The Dentist Money Show | Financial Planning & Wealth Management

Let’s say you have an extra $30,000 in cash. You can pay down a loan with a 6% interest rate or invest in a retirement plan which could return anywhere from -10% to +10% this year. What should you do? In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese and Ryan dive into the not-so-simple answer and explain why a lot of people get it wrong. They also weigh in on the pros and cons of cost-driven investment portfolios and provide a list of questions to ask before locking yourself into a loan.

Marketing pioneer John Wanamaker said, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don't know which half.” As a practice owner, you might feel the same way. The challenge of measuring marketing results can be especially difficult for small businesses that have plenty of questions and not enough time to answer all of them. In this Dentist Money™ interview, Reese welcomes Wendy Phillips, founder of Big Buzz, who implements customer-focused dental marketing solutions for practice owners across the country. She highlights the most common marketing mistakes in dentistry, describes what to look for in a marketing agency, and provides inexpensive solutions for market research.

Remember the last time your retirement account took a hit? A lot of people do. You might have questioned the quality of your portfolio and the competency of your advisor. (Your concerns might have been valid by the way). Regardless of who or what’s to blame, losing hurts, and behavioral psychologists have spent years researching how pain avoidance can influence major financial decisions. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese and Ryan explain how the fear of losing money can lead to losing more money. They also provide guidance for gaining emotional clarity so you can invest with more confidence.

Do you ever wonder if you’re overlooking simple business fundamentals that could take your practice to the next level? Do you struggle to articulate your priorities as a business owner? While the decisions you make throughout your career are endless, there are basic principles that give the best business leaders an edge over the competition. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese welcomes Tanner Milne, founder of Menlo Group, the largest dental real estate brokerage firm in Arizona. In this interview, Tanner takes off his real estate cap and speaks to dentists as a business owner who understands the growing pains of entrepreneurship. He offers insights for better hiring, better planning, and better marketing to keep your practice thriving.

Did you know the average American wastes 55 minutes a day, or about 12 days a year, looking for things they own but can’t find (Newsweek)? If it’s lost keys, you could be late for your morning staff meeting. If it’s important financial information, the setback is likely more severe. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese & Ryan discuss common ways dentists lose money simply because they don’t know where to find the right information. They explain the preparation that should go into each decision-making scenario and calculate the cost of being unorganized.

Reese welcomes Denise Leleux, a leading expert on end-to-end client experience whose 26-year resume includes a position as VP of Global Customer Experience at eBay where she mentored top business leaders and managed a team of 6,000 employees. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Denise draws on her client-communication expertise and the observations she’s made while in the chair at dental practices from Dallas to Denver and Louisiana to London. She offers priceless advice on dealing with difficult office managers, unifying your staff, and translating your business mission into unforgettable client experiences.

How much is an hour of your time worth? In terms of earning potential, it could be anywhere from a few hundred dollars to over a thousand. You can quantify it with a little bit of math. But salary aside, how much value can you really place on your time? Afterall, once an hour is spent, you can’t ever get it back. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese & Ryan explain three core principles dentists can follow to maximize their time so they can build wealth more efficiently. They also describe dentists who have mastered the art of being an “entreprofessional.”

Dentistry is what you do, but money is what you make. And unless you keep an eye on overhead, just making ends meet might be hard enough. In this episode of the Dentist Money™ Show, Reese Harper welcomes CPA, Andrew Schwartz who works with hundreds of dentists and understands the science of overhead distribution. He explains how much dentists should spend on staff, when you know your margins are too low, and common themes he’s observed among practices who experience large growth.   Show Notes: Schwartz & Schwartz, P.C.

Saving is only one part of the retirement equation. Whether you’ve already reached the end of your career, or are still in accumulation phase, you’ll need to know how to spend down assets in the right order to get the most out of your nest egg. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese & Ryan talk about which accounts to pull from in the early years of retirement, how to keep your tax rate down, distribution requirements on your 401(k), and how assets like your house and practice can be utilized to lengthen the life of your other accounts.   Show notes: Survey link: dentistadvisors.com/benchmark

Do you know your net worth? Not just an estimate, but the actual amount? And do you know what it was last quarter? What about your personal spending? How much of your income is used to support your lifestyle every month? Unless you know the answers, your path to successful retirement will be left up to chance. In this episode of Dentist Money™, Reese and Ryan provide solutions for tracking the most important indicators of financial health. They also give instructions for participating in a short benchmark survey so you can compare your own performance to hundreds of other dentists. Click here to take the survey.   Show notes: Survey link: dentistadvisors.com/benchmark