20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Gina Wesley, OD. Gina joins me for another conversation around the importance of being tuned into the scheduling metrics of your practice and how important it is to your overall profitability. We talk about the metrics she uses to evaluate and determine success, strategies her team uses to fill up the schedule, how she "triage...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart. Jen joins the show live while we were both presenting at IDOC's Connection meeting in Orlando to talk about something that's very timely for every practice owner out there right now: retaining and empowering team members and using metrics to guide your human capital. We touch on a variety of topics in this wi...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Solomon Gould, OD MBA ( Facebook . LinkedIn , Instagram , Email ).   In addition to owning two private practices in MN and being part of a multigenerational optometric family, Solomon is a speaker, author, practice management consultant, and all-around glass-half-full kind of guy and I really enjoyed this conversation with him...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This episode is my guest appearance on Medical Millennial series with Dr. Emilie Seitz . Emilie was kind enough to have me on the channel to talk about a variety of topics that impact younger practitioners and practice owners, but I'll emphasize that the topics are relevant to all practice owners—regardless of experience. In this conversation we talk about w...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This episode is my guest appearance on the Power Hour Optometry Podcast hosted by Dr. Bethany Fishbein, CEO of Power Hour. Bethany wanted to have me on the show to talk about the various different areas of a practice owner's life that they should be planning for in case of a disaster or emergency, and I enjoyed this conversation and tried to make it as fun a...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Hayley Stewart . Hayley is the Financial Services Manager for IDOC and predominately focuses her time and expertise on bookkeeping services for IDOC clients. Hayley joins the show to talk about the importance of bookkeeping in practices and how to properly ensure that your books are accurate. We spend a lot of time talking about i...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Phil Huber, CFA, CFP® ( @bpsandpieces ).   Phil has been involved in the financial services business since 2007 and is the Chief Investment Officer in Savant Wealth's Lincolnshire, IL office, is a member of the Investment Team, has a membership interest in Savant, and is a member of the Investment Committee. He is responsible for...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Ashy Daniels, CFP®. Ashby is an advisor, firm owner , blogger , and friend of mine and I wanted to have him on to talk about a variety of thoughts and perspectives as it relates to financial planning and portfolio management and how that specifically applies to ODs and practice owners. In this conversation, we talk about the diffe...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes. Nathan joins me back on the show today to talk about a topic that was actually inspired within the ODs on Finance Facebook community: why practices are valued the way that they are and whether the valuation method that's used is fair to the seller. Nathan and I discuss this question at length and from several differe...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Wade Weisz from For Eyes Bookkeeping .   Wade joins the show to talk with me about something that we're both passionate about: numbers! However, Wade and I are looking at it through two different set of lenses, though we're both doing it for the same reasons – to ensure that practice owners can be confident in the business dec...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Brianna Rhue, OD , co-founder of DrContactLens.com and TechifEYE . Brianna joins the show today to share with us both the qualitative and quantitative benefits of improving the contact lens purchasing experience your patients experience during the exam and overall buying process. We also talk about the genesis of TechifEYE and...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Eric Nelson, CFA ( @ServoWealth ). Eric is the found of Servo Wealth Management , a fee-only RIA located in Oklahoma City, OK.   Eric and I share very, very similar investment philosophies in the way we manage client portfolios and I wanted to have him on the show to talk through how investors can think about their own investment...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Stephanie Bogan .   While Stephanie has built and sold a number of businesses in her career, most recently she is the founder of Limitless Adviser, a coaching program where she empowers financial advisors to create and build wildly successful practices and a life that they love. This was a special conversation for me as I'm also p...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Erich Mattei . Erich is the founder of Akrinos , a consulting firm that not only helps ODs thrive in today's practice management landscape but takes it a step further by helping with the implementation and execution of identified strategies that will improve upon a practice's success.   In this conversation, Erich and I talk about...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is JR Armstrong . JR is a CPA and partner with May & Company and similar to our firm has a focus of serving optometric practice owners nationwide. JR joins us on the show to talk about not only why it's important to know the financials of your practice, but specifically how important it is to ensure that the financials are accurate a...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is…me! On this episode of 20/20 Money, I'm sharing with you the conversation I had with Dr. Bethany Fishbein that was originally recorded and released on the Power Hour Optometry podcast , which is the podcast hosted by The Power Practice . The Power Practice is a consultancy founded by Dr. Gary Gerber in 2003 that helps optometric p...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Ryan Nesbitt .   Ryan joins the show today to give us a unique perspective. As a consultant and advisor to private equity firms that are acquiring private practices across the healthcare verticals (including optometry), Ryan and I spend time talking about his experience working in private equity deals and sharing with us what driv...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Bethany Fishbein.   Bethany is the CEO of The Power Practice and she joins the show today to talk to us about how she's handled an all-too-common question, challenge, and (perceived) hurdle that many practice owners will eventually face: how do you most efficiently transfer an existing patient base from the OD practice owner t...

With a little over a month before the end of the year, there's still time to proactively plan your finances both personally and as a practice owner. In this episode we'll highlight 3 strategies to consider and 3 strategies to avoid between now and year-end.   As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com and clicking o...

One of the benefits of being a practice owner is having the flexibility to control where the net income from your practice falls on your personal tax return. This translates into the question, "How much should I pay myself?" In today's show, we revisit this conversation and talk through some of the different implications of paying yourself a high or low W-2 salary, specifically as it pertains to t...

How well does your spouse or significant other understand the cash flow of your practice? How consistent are you in harvesting cash out of the business? Have you ever had trouble on the home front making financial decisions or commitments together because s/he didn't understand with clarity and confidence how much and how consistent cash flow will be out of the practice? In this week's episode (in...

Welcome to a "Rewind" episode on 20/20 Money! I wanted to bring this episode back because I believe there's a lot of "evergreen" material in this conversation that's worth revisiting for practice owners. My guest on this episode (released in late 2020) is Dennis Moseley Williams. Dennis is one of a few certified experience economy experts and his sincere passion and mission is to help business own...

If you're a practice owner and a homeowner, there's a little planning strategy that can allow you to get money out of your practice tax free. It's not going to add up to a massive amount of money, but every little bit helps. It's called the "Augusta" rule and it allows someone that rents out their home for 14 days or less the ability to receive rental income tax-free. In this episode, I'll share h...

Most of us can't remember the last time that we actually earned anything worth noting on our cash reserves. The days of 4%+ savings accounts are decades-old memories. However, there is one silver lining of rising inflation: I-bonds are attractive again, and it's a great option for optometrists to consider when looking to get some yield on cash that needs to be risk-free.   As a reminder, you can g...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! We're 150+ episodes into this podcast and this was the first episode we've dedicated to the "backdoor Roth IRA!" In this episode I'll discuss the strategy, when you need to utilize it, mistakes that we've observed throughout the process, and the future of the backdoor Roth IRA.   As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today's conversatio...