20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

  Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! Today's show takes on a bit of an unorthodox format as it's actually the audio from a recent presentation that I gave at the University of Houston-College of Optometry. If you'd like to watch the video version of the presentation, head over to our website at www.integratedpwm.com and click on the Learning Center where you'll not only find the vi...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! In today's episode, I spend the first part clarifying and expounding upon two previous shows and topics that we've discussed and then finish it up by talking about a relevant topic that has come up both in my personal life as well as with a number of clients over the past couple of weeks.   The first part dives into a few more clarifying points ab...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is none other than my wife Dr. Andrea Cmejla. As I celebrate 50 episodes of 20/20 Money, I thought this would be a great opportunity to have Andrea on the show to talk about her journey in optometry thus far and some of the lessons and knowledge she's learned through her multiple modalities of practice. We talk about her f...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This is part 2 of my conversation with Dr. Justin Manning. In this continued conversation from VEW in Las Vegas, we discuss the importance that ODs play in patients' lives (which is no surprise to ODs), but more importantly the role that ODs can play in the greater issue of population health, and we still do this through the lens of being a great...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This is an extra-special episode of the show, because it's being released exactly one year to the day from when the show was started. Back then, the show was called "The Dose" so if you haven't checked out some of those earlier episodes, be sure to scroll through the show archives and check out our earlier episodes.   My guest on today's show is D...

On this episode of 20/20 Money, I keep the theme going of "Selling in September" and talk about three of the biggest taxes to be aware of when you sell your practice and how those taxes will impact the net proceeds that you will walk away from after the sale of your practice. I also discuss the ongoing investment-related taxes that you need to be aware of as well and which investment vehicles are...

  Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Erik Ferjentsik, and this is actually Part 2 of my conversation with Erik. You can check out Part 1 by listening to last week's episode. Erik is the founder and principal of Visionary Practice Group, a firm that works with optometrists to broker, consult, and appraise their practice for transitions. In part 2, I pick...

  Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Erik Ferjentsik. Erik is the founder and principal of Visionary Practice Group, a firm that works with optometrists to broker, consult, and appraise their practice for transitions. I've known Erik for a number of years and it was great to have him on the show. We have a common bond in that we're both married to ODs so...

  Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! As a quick reminder, if you're going to be attending Vision West in Las Vegas in a couple of weeks and have a topic you'd like to discuss, I still have one more opening in my schedule to record an episode in person. If you're interested, be sure to email me at podcast@integratedpwm.com to share your topic. My guest on today's show is JT Metzger....

Hello, and welcome to episode 48 of 20/20 Money! Even though this episode is coming out on the first Monday in September, it is Labor Day and therefore I'm pushing back the "Selling in September" theme until next week, when the next four episodes will be dedicated to topics relating to selling one's practice. My guest on today's show is Dr. Matt Mitchell. Matt has been on the show in the past and...

On this episode of 20/20 Money, it's all about the ABC's and 123's of disability insurance for optometrists. We'll discuss what disability insurance is, the different kinds of disability insurance an OD can get, how much of a benefit you can get, and what riders you should make sure are on your policy (including the most important rider of all). I'll also share with you some of the carriers that w...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! Today's show is all about retirement plans and specifically whether (and when) an optometrist might consider switching from a SIMPLE IRA to a 401(k). During the show I first start by laying the foundation and going over the basics of how 401(k)'s and SIMPLE IRAs work, specifically as it relates to some of their small but significant differences. I share the...

Welcome everybody! Welcome to the 40th episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today's show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart. Jennifer is an optometrist and partner at Norwalk Eye Care and Performance 2020 and this is actually the second time that she's been on our show. I wanted to have Jennifer back on the show to talk about dailies and the role they have played in her career both clinically as well as how e...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nina O'Neal. Nina is a partner and investment advisor with Archer Investment Management in Raleigh, NC. What's interesting and unique about Nina, though, is her breadth and depth of experience in the world of real estate investments, specifically as it pertains to strategies and solutions for the gains and proceeds that...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Jeff Smith. Jeff is a long time friend of mine and works as what is known in the investment world as a "wholesaler," which means that it's his responsibility to communicate primarily to other investment professionals that work with clients what his company is doing to understand the markets. This is a unique episode, th...

  Welcome back to another episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today's show is Dr. Matt Mitchell. Dr. Mitchell owns Bluffton Family Eye Care, a private practice located in…you guessed it…Bluffton, IN. What's unique about Matt, though, is that his practice is located in what many would consider to be a "rural" practice setting, as the population of his entire county is less than 30,000 people and is...

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! In today's episode I talk about the different retirement savings vehicles that ODs should consider given the mode of their practice and the "ladder" in which they should order their savings strategy. I begin with the versatility of the HSA and why it's good to think about the HSA as not an account that exists for day-to-day healthcare expenses but more of a...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Jennifer Stewart.  Jennifer is a partner at Norwalk Eye Care, a private practice in Norwalk, CT. The reason that I wanted to have Jennifer on the show is because of her insatiable quest for knowledge on how to run an incredibly efficient and profitable practice by becoming a student of the numbers within the practic...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Nathan Hayes.  Nathan is the Practice Finance Consultant at IDOC and has worked with countless practices to help them understand not only the financials of their practice but how to make strategic business decisions based on the financial health of the practice. Our conversation was centralized around an Optometric Mana...

  Today's show talks about how you can make the most out of your time when attending optometry conferences. As clinicians, your ability to produce revenue is directly to your ability to see patients, so it's important to get a great RoT (return on time) at your conferences because the cost of the conference is not just the expenses of the conference but also the opportunity cost of what you otherw...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! M y guest on today's show are Drs. Matt Geller and Antonio Chirumbulo. Matt & Antonio were guests on our 3 rd  episode and are the co-founders of the popular website  www.newgradoptometry. com , a website dedicated to providing relevant and timely information for…you guessed it…new OD grads. It's the beginning of June, and what that means for new...

Welcome to another episode of 20/20 Money! Today will be another solo episode and we'll be talking about the basic four levers that you can pull when it comes to "retirement" or, as I like to call it, financial independence. Now, if you're listening and far away from retirement, I'd still encourage and ask you to stick around for the show, because (a) it's not a long episode and (b) there are vari...

Hello, and welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Eric Botts.   Eric is a practicing optometrist in Macomb, IL and what I love about Eric's practice model is that he is the lease holder at four different Walmart vision centers. In today's conversations we talk about what his practice looks like and the make-up of his team and how he balances the dynamics of having...

In today's episode, I share three different events that have transpired over the last couple of weeks that have gotten me to think about the emotional connection we have to cash, specifically cash that is on hand in an "emergency fund." I share two personal stories that have brought this to light over the past couple of weeks along with an example from a (not named, of course) client conversation....

Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Kent Godfrey. Kent owns a multi-location practice in and around the Denver, CO area and has, by most definitions, a very successful practice. In this episode, we talk about Kent's path into practice ownership and the state of his practice right now. We also touch on something that is very important to him and that is using his...