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Tuesday, May 23, 2023

2023.February How To Review Corporate Returns

Tuesday, May 23, 2023

Monday, January 23, 2023

A few weeks ago, the Secure 2.0 Act came out with a dizzying number of changes (90 to be exact). With social security set to run out in 2037, it’s not surprising that this legislation inches toward getting Americans to save more...

Monday, October 31, 2022

Good afternoon!First, a quick webinar announcement: on Tuesday, November 15th at 8pm I will be doing a webinar with Ankit Patel, practice manager for his wife's practice in the greater Atlanta area.A little background on this event:...

Sunday, August 28, 2022

Good afternoon!Political opinions aside (and I know I'm going to get many emails sharing them, but please note my intent to strictly to be informative and not to initiate a debate), this week's announcement on student loan forgiveness...

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Tuesday, May 17, 2022

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Sunday, December 5, 2021

Tuesday, November 30, 2021

Happy week of Thanksgiving! I hope you have fun plans with your family and loved ones. Today's topic, practice financial statements, is something far more complex than I can cover in a few paragraphs. Although it's not sexy, keeping...

Monday, September 20, 2021

On Tuesday The Ways and Means committee released the much-anticipated tax change proposal. While the changes aren’t as shocking as Biden’s earlier version, they are broad-ranging on who they impact and to what extent....

Monday, August 30, 2021

First a quick note to those who are attending Expo West: I would love to meet in person! I'll have to get back on the exact location at a later date, but am trying to workout an outdoor location close to the Sands Conference Center....

Monday, August 16, 2021

Dr. SCHMOOK, This past week I read an article that the average millennial thinks they need $300,000 to retire. Hopefully you laughed out loud when you read that number like I did, but it got me thinking about the potential gap between...

Monday, July 5, 2021

Happy Birthday America! Good and bad, I cannot think of anywhere else I'd rather live. I hope you have safe, fun plans for your day! There's a topic for practice owners I have been struggling with for the past few months- the Employee...

Monday, April 12, 2021

Today’s email is short, sweet and to the point, just like this way to save on practice debt. There is a lot of chatter about refinancing with lower interest rates and replacing practice debt with EIDL loan proceeds, but I have a...

Monday, March 29, 2021

Dr. , On March 17th, the IRS gave into pressure from the government and lobby groups to extend the deadline for personal tax returns from April 15th to May 17th. While this creates some relief for filing in the next 18 days, if you...

Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Over the last few months, there’s been increasing buzz about a unique aspect of December’s stimulus package: new terms to the SBA 504 loan. If you’re not familiar with it, 504 loans apply to “Major Fixed...

Tuesday, January 19, 2021

Happy New Year! And what an interesting year we're coming into. With 2020 not too far in the rearview mirror, I want to take a minute to look back at the investment landscape over the last 12 months and re-iterate the best advice I...

Monday, December 28, 2020

As you've probably read, today practice owners got a belated holiday gift from the American Government: the Consolidated Appropriations Act. This bill is a 5,000+ page document with lots of bells and whistles which affect many...

Monday, October 12, 2020

I hope this message finds you well as we head into the last three months of a very tumultuous 2020. For those of you who are ready to get started on a custom designed financial and investment plan, please note that our highly popular...

Sunday, September 13, 2020

A funny story: last weekend I was packing up furniture from my parents’ garage to move into a rental house and was stopped by a passerby who asked “are you packing up for college?”. My parents thought it was...

Sunday, August 30, 2020

Week 2 of insurance we’re going to review what’s usually the most under-insured part of practice owners’ picture: umbrella insurance. It’s best to think of umbrella insurance as lawsuit insurance—it...

Sunday, August 23, 2020

When working with clients, one of the planning items we review is insurance, including disability, homeowners, auto, umbrella and life. Each of these policies are very important in the event that something terrible happened, but a...

Sunday, August 16, 2020

As of Friday’s close, the S&P 500 was down -0.17% year to date. That’s right—with everything going on, the largest 500 companies in the US’s stock price was down less than a quarter of one percent. In fact,...

Sunday, August 9, 2020

2020 has given us quite a bit to worry about- avoiding Covid-19, keeping practices afloat during quarantine, juggling having children home with work. But amid all this, don't forget a nagging, ongoing threat: cyber security. This week...

Sunday, July 26, 2020

With everything going on in the world, sometimes I forget that we’re in an election year. An election year with so many issues going on, the Bush/Gore recount looks like a minor snafoo. And an election year where is seems...

Sunday, July 19, 2020

It’s strange to be writing this in July, but Happy Tax Week! Hopefully everyone got their returns (or extensions) in by Wednesday as required. Since taxes are fresh on most of our minds, I want to discuss a sticky little subject...

Sunday, July 12, 2020

One by product of all the recent government programs is a renewed discussion of this concept of “Fair Market Wage”. After reviewing hundreds of financials, a common theme for S-corp owners is to underpay themselves and take...

Sunday, July 5, 2020

On Friday Bloomberg posted an article about the return perils in 2020 for jittery stock owners who tried to get in and out of the market. You can read the whole thing here, but the bottom line is investors who held tight have ended up...

Sunday, June 28, 2020

I have to confess, I’m a bit baffled by the use of a given name as a descriptor these days (particularly unfortunate if your name is Karen), but one has been popping up lately that has actually been around for over 20 years, and...

Sunday, June 21, 2020

Happy Father's Day! I hope all the dads out there got to sleep in and receive nice tokens of appreciation from your family. After writing this, I am picking up the phone to call my dad, Dr. Jerry Hayes, and let him know how much I love...

Sunday, June 14, 2020

Over the past couple of weeks, I’ve found myself talking about the stock market as much as Covid-19. Why? In the first quarter of 2020, the economy was down 4.8% and we learned we are officially in a recession. The most recent...

Sunday, June 7, 2020

Last week I wrote on an overview of government programs available to practice owners and included a bonus spreadsheet for tracking/justifying expenses related to each program. Perhaps not surprisingly, I received a lot of...

Sunday, May 31, 2020

Over the last few weeks the EIDL and PPP loans have been rolling in to practices, lifting a heavy financial burden off of practice owners. While I’m not a practice management expert, I’m having a lot of calls with clients...

Sunday, May 24, 2020

Happy Memorial Day weekend! I hope you have wonderful, socially distanced plans to relax with your family and friends. Tomorrow is supposed to be a day of relaxation and remembrance, and today I want to remind you that it is not a day...

Sunday, May 17, 2020

There's a question I get almost every time I speak with ODs, and just in case it's one you're curious about, I thought I would share it: What's going on with Private Equity these days? The Good News Across multiple groups, it seems...

Sunday, May 3, 2020

As an investor, its easy to get caught up in the sexy side of the stock market. Early investors in “darlings” like Google, Apple and Amazon can have some pretty impressive return numbers to share at cocktail parties. This...

Sunday, April 26, 2020

Last November, I did a webinar with Dr. Mick Kling, practice management consultant and an advisor on the financial management techniques in the book Profit First. He had a lot of excellent advice (if you’re interested in seeing a...

Sunday, April 19, 2020

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of sharing a webinar with practice owners about managing personal finances during COVID-19. You can watch it here (the password is e0&8A=3s). One of the things I talked about was the importance of asset...

Sunday, April 12, 2020

Not surprisingly, I've had a lot of conversations about investment portfolios over the last month. Reactions to recent market performance has ranged from "sell everything!" to discussion of borrowing money to invest. A common thread...

Sunday, April 5, 2020

First, thanks to so many of you for the kind words over the past week. I know my dad has appreciated the camaraderie from his note on Friday and with strict social distancing measures in place for most of us, it’s refreshing to...

Friday, April 3, 2020

When my dad suggested writing this, I didn't hesitate to say yes. But I asked for a Friday delivery. We've gone a lot of weekends with the market opening down (last weekend being a notable exception due to passed legislation), and I...

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

This is just a quick note to remind you that the Emergency Paid Leave Sick Act and Family Relief Act goes into law tomorrow. If you're not familiar with the ins and outs, this law requires employers to pay employees up to 12 weeks of...

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Today I'm doing something I've never done before: sending you two back to back emails. There's so much information that has come out since President Trump signed the CARES Act (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act) on...

Sunday, March 29, 2020

In my unusual weekly email format, here is Part 2 of the CARES Act as it relates to ODs. But this email probably won't be relevant to you. Most ODs I work with don't qualify for what I cover here- the cash payments to individuals- but...

Sunday, March 22, 2020

I was hoping I'd be writing about what you could expect personally from pending Coronavirus Aid Relief and Economic Security Act, but it looks like tomorrow will be the earliest we'll know anything and I will send out a special summary...

Sunday, March 15, 2020

Last Saturday bumping elbows with attendees at SECO fees like it was a lifetime ago. So much has happened in the past week all over the country. Here in Atlanta, I have the pleasure of having a least one of my children at home until...

Sunday, March 8, 2020

Not surprisingly in today’s market, I work with a lot of ODs who are selling their practices. One of the most valuable exercises we go through is analyzing whether the sale proceeds plus their accumulated assets are enough to...

Sunday, March 1, 2020

This week, I was going to write about tax planning but I suspect most doctors are more interested in what’s going on in the markets. I hope you enjoy this quick summary of the past week. Also, if you’re going to be at SECO...

Sunday, February 23, 2020

Going to SECO? Let’s get a cup of coffee! I will be wandering the Georgia Convention halls Friday 3/6 and Saturday 3/7 and would love to put a face with an email address. You can just reply to this email to set up a time to say...

Sunday, February 16, 2020

This past Thursday, I had the pleasure of speaking at the IDOC conference in Orlando about the math behind selling a practice to Private Equity or holding onto the cash flow and which is better financially. Anytime I talk with ODs...

Sunday, February 9, 2020

This week, I'm thrilled to share some wisdom from guest contributor Dr. Jerry Hayes. I know you will enjoy it! While Dr. Hayes was writing this article, I have been prepping to speak at IDOC's member meeting this Thursday in Orlando....

Sunday, February 2, 2020

This past Friday I was doing some CE for financial and investment advisors at the TD Ameritrade Conference in Orlando and had the opportunity to hear Kevin “Mr. Wonderful” O’Leary from Shark Tank offer some words of...

Sunday, January 26, 2020

Not surprisingly in today’s market, I’m doing a lot of financial planning for ODs who are selling their practices, both to larger buyers and to other ODs. One of the first questions I get from clients is “How do I...

Sunday, January 19, 2020

One of the fun things about being a financial advisor is doing an annual review with clients to look back on the performance of their specific portfolios last year and then talking with them about what the broader market might do going...

Sunday, January 12, 2020

Every day, I work with high income ODs who want to create a meaningful nest egg and build wealth outside their practice. While we do in-depth analysis on cash flow, investments and taxes to generate a targeted plan to meet their goals,...

Sunday, January 5, 2020

My topic today is very specific and is most applicable to doctors who are imminently selling their practice, but it’s come up no less than 5 times in the last month and is (in my opinion) pretty interesting. At the very least, by...

Sunday, December 29, 2019

We pass into the next decade of the 2000s in a few days, which is an appropriate time to pause and evaluate where we’re at versus where we want to be. Normally this self-reflection manifests itself in fitness and health goals,...

Sunday, December 22, 2019

If you're like me, this is a super hectic time of year. Personal and school holiday parties, Christmas cards that aren't arriving until after Christmas, kids opening ALL the presents under the tree while the parents aren't looking...

Sunday, December 15, 2019

In my family we have this unfortunate habit of shifting the conversation at gatherings toward the optometric industry. Our spouses listen politely as we debate the future of the industry, whether we've reached the peak of private...

Sunday, December 8, 2019

Yesterday was a big day in our family. Our beloved LSU Tigers made the SEC Championship game for the first time in 8 years (but who’s counting?) and won! The weekend has been filled with conversations about...

Sunday, December 1, 2019

Flipping through the local news trying to find things for my kids to do this weekend, I bypassed more than one article about fried turkey disasters, car wrecks and large-scale family fights. While I didn’t take the time to read...

Sunday, November 24, 2019

Happy Thanksgiving week! This week instead of focusing on a financial topic, I want to leave you with a positive start to what is a special week for most of us. Every year at Thanksgiving, my family goes around the table and says what...

Sunday, November 17, 2019

If you read the news yesterday morning, you may have seen that all US stock indexes posted all-time highs at the close of business Friday. This puts us at almost 11 years’ of stock market growth since the low of early 2009 and is...

Wednesday, November 13, 2019

Dr. Mick Kling and I had our "Dive Into Profit First" webinar last night. It was a great, interactive call with some excellent questions from the doctors who attended. We are so glad you requested the replay information and encourage...

Sunday, November 10, 2019

It’s a running joke with my clients that this email comes at 10:25am every Sunday. Give or take about 5 minutes. It’s my Sunday morning routine—feed the kids, pour coffee then send this newsletter. Today I’m...

Friday, November 8, 2019

Like popular radio show host Dave Ramsey, I want my clients to be smart about their debt. But unlike Dave, I don’t think being totally debt free is the best way for high earning doctors to accumulate wealth over time. The trick...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

As a financial advisor, I spend a lot of time pouring through doctors’ financial statements to make sure their business income and value is properly reflected in their planning documents. Usually the first document I receive is...

Sunday, November 3, 2019

A few months ago, I was working on a Personal Wealth Action Plan with a client who told me that a year or so earlier, he directed his broker to sell everything that “could go down in value” in his portfolio. He believed his...

Sunday, October 20, 2019

Most doctors I speak with are pretty good at managing their day-to-day personal and practices finances. They live within their means, know their practice metrics and dutifully put aside whatever their accountant tells them to into...

Sunday, October 13, 2019

Albert Einstein reportedly described compound interest as “the most powerful force in the universe”. But what is this powerful force and how can it help you grow your investments? The basic premise is this: if you have...

Sunday, September 29, 2019

A few years ago, there was an article about a 17 year old girl in England who ate nothing but McDonald’s chicken nuggets and the occasional french fry. She made the news because she collapsed and doctors told her to fix her diet...

Sunday, September 22, 2019

This week’s email is highly personal for me, not because it’s about finances (it is) or optometry (it is), but because I had the privilege of interviewing one of my favorite people in the world, my father Dr. Jerry Hayes....

Sunday, September 15, 2019

Today I’m going to talk about real life doom and gloom, but my real message is that regardless of what’s going on in the outside world, there can be a happy ending for those who plan to create a future of prosperity and...

Sunday, September 8, 2019

Like popular radio show host Dave Ramsey, I want my clients to be smart about their debt. But unlike Dave, I don’t think being totally debt free is the best way for high earning doctors to accumulate wealth over time. The trick...

Sunday, September 1, 2019

This email is a quick thank you to you. This weekend, I've been wondering how Labor Day came to fruition. Here's what I learned: federally mandated in 1894, Labor Day celebrates the “contributions and achievements of the American...

Sunday, August 25, 2019

One of the interesting statistics I learned during my recent training as a Certified Exit Planning Advisor is that nearly 50% of all business exits are unplanned for, and almost always a result of “The 5 Ds”. Here’s a...

Sunday, August 11, 2019

Even if you don’t watch CNBC, it’s hard to ignore the recent news about trade wars and how they might impact the US economy. If you kept up with the markets last week, by Wednesday, it looked like the US market was going...

Sunday, August 4, 2019

If you read the news, it’s hard to miss the “You could get up to $20,000 from Equifax” articles circulating. The reality is if you were a part of the breach, you can credit protection or some undetermined settlement...

Friday, August 2, 2019

Since the July 16th webinar, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with over 20 doctors about the value of their business in today’s market versus the value of the cash flow their business produces. I know talking with a...

Wednesday, May 8, 2019

My husband and I are currently relishing a short getaway from our tiny humans in Healdsburg, California. There are only so many wine tastings we can manage in a day (one), so we were killing some time before dinner browsing through the...

Thursday, April 18, 2019

Exit Planning is Good Business Strategy. Interested in selling your practice or not, “exit planning is good business strategy” is a golden nugget of wisdom for practice owners. Think about it: when you improve your...

Tuesday, November 13, 2018

Tip: How Much? Check your Social Security earnings and see an estimate of your benefits on the website, www.ssa.gov. Social Security’s been a fact of retirement life ever since it was established in 1935. We all think we know how...