Top Financial Security Professionals Best-In-State
Entering the second half of 2024, the life insurance industry has been enjoying prolonged higher interest rates and rising equity markets, both positive factors for those whose business revolves around selling investment products like annuities. Insurance agents are now called financial security professionals and besides life insurance policies, they offer wealthy families a full suite of investment, retirement and estate planning services. The fourth annual Top Financial Security Professionals Best-In-State list from Forbes and SHOOK Research features some 1,445 experts. Below you will find the best-in-state insurance professionals from across the country who made the 2024 list. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL METHODOLOGY. The Highlights Lynzie Wolters Firm: New York LifeLocation: Roseville, CAAUM: $3.1 billion“Our philosophy has always been rooted in a protection-first approach. We believe we can grow investment strategies over time but it is essential to make sure client assets are adequately protected.” View Profile Loren Hsiao Firm: 22 One Advisors | Northwestern MutualLocation: Allen, TXAUM: $3.1 billion“We spend a lot of time with clients asking what is your ‘good name’ so that we as a firm can connect their balance sheet with their heart.” View Profile Data provided by SHOOK®Research, LLC. Data as of 12/31/23. Source: Forbes.com(July, 2024). Neither SHOOK nor Forbes receives any compensation in exchange for placement on its Top Financial Security Professional (FSP) rankings, which are determined independently (see methodology). FSP refers to professionals who are properly licensed to sell life insurance and annuities. FSPs may also hold other credentials and licenses which would allow them to offer investments and securities products through those licenses. Ranking algorithm is based on qualitative measures learned through telephone, virtual and in-person interviews to measure best practices. Also considered: client retention, industry experience, credentials, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, such as: assets under management, sales figures and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and audited performance reports are rare. Individuals must carefully choose the right FSP for their own situation and perform their own due diligence. SHOOK’s research and rankings provide opinions intended to help individuals choose the right FSP and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Past performance is not an indication of future results. For more information, please see www.SHOOKresearch.com. SHOOK is a registered trademark of SHOOK Research, LLC. Editor’s note: This article appeared in the July 2024 print edition of Forbes magazine: https://www.forbes.com/lists/best-in-state-financial-security-professionals/. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.Mark B. Murphy, CEO of Northeast Private Client Group, is an accomplished author, speaker, and motivator who’s revolutionizing the financial planning and wealth management industry. He helps entrepreneurs achieve multigenerational wealth through personalized strategies, leveraging his strategic planning and financial engineering expertise. Forbes has ranked him as the number one financial security professional in New Jersey and number 15 nationwide. Additionally, his book, The Ultimate Investment, is a number one bestseller and new release on Amazon.
America’s Top Financial Security Professionals
Rising equity markets and prolonged higher interest rates tend to be ideal environments for financial advisors specializing in selling life insurance products, including annuities. Formerly referred to as agents, these wealth managers prefer the moniker “financial security professionals” today and increasingly focus on all aspects of client’s finances including, estate, tax and retirement planning. Forbes and SHOOK Research have teamed up to rank the best professionals in the insurance industry in our fourth annual list of America Top Financial Security Professionals. Below you will find the top 100 insurance professionals across the country who made this year’s ranking. CLICK HERE FOR THE FULL METHODOLOGY. The Highlights Jeri Turley Firm: Winged Keel Group Location: Richmond, VA AUM: $95 billion“Education is huge—most people think of term and whole life insurance, but that’s just not the world we live in anymore, there are so many different products.”View Profile Matthew Lipscomb Firm: Ashford Advisors Location: Atlanta, GA AUM: $1.8 billion“When you talk to a client, you need to take complex situations from taxes to trusts and describe them in a way that a sixth grader could understand. I don’t let my team use any industry jargon.”View Profile Data provided by SHOOK®Research, LLC. Data as of 12/31/23. Source: Forbes.com(July, 2024). Neither SHOOK nor Forbes receives any compensation in exchange for placement on its Top Financial Security Professional (FSP) rankings, which are determined independently (see methodology). FSP refers to professionals who are properly licensed to sell life insurance and annuities. FSPs may also hold other credentials and licenses which would allow them to offer investments and securities products through those licenses. Ranking algorithm is based on qualitative measures learned through telephone, virtual and in-person interviews to measure best practices. Also considered: client retention, industry experience, credentials, review of compliance records, firm nominations; and quantitative criteria, such as: assets under management, sales figures and revenue generated for their firms. Investment performance is not a criterion because client objectives and risk tolerances vary, and audited performance reports are rare. Individuals must carefully choose the right FSP for their own situation and perform their own due diligence. SHOOK’s research and rankings provide opinions intended to help individuals choose the right FSP and are not indicative of future performance or representative of any one client’s experience. Past performance is not an indication of future results. For more information, please see www.SHOOKresearch.com. SHOOK is a registered trademark of SHOOK Research, LLC. Editor’s note: This article appeared in the July 2024 print edition of Forbes magazine: https://www.forbes.com/lists/top-financial-security-professionals/. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.Mark B. Murphy, CEO of Northeast Private Client Group, is an accomplished author, speaker, and motivator who’s revolutionizing the financial planning and wealth management industry. He helps entrepreneurs achieve multigenerational wealth through personalized strategies, leveraging his strategic planning and financial engineering expertise. Forbes has ranked him as the number one financial security professional in New Jersey and number 15 nationwide. Additionally, his book, The Ultimate Investment, is a number one bestseller and new release on Amazon.
2023 Edition – Community Impact
Celebrating field awards, recognition, and impact. Reimagining mutuality and empowering excellence. As I turn the pages of this year’s edition, I am once again filled with pride and gratitude for all. As I turn the pages of this year’s edition, I am once again filled with pride and gratitude for all of you. When we gather throughout the year to celebrate your achievements and share progress and ideas, I feel the energy in this community– it’s palpable. I’m inspired by the meaningful impact you have on families and businesses and the significant role you play in how Guardian fulfills its purpose to inspire well-being. One change you’ll notice this year is that we’ve renamed this publication as Community Impact. This evolution is a direct reflection of your feedback – it captures how you think about yourselves collectively, as well as how we consider your collective impact. There is one statistic I heard this year that has stayed with me. According to the ACLI, life insurers pay out $2.5 billion everyday compared to $3.3 billion from Social Security. Guardian and you contribute to this overall impact, one family at a time. In addition to your daily work with clients, we also see care and generosity in your response to communities in distress. We often talk about the mutual nature of our success. We had a noticeable increase in our recruiting numbers for financial professionals this year. We know that the need for financial guidance is as strong as ever – research shows that consumers continue to struggle with financial wellness and feel more confident when working with a financial professional. Thank you for helping grow our presence across your communities. Our commitment to you remains steadfast and we continue to invest in resources to help you reach your best. You can read more about the continued progress we’re making to empower you to reach new markets and to elevate your suite of competitive resources. Thank you for your partnership throughout the year – we value your input and appreciate the importance of aligning on a shared future. I look forward to continuing our momentum in the year ahead! Congratulations to all and my best wishes for continued success. Leyla Lesina Head of IM Distribution Editor’s note: This article appeared in the June 2024 print edition of Guardian: https://community-impact-2023.webflow.io/. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.Mark B. Murphy, CEO of Northeast Private Client Group, is an accomplished author, speaker, and motivator who’s revolutionizing the financial planning and wealth management industry. He helps entrepreneurs achieve multigenerational wealth through personalized strategies, leveraging his strategic planning and financial engineering expertise. Forbes has ranked him as the number one financial security professional in New Jersey and number 15 nationwide. Additionally, his book, The Ultimate Investment, is a number one bestseller and new release on Amazon.
Investing tips for women: Your questions answered
How does the gender pay gap affect women’s investing opportunities? Depending on the shortfall, inadequate pay can decimate one’s ability to properly save. Ideally, people should strive to save at least 20% of their salary. If a woman makes 80 cents to a man’s one dollar, her ability to save is thwarted—either she won’t save anything at all, or her standard of living will need to decrease significantly to account for the budget reduction. While the latter scenario is more ideal, it begs for an alternative, which is to eliminate the pay gap entirely. Easier said than done. Once someone accepts a job offer, there’s a lot less room for negotiating salary. It’s essential for you to know your worth beforehand and to not accept anything less. When your future livelihood is at stake, it’s vital that you do your homework, which means researching appropriate salaries in the industry. Additionally, you must effectively market your skill sets, making certain a prospective employer clearly sees your value. Negotiation is expected. If you’re new to the bargaining table, that’s OK. It’s not something we’re typically taught in school. So, prepare yourself ahead of time. Don’t just expect an employer to automatically offer you what they’re willing to actually pay you. They’ll invariably start low, you’ll start high, and then you’ll both meet somewhere in the middle. Anticipate this discussion. Many experts have written books on the subject. One that comes to mind is Nice Girls Don’t Get the Corner Office by Lois P. Frankel. You can find numerous others as well as a mountain of videos online about this topic. What are some common barriers women face when it comes to investing? The most common barrier, regardless of gender, is not knowing where to begin. But because of societal expectations, men are more inclined to eventually put their money to work for them, whereas many women tend to eschew risk altogether. Perhaps in an ironic twist, women are often better savers. Their one hurdle? A reluctance to put their money into growth vehicles. Instead, the money often gets tucked away into a savings account simply because it seems like the responsible thing to do. When it comes to money, there’s a real danger in playing it safe. Long-term saving without investing leads to shrinkage due to inflation. Therefore, investing is a necessity and a matter of survival when it comes to retirement. Unfortunately, huge segments of the population never hear this message, particularly women. What’s stopping the message? A persistent belief that it’s rude to talk about money, especially among women. They may think it’s greedy, boring, or not virtuous. Fortunately, this is changing, and more women are taking an active role in the growth of their wealth. How can women overcome a lack of confidence and knowledge in investing? Get your hands on some financial literature. It’s safe and there’s absolutely no risk. You can put down books you don’t like and find others that resonate with you. Libraries are tremendous resources. If the idea of spending a few afternoons at the library doesn’t interest you, then consider social media. There are innumerable groups on Facebook and elsewhere where members continually disseminate new information, allowing casual observers to delve into topics at their leisure. Eventually, you’ll come across financial experts who speak to you, whose messages resonate with you in a profound way. That’s big. When that happens, it’s an invitation to dig further and research more of their material. In time, you’ll develop a working vocabulary, and the world of investing will no longer appear foreign to you. When you feel ready, the time will come to reach out to a financial advisor who can get you started on your wealth-building journey. Choose a tailored approach, either one that’s hands-on or one that’s more passive in nature, depending on your comfort level. Conversations around money will become effortless, and the growth of your prosperity will become a foregone conclusion. What are some investment strategies that are particularly relevant for women? Understand your own risk tolerance. Don’t let your impatience override your reticence. Inhibitions exist for a reason. It’s perfectly fine to start slowly. Get your feet wet before you dive in. Get your balance first, then take action. Often, the best place to start your investment journey has less to do with your bank account and more to do with your overall health, both mental and physical. When it comes to enhancing well-being, it’s all reward and no risk. What better first investment! When you start with the idea of wellness and vitality, a remarkable phenomenon occurs—you channel a renewed sense of optimism about the direction of your life. You feel in control. That’s exactly where you want to be before you put your cold hard cash on the line. The last thing you want to feel is desperate. Desperation leads to rash decision-making and ill-timed behaviors. However, when you feel secure, when you know that you’re the manager of your destiny, you gain the requisite clarity to move forward and make impeccable decisions about how to allocate your money. What resources and support networks are available for women investors? To gain a clear picture of where you want to be, it’s nice to have role models. I mentioned the importance of finding teachers who resonate with you. Taking that a step further, it’s helpful to find people who once stood exactly where you’re standing and to learn their story of how they got where they are now. Understand that your job isn’t to replicate their success or do everything precisely how they did it. That wouldn’t make sense. Your path is unique to you, but it’s useful to not only see that it’s possible to get where you want to be, but to witness numerous examples of how to get there. You want an abundance of good ideas from which to choose. When it comes to investing, diversity is key. Sticking all your eggs in one basket can quickly lead
Your mindset matters for the success of your dental practice
When I coach dentists about how to elevate their private practices, I don’t start by examining their business or employees. Instead, we discuss how they can elevate their own mindset. I ask, “What are you willing to do that you’re not doing now in order to get what you don’t have?” This is a straightforward question, but the way someone answers will determine whether they’ll get what they’re aiming for. Many dentists are willing to work harder and longer hours, at least temporarily, if this will launch their business into a multi-million-dollar practice. However, in choosing to grind it out, they inevitably get themselves in a bind. The moment they take their nose off the grindstone, whatever success they’ve managed to eke out will come to a halt. So, instead of working yourself into oblivion, leverage the power of your mind rather than your hands. Dentists’ roles likened to prime ministers and kings Before I discuss specifics, I’ll lay some groundwork to give a broader perspective of the mindset I’m seeking. Successful dentists must fulfill two roles: prime minister and king. Most private practitioners learn to be good prime ministers. Through experience, they gain executive expertise in managing an organization. They hire a scheduler, a team of hygienists, an office manager, and a bookkeeper. They establish rules to keep everyone and everything in working order. If you’ve been running your practice for a few years, you’ve likely grown into the prime minister shoes. But don’t pat yourself on the back just yet. Remember that a truly successful dentist must also be king, and that’s what throws many for a loop. Make no mistake. You can’t be a dictator or a despot—such character traits make for horrible kings. Good kings and queens inspire confidence. They set the tone through their own attitudes and behaviors. Knowing this, I’ll return to my question about what you’d be willing to do to obtain what you don’t have. Are you willing to listen? Plenty of leaders think they’re listening when they’re only hearing what’s being said and not understanding whoever is speaking. Patients and employees both typically provide ample wisdom in their feedback. But you must be receptive to what they’re saying. If you routinely dismiss them, they’ll keep quiet and assume they’re better off leaving you in the dark. Build rapport with patients and team Do you think you might be in the dark sometimes? How can you build more rapport with your people? Customers and employees have common questions about you. Who are you? Why should I trust you? Why should I care about what you’re providing? What are you going to do for me? The most successful private practitioners I coach can recite their answers with conviction. Never assume you can sidestep these questions with money. The dentists who struggle the most believe they can retain their employees and patients with high wages and rock-bottom prices, which does nothing to instill loyalty. When people come to you because of money, they just as easily leave you for money. If you want a thriving multi-million-dollar practice, you need to know what differentiates you from every other dentist in town. It’s easier to do than you may think. Most dentists don’t realize this because they focus more on their problems than on their mindset. If you come to work distracted by any number of things, you’re doing your team a huge disservice. I coach my clients to fixate on where they’re going, and to give no attention to things that aren’t relevant, especially things that only serve to take them down emotionally. If you blunder into the office in a huff and not caring about your business, then your business isn’t going to care about you. On the other hand, if you walk in with enthusiasm and passion, appreciative of your staff and all they’re doing to keep your office humming along, then they’re going to follow suit, taking care of each other and your valued patients in the process. If you could develop one new attribute, I recommend the ability to get yourself in a good mood when you’re at work. I mean it when I say that only 20% of your success is the result of your technical prowess. That other 80% resides in the culture you’ve instilled in your practice. When you’ve figured out the magic formula, everyone is just as excited to be there as you are. They’re learning and expanding their skills right alongside you. Everyone thrives on each other’s excellence. You’re all being financially rewarded for your tremendous accomplishments. That kind of momentum is unstoppable. Hopefully, this has stirred some exciting ideas in you. But ideas mean nothing until they’re backed by plans. I’ve been an advisor for 40 years, and while everyone loves to tell me their ideas, few can tell me their plans. For those in search of a coach who can help formulate solid plans, know that my door is always open. Keep in mind that developing a master mindset isn’t like getting a certificate that you can hang on your wall. It’s an ongoing process, and having a coach to keep your mind fresh, alert, and on track is an investment that will serve to keep you in a perpetual state of leveling up. Editor’s note: This article appeared in the April 2024 print edition of Dental Economics magazine: https://www.dentaleconomics.com/14306008. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.Mark B. Murphy, CEO of Northeast Private Client Group, is an accomplished author, speaker, and motivator who’s revolutionizing the financial planning and wealth management industry. He helps entrepreneurs achieve multigenerational wealth through personalized strategies, leveraging his strategic planning and financial engineering expertise. Forbes has ranked him as the number one financial security professional in New Jersey and number 15 nationwide. Additionally, his book, The Ultimate Investment, is a number one bestseller and new release on Amazon.
Building Generational Wealth by Mark Murphy
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives. If building generational wealth were easy, everyone would do it. In truth, it takes focus, discipline, and proper guidance each step along the way. Perhaps most importantly, your mindset will determine your fate. For those in their mid-to-late 40s, and perhaps early 50s, there are still steps you can take to create lasting prosperity for yourself and your family, provided you’re prepared for the challenges ahead. Moving forward, we’ll consider five tasks a formidable wealth-builder should undertake immediately. Maintain Your Health Perhaps nothing is more important than staying on top of your physical and mental health. I don’t separate the two aspects because each one affects the other; thus, it’s vital to maintain both facets of your overall well-being. It’s nearly impossible to make money when you’re sick. In fact, the opposite is true. Poor health, and the accompanying medical bills, will rapidly erode your savings. Health insurance can protect you to a certain extent, but it’s not a panacea. Your main priority should be to only see doctors (and your dentist) for routine check-ups. If anything abnormal appears, tend to it immediately before it becomes a more serious issue. Ideally, your focus remains on daily maintenance, ensuring proper nutrition, adhering to an exercise regimen that elevates both your heart and your mood, and feeding your brain a steady diet of helpful information rather than fruitless headlines about politics that are beyond your control. Wealth-builders acquire new skill sets while everyone else remains glued to television and social media. Later on, your increased know-how will pay enormous dividends. Know Your Cost of Living Your next order of business is to find out how much your life costs so that you can effectively manage your income. Tally up your monthly necessities, everything including housing, car payment, gas, insurance, utilities, groceries, and your gym membership if you use it. Consider these as non-negotiables since you have to pay them no matter what. After these bills are paid, any money that remains is where all your power resides — it’s your discretionary income, what you can control. As an aspiring wealth-builder, you want to develop a limitless appetite for investments and a relentless habit of cutting expenses. If you don’t need it, trim it from your budget. Anticipate eating out a lot less. In doing so, you’ll not only retain a significant portion of your earnings, but your health will likely improve since you’ll have complete control over every ingredient you ingest. Also, keep tabs on your alcohol consumption, understanding that it’s an expensive habit with a list of potential detriments to both your physical and mental well-being. Since our first priority is our health, and our second priority is saving, it only makes sense to ensure that we’re not overindulging. An occasional drink with clients or fellow business associates is likely harmless. However, keep in mind that you can almost always order something nonalcoholic without offending anyone in the process. Save & Invest Now that you’ve established a framework for increased savings, it’s time to ramp up investments. If you don’t already have a sufficient emergency fund (three to six months’ worth of living expenses) set aside in a high yield savings account, focus on building up those reserves first. Relying on credit cards in an emergency is a recipe for disaster. Even debt as little as $4,000 financed at 24% APR can spiral out of control if all you do is pay the minimum, particularly when more emergencies creep up and force you to add to the growing balance. Once you’ve got adequate liquid savings, your job is to then start filling your retirement account buckets, focusing on any employer-matched 401(k) first to reap the maximum risk-free gains inherent in the company match. If you haven’t already done so, the other buckets you’ll want to begin filling will include a Roth IRA and a Health Savings Account. The yearly maximum contributions for those accounts are $7,000 and $4,150, respectively, but if you’re 50 or older, you can include an additional $1,000 annually in catch-up contributions to your Roth IRA. (When you turn 55, the same goes for your Health Savings Account.) A Roth IRA is especially critical for generational wealth because proper withdrawals from it during retirement will be tax-exempt. As for the Health Savings Account, its tax benefits are even more significant, being the only type of savings vehicle to offer the elusive triple-tax advantage, meaning that contributions are tax deductible, growth is tax deferred, and usage is tax exempt. Select Your Advisor Hopefully at this point, you’ve established a rhythm with regard to your earning and saving. Assuming that you’re bringing in enough to adequately save and invest, it’s time to seek professional guidance. Wealth-building is a full-time job in and of itself independent from your employment. The vast majority of those intent on generating massive wealth will need the expertise of a fiduciary — an advisor who is beholden to your interests above their own. In most cases, you’ll want to rely on them for much of your investment portfolio. In addition to your monetary investments, a good advisor will lend you their expert opinion on a variety of subjects related to your wealth, whether it be pointing you in the direction of a suitable accountant, an attorney, or even classes for your professional development. In many instances, they’ll even assist you in forming effective strategies to get a business off the ground. In short, there’s no reason to go it alone. As humans, we need proper guidance, specifically from those who have a broader scope of the financial world and its myriad complexities. Even if you have an MBA, it would be foolhardy to close yourself off from an outside perspective. No matter how brilliant you are, you can only know so much. Give yourself the benefit of listening to an expert who undoubtedly sees things you can’t. The cost of
A dentist’s oracle: The accountant
When it comes to success for private practitioners, money management often takes a backseat as a focal point. I’m an ardent believer that your core values must remain front and center, however, your ability to properly budget cannot be ignored. Yes, you need to make company culture the top priority, but your financial wherewithal should be embedded in the fabric of who you are, right alongside your commitment to service and leadership. To gain a better understanding of the most common financial pitfalls dentists encounter, I met with renowned CPA John P. Cataldo, founder of Cataldo Financial and Consulting Group. As a representative of independent dentists from coast to coast the past 40 years, Cataldo has built a reputation for maximizing efficiency and implementing systems that allow small private practices to not only hold their own but thrive among the large DSOs. He spoke about the Tale of Two Practices, his video series and a real-world analogy of how two dentists, each bringing in $1 million in yearly business, can end up with starkly contrasting profits. In short, the first dentist took home more than $500,000 while the other barely eked out half that amount. Regardless of which camp you’re in, the story behind the allegory is that all of us can make smarter decisions that ultimately lead to greater profitability. Perhaps most helpful of all, Cataldo asserted that if you were forced to write out a weekly check that totaled all the inefficiencies your practice cost you that week, you’d quickly eliminate those pesky snags. But since you don’t write that check, and since those costs remain hidden from plain view, most inefficiencies are ignored for far too long. Your accounts receivable may not be ideal Perhaps the biggest problem plaguing dentists who have a steady stream of business, yet struggle to make ends meet, revolves around their accounts receivable (AR). Ideally, your ledger of receivables should be about a page long and resolved within about 45-day rolling increments. If your list is longer, and your repayment calendar is closer to 90 days, that may be a sign of serious trouble. If this is a struggle for you, it’s hard to know where to begin. First, keep in mind that there’s nothing wrong with asking for payment when a service is rendered. Patients understand that when they purchase something at a department store, they can’t leave and explain that they’ll pay the bill when they get around to it. Even if they use a credit card, the terms and conditions are outlined from the beginning. To be fair, receiving payment from insurers requires a different set of tactics, but the premise is basically the same. You not only need a method of payment, but it must be based on fair market value, and you need to ensure that it’s collected in a timely manner. For some dentists, collecting payments might be less of an insurance problem and more of a staff issue. If you haven’t made sure that everyone on your team understands their duties, make those responsibilities perfectly clear. An organizational chart goes a long way toward clearing up any confusion, specifically regarding payment collection. If your staff has questions about what they should be doing, make a list and place it in everyone’s hands. Require the AR person to draft a weekly log of all payments received, balances outstanding, and communications to capture said revenue. You usually won’t have to read the log each week. Even if you read it once every three weeks, the fact that your staff is focused on physically documenting accounts and updating them regularly in the process will ensure that most outstanding balances are collected on schedule. Think before increasing your patient base For dentists actively seeking to increase their patient base, keep in mind that if the issues here aren’t addressed, boosting your workload will be a hindrance rather than a blessing. The last thing you want to do is use up more of your time and resources without the requisite systems in place to collect revenue. But let’s assume you’ve gotten that aspect of your office in working order. Now it’s time to increase your marketing efforts. Tread with caution. The most effective marketing shouldn’t cost you anything. Your best advertisement is in the form of patient satisfaction. This is particularly true in upper class markets where the cost of your services is not much of an issue. These people care most about the quality of your work and the care with which you deliver it, and they’ll reward you with referrals. Your reputation is worth infinitely more than the $20,000 you might shell out to chase new patients on social media. In fact, before you sign any money over to Facebook, consider advertising in your local paper, which is significantly less expensive and more likely to reach the demographic you’re seeking. Or you might want to eschew traditional advertising altogether and increase your community involvement, perhaps by sponsoring a local 5K race or a charity event. Regardless of the investment you make in your business, you need to understand the overall impact it will have on your bottom line. Whether it’s investing in new equipment, growing your staff, or increasing your marketing budget, you should have a grasp of the added value before you write the check. Unfortunately, if your big strategy to justify your latest equipment upgrade is a huge upfront tax deduction, you’re doing nothing to alleviate the future interest payments on that expenditure in the coming years. Don’t let such investments turn into burdensome liabilities. Empowering yourself with knowledge makes all the difference. An accountant can give you access to critical insights long before you shell out precious capital. No money should ever be spent on a whim. You don’t have to foresee every monetary entanglement along the path to greater profitability. You simply need to befriend an accountant who can spot them for you. Editor’s note: This article appeared in the March 2024 print
A Holistic Approach To Building Wealth with Northeast Sequioa Private Client Group’s, Mark B. Murphy
Mark Murphy is the founder and CEO of Northeast Sequoia Private Client Group, a national financial planning and wealth management firm. As the Chief Executive Officer of Northeast Sequoia Private Client Group, Mark is a highly sought-after key business strategist and critical thinker. Mark is an accomplished CEO, author, speaker, motivator, and podcast host, who is transforming the financial planning and wealth management industry with his innovative and forward-thinking approach. He is passionate about empowering entrepreneurs to achieve multigenerational wealth by providing personalized strategies that focus on emotional fitness, wealth accumulation, and a plan that can work under all circumstances. Mark has been ranked #1 in New Jersey and #3 in the nation on the 2023 Forbes America’s Top Financial Security Professionals List.In addition, he has achieved the status of being the #1 best-selling author on Amazon, and his third book, The Ultimate Investment: A Roadmap to Grow Your Business and Build Multigenerational Wealth, has been ranked as the #1 new release on Amazon. Mark is a frequent guest speaker on topics ranging from practice merger/acquisition strategies, estate planning, charitable giving, and strategies to build multi-generational wealth. To top it off, Mark’s podcast, The Hero of the Hour, has earned a spot in the Top 40 in the United States, securing its place in the highly competitive categories of Business and Entrepreneurship. A sneak peek of the things you’ll learn: Links mentioned in this episode: Sponsor for this episode: This episode is brought to you by LeBrun Advisory Group. LeBrun Advisory Group provides executive level, advanced education, and training on purchasing a franchise. The options for purchasing a franchise are increasing exponentially, coupled with the amount of information available on each concept, creates a great deal of data for franchise buyers to sift through. LeBrun Advisory Group recognized that there was a real need to assist the franchise buyers, therefore, provides advanced research tools, consultative services, and due diligence assistance, but also help prospective franchisees qualify for the franchises they desired to invest in. Rich LeBrun has partnered with experts in the industry and created a company that is built on helping you achieve your dreams of business ownership. Rich will make this easy for you throughout the research and award process. To learn more about LeBrun Advisory Group, visit https://www.rlebrun.com/. Editor’s note: This article appeared in the March 2024 print edition of LeBrun Advisory Group – Franchise Consulting Specialists magazine: https://www.rlebrun.com/2024/03/a-holistic-approach-to-building-wealth-with-northeast-sequoia-private-client-groups-mark-b-murphy/. Dentists in North America are eligible for a complimentary print subscription. Sign up here.Mark B. Murphy, CEO of Northeast Private Client Group, is an accomplished author, speaker, and motivator who’s revolutionizing the financial planning and wealth management industry. He helps entrepreneurs achieve multigenerational wealth through personalized strategies, leveraging his strategic planning and financial engineering expertise. Forbes has ranked him as the number one financial security professional in New Jersey and number 15 nationwide. Additionally, his book, The Ultimate Investment, is a number one bestseller and new release on Amazon.
My Two Cents: How dentists can create wealth in 2024
The financial world is awash with the latest ways to accumulate more wealth, especially now that it’s 2024, a year that promises swift and abundant change. While most analysts are talking about dividend stocks ripe for the plucking, opportunities in real estate, or the power of side hustles, I encourage people to start from a more nuanced premise. Instead of focusing on how to grow one’s bank account, I encourage people to focus inward, to consider themselves as their primary investment. Let me be clear: I don’t eschew traditional wealth building, and I’ll include some examples here. Money is foundational to what we do, but it’s second to the most important component of your business—people. So, if you’re in a position where you don’t yet have your own fortune, if you’re still figuring out how wealth works, my message is for you. You might also be interested in: How to create wealth by owning your office location and other real estate Some good investments It’s tempting to focus your energy on chasing dollars, but that’s going about it the hard way. You can read a hundred different stories about how everyday people went from zero to hero, and attempt to imitate their success, but it won’t necessarily work for you just because it worked for someone else. Your path to success is unique to you and your circumstances. Thankfully, there’s a common thread among everyone who achieves lasting prosperity. It involves mindset. Confidence is key. But if you don’t have much confidence, what should you do? Simple. Start small. Understand that the single best investment you can make is in yourself. If you have $20 to invest every month, you might put it in a high yield savings account where it could earn as much as 5% with no risk, one of the few benefits of an economy marked by sky-high interest rates. After one year, you’d have about $250 saved. Impressed? Me neither. Keep wellness top of mind Let’s keep the $20 parameter but shift the focus from money to well-being. If you have the fortitude, a gym membership is an investment that would yield you infinitely more value than a mere $250. Optimal health is priceless. Obviously, if you can’t find it in you to exercise regularly at the gym, then don’t go this route. Save your money. What about an activity that doesn’t cost much money, only the cost of a pair of good athletic shoes? You could have almost zero money to invest and still become “wealthier” as a result of walking each day. Such a simple habit does many things, among them, clears your thoughts and allows you to focus, all while improving your cardiovascular system and state of mind. The bigger story revolves around those who try to build wealth before they have good health. That’s backward. You don’t have to become a triathlete before you invest in the stock market or real estate, but you should have a solid foothold on your wellness before making any big money moves. So many people think they’ll get healthy once they get money, but that’s putting the cart before the horse. Prosperity comes as a result of supreme clarity. Clarity stems from ample energy and a joyous frame of mind. When it’s time to make deals and collaborate with others in the big leagues, you need sufficient stamina of body and mind. Wealth-building isn’t a spectator sport. If you own a house, then you already have a sense of the endurance required. The work of homeownership doesn’t stop after you close the deal. You also must maintain this huge asset. When it comes to devoting time and energy, career growth may be the most underrated investment. If you’re a curmudgeon who frequently complains about fatigue or back aches or is drowsy at work, then there’s no advancement for you. If you consider yourself a go-getter, but you still aren’t making career strides, you might be barking up the wrong tree. One secret to moving forward may involve taking on a role nobody else wants. The competition is steep, but oftentimes, you can step immediately into an area that nobody else is vying for because it looks like hard work. That’s when your stamina comes into play. When you’re physically and emotionally fit, then hard work won’t deter you. As a result, you become indispensable in the eyes of your patients. Technology and real estate are both viable For those destined to be their own boss, AI is becoming more accessible. The caveat? You must learn the technology that will allow you to scale your business. Whether it’s enrolling in a CE course or watching videos online, you’ll need to invest time and energy into honing new skills. Programs such as ChatGPT are robust tools that are expected to become even more powerful, but they’re useless to those who don’t know what to do with them. If technology intimidates you, there’s still promise in good old-fashioned real estate. In fact, there might not ever be a better time to buy a home, specifically in some large metropolitan areas that haven’t reached unattainable price points. Cincinnati is one that comes to mind, but there are many others. While a temporary dip in prices across the board isn’t out of the question, don’t expect a replay of 2008. If you’re waiting on the sidelines for a complete collapse before you become a homeowner, it’s not likely to happen. Interest rates are forecasted to drop later this year, and that could signal a rush back into the market. If you’re mentally and financially prepared to become a homeowner now, don’t wait. If your current city or town feels just out of reach, don’t get discouraged. Look for sellers who need a quick sale and are offering a significant discount. Those deals go quickly, so it’s all about timing and agility. Alternatively, if you’re willing to move to another state, you may find a perfect
Matching dental team members to your values
No one can be in two places at once. I bring up this conundrum because solving it would seemingly fix most of your problems. You could handle your own patient scheduling and accounting, as well as practice dentistry all day. I know myself and my capabilities, and when I set out to do something, it invariably gets done just the way I like it. The challenge? I’ve only got one body, and on any given day, I have a hundred and one things that need to get done and done well. I’m hardly unique. Everyone understands this pesky impediment and reckons with it the best they can. I want to reveal my secret for getting around this limitation, and no, it doesn’t involve advanced computer programming or AI technology. On the contrary, it’s much simpler than you might believe. You see, having a multitude of things done your way has less to do with you and your capabilities and more to do with your core values. Once you’ve identified the heart of what you’ve set out to do and why, then you can lead a cohort that will effectively carry out your mission. If you’re struggling in this arena, don’t feel bad. I struggled for more than a decade to find a suitable team to accomplish what I had set out to do, which was to be a top financial advisor serving a wide range of clients from coast to coast. It took reading a book called Traction by entrepreneurial guru Gino Wickman for it to really click. This short work packs a punch, outlining best practices for goal setting, meetings, and accountability. The piece of wisdom that got me right away revolved around employees: “Who is doing the work, and do they get it, want it, and have the capacity to do it well?”1 To put it bluntly, not everyone you meet is a match to your vision. If you’ve ever put out a help wanted ad, you know what I mean. You might also want to read Finding the right hire, despite staffing challenges Getting a good team in place Assembling your team can be slow-going at first. Without an established reputation, you might feel like you’re begging people to work for you. However, you can’t be desperate. Know your core values, and don’t compromise. Anyone who seeks a job with me must meet with me personally to go over each one of my core values. Does the person have the wherewithal to create a wow experience? Can they bring more value than our competition by developing solutions specifically tailored to the wishes and dreams of our diverse clientele? Do they have it within themselves to never say “no” to a fellow team member? Are they willing to constantly strive for improvement on a never-ending quest for greatness? While enumerating my company’s core values with each job candidate, I vet them by watching how they react to each demand. If they roll their eyes, it’s an obvious no-go. If they don’t exhibit any spark or enthusiasm, I know they won’t fit the bill. However, anyone who lights up at what I’m asking understands something truly important: since I’m requiring this of them, they can rest assured that they’re going to receive the same consideration from me and my staff. Everyone I hire does. As a result, we all excel when we come to work. We’re excited to be there. We know our individual goals and we smash them. When we break records, I “kidnap” my staff (they come willingly) off to the mall and pass around a pillowcase with mystery envelopes filled with cash that they must spend completely on themselves in an afternoon. The only requirement is an afterparty featuring show and tell where everyone reveals their treasures. My company no longer relies on help wanted ads. When there’s an opening, we have a long list of candidates eager to fill it. Word travels fast when you run a business that’s worth working for. You want your employees to be so jazzed about coming to work that they tell their friends and family. When you’ve really got it going on, then your employees do the recruiting for you. There’s no shortage of people willing to go above and beyond when you know their talent and they know they’ll be rewarded for it. You set the standard You have to be the one to set the standard. It’s your business. Once you know you’ve hired good employees, they’ll follow your lead. That’s a double-edged sword, by the way. Even great employees will turn on you if you’re not great to them. You can’t expect them to take care of your patients if you don’t take care of your employees. And if you happen to commit the cardinal sin of not caring properly for your patients, then there’s absolutely nothing your employees can do to save you. I make sure that all my job candidates know immediately that if they don’t come to work prepared to do their job, they’re going to feel highly uncomfortable. There’s always room for growth, but we have zero tolerance for laziness. My team works way too hard to have to pick up the slack of even one rotten apple. Imagine if that one rotten apple were a manager. What would that do to morale? Of course, I learned that I couldn’t be in two places at once, but I also learned that I couldn’t rest until I made certain that all my leaders espoused my core beliefs. There is no other workaround. An effective organization has too many moving parts for you to pull all the levers and push all the buttons yourself. Take the time to ensure that the people you put in place aren’t there solely to collect a paycheck. Your carefully honed principles are nonnegotiable, and they safeguard every stakeholder throughout your organization, from the managers to the employees to the patients you all serve. Know your core values, practice them, spread them, and