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FINANCIAL
MISTAKES
financial budgets, review them with the actual results. If you don’t how none of us are adequately putting money away for our retire-
have budgets, establish some. If you have to ask your accountant for ment. This is more true for doctors who after years of school start
help, you may need a new accountant. their retirement funding later than most. There are also things doc-
tors should be addressing before retirement. Is there an adequate buy
# 4 Mixing business with pleasure sell agreement for your practice? Do you have a succession plan to
Doctors can forget that their practice is a separate entity. They dis- protect your practice? Are you insuring your most valuable asset –
Yourself? Disability insurance may seem expensive until you need it.
tribute collections out of the practice for personal matters, pay per- Apart from retirement funding, do you have readily available reserves
sonal expenses through the practice bank account and invest in case of a rainy day?
personally with practice funds. It is important from a tax planning
and asset protection perspective that all personal financial activity be Physicians have worked hard to get to where they are. Making the
kept out of the practice. Doctors have a reputation, right or wrong, most of their efforts is the goal.
for being easy marks and spending too much. A medical practice can
be a very successful business that is destroyed by the personal spend- Jim Rice, CPA is a shareholder at Sol Schwartz
ing habits of the doctor. Determine what your personal spending & Associates, P.C. (jprice@ssacpa.com). He has 32
habits are and how they affect the operations of your practice. Many years of experience in public accounting. In addi-
doctors complain of working harder and having less to show for it. tion to providing business consultation, financial
This may be perception only or it could be a sign of the practice planning and various other accounting services,
and/or the physician not controlling costs or protecting revenues. Jim specializes in income tax planning and con-
sultation. He works with a high concentration of
# 5 Not planning for the future physician practices and high net worth individuals. Contact Jim at
I don’t just mean for retirement. We have heard many times over (210) 384-8000 Ext. 112.
visit us at www.bcms.org 33
