Doctors Eyes Only

Click the link below to schedule your free 30 minute call!https://www.vestiaadvisors.com/contact/What actually happens when a physician has disability insurance and needs to use it?In this episode of Doctors Eyes Only®, Vestia Partner and CEO Lauren Oschman talks with Dr. Alex Parikh about his experience going from a practicing surgical oncologist to filing an own-occupation disability insurance claim and moving into a different role within medicine.Dr. Alex Parikh spent more than two decades as a surgeon specializing in liver and pancreas surgery. He trained at MD Anderson, spent about 12 years at Vanderbilt, and later served as head of cancer surgery and surgical oncology at the Mays MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio.Earlier in his career, Dr. Alex Parikh purchased individual disability insurance. As a surgeon, he thought about what might happen if a physical problem kept him from operating.Years later, he began experiencing pain in the CMC joint of his right thumb. He was diagnosed with stage three CMC arthritis and eventually underwent surgery. After returning to the operating room, the arthritis progressed into another joint in his thumb. Operating became painful, and even moving toward robotic surgery did not solve the problem.After talking with his hand surgeon about his options, Dr. Alex Parikh began considering what it would mean to stop operating and what he could do next.That is when the disability insurance he had purchased years earlier became part of the conversation.Lauren and Dr. Alex Parikh discuss the difference between group disability coverage and an individual own-occupation disability policy, including how the definition of a physician’s occupation can affect a claim.Dr. Alex Parikh also walks through his experience filing a disability claim. He discusses gathering medical records, documenting his responsibilities as an academic surgeon, the in-person evaluation, the elimination period before receiving disability income, and the timing of moving into a new role.Today, Dr. Alex Parikh is a full-time instructional professor and director of career advising at Texas A&M’s School of Engineering Medicine in Houston. His new role allows him to continue working in medicine without operating.Lauren and Dr. Alex Parikh also discuss why he is glad he obtained disability coverage earlier in his career. As he explains, disability can carry different financial implications depending on when it happens, how much a physician has accumulated, the income needs of the household, and how many working years remain.But this conversation is about more than an insurance claim.Dr. Alex Parikh is candid about the psychological side of leaving surgery after spending decades building a career around it. He talks about missing the operating room and the challenge of giving up work that had been an important part of his professional life.His new role has given him another way to use that experience. He now teaches medical students, advises them on their careers and brings more than two decades of clinical experience into the classroom.For physicians, Dr. Alex Parikh’s story offers a look at a situation many hope never happens: needing to use the disability insurance they have been paying for.Instead of discussing disability insurance only in theory, this episode follows the experience of a surgeon who purchased a policy earlier in his career, developed a physical condition that affected his ability to operate, filed a claim and then had to decide what his work would look like going forward.

Click the link below to schedule your free 30 minute call!https://www.vestiaadvisors.com/contact/If you are a physician who has built a medical device, technology company, practice, or other business and think you may eventually sell it, the work that happens before the sale can matter just as much as the transaction itself.In this episode of the Doctor’s Eyes Only® podcast, Lauren Oschman, CFP®, CDFA®, co-founder and CEO of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, and Vestia Partner and President Brad Quick are joined by Travis Ernst, Operations Manager at NuVescor, to talk about investment banking, business valuation, mergers and acquisitions, and preparing a medical technology business for an eventual exit.Travis explains what an investment banker or M&A advisor actually does when a business owner is ready to sell. That process can include understanding the business, developing a defensible valuation, identifying potential buyers, creating a market for the company, comparing multiple offers, negotiating deal structure, and helping navigate the transaction through closing.The conversation also looks at a recent medical device transaction involving a third-generation business built around an ostomy product. The owner was not simply looking for a buyer. He wanted someone who would continue serving the patients who relied on the product. That meant evaluating potential buyers based on more than purchase price alone.Lauren, Brad, and Travis also discuss how buyers may evaluate a medical technology business. Profitability, growth, repeatable sales, intellectual property, customer relationships, the ability to scale, and whether the company can operate without depending entirely on the founder can all become part of the conversation.For physicians who may want to sell a company in the future, Travis explains why preparing several years ahead can be valuable. Clean financial records, current legal documents, protected intellectual property, a strong management structure, and understanding what a potential buyer will see when they evaluate the business can help an owner prepare for a future transaction.They also discuss why receiving an unsolicited offer is different from creating a process involving multiple potential buyers. When only one buyer is at the table, that buyer may have more leverage. Creating a market can give the seller the ability to compare price, deal structure, fit, and what will happen to the business after the transaction.Lauren also raises another part of exit planning that can be easy to overlook: the physician’s personal financial plan. Waiting until a multimillion-dollar check has already arrived may limit some of the planning decisions that could have been considered before the sale. Thinking about taxes, charitable giving, what comes next, and what the money is ultimately meant to accomplish can begin well before the transaction closes.If you are a physician, medical device founder, or business owner considering an eventual exit, this conversation offers a look at how valuation, buyer selection, deal preparation, financial planning, and the goals of the seller can come together before a business is sold.Investment advisory services offered through Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, and Vestia Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. Securities offered through Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc., 5187 Utica Ridge Rd, Davenport, IA. 52807 (563)326‐2064. Member FINRA/SIPC. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, Vestia Advisors, LLC and Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. are independently owned and operated.This material should not be construed as legal or tax advice and is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor.

After 27 years in medicine, Dr. Shieva Ghofrany has a different view of her career than she did when she finished residency. One thing she knows for sure: she doesn’t want to retire in the traditional sense.In this episode of Doctors Eyes Only®, Vestia Partner and CEO Lauren Oschman talks with Dr. Shieva Ghofrany, a board-certified OB-GYN, about what she wishes she had known earlier in her career. They discuss private practice, physician finances, investing during residency, career decisions, the demands of practicing medicine, and how Dr. Shieva Ghofrany has changed the way she works over time.Dr. Shieva Ghofrany grew up as the daughter of two immigrant physicians from Iran, but becoming a physician wasn’t always the plan. She switched majors four times in college before eventually completing her pre-med requirements, attending medical school in Tel Aviv, and returning to the United States for residency.She went on to join an independent private practice with physicians she knew from residency. When Dr. Shieva Ghofrany thinks back to those early years, she remembers having a fairly traditional idea of what a physician career would look like: work, become a partner, contribute to a 401(k), save for her children’s college expenses, and eventually retire. As she tells Lauren, it wasn’t necessarily a plan she consciously chose. It was the default.Today, her career looks different. Dr. Shieva Ghofrany stepped away from full-time office gynecology while continuing to practice obstetrics with her private practice group. She also has a separate telehealth practice focused primarily on perimenopause and menopause. This arrangement allows her more time while continuing to practice medicine. That leads to an important part of Lauren and Dr. Shieva Ghofrany’s conversation: the relationship between financial decisions and career decisions for physicians.Dr. Shieva Ghofrany wishes she had understood more about investing earlier. During residency, no one explained to her that she could contribute to a 403(b). Looking back, she says she could have put away a small amount even on a resident’s salary. She also discusses financial concepts she learned later, including retirement accounts, 529 plans and considerations around 1099 income.Their conversation also turns to lifestyle decisions after residency. After years of delayed earnings, a new attending salary can make it tempting to quickly increase spending on a house, car and other expenses. Dr. Shieva Ghofrany refers to the potential result as “golden handcuffs,” when maintaining a lifestyle begins influencing how much a physician feels they need to work.Her point isn’t that physicians shouldn’t enjoy the money they earn. Dr. Shieva Ghofrany is clear that she does. Instead, she talks about the importance that financial flexibility has had as her own career and priorities have changed.There is also a personal side to the conversation. Dr. Shieva Ghofrany discusses pregnancy loss, challenges involving her children’s health, and being diagnosed with ovarian cancer in her forties. Those experiences changed the way she thinks about the familiar phrase “life is short.”Dr. Shieva Ghofrany’s reframe is: “Life is long.”Rather than seeing that as a reason to work less, Dr. Shieva Ghofrany began thinking more intentionally about how she wanted work to fit into her life. At 56, she doesn’t see herself at the end of her career. She wants to continue working, but she also wants to have more control over what that work looks like.For physicians at different stages of their careers, this episode is a conversation about what can change between finishing training and looking back decades later, and the things Dr. Shieva Ghofrany wishes she had understood sooner about medicine, money, work and time.Learn more about Dr. Shieva Ghofrany at drshievag.com, follow @drshievag on Instagram, or contact Dr. Shieva Ghofrany and her team at [email protected].

Click the link below to schedule your free 30 minute call!https://www.vestiaadvisors.com/contact/Cybersecurity is becoming an important part of physician financial planning as AI-driven scams, identity theft, and financial fraud continue to evolve. Protecting your financial accounts and personal information is part of protecting the wealth you’ve worked hard to build.In this episode of the Doctors Eyes Only® podcast, Lauren Oschman discusses why cybersecurity deserves a place in every physician’s financial plan. She explains how phishing attacks, password breaches, identity theft, fraudulent bank accounts, and AI-assisted scams can affect physicians. She also shares practical steps to strengthen your financial security, including using unique passwords, enabling multi-factor authentication, freezing your credit, and preventing unauthorized accounts from being opened in your name.Physicians spend years building wealth. Protecting it requires the same level of attention. Taking a few preventative steps can reduce risk and help protect your financial accounts, your credit, and your personal information over time.Investment advisory services offered through Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, and Vestia Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. Securities offered through Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc., 5187 Utica Ridge Rd, Davenport, IA. 52807 (563)326‐2064. Member FINRA/SIPC. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, Vestia Advisors, LLC and Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. are independently owned and operated.This material should not be construed as legal or tax advice and is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor.

Click the link below to schedule your free 30 minute call!https://www.vestiaadvisors.com/contact/Most physicians know to ask whether their estate will be subject to estate tax. What often gets less attention is what happens after assets are inherited.We’ve found that two physicians can inherit the same dollar amount from their parents and have very different tax outcomes. The difference usually isn’t how much they inherit. It’s the type of assets they receive.In this episode, Vestia Partner and CEO Lauren Oschman explores why inherited brokerage accounts, real estate, traditional IRAs, 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and Roth IRAs are each subject to different tax treatment. She also shares planning conversations that illustrate how inherited retirement accounts, the 10-year inherited IRA rules, and the step-up in basis can influence the taxes a family may pay over time.Many physicians are already in one of the highest income tax brackets by the time they inherit assets from their parents. If a significant portion of that inheritance consists of pre-tax retirement accounts, the tax implications may be very different than many families expect. We often find that parents and adult children are making financial decisions independently, without realizing how those decisions could affect the family’s overall tax picture across generations.Whether you’re beginning to think about an inheritance you may receive someday or you’re considering how your own assets may eventually pass to your children, this conversation explores how estate planning, tax planning, and multi-generational financial planning can create opportunities for more informed decision-making.Investment advisory services offered through Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, and Vestia Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. Securities offered through Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc., 5187 Utica Ridge Rd, Davenport, IA. 52807 (563)326‐2064. Member FINRA/SIPC. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, Vestia Advisors, LLC and Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. are independently owned and operated.This material should not be construed as legal or tax advice and is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor.