Money Checkup With Anjali Jariwala

As the end of the year approaches, make sure you make time to review your finances for 2019 and prepare for 2020. From retirement plan contributions to employee benefits to tax returns, work with your financial advisor and CPA to make sure you’re on track to maximize your tax benefits and save for your future.  After subscribing to the podcast, read more about how to give yourself a year-end financial checkup here.

Letizia Alto and Kenji Asakura are physicians in Seattle. After a few years of full-time work and a transformative vacation to New Zealand, they decided to begin real estate investing so they could embrace the semi-retired lifestyle. Today, they own several dozen residential and mixed-use properties. They blog and lead real estate investing classes at Semi-Retired MD.  Leti continues to work half-time as a family medicine physician and Kenji moonlights as an internal medicine physician. They live in Seattle.  KEY RESOURCES REFERENCED IN THIS EPISODE FB Group for: Physicians and their spouses Dentists and their spouses Lawyers and their spouses High-Income Professionals and their spouses Course page: https://semiretiredmdvip.mykajabi.com/zerotofreedom

Dr. Nisha Mehta identified the symptoms of burnout fairly early in her life as a radiologist. Instead of pursuing an academic career, she chose to begin writing and speaking about issues surrounding physicians’ demanding lifestyles, including work-life balance, women in medicine, physician finances, healthcare policy and the industry landscape, physician entrepreneurship and more. EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS Fewer and fewer physicians say they would recommend a career in medicine to their children because the profession is so demanding.  Dr. Mehta thinks most people in medical careers are beginning to realize the seriousness of burnout, including administrators and policymakers who see how that impacts hospital bottom lines and patient outcomes.  Physicians don’t have to de-prioritize their work to maintain work-life balance. They often just need to be more intentional with their time — including prioritizing family time, wellness and sleep. Physicians often do as much as they can until they’re totally overwhelmed, t

Sophia Bera, CFP®, is the founder of Gen Y Planning and a friend of mine. She does an admirable job of balancing her work with her personal life, and this week on Money Checkup, she shares advice on how to structure your business to align with your goals and values. To learn more about Gen Y Planning, visit genyplanning.com. Follow Sophia Bera on Twitter at @SophiaBera.  But first! Be sure to read the companion blog here: https://fitadvisors.com/how-business-owners-can-build-balanced-lives 

Over 20,000 physicians talk about starting a medical practice, and according to this week’s guest, it’s a fallacy to think that physicians aren’t actually doing it anymore. On the contrary, Debra Phairas, president of Practice & Liability Consultants, LLC, has helped over 500 physicians open their own medical practices in her 34 years as a practice management consultant.  With her technical expertise on how you can open your own, you're bound to sooner than later.  Want more? Find the blog on the FIT Advisors website! 

The U.S. sees six to eight medical malpractice claims per 100 doctors per year says Dr. Jason Shah, cofounder of Flagship Healthcare.  If a judge rules in favor of the patient, the average settlement or judgment is about $400,000 — although that can vary widely based on where the claim is filed and the physician’s specialty.  At the most basic level, physicians need to be insured for the potential of a malpractice suit.  Check out the show with Jason as he walks us through the basics and nuances when pursuing this type of insurance. Jason Shah, M.D. is cofounder of Flagship Healthcare, a medical malpractice insurance firm that was acquired by Alera Group in 2017. His business is now known as the Alera Healthcare Professional Liability Division and insures more than 5,000 physicians nationwide. Learn more about their services here. Contact Jason at jason.shah@aleragroup.com.

There are many more risk factors out there than there used to be. Thus, it’s necessary to change your mindset - you’ve worked hard, built wealth, may have a family relying on you - so you want to make sure that you are protected! Prevention is always the best course of action, you don’t want to be put in a bad situation because you weren’t prepared. Meaghan Dowd, Personal Risk Advisor, joins me to delve into the importance of insurance and the different coverages you should be sure to have.

Contract agreements will be written to favor the hospital or group over the doctor so take the time to make sure you are protected and know exactly what you are getting into. You often spend more time working than you do with your family so you don’t want to lock yourself in to a career that isn’t what you had in mind when signing the contract. Becoming a partner in a practice is an exciting time, but you need to be careful before signing the partnership agreement and putting in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Join in as Kristen Prinz, employment lawyer, business counselor and founder of the Prinz law firm delves into not only the importance of reviewing employment contracts but understanding the nuances of buying into a medical group.

It’s halfway through the year, summer is coming to an end. It’s the perfect time to do a mid-year money checkup. The purpose of this checkup is to ensure that you are on the right track for your personal financial goals for the year. Join in on this solo episode where I go in detail about not only what you should be looking at but also the reasons behind each step. Doing a mid-year checkup is sure to save you some sanity and maybe even some money come tax time! For more content, please visit: www.fitadvisors.com.  Or like and follow our NEW Money Check Up FB Page:  https://www.facebook.com/Money-Checkup-Podcast-2415950861799497/

It’s incredibly important to be proactive and focus on asset protection prior to an incident. You want to protect those assets during your life so that you can enjoy them and so that there is something to go into estate planning. Join in as Ike Devji, an attorney who focuses on asset protection, wealth preservation, and risk management as he delves into why asset protection is critical along with ensuring you are appropriately covered. Ike Devji is an attorney whose practice has focused on asset protection, wealth preservation, and risk management for more than 15 years. Contact him at http://www.proassetprotection.com/.   

Life insurance is such a crucial piece of a financial plan for your life, but it’s not always something that people understand or prioritize. What type of policy do you need? Do you have adequate coverage? Should your spouse have life insurance? In today’s Money Checkup, Mark Maurer gives us some helpful pieces of advice to answer these questions, and others, as we chat about why life insurance is an important component of one’s financial life. We go through term life policies versus permanent policies, how much insurance you should have and even talk about how much is too much insurance. Tune in to learn what type of policy and how much coverage is right for you. Mark is the President and CEO of LLIS, a comprehensive insurance practice that works with advisors and their clients to find the right solution. As the son of insurance experts, Keith and Judith Maurer, Mark grew up in the insurance industry and has an impressive combination of education and mentoring. He constantly monitors the insurance and financ

Have you ever wondered what is private equity and how to invest in real estate private equity deals?  Or what are some of the requirements you need to have to even partake in this type of investment?. In today’s Money Checkup, I’ve invited Rachele Voigt on the show to provide her expertise and insight if you are exploring this asset class to diversify your portfolio. She goes over some of the common terms for you to understand and some things to watch out for when you are doing your due diligence. Rachele is a Senior Associate at MLG Capital, a national real estate investment and private equity firm.  She started her career working for a financial services firm before getting into real estate. At MLG, she mostly works on fundraising efforts from high net worth individuals, RIA’s and Multi-Family Office’s, while helping maintain current investor relations and finding acquisition opportunities in the state of Wisconsin. What We Will Cover How Rachele got into the real estate industry How companies are combatin

The world of student loans can be daunting, and one that is challenging to navigate. Should you continue with Federal loans? Should you refinance to private loans? What are the benefits and dangers to both? In today’s Money Checkup, Travis Hornsby joins me on the show to give some insight into how you can navigate some of these questions and more to figure out what is best for your situation and your student loans. Travis Hornsby founded Student Loan Planner after helping his physician wife navigate ridiculously complex student loan repayment decisions. To date, he’s consulted on over $367 million in student debt personally, more than anyone else in the country. He is a Chartered Financial Analyst and brings his background as a former bond trader, trading billions of dollars. What We Will Cover Some of the repayment options for student loans How Congress got involved over the years with student loans How Married Filing Separately and Married Filing Jointly affect your taxes when you have student loans How th

If you’re a business owner, figuring out the right retirement plan for you and your employees can seem like a daunting task. The first decision is to determine if you want a defined contribution plan or a defined benefit plan and then from there the number of options continues to grow. In today’s Money Checkup, I’ve invited Neil Shore to join me on the show to take a deep dive into these options and provide you insight on what may work for you and your business. Tune in to not only find out about the various retirement plan options, but also understanding the tax implications for each type of plan.  Neil Shore, ASA, EA and Kathy Tompkins founded Shore Tompkins in 2004 to be a leading, creative, high-touch retirement consulting firm, exclusively focused on strategic consulting, design and administration for all major types of retirement and pension plans. Neil has 33 years of actuarial and benefit consulting experience, specializing in pension plan design, consulting and actuarial services.  Neil is an Associa

Many times people see just the dollars and cents side of money, but there is so much more behind each person’s money script. You have certain beliefs and ideas about your money for a variety of different reasons. In today’s Money Checkup, I chat with fellow Certified Financial Planner®, Mary Beth Storjohann on some of the questions we see quite often when it comes to money and hiring a financial planner to navigate money issues. We dive into what to look for in a CFP®, questions you should be asking your potential financial planner and more! Tune in and learn how to determine which financial planner is the right FIT for you. Mary Beth Storjohann, CFP® works as an author, speaker, and financial coach to apply a fun, albeit no-nonsense approach in working with individuals and couples across the country, helping them make smart, educated choices with their money. She is the Founder of Workable Wealth, a platform that provides financial education and empowerment to those in their 20s – 50s, and is the Chief Marke

One of the items that is often overlooked and the least understood in the insurance world is disability insurance. How much coverage should you have? What does the term “any occupation” mean and should that be in your policy? In today’s Money Checkup, I’ve invited Stephanie Pearson, MD to join me on the show to discuss these questions and many others specifically as it relates to physicians and the disability insurance they should have in place. Stephanie has been through her own traumatic injury so knows first hand the specifics to look out for when it comes to disability insurance. Stephanie Pearson, MD, FACOG, is a Board Certified OB/GYN and an advocate and advisor for physicians’ disability insurance. A resident of Wynnewood, PA, Stephanie grew up in Southern New Jersey, received her B.S. from Emory University and her MD from MCP/Hahnemann (now Drexel University College of Medicine). Before becoming injured, she practiced obstetrics and gynecology at a community hospital in suburban Philadelphia. She now

Passive income, especially in recent years, has become a popular way to growth wealth. One platform you can use to benefit from passive income is real estate. In today’s Money Checkup, I’ve invited Peter Kim to join me on the show. Peter has taken this idea of passive income through real estate investing, not only to grow his own wealth, but to educate other physicians on how to do it as well. Join us on today’s episode to hear how he’s gotten to where he is today and the information, tips and tricks he passes on to other physicians through his two companies. Peter is an anesthesiologist living in Los Angeles with his wife and two children. He is the creator of the website Passive Income MD which helps physicians create financial freedom through passive income. He is also the founder of Curbside Real Estate, a service created to help physicians in the home buying process. Peter runs a Facebook group of nearly 5,000 physicians to discuss issues related to passive income called Passive Income Docs.  What We Wil

Buying a home can seem like an impossible task, especially when you start to learn about all of the other costs to consider that might not even relate directly to the home purchase. In today’s Money Checkup you’ll hear Part 2 of Christina Razzi’s episode where I will dive further into some of the costs to think about and consider when you are determining the amount of home you can afford. There are rules of thumb that most lenders tend to follow, but there are also other indirect costs and future costs you need to also be thinking about. I’ll also discuss how to ensure your new home purchase works within your personal cash flow so you can still reach current and future financial goals. What We Will Cover Rules of thumb around home buying and the misconceptions they can present The first step in the home purchase price How debt-to-income plays into being able to buy a home Why you need to understand, in detail, your monthly spending Besides the down payment, other expenses you will need additional cash for Re

One of the biggest purchases many of us will make in our lifetime is a home and for some people that might happen more than just once. What usually comes with the purchase of a home is also a mortgage, which means a lot of paperwork and a lot of complicated numbers and so what does it all mean? In today’s Money Checkup, I talk with Christina Razzi (NMLS 162739) about what lenders are looking for, what things to watch out for when working with a lender and some of the unique features physicians can take advantage of when looking for a mortgage.   Christina is the #1 US Bank loan officer in her region with over 20 years of experience.  She helps clients across the US obtain mortgages for their first home, second home, investment property and more.  She is focused on customer service and works with her clients to help them decide which option is the best for their situation. What We Will Cover First thing to do if you’re thinking about buying a home The score you should be above to have a “great credit score” H

It doesn’t matter how much or how little a person makes; finances can be a challenge for all of us. In today’s Money Checkup, I chat with Tarang Patel about how even physicians struggle with finances. Coming right out of medical school or residency, physicians are faced with large amounts of student loan debt and many don’t have the opportunity to start contributing to an employer sponsored retirement plan until they are in their mid-thirties. We discuss these issues and others that our physicians are facing with their finances to try and provide some suggestions and insight as to when and how they should be getting a handle on their finances. Tarang is a radiologist and host of the Doctor Money Matters podcast where he provides a place for physicians, dentists, and other health physicians to discuss financial topics they are faced with today.  What We Will Cover Tarang’s background and where his interest in finance stemmed from Tarang’s reason for launching his podcast Doctor Money Matters How Tarang’s view