20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! On today's episode, I discuss 7 proactive strategies that you can consider as you evaluate your financials through the latter half of 2020. I discuss the importance of reviewing your list of itemized deductions even if you didn't itemize and whether a charitable lumping strategy would be beneficial to consider. I also talk about why partnerships should reevaluate how income is classified on their K-1 and why shifting income from guaranteed payments to net income should be evaluated by their legal, accounting, and financial team. I also explain why it's important to reevaluate your retirement plan on an annual basis, how Roth conversions and tax gain harvesting can have a big impact on your long-term success, how you may be leaving a $1,000 HSA-related tax deduction on the table, and how you can start a 529 for your unborn child and claim a tax-specific deduction in 2020 (even if your child isn't going to be born until 2021). As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about how we help ODs around the country reduce their tax bill, manage cash flow, and make proactive money decisions serve ODs & what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. www.integratedpwm.com/13

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! On this episode, I highlight seven line items on your tax return that optometrists should review to ensure you're not paying too much in taxes. Those seven items (along with the location of where to find them on your personal tax return) are listed below: Health insurance deduction for SE (Schedule 1, line 16) Taxable interest (1040 Line 2b) QBI deduction for SE (1040 Line 10) SS tax refund (Schedule 3, Line 11) 529 deduction for your state (State tax return) Maxing out your HSA (Schedule 1, Line 12 & Form 8889) Roth conversions being coded incorrectly & correct 8606 filing (1040 Line 4a and 4b) As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve ODs around the country & what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

On this episode of 20/20 Money, Nathan Hayes from IDOC and I discuss how optometrists should be thinking about cash flow in their practice. We discuss how much cash reserves ODs should have in their practice in the wake of COVID-19 as well as why it's important to get cash out of your practice instead of letting it sit in your business. Nathan also shares why leaving cash in your business might actually hurt your valuation from a buyer's perspective. We also talk about how to reduce your tax bill as a practice owner and why it's important to not "red line" your personal lifestyle against the distributions from your practice. Our conversation then ties into how managing cash flow in the practice transitions into using that cash flow to accumulate and grow your net worth, the importance of not banking on extracting max value from your practice to fund your retirement, the 5 D's of why a practice owner could be forced to sell, and how solo owners can and should be looking at a buy-sell agreement with another owner in their town as a contingency planning strategy to ensure that all is not lost in their practice if they're forced to sell early. In financial planning, we often hear the phrase "cash is king" and the variation on the theme with this episode is that cash (flow) is king. It's not what you make, it's what you keep that matters and in this episode we share many different strategies that optometrists should be considering when thinking about cash flow in their practice. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve ODs around the country & what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Nathan Hayes. Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits by Greg Crabtree ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Mick Kling, OD. Mick has been on the show in the past and he joins me today to talk about a concept that is gaining more traction in the OD community and that is the accounting philosophy known as Profit First. Profit First is based on the popular book by Mike Michalowicz and Mick has unique experience in that he's both adopted this accounting process in his own practices and has also consulted with many other ODs on how to transition their practices to profit-first accounting. In our conversation, hear Mick's 4 simple ways to think about expenses in a practice, the three criteria debt needs to fit before taking on a new liability payment, Mick's way of thinking about how much debt you can afford in your practice, and a number of different "tweaks" to profit-first that has helped Mick and others better customize the strategy to optometry practices. Mick also shares an important checklist (which you can download here) that ODs can download for free to learn more about the profit-first system. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve ODs around the country & what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Mick Kling. Integrated's Debt Snowball calculator ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are Drs. Zac and Joelle Holland. Joelle and Zac have been listeners of the show for some time and Joelle reached out to me to ask if I'd be interested in interviewing them about how they have both been laser focused on paying off their student loans. For me, it was an easy decision as creating a student loan repayment strategy is one of the most common challenges and discussion points for newer grads. There's so much amazing information and empowerment that's shared in this episode. We start off on a bit of a tangent as Joelle and Zac talk about the decision they made when they had their first child to hire an au pair in their home and why that's worked out so well for them compared to the traditional route of daycare that most families go with. They talk about how they found their au pair and their experience in using AuPairCare for placement, the process they went through, and specific examples of why it's worked well for their dual-demanding professional schedules. We then dive into the details on their plan and how they've built a plan to pay off the collective total of $673,000 in student loan debt they started out with after graduating optometry school. We talk about how they plan their income, why using a budget has actually given them more control and a greater sense of calm, how they changed their mindset to get comfortable with paying such a high amount month after month, the habit hacks they're using to stay motivated and focused, and how their retirement savings strategy plays into their debt repayment goals. We wrap up the conversation with a couple of very real answers to the question that I ask every guest. If you're an OD that has debt (regardless of whether it's student loan debt or other practice debt) and you're wondering how or if you can get crazy focused on paying it off, this is an episode you won't want to miss. I'm so very grateful to both Zac and Joelle for being so open, honest, and transparent with their story and circumstances. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about what it means to work with our firm, how we serve ODs around the country, or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Drs Zac & Joelle Holland. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Colin Carr. Colin is the founder and CEO of CARR, a nationwide commercial real estate company specifically focused on representing the needs and interest of healthcare providers. Colin has mastered several niches in healthcare real estate and is passionate about helping others maximize their profitability through real estate. In this conversation, Colin and I cover a wide spectrum of topics. Among them, Colin shares what NOT to do when you see vacant space that you're interested in, three main ideas to consider when evaluating whether you should lease space vs buy real estate, why having great lease terms increases your practice's valuation, the timeline for commercial real estate development, and areas to capitalize during a lease renewal and what would a new tenant get if they were coming into this space. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Colin Carr. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Steve Vargo, OD. Steve has had a storied career in optometry, starting out as a clinician after graduating from ICO in 1998. His interest for business led him to earn his MBA and eventually land at IDOC in the role of a practice management consultant. Having had over 3,000 consultative conversations over the years, he's realized what every OD needs to know: we all have largely the same playing field. The difference, however, is in the execution of ideas and strategies, and it was in his curiosity of execution that led Steve to author a number of books, including his most recent one titled Prescribing Change: How to Make Connections, Influence, Decisions, and Get Patients to Buy Into Change. Steve joins me on the show to talk about what he's learned in researching and writing his book on how to influence change at the patient level. We talk about how you first need to understand the patient's problems and not necessarily just jump into making clinical diagnosis based off data collected. We talk about how to transition from a "versus" to a "team" approach in the decision making process, the different levels of the brain that are involved when we make decisions, ways in which doctors can influence and build trust with their patients, and the importance of understanding something called "motivational interviewing." It was a very enjoyable conversation and I learned some things as well that I'll be looking at in my own firm! As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about how we serve ODs around the country & what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Steve Vargo, OD. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

This is part 2 of my conversation with Jason Preator. Please be sure to check out part 1 from last week! As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 15min pre-discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy part 2 of my conversation with Jason Preator. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Jason Preator. Jason is one of the leading resources and advisors in the optometric space when it comes to helping optometry practice owners sell their practice to a private equity firm. Today's conversation was so good and long that I actually made the decision to break it up into a two-part episode. In today's episode, we talk about the duration of the process of selling, making sure you understand your why around selling your practice, two big factors that influence your valuation, why it's important to understand first market mover advantage, when there's an ideal time to break the news to your team and why you should have a conversation with your associate in the beginning, and we wrap up this part of the convo by discussing where are we at in the PE cycle. I also wanted to let you know that we actually recorded this episode earlier in spring, long before the COVID-19 disruption turned everyone's lives on a dime. I held the release of the show because I wanted to make sure that the content that we were putting out was timely and relevant. Now that practices are starting to open up, I reached out to Jason to see if he had any additional thoughts on how transactions are being affect post-COVID closures, and here was his response in an email: the market continues to change and evolve with the passage of time. The activity has definitely picked up with the buyers as states remove the stay at home orders and practices begin to re-open with many fully re-opened. The buyers are optimistic but cautious as they want to ensure that the demand is returning, which all indicators from the buyers and our clients is that the demand, capture rate, and other KPIs are strong. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about what it means to work with our firm or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Jason Preator. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Damon Dierker. Damon already has a very storied career in optometry, so I was excited to have him on today to talk about dry eye and I feel it's important to give a bit of a backstory to help set the stage. Clinically, he is a partner and Director of Optometric Services at Eye Surgeons of Indiana, one of (if not the) top tertiary care/referral center in the state of Indiana. His areas of clinical expertise include advanced retinal disease including diabetic retinopathy, macular degeneration, and glaucoma as well as advanced ocular surface disease treatment. He is a frequent presenter of continuing education presentations to doctors across the country and is an adjunct faculty member of Indiana University's School of Optometry and directs the clinical externship program at ESI. As if that wasn't enough, he is also the President-Elect of the Indiana Optometric Association. The reason that I wanted to have Damon on the show today is because he's created a program that has helped many ODs around the country implement a dry eye treatment program in their practice. It's no secret that treatment of dry eye is becoming a growing topic of concern—both from the patient's and doctor's perspective. It's also an area that over time can boost revenue and thus profitability of a practice. However, implementing a dry eye program into an existing practice can seem daunting and something that ODs may put off until "they get around to it." In this conversation, Damon talks about how he came up with the idea of forming his Dry Eye Boot Camp program and how it evolved and grew into a passion project side business for him to help ODs implement dry eye tx into their practice. We cover all aspects of dry eye: the mindset shift that first must occur with the OD, the equipment and tech needed, the investment needed of both time and money, the potential ROI, a scheduling strategy to consistently grow dry eye in your practice, the standard of care for diagnosing and treating dry eye, and the various ways of marketing this additional service to both existing and new patients. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at www.integratedpwm.com and clicking on the Learning Center. While there, you can also set up a 20-30min Discovery conversation to learn a little bit more about what it means to work with our firm and how we serve ODs all over the country or check out any number of additional free resources like our eBooks and on-demand webinars. And with that introduction, I hope you enjoy my conversation with Dr. Damon Dierker. ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify Google Play Stitcher ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!