Medical Professionals

A physician’s career is characterized by transition, challenge, and reward.  Seemingly overnight, one’s income leaps and the ability to begin actively pursuing personal dreams and financial goals becomes a reality.  However, this point is the culmination of a tireless pursuit which includes years filled with long hours, low pay, and for many, mounting student loans.

Financial freedom doesn’t happen overnight – it takes time, consistent energy, and methodical effort.  This is why financial planning for physicians, and even financial planning for medical residents, is important.  For a physician, losing time to a poorly devised financial plan is avoidable.  Working with a Relationship Manager who concentrates on working with medical professionals can help save you time.

Many physicians will find themselves in the top 10% of wage earners, paying higher tax rates, and running into challenges with fully realizing credits and claiming deductions.  Should an individual own or partner in a practice, integrating personal and business taxes presents an added challenge.  Physicians are commonly known to be at greater risk of lawsuit, necessitating the introduction of asset protection strategies within the scope of the financial plan.  We will help navigate these waters.

A Relationship Manager can help you navigate both the personal and business side of things.  Whether it be saving for retirement, paying off student loans, reviewing and negotiating employment agreements, bill paying, preparing for and obtaining practice loans, college planning, preparing tax information, or implementing group benefits, retirement plans for the practice, or key-man and buy-sell insurance for partners, a Relationship Manager can coordinate all of these areas for you, saving you valuable time and energy you can put towards other concerns, desires and wants.

Financial Planning for Doctors in All Stages of Their Career

Financial planning is a systematic and deliberate process.  It exists to direct all components of an individual’s financial scope, ensuring the strategy is working cohesively and aligned with the intended objectives.  The overall purpose is to layer varying risk management, wealth management and asset protection strategies to achieve financial independence.  We believe the discussion must begin with a thorough review of personal and professional goals.  It must explore current efforts and available options, account for concerns, and should be reasonably manageable.  A plan should offer guidance, direction, and peace of mind.  It also requires periodic review and updating.

Financial Planning for Attending Physicians

As an attending physician, financial plans truly begin to take shape as concept and strategy are put to work.  Assets grow, debt obligations are reduced, and plans speed towards meeting the stated goals. In short, every prior preparation comes into fruition.

At the same time, professional and personal demands remain and the time frame for meeting goals becomes limited.  Early efforts should hopefully find a plan on track, but it’s natural to see plans change too.  It becomes all the more important for your Relationship Manager to involve professional financial, tax, business, and legal advice along the way to make sure efforts stay on course.

With proper savings habits established, planning shifts to ongoing portfolio monitoring. It’s important to complete regular reviews of the asset and account mix to make sure investments remain properly diversified and aligned with overall timelines.  Retirement projections should be developed which will allow for reasonable adjustments based on anticipated results.  This holds true for educational savings accounts should they have been introduced to the plan.

It’s also at this stage where it makes sense to meet with an attorney to ensure legal documents are in proper order.  This may compel changes to the insurance portfolio.  It is advisable to add coverage where necessary when exposure remains, or begin to shift the insurance portfolio to address risks as they change.  For example, it may be time to move from a disability policy to a long-term care policy to better preserve assets through retirement, or fold in additional life insurance coverage to meet estate, charitable, or tax planning needs.

Financial Planning for Practice Owners

For those physicians that have the opportunity to own or partner within a practice, an already unique situation is compounded by additional levels of complexity.  In addition to managing and planning for one’s household and family, a practice owner will be faced with assuming and paying the debts associated with the business, as well as determining the growth and direction for the practice.

Owners will be tasked with developing a benefits package and establishing retirement plans.  Planning for the tax structure of the practice, and integrating this with personal tax filings, while also taking strides to properly separate personal assets from practice and business related liability takes thoughtful planning.

Through the integration of the professionals at our Coastal Family Business Advisors and our Coastal Family Tax Advisors divisions, your Relationship Manager will be walking alongside you, guiding you every step of the way in designing a practice that will serve the goals of you and your family.

Through your single point of contact known as a Relationship Manager, a team of Wealth Advisors, Business Advisors and Tax Advisors will create a completely integrated map for the direction of your practice, coordinating with and complimenting the efforts of the legal team.

Your time is freed up to focus on what really matters as you attend to the needs of your patients, while also growing your business, another important piece of your financial portfolio.

Dentistry is an extremely rewarding career path.  Financial planning for dentists is unique given that many who operate in the field are business owners, creating a responsibility for their own financial future, as well as, the livelihood of their staff, and the success of their practice.  This dynamic compounds with issues of managing what are oftentimes higher levels of debt, but provides opportunities to design and implement financial strategies with a higher degree of control.  Working with a dedicated Relationship Manager for dentists can assist in navigating these complex scenarios.

Dentists are unique in the sense that many of them are also business owners.  As a result, many have two full time jobs – dentist and practice C.E.O.  A Relationship Manager can help you navigate both the personal and business side of things.  That is why we employ the “Relationship Manager” approach.

Whether it be saving for retirement, paying off student loans, reviewing and negotiating employment agreements, bill paying, preparing for and obtaining practice loans, college planning, preparing tax information, or implementing group benefits, retirement plans for the practice, or key-man and buy-sell insurance for partners, a Relationship Manager can coordinate all of these areas for you, saving you valuable time and energy you can put towards other concerns, desires and wants.

Here, you will have one single point of contact to work alongside you from reviewing employment agreements, helping you to plan for your practice, designing staff benefits for your practice, overseeing your personal and professional risk mitigation strategies, helping you to eliminate your loans, and coordinating the preparation and submission of your tax filings, as well as a whole slew of other important tasks.

Your Relationship Manager takes the time to know more about you, your goals and your vision for your future.  And in so doing, they seek out prudent solutions to issues before the issues become problems.

Regardless of the chosen practice path, the income potential affords most dentists the ability to save at a significant rate, sometimes even creating scenarios for early retirement.  With greater income, one may experience additional tax challenges and oftentimes asset protection concerns.  At Coastal Family Wealth Advisory, our Relationship Managers are highly trained in financial planning for dentists in all stages of their career.

Financial Planning for Dentists in All Stages of Their Career

Financial planning is a systematic and deliberate process.  It exists to direct all components of an individual’s financial scope, ensuring the strategy is working cohesively and aligned with the intended objectives.

The overall purpose is to layer varying risk management, wealth management and asset protection strategies to achieve financial independence.  We believe the discussion must begin with a thorough review of personal and professional goals.

From there, we must explore current efforts and available options, take your concerns into account, and your plan should be reasonably manageable.  A plan should offer guidance, direction, and peace of mind.  It also requires periodic review and updating.

Financial Planning for Dentists in Training

Our advisors believe planning can and should start early.  Beginning the financial planning process while a Dentist is in training by starting to discuss personal and practice goals, and getting the framework for a plan put in place, can position one ahead of their peers.

For many, student loans will present a challenge, and waiting until the exit interview to review balances and payment options will likely lead to a rushed repayment decision.  Evaluating all repayment methods including loan forgiveness opportunities, conventional approaches, or private refinancing should all be considered and will certainly influence practice goals.

While in training, every dentist develops a distinct skill set, one that deserves protection should anything upend their ability to practice dentistry.  We believe it is important to review and secure disability insurance coverage that is built and designed to protect one’s unique and very specific occupation.

There may also be opportunities to begin building strong saving habits and taking steps to prepare for an individual’s more immediate financial goals, including home or practice ownership.  One will have a chance to begin exploring benefits and retirement plan options, learning which will be available given their practice goals, and which a dentist may be responsible for developing within their personal plan.

Financial Planning for Associate Dentists

Associate dentists will potentially be provided a host of benefits and access to a retirement plan.  Benefit packages are never perfect and oftentimes there are gaps that may be prudent to fill.  There will be opportunities to compliment employer benefits and sometimes areas that require supplementing the employer offerings, which should be reviewed in conjunction with overall financial goals.

As one settles into their career, it’s important to continue reviewing one’s financial plan, making adjustments and changes as incomes grow and immediate term goals are met.  Accelerating retirement planning, seeking to maximize employer plans, as well as, looking beyond to other available options, should be considered.  It’s important also to keep disability coverage aligned with current earnings.  As one starts a family or takes on a mortgage or other obligation, it will be necessary to review additional vessels of insurance planning including life insurance options.  It’s also likely that additional tax or legal planning will become increasingly important at this stage.

If ownership of a practice is a goal, it’s never too early to begin speaking with lenders and meeting with tax advisors or attorneys to understand the acquisition/startup process.  We can be instrumental during this stage, giving direction and ensuring the proper steps are being taken in the right order.

Financial Planning for Dental Practice Owners

Practice ownership is a primary goal for many dentists that requires careful and thoughtful integration of personal planning efforts with the efforts for the business.  In addition to balancing savings and investing for the household against student loans, a mortgage and other debt reduction efforts, owners are tasked with assuming and paying the debts associated with their business.  Owners will need to develop benefit packages and retirement plans, balancing their personal goals with the needs of their employees.

Through the integration of the professionals at our Coastal Family Business Advisors and our Coastal Family Tax Advisors divisions, you will be guided every step of the way in designing a practice that will serve the goals of you and your family.

Our team of Business Advisors and Tax Advisors will create a uniform map for the direction of your business, coordinating and complimenting the efforts of the legal team.

Your time is freed up to focus on what really matters as you attend to the needs of your patients, while also growing your business, another important piece of your financial portfolio.