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In today’s uncertain healthcare environment, healthcare professionals must also be business managers for their practices, their employees and their families. This task can be frustrating, daunting and overwhelming.
With the right team in place, financial security and work/life balance is possible. The road to quality of life and financial freedom starts with trust, the foundation of all meaningful relationships. It is crucial to establish trust with the right advisors.
Behind every successful professional, you’ll find trustworthy advisors. These professionals are there as your counselors and confidential sounding boards. A true advisor helps you navigate through your financial fears, blind spots and concerns.
College and medical school does not prepare you to manage the money you will make, nor how to identify competent and capable advisors. By understanding what professional financial advisors do, and by learning about the skills and tools they use, you will do a better job at selecting professionals who can successfully fulfill the role of trustworthy advisor.
How can you identify a trustworthy advisor? Preparing yourself to find a level of support will require you to educate yourself about the criteria used to evaluate these choices.
A trustworthy advisor with vision (and you, yourself), should ask and help answer the following:
• What do you want to accomplish in your financial life?
• Why are these accomplishments important to you?
• When would you like to accomplish these goals?
• How should you manage this process to ensure your goals get achieved on time?
• How much money are you squandering or “leaving on the table?”
• Where will you gather the information you need to have your dream life?
• Who are the essential people you require to accomplish your goals?
As with your health, the secret of financial success is found in determining how and whom to trust. If you have trouble trusting yourself, your lack of self-confidence may condemn you to leaning on other people, crossing your fingers and hoping you made the right decisions. Not having a concrete plan in place; not balancing your short-term, intermediate and long-term goals; investing too aggressively and losing money; investing too conservatively and not earning enough to achieve your goals; and not having appropriate or sufficient insurance in place when you and your family need it are typical symptoms of not working with a team of trustworthy advisors.
Your Family’s Financial Advocates: Who’s on Your Team?
A football team needs a quarterback, a center, linebackers and other players working in harmony. No one player can win the game. All must be strong, fast, capable and coordinated. Your financial team needs at least some of the following players:
1) Healthcare Attorney addresses professional contracts, legal and compliance issues
2) CPA addresses your tax, cash flow and debt/credit needs
3) Financial Planner fee, free or commissioned based
4) Insurance Specialist addresses both business and personal insurance and risk management planning
5) Wealth Manager addresses risk, reward and tax efficiencies of your investments
6) Pension Specialist addresses retirement issues and tax planning
7) Property, Casualty, Malpractice Specialist addresses your business insurance needs
8) Estate Planning Attorney addresses planning for the future of your family
9) Banker addresses cash flow, lending and debt planning
10) Business or Real Estate Attorney addresses non-medical contracts and real estate purchases
A recent survey reveals that a minority of medical professionals are in control of their financial lives. Only a few engage trustworthy advisors. Healthcare Professionals are working too hard and saving too little. Many are married to other Healthcare Professionals who are equally unprepared to manage their family’s security and prosperity. Many doctors are unprepared for retirement and unsure about how to manage savings and debt. Family wealth is greatly impacted by internal and external factors. Some of those factors you can control and some you can’t. The survey also suggests that doctors have needs that correlate loosely with age, but these are affected by a variety of factors ranging from type of practice to lifestyle choices. Financial planning must be tailored to the unique needs, goals and circumstances of each person.
Coming next month: Addressing the different types of advisors.
