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BOOK REVIEW
COMPREHENSIVE FINANCIAL PLANNING
STRATEGIES for DOCTORS and ADVISORS
Best Practices from Leading Consultants and Certified Medical Planners
By Dr. David Edward Marcinko & Prof. Hope Rachel Hetico (Editors)
This ambitious text is a 600+ page “Comprehensive” in the title refers to both personal as well as
encyclopedic opus authored by more medical practice financial issues with both spheres being extensively
than two dozen healthcare, financial, addressed for the health care professional. Chapter 8 in the “New
and legal succors serving today’s health- Practitioner” section titled “Modern Risk-Management Issues for
care providers. It was conceived and Physicians ~ It’s Not Just about Medical Malpractice Liability In-
edited by a former board certified sur- surance Anymore” is a condensed 20 pages addressing 69 separate
geon, Dr. David Edward Marcinko, risks a medical practice can be faced with in today’s new healthcare
MBA, CMP who is the current CEO 2.0 environment. While these 20 pages are sobering, the risks can
for the Institute of Medical Business be planned for and largely mitigated.
Advisors based in Atlanta which is re-
sponsible for the CERTIFIED MED- The dozens of contributing authors are respected experts in their
ICAL PLANNER certification. Dr respective fields and are either doctors themselves or have specialized
Marcinko holds numerous medical, financial & technology based in serving the medical community. The book taps into the various au-
professional designations and degrees. In the late 90’s Dr. Marcinko thors and their wealth of expertise to guide the reader through a myr-
was president of a privately held physician practice management cor- iad of medically related financial topics in the order in which they can
poration which consolidated 95 solo medical practices for a pre-IPO be expected to be faced in a typical contemporary medical career.
listing. His cross discipline background is evident in his organiza-
tion of this comprehensive text into four orderly life cycle sections One contributing author, Dr. Michael J. Burry, was one of the
which directly correlate to a physician’s career path. first to recognize the sub-prime mortgage crisis (and to profit from
Tip: for an efficient alternative to the full 600 page chronological it) and is portrayed by actor Christian Bale in the current Hollywood
reading after reading the first section titled “For All Practitioners” hit “The Big Short”. Dr. Burry authored chapter 14 in the “Mid-
(142 pages) consider skipping to the most personally relevant sec- Career Practitioner” section titled “Hedge Funds: Wall Street Per-
tion either “New Practitioner” (160 pages), “Mid Career Practi- sonified”. This is relevant for most mid-career physicians since this
tioner” (104 pages) or “Mature Practitioner” (110 pages). The is typically the point when their assets and income have reached a
remaining text is fully categorized and can be used as a reference as level where the government regulators will deem them “accredited
relevant topics are encountered. investors”. Once deemed to have enough wealth to risk, the “accred-
The needs discussed and solutions provided are specific to the ited investor” is fair game for the hedge fund salesmen. Dr. Burry
unique disadvantages and circumstances physicians currently find arms the reader with 23 concise pages on hedge funds with which a
themselves dealing with i.e. “entering the workforce a decade later physician can defend themselves.
than contemporaries…enormous student debt…family and friends
perception of them as affluent…health reform and managed care Local San Antonio-based author Timothy J. McIntosh (MPH,
reducing remuneration…burdensome government scrutiny…IT, MBA, CFP, CMP) founder and chief investment officer of Strategic
privacy rules, and PP-ACA regulations…a three decades long bull Investment Partners (SIPCO), author of the “Bear Market Survival
market in bonds and equities is over…changes in the tax code, elec- Guide”, “The Sector Strategist” and an upcoming book “The Div-
tronic connectivity initiatives, various new practice risks, healthcare idend Manager” authors chapters 11, 13, & 19 on investment vehi-
reform and the PP-ACA”. cles, risk and return analysis, investment banking, and securities
Thankfully, the ambitiousness and scope of the book still resulted markets for the new, mid-career and mature practitioner sections of
in a germane, fact-based and easily assessable read which avoids un- the book. McIntosh prepares the physician reader for their invest-
necessary technical jargon. The practical knowledge is not buried in ment conversations with Wall Street and finance industry represen-
superfluous pages of information, proof of this can be found in the tatives and discusses separate account management a method of
very first chapter, section one easily one of my favorite chapters reducing or even eliminating Wall Street products from an invest-
“Unifying the Physiologic and Pysychologic Financial Planning Di- ment portfolio.
vide ~ Holistic Life Planning, Behavioral Economics, Trading Ad-
dition, and the Art of Money”. This holistic chapter on money and Comprehensive Financial Planning Strategies for Doctors and Ad-
our psychological relationship to it prepares a reader for all the fol- visors…this timely tome is available from Amazon in both hard
lowing chapters. Based on the contributing authors backgrounds cover (99.95) as well as kindle versions (79.96) and would make a
and the final work Dr Marcinko’s modus operandi seems to have great gift for any physician.
been “by physicians for physicians”.
Terry Langston is a Registered Investment Advisor with Strategic In-
vestment Partners LLC (SIPCO) a national fee only fiduciary RIA firm
specializing in serving physicians and their families headquartered in
San Antonio, Texas.
42 San Antonio Medicine • March 2016
