September 3, 2024 • 21 mins
In this episode of Drilling It Down, Jonathan and Wes speak about the importance of preparing for catastrophic events, including death and disability. They discuss life insurance—how to determine necessary coverage and the benefits of term policies over permanent ones. Wes emphasizes the need for disability insurance, particularly for dentists, and outlines options for obtaining it. They also highlight the importance of structured plans for practice transitions, ensuring a reliable contact for unforeseen circumstances. Lastly, they address the emotional impact of sudden loss and the necessity of proactive planning to ease burdens on loved ones.
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Listen to our sister show, Next Gen DDS! An all-in-one resource for dental students, residents, and early career doctors, discussing both clinical and business aspects of dentistry, hosted by Wes Lyon and Dr. Scott Menaker.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Jonathan:
All right, welcome back to another episode of Drilling It Down. (00:02):
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Jonathan: This time I'm talking first. Wes, how are you doing, man? (00:05):
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Wesley: I'm great, Jonathan. How are you today? (00:08):
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Jonathan: I am doing great. How did I do? Is that okay? (00:10):
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Wesley: Yeah, you're good. (00:13):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (00:14):
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Wesley: You're good. (00:14):
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Jonathan: You're natural. (00:14):
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Wesley: You're meant for radio. (00:15):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (00:16):
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Wesley: Not TV, so they can't see our face. (00:17):
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Jonathan: Yeah. So today we're actually talking about a question that I've gotten a lot (00:19):
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Jonathan: over the years, and And it seems like I'm getting more and more recently. (00:26):
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Jonathan: But, you know, how do I prepare for the catastrophic? And when I say the catastrophic, (00:29):
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Jonathan: you know, death, disability, you know, what do I do with my practice? (00:33):
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Jonathan: And, you know, there's, I guess, a number of layers to that onion. (00:37):
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Jonathan: We'll kind of take your layer first. (00:41):
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Jonathan: I mean, obviously, I would imagine there's just, you know, a minimum recommendation (00:44):
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Jonathan: of, look, you need to have this type of insurance and this amount. (00:48):
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Jonathan: I mean, what are you telling doctors to prepare themselves for the worst? (00:51):
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Wesley: Yeah, the big one is going to be you need life insurance. (00:55):
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Wesley: And a lot of the reason these questions probably come up, too, (00:58):
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Wesley: is that it's easy to scare people into buying something that they don't need. (01:00):
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Wesley: So you're going to see a lot of insurance agents selling stuff people don't (01:06):
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Wesley: need, expensive products to make commissions. situations and who's not going (01:10):
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Wesley: to buy something when they start scaring you on, you know, what your wife is going to do. (01:14):
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Wesley: I mean, for God's sakes, gosh, this is kind of off topic, but the same sales (01:20):
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Wesley: people, same type of people. (01:24):
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Wesley: We had a window guy out. They said they did repairs. They didn't do repairs. (01:26):
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Wesley: They just gave us a three-hour sales presentation on sitting in my kitchen with (01:29):
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Wesley: my wife. He goes, oh, you're expecting. (01:34):
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Wesley: And he goes, you know, do you know about black mold? And starts trying to scare (01:36):
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Wesley: my wife into thinking there's black mold in the house. (01:39):
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Wesley: And these are the type of sales tactics insurance people will use of like, (01:42):
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Wesley: oh, well, you know, what would you do? Do you have enough? (01:46):
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Wesley: You know, what would happen if the doctor died? And don't get me wrong, (01:49):
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Wesley: these are valid questions, but a lot of times they're trying to trigger an emotional (01:52):
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Wesley: response to get you to buy something that day that solves it. (01:56):
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Wesley: So we just want to give you the, hey, we're going to take the emotion out of (01:58):
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Wesley: it, and we're just going to tell you what you do need to buy. (02:02):
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Wesley: The first step, though, is you've really got to figure out how much you're going (02:03):
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Wesley: to need to retire, how much this person's going to need to live off of. (02:08):
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Wesley: This one, it's really tough for me to give anyone a particular answer because how much you spend, (02:11):
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Wesley: What your life is like will determine how much life insurance you need. (02:19):
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Jonathan: You mean you just can't give somebody a simple answer to that question. (02:22):
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Jonathan: You got to do some digging. (02:25):
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Wesley: Yeah, exactly. We got to find out the details of how much. I'm going to give (02:26):
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Wesley: some generic answers though. (02:30):
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Jonathan: Sure. (02:31):
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Wesley: Because I don't like to just tell people, oh, you got to spend money to figure (02:31):
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Wesley: out. No, I'll give you some generic answers so you know you're in the ballpark. (02:34):
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Wesley: If you're a young doctor and you're worried about the catastrophic event from (02:38):
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Wesley: a life side, you probably need at least six mil. (02:41):
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Wesley: I don't like to get more than eight. But if you just bought a practice, (02:45):
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Wesley: you got a million-dollar practice loan, you might have an office building loan, (02:48):
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Wesley: you might have a mortgage, you got three young kids and a spouse at home, (02:52):
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Wesley: you're going to need a lot of life insurance. (02:56):
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Wesley: Probably in the sixth ballpark, again, get that calculated. (02:59):
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Wesley: I don't like when people go too high on the life, though. (03:03):
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Wesley: You know, at the point, there's kind of an amount of money that you need to (03:07):
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Wesley: make sure everything's okay. (03:11):
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Jonathan: Right. (03:12):
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Wesley: And up to that point, it's called insurance. When you go over that amount of (03:12):
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Wesley: money, it's called a Vegas bet on how much my spouse loves me. (03:17):
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Wesley: Because at that point, it's not necessary money. It's just, if I were to die. (03:20):
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Jonathan: Yeah, you don't want to be worth more dead than alive, right? (03:27):
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Wesley: That's it. And really, you need term life insurance. We do not need permanent life insurance. (03:30):
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Wesley: All permanent life insurance is, is they take a package and they put a term (03:37):
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Wesley: life insurance policy you in there. (03:43):
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Wesley: So they actually buy it on your behalf. Then they put a savings account in there. (03:45):
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Wesley: But then they want to make sure that you don't figure out that they just took (03:49):
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Wesley: two very inexpensive products and jammed them together. So it's like a Christmas package. (03:53):
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Wesley: And you got to put the, what do they call those little pellet things they throw in there? (03:58):
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Wesley: If you put two boxes in one box, what do you put in there to make sure they don't crank around? (04:03):
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Jonathan: Packing peanuts? Yes, packing peanuts. Oh, those. Okay, okay, okay. (04:10):
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Wesley: So yeah, so they got to get some packing peanuts in there. So they don't have (04:13):
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Wesley: access to packing peanuts, but instead they have access to fees. (04:15):
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Wesley: So they throw a whole bunch of fees in there and you don't know that you could (04:19):
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Wesley: have just gone and opened an investment account and bought a term life insurance (04:22):
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Wesley: policy and not paid the fees. (04:25):
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Wesley: They don't want you to figure out what's inside of there. So we just want the (04:28):
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Wesley: term life insurance policy. That's it. (04:31):
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Wesley: We do not need to combine our savings and our insurance. They are way two different things. (04:33):
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Wesley: We just need the cheapest life insurance possible over the period of time we need. (04:38):
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Wesley: So, that's going to kind of depend on your age, right? If you're only going (04:42):
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Wesley: to work for 10 more years because you're going to be financially independent. (04:45):
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Jonathan: You'll only need 10 years of life, right? (04:48):
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Wesley: Now, if you're 30 and you just bother practice, you might need a 25-year term policy. (04:50):
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Jonathan: Now, what if there's a 30-year age gap between you and your spouse? (04:55):
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Wesley: Oh, gosh. (05:00):
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Jonathan: Which happens a lot. (05:01):
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Wesley: So, hopefully somebody talked to you about how much money you're going to need (05:03):
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Wesley: to save before that happens and uh, (05:07):
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Wesley: Well, at that point, too, you might be paying off the previous one. (05:10):
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Jonathan: Well, now nobody said there was a previous spouse. (05:15):
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Wesley: Now, you know, it's just, you know, statistically speaking. Yeah, (05:18):
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Wesley: yeah, yeah. But you'll need more. (05:23):
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Wesley: Well, the problem with that is life insurance gets very, very expensive. (05:26):
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Jonathan: The older you get. So if you're a spouse. (05:29):
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Wesley: Yeah, you really just have to save more. (05:31):
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Jonathan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (05:34):
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Wesley: But also some of that depends on whether or not you have kids. (05:34):
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Wesley: So that's another one. And if you don't have kids, my wife got very upset with (05:37):
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Wesley: me over this one day, but we're driving home and my wife asked me if I have life insurance and I do. (05:42):
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Wesley: Now I have some for her, by the way, since people know I'm expecting. (05:48):
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Wesley: So she's the beneficiary. (05:51):
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Jonathan: That's good. (05:52):
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Wesley: Well, no, that was the issue was, she's like, oh, you have life insurance and (05:53):
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Wesley: we weren't expecting a kid. (05:57):
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Wesley: And I was like, yeah, I do. And, you know, she was like, oh my gosh, I'm so proud of you. (05:58):
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Wesley: And I was like, well, don't get too proud because the beneficiary is John McGill. (06:02):
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Jonathan: Wow. (06:08):
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Wesley: So she got pretty upset about that. She's like, well, why don't I have life insurance? (06:09):
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Wesley: Like, well, because you're 30 years old and we don't have a kid, (06:13):
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Wesley: so you're going to go get remarried. (06:17):
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Wesley: And I'm not having some new dude dance all over my grave because, (06:19):
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Wesley: you know, $6 million got paid out. So now that we're expecting a child, (06:22):
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Wesley: I have life insurance for my wife as well. (06:27):
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Wesley: I have the business loans and I have what my wife needs. So that's what you (06:30):
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Wesley: need to kind of be careful of. (06:35):
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Wesley: You know, if you have a spouse, but you don't have kids, your life insurance (06:37):
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Wesley: need is not nearly as great. Right. (06:42):
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Wesley: Now, if you're 30 and you're buying a practice and you have to go get life insurance (06:44):
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Wesley: for the bank anyways, right? (06:47):
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Wesley: You have to do it and you're going to try to have a kid in the next year or two. (06:48):
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Wesley: You might just go ahead and get it. That way you don't have to go back through the process. (06:52):
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Wesley: And also it's cheapest when you're youngest. (06:56):
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Wesley: So I'm not saying necessarily don't, but. (06:59):
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Wesley: Hey, if you do get married later, you got to consider whether or not you have (07:02):
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Wesley: kids. And that's probably a whole different conversation, though, on that one. (07:06):
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Wesley: But you need to have enough life to pay off the debts and make sure your spouse can survive. (07:10):
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Wesley: And if you have enough money that you don't need the life insurance. (07:16):
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Jonathan: Don't pay for it. (07:19):
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Wesley: Don't pay for it. (07:20):
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Jonathan: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so life insurance. What else we need? (07:20):
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Wesley: Disability. We need long-term disability. I'm not usually concerned about short-term disability. (07:24):
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Wesley: But long-term disability, usually we're going to try to get it through the ADA (07:30):
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Wesley: or the AAO. Those are going to be your cheapest options. (07:34):
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Wesley: Disability insurance is expensive on dentists. You're hunched over a chair, (07:37):
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Wesley: wrist is at work, neck is at work, back is at work. (07:41):
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Wesley: Very expensive for dentists. Very necessary as well. This happens a whole lot (07:45):
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Wesley: more. The life insurance should be pretty cheap if you get it early. (07:50):
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Wesley: The disability insurance, not so much. However, you need to get an adequate amount. (07:53):
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Wesley: I just tell most people to get at least $15,000 per month of benefit, (07:58):
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Wesley: at least. Some people go up to 20. (08:02):
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Jonathan: We've had a lot of clients who've actually, you know, had to use that disability insurance. (08:05):
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Wesley: It's common. I mean, I know it's not like you don't need to be a bodybuilder (08:09):
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Wesley: or something to be a dentist, but however, ask most of America to just spend (08:14):
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Wesley: their day, you know, bent over the 30 degree angle or so. (08:18):
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Jonathan: And then always be engaging your core guys. That's the takeaway. (08:22):
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Wesley: Yeah. I mean, it does, you know, sit there and I mean, gosh, (08:26):
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Wesley: we get a dental chair to see what it's like, but you know, you're bent over, (08:30):
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Wesley: then you're kind of twisted. (08:34):
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Wesley: I mean, the whole thing, very comfortable. (08:35):
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Jonathan: I've had some young docs who've had lower back issues that have They've just (08:37):
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Jonathan: been completely debilitating. I mean, doctors in their 40s. (08:40):
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Jonathan: So, yeah, it's a real problem. (08:44):
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Wesley: So, yeah, you need to have that disability. You know, that's pretty straightforward. (08:46):
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Wesley: A couple of notes there, just if you're in a partnership... (08:53):
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Wesley: you don't really need this disability buyout policies. (08:56):
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Wesley: I don't generally recommend them. And those policies would be, (09:02):
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Wesley: hey, if me and you are 50-50 and you get disabled, I have a disability policy (09:05):
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Wesley: that will actually pay me a lump sum of money because you got disabled so I can buy you out. (09:11):
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Wesley: Now, if that's the case, if you're going to buy out your partner, (09:17):
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Wesley: you buy them out on a cash flow basis and you're able to take a loan and you're (09:20):
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Wesley: able to cash flow the loan payment, you should still make more. (09:25):
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Wesley: So it's not something we necessarily need there. (09:28):
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Wesley: The life is a little bit situation by situation on whether or not you want that buyout insurance. (09:31):
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Wesley: I'm not a huge fan of it because again, you're buying something that's going to cash flow. (09:36):
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Jonathan: Gotcha. (09:43):
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Wesley: Right? There's an asset behind it. It's not as if not. So it's kind of back (09:43):
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Wesley: to that whole, we got an issue here. (09:47):
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Wesley: Now, some people when they're entering into a partnership and, (09:49):
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Wesley: you know, maybe they're not going to be able to get financing for the whole (09:52):
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Wesley: loan or, you know, there's potential that let's say, (09:55):
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Wesley: you know, let's say the younger doctor passes away and they're in a transition. (09:59):
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Wesley: Well, the older doctor ain't really in the mood to go take a bank loan and rebuild, (10:05):
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Wesley: you know, everything there. (10:10):
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Wesley: They were trying to retire and now all of a sudden they're stuck in a bad spot. (10:11):
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Wesley: So I'm not as hard pressed on you don't need the life, but But two 45-year-old (10:14):
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Wesley: dentists who own and practice 50-50 together and they can readily get another (10:20):
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Wesley: associate in there, I don't really need that. (10:23):
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Jonathan: Yeah, and there's always exceptions. Like maybe if you're in a rural area, (10:26):
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Jonathan: if both of you are mega producers to where if one of you passes away, (10:30):
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Jonathan: there's no way the other one can step in and do that production. (10:34):
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Jonathan: I would assume there's certain situations where, okay, maybe you guys should. Definitely. (10:37):
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Wesley: I'm probably like 50-50 on that one. (10:42):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (10:44):
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Wesley: But take a hard look at that one. And some people, I just find they have stuff (10:44):
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Wesley: that got sold to them by somebody that scared the bejesus out of them because, (10:48):
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Wesley: oh, what would I do if I had to come up with a million dollars to buy my partner out? Yeah. (10:52):
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Wesley: No, I'd call the bank. I guess not that hard. (10:56):
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Wesley: Disability business overhead is another one people want. It's more of a short-term policy. (11:02):
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Wesley: It just pays over usually like 12 or 24 months. (11:07):
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Wesley: Now, this is usually used to pay overhead expenses or loans while you're disabled (11:11):
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Wesley: if you have to shut down the practice. (11:16):
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Wesley: So, something we're going to talk about here in a second would be a good segue (11:18):
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Wesley: is, first off, do you need that? (11:21):
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Wesley: Do you have somebody that would cover the practice for you, meaning would this really be an issue? (11:23):
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Wesley: Or you and a study club that has a mutual assistance agreement, (11:27):
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Wesley: do you have an associate there? (11:30):
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Wesley: Is there a need for this insurance? (11:31):
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Wesley: Otherwise then, I tell people to get that over 12 months. ADA and AAO are going (11:34):
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Wesley: to be cheapest places to get it. (11:39):
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Wesley: They'll be super cheap, like a thousand bucks for 25,000 a month of coverage. (11:41):
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Wesley: It only pays for 12 months though. And I only want it to pay for 12 months because (11:46):
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Wesley: if you're going to be disabled for 24 months and you think you're going to come (11:50):
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Wesley: back to your thriving It's a thriving practice. Right. (11:53):
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Wesley: Either A, you got an associate or you got somebody to cover it for two years, (11:56):
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Wesley: or B, your patients have found a new dentist. (11:59):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (12:02):
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Wesley: You know, if we're going to be disabled for that long, we really need to sell the practice. (12:02):
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Jonathan: Right. (12:09):
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Wesley: Which is a really, really good segue into why I wanted to talk to you about it. (12:10):
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Jonathan: Yeah. Okay. (12:13):
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Wesley: I've had this happen once on the death side, unfortunately, maybe twice, actually. (12:16):
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Wesley: so somebody dies and it's the doctor that dies um from my understanding and (12:22):
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Wesley: we haven't done a whole lot of this but i think this will probably be a fair (12:28):
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Wesley: point correct me if i'm wrong the longer a practice sits there without a dentist (12:31):
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Wesley: in it the less it's worth yeah. (12:37):
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Jonathan: Time is not your friend unfortunately for the reasons that you've mentioned i mean you know as people, (12:39):
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Jonathan: can't get in to see you, they're going to resort to finding, (12:45):
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Jonathan: you know, somebody else. (12:49):
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Jonathan: And so, you know, the first thing is, you know, getting somebody in there to (12:51):
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Jonathan: cover ASAP, whether it's a locum doc or, you know, you have a mutual assistance (12:56):
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Jonathan: agreement with other doctors in the area. (13:01):
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Jonathan: And that's something that I recommend every practice owner do. (13:04):
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Jonathan: You know, if you have a network work of, you know, five or six docs, (13:08):
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Jonathan: colleagues that are in the area that, you know, the agreement is, (13:12):
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Jonathan: hey, if one of us goes down, (13:15):
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Jonathan: you know, each one of us will take, you know, maybe a day a week or if you have more folks in there, (13:17):
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Jonathan: obviously it could be even a day every other week or, you know, (13:24):
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Jonathan: somebody to be in there doing the dentistry, maintaining the practice until it can get sold. (13:27):
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Wesley: It's cheap insurance, right? (13:35):
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Jonathan: It is. (13:36):
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Wesley: That's all insurance is people coming together to pay. In this case, you're not paying. (13:37):
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Wesley: That's right. You're just agreeing that we're all going to step in and pay by (13:41):
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Wesley: leaving our practice for a day a week to keep yours up and running. (13:45):
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Jonathan: That's right. It is insurance that's free and that just ensures that, (13:49):
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Jonathan: hey, you're going to take care of your fallen colleague. (13:53):
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Wesley: Well, the part that this insurance takes care of that the actual insurance company (13:56):
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Wesley: doesn't is the fact that somebody's in there and patients are being taken care of. (14:02):
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Wesley: So your value is not just plummeting. (14:06):
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Jonathan: Exactly. Exactly. Because as soon as that production gets choked off, (14:08):
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Jonathan: what is there to sell other than used dental equipment, which doesn't have much of a value. (14:12):
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Wesley: Patient records that may or may not have found a new dentist already. That's right. (14:17):
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Jonathan: So time's not your friend. So the first thing is getting somebody in there to (14:22):
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Jonathan: cover as much as possible to maintain the income as well as possible. (14:25):
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Jonathan: And then beyond that, what I recommend most doctors do is, you know, (14:29):
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Jonathan: and this becomes more and more and more important the older you get, (14:33):
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Jonathan: just because, you know, the likelihood of something catastrophic happening obviously (14:36):
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Jonathan: increases with age, but really every doctor should have. (14:40):
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Jonathan: And that is, you know, a point of contact that, you know, you trust to handle (14:44):
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Jonathan: the practice sale should something happen. (14:50):
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Jonathan: And, you know, what I tell doctors is, you know, hey, whoever that person is, (14:52):
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Jonathan: you know, a local transition specialist, somebody that you've worked with in (14:57):
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Jonathan: the past, somebody that you know, local or not, you know, have their information ready. (15:00):
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Jonathan: Accompanied with your estate planning documents, right? (15:08):
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Jonathan: So wherever you keep all of your estate planning documents, have that information (15:11):
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Jonathan: in there so when your spouse is going through that, (15:15):
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Jonathan: they see your directions to contact such and such person at such and such contact (15:18):
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Jonathan: information who will handle the practice sale. (15:24):
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Jonathan: Someone basically like me, and we know the things to do at that point to step (15:28):
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Jonathan: in and get the practice on the market as quickly as possible, (15:33):
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Jonathan: evaluate Evaluate local options as quickly as possible and get it sold as quickly as possible. (15:36):
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Jonathan: And in the meantime, you know, ideally you have that, you know, (15:41):
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Jonathan: network of doctors who are filling in until that can happen. (15:44):
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Jonathan: Unfortunately, you know, it takes time to sell a practice. (15:49):
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Jonathan: So, you know, your goal is to move as quickly as possible. (15:52):
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Jonathan: And that can be difficult for, you know, spouses who are trying to, (15:57):
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Jonathan: you know, deal with the emotional ramifications of losing a spouse, (16:01):
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Jonathan: handling everything else with the estate while also trying to, (16:05):
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Jonathan: you know, get their practice sold as quickly as possible. (16:08):
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Jonathan: But that's just the unfortunate reality. (16:11):
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Wesley: Yeah, it stinks. It does. It does. It's a huge bummer. (16:14):
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Wesley: And that's why, you know, we do like delayed practice sales or partnerships. (16:18):
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Wesley: There's language in the documents that says, hey, if this doctor dies. (16:25):
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Jonathan: This happens today, and this is it. (16:28):
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Wesley: That way there's a game plan in there. But yeah, not everyone has an associate partner. (16:33):
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Wesley: It doesn't make sense just to get one to do this. But what I tell people, (16:37):
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Wesley: like a lot of the times, if somebody is financially independent, (16:41):
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Wesley: they really don't need insurance, but they haven't sold their practice yet, (16:46):
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Wesley: I'll talk to them about it. (16:49):
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Wesley: If they're kind of on the border of like, hey, we've got enough money, (16:50):
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Wesley: but we're not super overfunded, a lot of times I'll hang on to an extra million (16:52):
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Wesley: of life insurance if they're gonna be emotionally kind of tied to this value. (16:57):
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Wesley: Yeah. That way we say, hey, look, this is what's gonna have to happen. (17:02):
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Wesley: You know, if you're in a rural area and we don't find a buyer, there's no guarantee. (17:06):
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Wesley: So we're going to keep a million in life insurance just in case something were (17:09):
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Wesley: to happen until you sell. (17:13):
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Wesley: At least that'll get you the practice sale proceeds. (17:14):
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Jonathan: Yep. (17:17):
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Wesley: So it's important to make sure that, you know, you're not counting on every (17:17):
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Wesley: dollar of that and you calculate that into your insurance needs. (17:20):
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Jonathan: Absolutely. (17:25):
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Wesley: Hey, I need. You know what? My wife or my husband may only get $500,000 of a (17:25):
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Wesley: million-dollar practice because we're fire-sailing it. That could be a reality. (17:31):
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Jonathan: Yeah, or even worse in bad situations. (17:35):
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Wesley: Zero. (17:38):
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Jonathan: Yeah. Yeah. (17:39):
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Wesley: I mean, it happens. (17:39):
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Jonathan: Closing the doors. But, you know, that just goes back to the thing that I echo (17:40):
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Jonathan: in every single one of these episodes, which is, you know, make sure you plan. (17:44):
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Jonathan: And there's, you know, there's only so much planning you can do for the catastrophic, (17:48):
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Jonathan: but by doing the things you mentioned, being insured so that you're not leaving (17:51):
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Jonathan: your spouse high and dry and, you know, having at least some directions to take, (17:56):
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Jonathan: you know, the burden off of their shoulders, (18:00):
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Jonathan: because, you know, if you've been in a situation where you've you've lost a (18:03):
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Jonathan: loved one and you've had to step in and handle an estate. (18:06):
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Jonathan: There is a huge, huge difference between handling those situations where somebody (18:09):
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Jonathan: was appropriately prepared, (18:14):
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Jonathan: had all their ducks in a row, had their estate planning and the directions that (18:17):
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Jonathan: needed to be there taken care of versus those who didn't. (18:21):
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Jonathan: And it's just, what situation do you want to leave your loved ones in? (18:25):
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Jonathan: And it's not like it takes an extreme amount of effort to do it. (18:29):
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Jonathan: You You just have to actually do it. And so many doctors, they just, (18:32):
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Jonathan: you know, they don't want to talk about that kind of stuff. They don't want to jinx it. (18:35):
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Jonathan: I've actually heard that. I heard that today on the phone. I had this exact (18:40):
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Jonathan: same conversation with somebody. (18:42):
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Jonathan: Well, you know, I don't really want to talk about that stuff because then I (18:44):
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Jonathan: might jinx it and then, you know, something will happen to me. (18:47):
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Jonathan: Well, you know, again, what you do have to think of is what situation are you (18:51):
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Jonathan: going to leave your spouse in? (18:56):
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Jonathan: Because it is a huge difference being prepared and not being. (18:57):
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Wesley: No, definitely. But yeah, hopefully everyone has that because it's ugly to talk (19:02):
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Wesley: about, but if they don't know who to call and they wait a month... (19:07):
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Wesley: It's over. (19:12):
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Jonathan: It could be over. It's over. And the thing is, once you do it, it's done. (19:13):
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Jonathan: It's done. You don't have to, you know, focus on it or belabor it. (19:16):
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Jonathan: It's just get it done, move on. (19:21):
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Wesley: Yeah, speaking of which, I need to do this for myself. (19:24):
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Jonathan: I was thinking the exact same thing. I was like, how much life insurance do I have? (19:26):
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Jonathan: Because I got it about 15 years ago before I had kids. I think I've got enough life insurance. (19:30):
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Wesley: But, you know, I think I'd probably need to tell my wife. I know who she needs (19:37):
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Wesley: to call. I just haven't told her. (19:42):
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Wesley: It is an ugly one, but like, hey, if I would ever die, here's the person that's (19:44):
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Wesley: going to buy this business and you need to call them. (19:48):
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Jonathan: Well, here we are. We're going to take our own advice. (19:51):
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Wesley: Yep. By next episode, I'll tell my wife who she's calling. I'll tell her tonight. (19:54):
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Jonathan: Are we not recording the next one in five minutes? (19:58):
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Wesley: No, maybe not. (20:00):
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Jonathan: All right. Well, I think that's all we have. Do you have anything else you wanted to cover? (20:02):
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Wesley: No, that's it. Otherwise, just don't get too worried about it. (20:06):
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Wesley: Make sure you have proper term life insurance. (20:09):
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Wesley: You know, the disability is important too, but I think for catastrophic death, (20:12):
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Wesley: you know, make sure you have term life insurance that can cover the needs of (20:16):
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Wesley: your family, cover the debt, everything. (20:20):
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Wesley: Make sure it's enough to make up for practice value as well, (20:22):
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Wesley: because you might not get it. (20:25):
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Wesley: And then second thing, Jonathan, to your point is have somebody to contact. (20:27):
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Wesley: And if you don't have somebody, then, you know, put down Jonathan Martin. (20:31):
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Jonathan: There you go. All right. Well, hey, thanks everybody for joining us. (20:36):
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Jonathan: We'll be back with you next episode with more great information. (20:39):
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Wesley: See you then. (20:42):
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Jonathan: This time I'm talking first. Wes, how are you doing, man? (00:05):
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Wesley: I'm great, Jonathan. How are you today? (00:08):
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Jonathan: I am doing great. How did I do? Is that okay? (00:10):
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Wesley: Yeah, you're good. (00:13):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (00:14):
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Wesley: You're good. (00:14):
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Jonathan: You're natural. (00:14):
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Wesley: You're meant for radio. (00:15):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (00:16):
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Wesley: Not TV, so they can't see our face. (00:17):
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Jonathan: Yeah. So today we're actually talking about a question that I've gotten a lot (00:19):
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Jonathan: over the years, and And it seems like I'm getting more and more recently. (00:26):
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Jonathan: But, you know, how do I prepare for the catastrophic? And when I say the catastrophic, (00:29):
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Jonathan: you know, death, disability, you know, what do I do with my practice? (00:33):
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Jonathan: And, you know, there's, I guess, a number of layers to that onion. (00:37):
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Jonathan: We'll kind of take your layer first. (00:41):
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Jonathan: I mean, obviously, I would imagine there's just, you know, a minimum recommendation (00:44):
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Jonathan: of, look, you need to have this type of insurance and this amount. (00:48):
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Jonathan: I mean, what are you telling doctors to prepare themselves for the worst? (00:51):
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Wesley: Yeah, the big one is going to be you need life insurance. (00:55):
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Wesley: And a lot of the reason these questions probably come up, too, (00:58):
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Wesley: is that it's easy to scare people into buying something that they don't need. (01:00):
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Wesley: So you're going to see a lot of insurance agents selling stuff people don't (01:06):
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Wesley: need, expensive products to make commissions. situations and who's not going (01:10):
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Wesley: to buy something when they start scaring you on, you know, what your wife is going to do. (01:14):
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Wesley: I mean, for God's sakes, gosh, this is kind of off topic, but the same sales (01:20):
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Wesley: people, same type of people. (01:24):
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Wesley: We had a window guy out. They said they did repairs. They didn't do repairs. (01:26):
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Wesley: They just gave us a three-hour sales presentation on sitting in my kitchen with (01:29):
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Wesley: my wife. He goes, oh, you're expecting. (01:34):
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Wesley: And he goes, you know, do you know about black mold? And starts trying to scare (01:36):
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Wesley: my wife into thinking there's black mold in the house. (01:39):
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Wesley: And these are the type of sales tactics insurance people will use of like, (01:42):
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Wesley: oh, well, you know, what would you do? Do you have enough? (01:46):
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Wesley: You know, what would happen if the doctor died? And don't get me wrong, (01:49):
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Wesley: these are valid questions, but a lot of times they're trying to trigger an emotional (01:52):
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Wesley: response to get you to buy something that day that solves it. (01:56):
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Wesley: So we just want to give you the, hey, we're going to take the emotion out of (01:58):
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Wesley: it, and we're just going to tell you what you do need to buy. (02:02):
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Wesley: The first step, though, is you've really got to figure out how much you're going (02:03):
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Wesley: to need to retire, how much this person's going to need to live off of. (02:08):
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Wesley: This one, it's really tough for me to give anyone a particular answer because how much you spend, (02:11):
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Wesley: What your life is like will determine how much life insurance you need. (02:19):
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Jonathan: You mean you just can't give somebody a simple answer to that question. (02:22):
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Jonathan: You got to do some digging. (02:25):
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Wesley: Yeah, exactly. We got to find out the details of how much. I'm going to give (02:26):
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Wesley: some generic answers though. (02:30):
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Jonathan: Sure. (02:31):
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Wesley: Because I don't like to just tell people, oh, you got to spend money to figure (02:31):
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Wesley: out. No, I'll give you some generic answers so you know you're in the ballpark. (02:34):
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Wesley: If you're a young doctor and you're worried about the catastrophic event from (02:38):
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Wesley: a life side, you probably need at least six mil. (02:41):
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Wesley: I don't like to get more than eight. But if you just bought a practice, (02:45):
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Wesley: you got a million-dollar practice loan, you might have an office building loan, (02:48):
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Wesley: you might have a mortgage, you got three young kids and a spouse at home, (02:52):
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Wesley: you're going to need a lot of life insurance. (02:56):
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Wesley: Probably in the sixth ballpark, again, get that calculated. (02:59):
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Wesley: I don't like when people go too high on the life, though. (03:03):
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Wesley: You know, at the point, there's kind of an amount of money that you need to (03:07):
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Wesley: make sure everything's okay. (03:11):
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Jonathan: Right. (03:12):
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Wesley: And up to that point, it's called insurance. When you go over that amount of (03:12):
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Wesley: money, it's called a Vegas bet on how much my spouse loves me. (03:17):
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Wesley: Because at that point, it's not necessary money. It's just, if I were to die. (03:20):
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Jonathan: Yeah, you don't want to be worth more dead than alive, right? (03:27):
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Wesley: That's it. And really, you need term life insurance. We do not need permanent life insurance. (03:30):
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Wesley: All permanent life insurance is, is they take a package and they put a term (03:37):
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Wesley: life insurance policy you in there. (03:43):
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Wesley: So they actually buy it on your behalf. Then they put a savings account in there. (03:45):
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Wesley: But then they want to make sure that you don't figure out that they just took (03:49):
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Wesley: two very inexpensive products and jammed them together. So it's like a Christmas package. (03:53):
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Wesley: And you got to put the, what do they call those little pellet things they throw in there? (03:58):
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Wesley: If you put two boxes in one box, what do you put in there to make sure they don't crank around? (04:03):
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Jonathan: Packing peanuts? Yes, packing peanuts. Oh, those. Okay, okay, okay. (04:10):
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Wesley: So yeah, so they got to get some packing peanuts in there. So they don't have (04:13):
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Wesley: access to packing peanuts, but instead they have access to fees. (04:15):
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Wesley: So they throw a whole bunch of fees in there and you don't know that you could (04:19):
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Wesley: have just gone and opened an investment account and bought a term life insurance (04:22):
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Wesley: policy and not paid the fees. (04:25):
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Wesley: They don't want you to figure out what's inside of there. So we just want the (04:28):
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Wesley: term life insurance policy. That's it. (04:31):
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Wesley: We do not need to combine our savings and our insurance. They are way two different things. (04:33):
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Wesley: We just need the cheapest life insurance possible over the period of time we need. (04:38):
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Wesley: So, that's going to kind of depend on your age, right? If you're only going (04:42):
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Wesley: to work for 10 more years because you're going to be financially independent. (04:45):
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Jonathan: You'll only need 10 years of life, right? (04:48):
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Wesley: Now, if you're 30 and you just bother practice, you might need a 25-year term policy. (04:50):
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Jonathan: Now, what if there's a 30-year age gap between you and your spouse? (04:55):
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Wesley: Oh, gosh. (05:00):
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Jonathan: Which happens a lot. (05:01):
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Wesley: So, hopefully somebody talked to you about how much money you're going to need (05:03):
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Wesley: to save before that happens and uh, (05:07):
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Wesley: Well, at that point, too, you might be paying off the previous one. (05:10):
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Jonathan: Well, now nobody said there was a previous spouse. (05:15):
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Wesley: Now, you know, it's just, you know, statistically speaking. Yeah, (05:18):
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Wesley: yeah, yeah. But you'll need more. (05:23):
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Wesley: Well, the problem with that is life insurance gets very, very expensive. (05:26):
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Jonathan: The older you get. So if you're a spouse. (05:29):
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Wesley: Yeah, you really just have to save more. (05:31):
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Jonathan: Yeah, yeah, yeah. (05:34):
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Wesley: But also some of that depends on whether or not you have kids. (05:34):
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Wesley: So that's another one. And if you don't have kids, my wife got very upset with (05:37):
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Wesley: me over this one day, but we're driving home and my wife asked me if I have life insurance and I do. (05:42):
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Wesley: Now I have some for her, by the way, since people know I'm expecting. (05:48):
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Wesley: So she's the beneficiary. (05:51):
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Jonathan: That's good. (05:52):
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Wesley: Well, no, that was the issue was, she's like, oh, you have life insurance and (05:53):
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Wesley: we weren't expecting a kid. (05:57):
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Wesley: And I was like, yeah, I do. And, you know, she was like, oh my gosh, I'm so proud of you. (05:58):
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Wesley: And I was like, well, don't get too proud because the beneficiary is John McGill. (06:02):
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Jonathan: Wow. (06:08):
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Wesley: So she got pretty upset about that. She's like, well, why don't I have life insurance? (06:09):
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Wesley: Like, well, because you're 30 years old and we don't have a kid, (06:13):
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Wesley: so you're going to go get remarried. (06:17):
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Wesley: And I'm not having some new dude dance all over my grave because, (06:19):
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Wesley: you know, $6 million got paid out. So now that we're expecting a child, (06:22):
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Wesley: I have life insurance for my wife as well. (06:27):
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Wesley: I have the business loans and I have what my wife needs. So that's what you (06:30):
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Wesley: need to kind of be careful of. (06:35):
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Wesley: You know, if you have a spouse, but you don't have kids, your life insurance (06:37):
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Wesley: need is not nearly as great. Right. (06:42):
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Wesley: Now, if you're 30 and you're buying a practice and you have to go get life insurance (06:44):
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Wesley: for the bank anyways, right? (06:47):
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Wesley: You have to do it and you're going to try to have a kid in the next year or two. (06:48):
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Wesley: You might just go ahead and get it. That way you don't have to go back through the process. (06:52):
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Wesley: And also it's cheapest when you're youngest. (06:56):
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Wesley: So I'm not saying necessarily don't, but. (06:59):
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Wesley: Hey, if you do get married later, you got to consider whether or not you have (07:02):
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Wesley: kids. And that's probably a whole different conversation, though, on that one. (07:06):
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Wesley: But you need to have enough life to pay off the debts and make sure your spouse can survive. (07:10):
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Wesley: And if you have enough money that you don't need the life insurance. (07:16):
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Jonathan: Don't pay for it. (07:19):
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Wesley: Don't pay for it. (07:20):
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Jonathan: Yeah, yeah. Okay, so life insurance. What else we need? (07:20):
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Wesley: Disability. We need long-term disability. I'm not usually concerned about short-term disability. (07:24):
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Wesley: But long-term disability, usually we're going to try to get it through the ADA (07:30):
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Wesley: or the AAO. Those are going to be your cheapest options. (07:34):
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Wesley: Disability insurance is expensive on dentists. You're hunched over a chair, (07:37):
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Wesley: wrist is at work, neck is at work, back is at work. (07:41):
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Wesley: Very expensive for dentists. Very necessary as well. This happens a whole lot (07:45):
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Wesley: more. The life insurance should be pretty cheap if you get it early. (07:50):
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Wesley: The disability insurance, not so much. However, you need to get an adequate amount. (07:53):
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Wesley: I just tell most people to get at least $15,000 per month of benefit, (07:58):
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Wesley: at least. Some people go up to 20. (08:02):
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Jonathan: We've had a lot of clients who've actually, you know, had to use that disability insurance. (08:05):
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Wesley: It's common. I mean, I know it's not like you don't need to be a bodybuilder (08:09):
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Wesley: or something to be a dentist, but however, ask most of America to just spend (08:14):
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Wesley: their day, you know, bent over the 30 degree angle or so. (08:18):
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Jonathan: And then always be engaging your core guys. That's the takeaway. (08:22):
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Wesley: Yeah. I mean, it does, you know, sit there and I mean, gosh, (08:26):
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Wesley: we get a dental chair to see what it's like, but you know, you're bent over, (08:30):
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Wesley: then you're kind of twisted. (08:34):
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Wesley: I mean, the whole thing, very comfortable. (08:35):
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Jonathan: I've had some young docs who've had lower back issues that have They've just (08:37):
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Jonathan: been completely debilitating. I mean, doctors in their 40s. (08:40):
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Jonathan: So, yeah, it's a real problem. (08:44):
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Wesley: So, yeah, you need to have that disability. You know, that's pretty straightforward. (08:46):
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Wesley: A couple of notes there, just if you're in a partnership... (08:53):
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Wesley: you don't really need this disability buyout policies. (08:56):
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Wesley: I don't generally recommend them. And those policies would be, (09:02):
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Wesley: hey, if me and you are 50-50 and you get disabled, I have a disability policy (09:05):
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Wesley: that will actually pay me a lump sum of money because you got disabled so I can buy you out. (09:11):
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Wesley: Now, if that's the case, if you're going to buy out your partner, (09:17):
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Wesley: you buy them out on a cash flow basis and you're able to take a loan and you're (09:20):
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Wesley: able to cash flow the loan payment, you should still make more. (09:25):
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Wesley: So it's not something we necessarily need there. (09:28):
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Wesley: The life is a little bit situation by situation on whether or not you want that buyout insurance. (09:31):
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Wesley: I'm not a huge fan of it because again, you're buying something that's going to cash flow. (09:36):
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Jonathan: Gotcha. (09:43):
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Wesley: Right? There's an asset behind it. It's not as if not. So it's kind of back (09:43):
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Wesley: to that whole, we got an issue here. (09:47):
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Wesley: Now, some people when they're entering into a partnership and, (09:49):
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Wesley: you know, maybe they're not going to be able to get financing for the whole (09:52):
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Wesley: loan or, you know, there's potential that let's say, (09:55):
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Wesley: you know, let's say the younger doctor passes away and they're in a transition. (09:59):
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Wesley: Well, the older doctor ain't really in the mood to go take a bank loan and rebuild, (10:05):
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Wesley: you know, everything there. (10:10):
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Wesley: They were trying to retire and now all of a sudden they're stuck in a bad spot. (10:11):
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Wesley: So I'm not as hard pressed on you don't need the life, but But two 45-year-old (10:14):
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Wesley: dentists who own and practice 50-50 together and they can readily get another (10:20):
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Wesley: associate in there, I don't really need that. (10:23):
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Jonathan: Yeah, and there's always exceptions. Like maybe if you're in a rural area, (10:26):
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Jonathan: if both of you are mega producers to where if one of you passes away, (10:30):
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Jonathan: there's no way the other one can step in and do that production. (10:34):
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Jonathan: I would assume there's certain situations where, okay, maybe you guys should. Definitely. (10:37):
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Wesley: I'm probably like 50-50 on that one. (10:42):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (10:44):
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Wesley: But take a hard look at that one. And some people, I just find they have stuff (10:44):
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Wesley: that got sold to them by somebody that scared the bejesus out of them because, (10:48):
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Wesley: oh, what would I do if I had to come up with a million dollars to buy my partner out? Yeah. (10:52):
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Wesley: No, I'd call the bank. I guess not that hard. (10:56):
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Wesley: Disability business overhead is another one people want. It's more of a short-term policy. (11:02):
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Wesley: It just pays over usually like 12 or 24 months. (11:07):
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Wesley: Now, this is usually used to pay overhead expenses or loans while you're disabled (11:11):
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Wesley: if you have to shut down the practice. (11:16):
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Wesley: So, something we're going to talk about here in a second would be a good segue (11:18):
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Wesley: is, first off, do you need that? (11:21):
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Wesley: Do you have somebody that would cover the practice for you, meaning would this really be an issue? (11:23):
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Wesley: Or you and a study club that has a mutual assistance agreement, (11:27):
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Wesley: do you have an associate there? (11:30):
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Wesley: Is there a need for this insurance? (11:31):
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Wesley: Otherwise then, I tell people to get that over 12 months. ADA and AAO are going (11:34):
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Wesley: to be cheapest places to get it. (11:39):
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Wesley: They'll be super cheap, like a thousand bucks for 25,000 a month of coverage. (11:41):
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Wesley: It only pays for 12 months though. And I only want it to pay for 12 months because (11:46):
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Wesley: if you're going to be disabled for 24 months and you think you're going to come (11:50):
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Wesley: back to your thriving It's a thriving practice. Right. (11:53):
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Wesley: Either A, you got an associate or you got somebody to cover it for two years, (11:56):
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Wesley: or B, your patients have found a new dentist. (11:59):
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Jonathan: Yeah. (12:02):
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Wesley: You know, if we're going to be disabled for that long, we really need to sell the practice. (12:02):
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Jonathan: Right. (12:09):
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Wesley: Which is a really, really good segue into why I wanted to talk to you about it. (12:10):
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Jonathan: Yeah. Okay. (12:13):
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Wesley: I've had this happen once on the death side, unfortunately, maybe twice, actually. (12:16):
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Wesley: so somebody dies and it's the doctor that dies um from my understanding and (12:22):
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Wesley: we haven't done a whole lot of this but i think this will probably be a fair (12:28):
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Wesley: point correct me if i'm wrong the longer a practice sits there without a dentist (12:31):
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Wesley: in it the less it's worth yeah. (12:37):
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Jonathan: Time is not your friend unfortunately for the reasons that you've mentioned i mean you know as people, (12:39):
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Jonathan: can't get in to see you, they're going to resort to finding, (12:45):
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Jonathan: you know, somebody else. (12:49):
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Jonathan: And so, you know, the first thing is, you know, getting somebody in there to (12:51):
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Jonathan: cover ASAP, whether it's a locum doc or, you know, you have a mutual assistance (12:56):
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Jonathan: agreement with other doctors in the area. (13:01):
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Jonathan: And that's something that I recommend every practice owner do. (13:04):
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Jonathan: You know, if you have a network work of, you know, five or six docs, (13:08):
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Jonathan: colleagues that are in the area that, you know, the agreement is, (13:12):
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Jonathan: hey, if one of us goes down, (13:15):
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Jonathan: you know, each one of us will take, you know, maybe a day a week or if you have more folks in there, (13:17):
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Jonathan: obviously it could be even a day every other week or, you know, (13:24):
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Jonathan: somebody to be in there doing the dentistry, maintaining the practice until it can get sold. (13:27):
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Wesley: It's cheap insurance, right? (13:35):
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Jonathan: It is. (13:36):
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Wesley: That's all insurance is people coming together to pay. In this case, you're not paying. (13:37):
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Wesley: That's right. You're just agreeing that we're all going to step in and pay by (13:41):
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Wesley: leaving our practice for a day a week to keep yours up and running. (13:45):
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Jonathan: That's right. It is insurance that's free and that just ensures that, (13:49):
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Jonathan: hey, you're going to take care of your fallen colleague. (13:53):
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Wesley: Well, the part that this insurance takes care of that the actual insurance company (13:56):
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Wesley: doesn't is the fact that somebody's in there and patients are being taken care of. (14:02):
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Wesley: So your value is not just plummeting. (14:06):
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Jonathan: Exactly. Exactly. Because as soon as that production gets choked off, (14:08):
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Jonathan: what is there to sell other than used dental equipment, which doesn't have much of a value. (14:12):
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Wesley: Patient records that may or may not have found a new dentist already. That's right. (14:17):
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Jonathan: So time's not your friend. So the first thing is getting somebody in there to (14:22):
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Jonathan: cover as much as possible to maintain the income as well as possible. (14:25):
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Jonathan: And then beyond that, what I recommend most doctors do is, you know, (14:29):
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Jonathan: and this becomes more and more and more important the older you get, (14:33):
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Jonathan: just because, you know, the likelihood of something catastrophic happening obviously (14:36):
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Jonathan: increases with age, but really every doctor should have. (14:40):
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Jonathan: And that is, you know, a point of contact that, you know, you trust to handle (14:44):
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Jonathan: the practice sale should something happen. (14:50):
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Jonathan: And, you know, what I tell doctors is, you know, hey, whoever that person is, (14:52):
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Jonathan: you know, a local transition specialist, somebody that you've worked with in (14:57):
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Jonathan: the past, somebody that you know, local or not, you know, have their information ready. (15:00):
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Jonathan: Accompanied with your estate planning documents, right? (15:08):
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Jonathan: So wherever you keep all of your estate planning documents, have that information (15:11):
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Jonathan: in there so when your spouse is going through that, (15:15):
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Jonathan: they see your directions to contact such and such person at such and such contact (15:18):
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Jonathan: information who will handle the practice sale. (15:24):
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Jonathan: Someone basically like me, and we know the things to do at that point to step (15:28):
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Jonathan: in and get the practice on the market as quickly as possible, (15:33):
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Jonathan: evaluate Evaluate local options as quickly as possible and get it sold as quickly as possible. (15:36):
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Jonathan: And in the meantime, you know, ideally you have that, you know, (15:41):
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Jonathan: network of doctors who are filling in until that can happen. (15:44):
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Jonathan: Unfortunately, you know, it takes time to sell a practice. (15:49):
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Jonathan: So, you know, your goal is to move as quickly as possible. (15:52):
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Jonathan: And that can be difficult for, you know, spouses who are trying to, (15:57):
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Jonathan: you know, deal with the emotional ramifications of losing a spouse, (16:01):
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Jonathan: handling everything else with the estate while also trying to, (16:05):
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Jonathan: you know, get their practice sold as quickly as possible. (16:08):
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Jonathan: But that's just the unfortunate reality. (16:11):
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Wesley: Yeah, it stinks. It does. It does. It's a huge bummer. (16:14):
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Wesley: And that's why, you know, we do like delayed practice sales or partnerships. (16:18):
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Wesley: There's language in the documents that says, hey, if this doctor dies. (16:25):
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Jonathan: This happens today, and this is it. (16:28):
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Wesley: That way there's a game plan in there. But yeah, not everyone has an associate partner. (16:33):
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Wesley: It doesn't make sense just to get one to do this. But what I tell people, (16:37):
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Wesley: like a lot of the times, if somebody is financially independent, (16:41):
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Wesley: they really don't need insurance, but they haven't sold their practice yet, (16:46):
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Wesley: I'll talk to them about it. (16:49):
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Wesley: If they're kind of on the border of like, hey, we've got enough money, (16:50):
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Wesley: but we're not super overfunded, a lot of times I'll hang on to an extra million (16:52):
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Wesley: of life insurance if they're gonna be emotionally kind of tied to this value. (16:57):
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Wesley: Yeah. That way we say, hey, look, this is what's gonna have to happen. (17:02):
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Wesley: You know, if you're in a rural area and we don't find a buyer, there's no guarantee. (17:06):
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Wesley: So we're going to keep a million in life insurance just in case something were (17:09):
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Wesley: to happen until you sell. (17:13):
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Wesley: At least that'll get you the practice sale proceeds. (17:14):
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Jonathan: Yep. (17:17):
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Wesley: So it's important to make sure that, you know, you're not counting on every (17:17):
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Wesley: dollar of that and you calculate that into your insurance needs. (17:20):
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Jonathan: Absolutely. (17:25):
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Wesley: Hey, I need. You know what? My wife or my husband may only get $500,000 of a (17:25):
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Wesley: million-dollar practice because we're fire-sailing it. That could be a reality. (17:31):
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Jonathan: Yeah, or even worse in bad situations. (17:35):
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Wesley: Zero. (17:38):
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Jonathan: Yeah. Yeah. (17:39):
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Wesley: I mean, it happens. (17:39):
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Jonathan: Closing the doors. But, you know, that just goes back to the thing that I echo (17:40):
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Jonathan: in every single one of these episodes, which is, you know, make sure you plan. (17:44):
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Jonathan: And there's, you know, there's only so much planning you can do for the catastrophic, (17:48):
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Jonathan: but by doing the things you mentioned, being insured so that you're not leaving (17:51):
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Jonathan: your spouse high and dry and, you know, having at least some directions to take, (17:56):
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Jonathan: you know, the burden off of their shoulders, (18:00):
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Jonathan: because, you know, if you've been in a situation where you've you've lost a (18:03):
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Jonathan: loved one and you've had to step in and handle an estate. (18:06):
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Jonathan: There is a huge, huge difference between handling those situations where somebody (18:09):
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Jonathan: was appropriately prepared, (18:14):
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Jonathan: had all their ducks in a row, had their estate planning and the directions that (18:17):
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Jonathan: needed to be there taken care of versus those who didn't. (18:21):
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Jonathan: And it's just, what situation do you want to leave your loved ones in? (18:25):
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Jonathan: And it's not like it takes an extreme amount of effort to do it. (18:29):
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Jonathan: You You just have to actually do it. And so many doctors, they just, (18:32):
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Jonathan: you know, they don't want to talk about that kind of stuff. They don't want to jinx it. (18:35):
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Jonathan: I've actually heard that. I heard that today on the phone. I had this exact (18:40):
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Jonathan: same conversation with somebody. (18:42):
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Jonathan: Well, you know, I don't really want to talk about that stuff because then I (18:44):
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Jonathan: might jinx it and then, you know, something will happen to me. (18:47):
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Jonathan: Well, you know, again, what you do have to think of is what situation are you (18:51):
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Jonathan: going to leave your spouse in? (18:56):
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Jonathan: Because it is a huge difference being prepared and not being. (18:57):
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Wesley: No, definitely. But yeah, hopefully everyone has that because it's ugly to talk (19:02):
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Wesley: about, but if they don't know who to call and they wait a month... (19:07):
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Wesley: It's over. (19:12):
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Jonathan: It could be over. It's over. And the thing is, once you do it, it's done. (19:13):
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Jonathan: It's done. You don't have to, you know, focus on it or belabor it. (19:16):
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Jonathan: It's just get it done, move on. (19:21):
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Wesley: Yeah, speaking of which, I need to do this for myself. (19:24):
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Jonathan: I was thinking the exact same thing. I was like, how much life insurance do I have? (19:26):
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Jonathan: Because I got it about 15 years ago before I had kids. I think I've got enough life insurance. (19:30):
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Wesley: But, you know, I think I'd probably need to tell my wife. I know who she needs (19:37):
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Wesley: to call. I just haven't told her. (19:42):
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Wesley: It is an ugly one, but like, hey, if I would ever die, here's the person that's (19:44):
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Wesley: going to buy this business and you need to call them. (19:48):
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Jonathan: Well, here we are. We're going to take our own advice. (19:51):
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Wesley: Yep. By next episode, I'll tell my wife who she's calling. I'll tell her tonight. (19:54):
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Jonathan: Are we not recording the next one in five minutes? (19:58):
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Wesley: No, maybe not. (20:00):
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Jonathan: All right. Well, I think that's all we have. Do you have anything else you wanted to cover? (20:02):
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Wesley: No, that's it. Otherwise, just don't get too worried about it. (20:06):
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Wesley: Make sure you have proper term life insurance. (20:09):
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Wesley: You know, the disability is important too, but I think for catastrophic death, (20:12):
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Wesley: you know, make sure you have term life insurance that can cover the needs of (20:16):
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Wesley: your family, cover the debt, everything. (20:20):
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Wesley: Make sure it's enough to make up for practice value as well, (20:22):
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Wesley: because you might not get it. (20:25):
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Wesley: And then second thing, Jonathan, to your point is have somebody to contact. (20:27):
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Wesley: And if you don't have somebody, then, you know, put down Jonathan Martin. (20:31):
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Jonathan: There you go. All right. Well, hey, thanks everybody for joining us. (20:36):
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Jonathan: We'll be back with you next episode with more great information. (20:39):
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Wesley: See you then. (20:42):
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