misleading due to the fact that high income areas skew the income terribly.
Places like Beverly Hills and New York Park Boulevard. Their dentist routinely go into an
existing practice with a family member and have no school loans, in addition to
charging terribly high rates, that most dentist cannot charge.

Dentist, is not a best job in America

The typical dentist leaves school with very large school loans, in both public and private school. This puts you behind financially, before life starts.

The average public school loan recipient is graduating with school loans of about
$30,000 for undergraduate school. What could make this school loan debt increase
drastically after graduation is if you have an unsubsidized loan
(versus a subsidized loan) and the interest is accumulated while you are in school.
Some students will have an additional $20,000 or so interest tacked on to their loan
balance after graduation since most cannot pay the interest while in school. I
talked to a student who had that experience. She had an additional $35,000 tacked
on to her loan after graduate school, where she had an unsubsidized loan. With
subsidized loans the interest is paid by the government while you are in school.

According to credit.com the average student loan debt for the ten most expensive
private schools ran about $48,000 in 2014 for a 4-year college degree.

Some private schools average $100,000 school loan debt for their students for
undergraduate school only.

Add to that dental school or medical school: Public school loan debt is about

Private school for dental school or medical school loan debt runs about $200,000
for many private schools.

So before you start work, you are on the hook for an
of Dental School or Medical School as follows:

Public: $130,000 total or Private School at $300,000 total.

It is not uncommon for me to read about students or talk to students
with a total of $500,000 in school loans.

The issue I have with the article is they don’t mention the difficulty most dental
graduates have in finding their first job out of school.

The toughest thing I did was to land my first dental job out of dental school. No
one would hire me because I did not have 3-4 years experience. I finally contacted
an old roommate in colleges’ Uncle, who was a dentist and told me he would, “give
me a chance”, because I was a friend of his niece. At that time I had very heavy
school loans that had already come due. My grace period was over for a few months
before I found this job.

The stated average income for dentist in the article is misleading because it is
not the average income for new dentist out of dental school for the first five years.
This is where dental school graduates get into trouble with school loans.
LiveRichSaveMoney.com Best Jobs for 2015

There are three major issues I have with the article stating that “Dentist” is the
number one job for 2015, and rated as one of the best jobs in America.

Number 1 — School loan repayment is too high to be supported by
a new dentist income, so therefore your chances of default are high. Or, the chances
that most of your income will go to school loan repayment and not living expenses are also

Number 2 — Landing your first job out of dental school is difficult because
clinics want dentist with a few years experience.

Number 3 — The income average is unrealistic and skewed by dentist in wealthy
areas. There should be an income average for dentist who practice in 1) government
clinics – where it is low, 2) low income communities – where it is low, 3) middle
income communities where it is about half the skewed average, 4) upper middle
income communities – where the income average is below the stated average,
5) very high income communities – where you can make a high average if you have
a way to attract those patrons.

The goal is to keep school loans low at all cost. Go to an affordable school. Even if
you have to go to a public college and live at home, at least you will keep your debt
low. Make sure you understand the debt burden you will have, sometimes for life,
if you attend private schools on loans. You cannot file bankruptcy on school loans.
Your loan debt is closely tied to best jobs in my opinion. Go into a field that does not
require heavy school loan debt or in a way you will not have heavy debt. It is not
a great job is most of the income goes to pay school loan debt and business loan debt.

Under new programs started by President Obama there
are some options to 
help with school loan debt, they are:

1. The Income Based Repayment Program (IBR)

2. Pay as You Earn (PAYE) Program

3. Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program (PSLF)

For more information search these terms at:

Whitehouse.gov Student Loan Debt Program
StudentLoans.gov, U.S. Department of Education Federal Student Aid Program

Lois Center-Shabazz
Save Money Advocate and Founder of LiveRichSaveMoney.com

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