Doctors do Better with Comprehensive Financial Managers
« Back to Press Releases
March 30, 2002
Physician's Money Digest
By Donald T. Cohen, CPA
Newman + Cohen Financial Management
 In
today's bear market, physicians are relying on financial professionals for
guidance and planning more than ever. The typical physician's long hours and
busy schedule prevents him or her from being able to deftly manage his or her
personal and business finances. Therefore, it's common for physicians to work
with a variety of individuals to help ensure that they are making informed
and wise decisions, especially during times such as these when the economy
sours and their investment gains dwindle.
However, physicians should consider whether a single adviser would better
serve their financial needs. Doctors have traditionally relied on the experience
and advice of brokers for their investments, accountants for their taxes, insurance
agents for their insurance needs and lawyers for their estate-planning and
creditor-protection issues. Assembling such a financial team takes a great
deal of time and effort, and the larger the team the greater the vulnerabilities
to problems with unethical professionals.
Instead, many physicians are now choosing to work exclusively with a single
financial adviser. These doctors are consolidating all of their personal and
business financials with highly experienced and trustworthy professionals who
specialize in providing comprehensive financial management services.
The advantages of working with a comprehensive financial manager are significant.
First, it saves doctors a great deal of time by eliminating numerous meetings
and telephone calls with multiple individuals. Most physicians are extremely
dedicated to their work, and they welcome anything that can help to simplify
their lives and decrease the demands on their schedules.
Second, a comprehensive financial adviser is uniquely capable of assessing
all of a physician's personal and business financial needs in the context of
his or her portfolio and short- and long-term goals. An adviser can offer investment
advice that is particularly appropriate to those using certain tax and estate-planning
strategies. Furthermore, an adviser can recommend insurance products that complement
specific estate-planning and investment tactics.
When it comes to protecting assets from claims and creditors, comprehensive
financial advisers can devise and recommend strategies that may fall between
the cracks of the areas of expertise of individual specialists. They can also
enable physicians to take advantage of all of the precautions that are available
to them under the law.
Moreover, for private-practice physicians, these advisers can recommend and
initiate suitable employee-benefits plans. Many of these plans provide access
to attractive insurance and investment products for the business owner, and
the adviser can help the physician determine which plans are most beneficial
both for the physician and his or her employees. In addition, advisers who
have medical billing and coding expertise can take a close look at the medical
practice's billing policies, protocols and coding to create efficiencies and
uncover untapped revenue sources.
Physicians who are considering consolidating their personal and business finances
with a single adviser should closely scrutinize the adviser's credentials and
qualifications. The right adviser is one with a great deal of experience in
working with doctors on investments, insurance, taxes, estate planning and
employee benefits. Most importantly, the adviser must be an ethical and trustworthy
individual, and it is always wise to speak with several of his or her clients
about their experiences with the individual.
-30-
Donald T. Cohen is a founder and director of Newman + Cohen
Financial Management (www.newman-cohen.com).
He has more than 20 years of experience in certified public accounting, advanced
financial strategies and business management with physicians and high-net-worth
individuals. He welcomes questions or comments at (800) 966-9306 or via e-mail
at donald.cohen@newman-cohen.com
« Back to Press Releases
|
