Humble beginnings are just that, humble. So an estimated debt coming out of the first four years of college could be a modest $25,000 or as much as $150,000. The cost to complete the Ross degree is approximately $250,000 when you include the cost of living in Dominica and all that living there entails. The cost to get a supplemental Master's degree and continuing education was likely a modest $10,000. At a minimum there is likely $300,000 in education debt. Add to that debt the cost to build the largest house on the block with in ground pool (which would not be the choice of TS, I promise you that) as well as the cost to start up a brand new practice and the cost to pay the salaries and contractor costs of everyone in the new practice including your husband and your husband's childhood friend and you could easily total $1,000,000+ in debt. Throw in choices like a Mercedes for a vehicle and a chef cooking organic meals, a home school teacher and a nanny and the cost goes even higher. Even with a successful practice for the past five to seven years (once it got off the ground) this level of earning does not fully tackle that level of debt.
Thank you for the debt explanation. Yes, their combined debt could have reached, or exceeded, $1,000,000.
My opinion about the debt is that most of it would have occurred even if TS married someone different than MS, or if TS was single. I think Dr Sievers was smart, savvy, confident, competent, and definitely not naïve. From all that I can tell, the Sievers lived quite modestly.
Prior to the move to Bonita Springs and starting her Estero medical practice in 2006, she practiced as an internist at a busy medical practice in St Petersburg for about 7 years. She probably saved a lot of money during that time, anticipating realizing her dream of her own practice of Integrative Medicine.
There was substantial gain on the sale of St Petersburg real estate in August 2006. Also, there was a modest gain on the sale of Gulfport real estate in February 2006. This probably helped provide some of the funding for her new medical practice in Estero.
My general view of the debt dilemma is based primarily on my 30+ years as a financial accountant for numerous physician medical practices in Florida. In those medical practices, most of the M.D.s were 10 to 15 years out of medical school. Most came from modest middle-class families. For a few of those physicians, I also managed their personal finances, including reconciling their investments and bank accounts. Not one of these physicians ever struggled with debt. All of them had a healthy debt-to-income ratio. There was abundant revenue. Most paid off their student loans within 10 years of residency; some stretched the loan out to 20 years. Savings was always substantial. Most are married and sometimes the spouse worked, but usually not. Most have children, along with a nanny, private school, costly extracurricular activities, housekeeper and sometimes a chef. Many have lakefront homes with market value of $1,000,000+. Some have beachfront homes with market value of $2,000,000+. All the docs I worked with have in-ground pools and spas, most homes are 10,000+ sq ft; some homes have elevators; two of the homes even have a movie theatre and one has a bomb shelter. Most have vacation homes in other states. All drive high-end cars, except one doc drove an older car and wore frumpy clothes, but that was more his personality than a reflection of his earnings or wealth. Most take exotic vacations a couple of times each year.
DrTeresaSievers.com FEE schedule reflects her value. There has been mention that she had a full patient load for the approximate 26 hours per week the office was open. Of the medical practitioners I was familiar with, their full-time practice generated about $500,000 annual gross income for FEES, like initial consults, follow-up visits, physicals, and other tests. This does not include supplement sales. The annual salary of the physician was $250,000+. This was generally achieved within the third year of practice, at which time the business usually had more assets than liabilities.
Im not seeing excess materialism or greed in the Sievers' lifestyle. And it seems there would have been enough income to adequately offset debt. JMO
