The Optometry Money Podcast

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

For the last episode of 2023, it's time to rewind to our most popular episode of the year.

Dr. Kara Ramsey-Foster, OD joins the podcast to talk about her journey freeing her optometry practice from managed vision care plans through a direct care business model.

In a bit of a case study, Dr. Foster talks about what led her to transition her practice entirely away from vision plans, how a direct care or fee-for-service model works, how she made the transition successful, and how it's benefited her practice.

She had such a great perspective on a big, important topic for independent optometry practices.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Get Your FREE Financial Health Assessment
• Eye Care For You
• Direct Care Difference - Join The Direct Care Movement!
• Review of Optometric Business - How I Freed My Practice from Managed Care to Achieve a $564 Revenue-per-Exam
• Direct Care Difference YouTube Channel
• Anagram

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

As we approach year-end, it's time to rewind to a popular 2023 episode! 

In Part 3 of a 3 part series, Evon dove into the many financial planning considerations optometrists need to think about when you own a more established, mature private optometry practice - both inside the business and in the household.

A few of the planning topics practice owners should think about are:

• Maintaining your vision for the ideal practice and ownership life
• Building guardrails around your practice based on your ideal lifestyle
• Create a separation between your practice and personal finances
• Create a framework for deciding how to best use the cash flow your practice creates
• Getting the most from your practice retirement plans
• Planning for financial independence and retirement
• Balancing the growth of different parts of your net worth over time
• Risk management, contingency planning in the practice, and estate planning
• Keep an eye on the other financial goals in your life outside the practice
• Keeping in close contact with your professionals. 

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Refractional CFO - Jackson Pace, CPA
• Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! by Greg Crabtree and Beverly Blair Harzog
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 64: How to Invest Six Digits A Year Into Your Practice Retirement Plans with Matt Ruttenberg
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 68: Financial Planning Considerations When Preparing for Practice Ownership
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 69: Financial Planning Considerations for the Early Years of Practice Ownership
• Get your FREE financial health assessment

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

As we approach year-end, it's time to rewind to a popular 2023 episode! 

In Part 2 of a 3 part series, Evon dives into the many financial planning considerations optometrists need to think about in the early years of owning a private optometry practice - both inside the business and in the household.

Once doors are open and for the first few years, you should think about:

• It's quite the busy time, learning and adjusting to owning the practice and managing employees.
• Getting familiar with the three core financial statements in your practice - the balance sheet, the profit and loss statement, and the statement of cash flows.
• Getting to know the internal, operational key performance indicators that matter to your business (the leading indicators).
• Focus on actual cash flow of the business, the differences between actual cash flow and profit, and creating a framework for deciding what to do next with cash as it comes in.
• Building appropriate cash reserves in the practice
• Preparing to pay yourself as the owner
• Preparing for tax payments and withholding and tax planning opportunities.
• Establishing a retirement plan in the practice.
• Protecting yourself from the financial risks with appropriate insurance coverage.
• Keeping in close contact with your professionals. 

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Get your FREE financial health assessment
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep. 49: An Optometrist’s Guide to Business Entities
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep. 17: Assessing the Health of Your Optometry Practice with Dr. Chad Fleming
• Simple Numbers, Straight Talk, Big Profits! by Greg Crabtree and Beverly Blair Harzog
• Profit First by Mike Michalowicz
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 53: An Optometrist’s Guide to Estimated Tax Payments
• Eyes on the Money Newsletter: Beware This Practice Ownership Tax Hike
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 63: Choosing A Retirement

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

It's almost the end of the year, and Evon dives into a year-end checklist for financial planning actions that every optometrist needs to keep in mind.

He talks about retirement plan contributions, important student loan deadlines, tax and business planning considerations to review before the year ends and into early next year.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Retirement Plan Contribution Changes for 2024
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 63: Choosing A Retirement Plan for Your Optometry Practice
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 34: Five Levers to Control Capital Gains on Your Tax Return
• Federal Student Aid: One Time IDR Payment Count Adjustment 
• What to Know About the Corporate Transparency Act?

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

In this Thanksgiving holiday rewind, we wanted to replay a popular 2022 episode on an important end-of-year topic: charitable giving.

Evon dives into the tax benefits of charitable giving and tax planning strategies optometrists should consider to make the most of your charitable donations. He talks about how charitable deductions work, bunching your donations, donor advised funds, and more!

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps ODs nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned in the show:

• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep. 34: Five Levers to Control Capital Gains on Your Tax Return
• IRS Tax Exempt Organization Search

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

As we get into the holiday seasons and end of the year, it's time for a rewind of a popular 2022 episode on managing taxes through capital gains!

Evon continues the year-end tax planning theme and talks all about how investment income and capital gains impact your tax return.

He dives into how your investment account creates income, how it's taxed, and 5 levers you can pull to control capital gains on your tax return. This episode is a great example of how all the different parts of your finances - investments, taxes, charitable donations, cash flow needs - are all intertwined. You should look at them together when making financial decisions.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps ODs nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned in the show:

• Get Started - Optometry Wealth Advisors
• Schwab: Watch Out for Wash Sales
• Investopedia: Long-term vs. Short-term Capital Gains
• Schwab: How to Cut Your Tax Bill with Tax Loss Harvesting

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide.

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

To wrap up the series on risk management, Evon is joined by Levi Barlavi, attorney and owner of Pacific Health Law Group, to provide and introduction to asset protection for optometrist.

Levi dives into what asset protection means, and the liability risks optometrists face in and out of practice. He talks about ways to protect yourself, from exempted assets and insurance to legal entities. He also dives into how optometrists can properly maintain the legal entities to make sure they provide the protection they're created to provide.

Lastly - for optometry practice owners - he talks about how to protect the value of your practice as an asset against the big "what-ifs" that can happen to you as well as through a successful transition.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Pacific Health Law Group, PC
• Phone: 310-776-5384
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 81: An Optometrist’s Guide to Estate Planning with Ali Oromchian, J.D., LL.M.
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 78: Separating Fact From Fiction of Indexed Universal Life Insurance with Andy Panko, CFP®, RICP®, EA
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 77: Ins and Outs of Permanent Life Insurance with Broc Buckles
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 76: An Optometrist’s Guide to Life Insurance

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

Ali Oromchian, J.D., LL.M. of Dental & Medical Counsel joins the podcast to provide an optometrist's guide to estate planning.

Ali and Evon dive into the purpose and important - but often difficult - considerations of estate planning, when optometrists should consider creating and reviewing an estate plan, the tools and legal documents used in an estate plan, trusts vs. wills, how practice owners should incorporate their practice ownership, and so much more.

This is such an important part of any optometrist's financial planning and managing the big risks in your life. Ali provides a wealth of knowledge so you know what to consider and what to expect when creating and reviewing your estate plan over time.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Dental & Medical Counsel
• Phone: 925-999-8200
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 28: Keeping Your Beneficiaries Up To Date

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

What's the value of your optometry practice? What goes into a practice valuation?

Erich Mattei of Akrinos joins the podcast to provide an introduction to optometry practice valuations.

Erich dives into his work with valuations, three general approaches to valuating businesses, and when practice owners should start considering their practice's value.

Lastly, he discusses how valuations can be improved and ways current valuation methods and recent high valuations are creating roadblocks for the successful transition of independent practices from owner optometrist to the next generation.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Akrinos LLC
• Women in Optometry - The Great Retirement May Be Coming in Optometry
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 41: Navigating Internal Practice Transitions with Dr. Mick Kling and Craig Moritz
• The Optometry Money Podcast Ep 50: Guide to Due Diligence on Practice Purchases with Erich Mattei

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide. 

Questions? Thoughts? Send a Text to The Optometry Money Podcast! We'll answer your question on the show.

Do the partners and vendors in your practice have the same values of independence as you?

Ben Collier and Dan Korolev of Collier Optical Lab join the podcast to talk all about the benefits of independent optometry practices working with an independent optical lab. They dive into what being "independent" means, and how independent labs operate differently. They also talk about the importance of your lab relationship to the patient experience, internal processes, and profitability to the practice.

It was a fascinating conversation, and we're happy to feature independent businesses doing great things to help the sustainability and longevity of optometry practices.

Have questions on anything discussed or want to have topics or questions featured on the show? Send Evon an email at [email protected].

Check out www.optometrywealth.com to get to know more about Evon, his financial planning firm Optometry Wealth Advisors, and how he helps optometrists nationwide. From there, you can schedule a short Intro call to share what's on your mind and learn how Evon helps ODs master their cash flow and debt, build their net worth, and plan purposefully around their money and their practices. 

Resources mentioned on this episode:

• Collier Optical Lab

The Optometry Money Podcast is dedicated to helping optometrists make better decisions around their money, careers, and practices. The show is hosted by Evon Mendrin, CFP®, CSLP®, owner of Optometry Wealth Advisors, a financial planning firm just for optometrists nationwide.