20/20 MONEY: The Business of Optometry

The most expensive mistake in your practice might be solving a problem you never proved existed.   Dr. Jen Stewart joins me back on the show for a conversation about making better decisions before writing the check. Inspired by Jim Collins' concept of "firing bullets, then cannonballs," we explore why practice owners should test assumptions, gather evidence, and understand what success actually looks like before committing significant money or resources to a decision.   One idea kept resurfacing throughout our conversation: more isn't better; better is better.   Before you hire another employee, buy another piece of equipment, or sign a lease on more space, ask yourself: What am I solving for? In service of what? At the cost of what? And perhaps most importantly: What would it take to get a better result with what I already have?   NBS (Next Best Step): Identify one "cannonball" you're currently considering in your practice. Before committing to it, write down the problem you believe it solves and identify one or two smaller, lower-cost experiments you can run to prove the problem—and the solution—before writing the check.   Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here!   Resources: 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry Episode: Optical Isn't Dead, but The Way You Are Running It Is with Dr. Jennifer Stewart 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry Episode: Edging In-House vs Outsourcing: The Economics, Trade-Offs, and Data An Optometric Practice Needs to Measure with Drs. Jennifer Stewart, OD & Sam Hornberger, OD 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry Episode: Why some dry eye practices thrive-and others quietly fail with Dr. Chris Wolfe 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry Episode: Improving your practice by tracking the right KPIs (and ignoring the wrong ones) with Nathan Hayes 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry Episode: Why focusing on "profit" in your optometry practice might not be the most effective owner metric to measure (and which ones you SHOULD focus on) with Nathan Hayes of Books & Benchmarks 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry Episode: Making sense of your practice financials (profit/loss, balance sheet, and cash flow statement) with Nathan Hayes of IDOC Book a Triage call with Adam Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's new book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice     ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!   Check out Adam's other podcast! The Optometry Success Podcast  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/4tttng6 Subscribe on Spotify: https://bit.ly/4tuf0YM 

The investments you own may be perfectly reasonable—and still be completely wrong for you.   In this episode of 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry, I'm joined again by Peter Lazaroff, Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp and author of The Perfect Portfolio: A Proven Guide to Smart Investing for Long-Term Success, for a conversation about what actually makes an investment portfolio "perfect."   We discuss why portfolio construction has to begin with the investor rather than the investments, why simplicity is valuable but shouldn't become an ideology, and how to evaluate whether added complexity is actually solving an important problem. Peter shares a four-question framework for evaluating new investments, explains the difference between owning an index and following an indexing philosophy, and walks through why rules-based investing can look very different from simply buying an S&P 500 fund or target-date fund.   We also revisit direct indexing and the role tax-loss harvesting can play for business owners, particularly those who may eventually realize a significant capital gain from the sale of their practice. From there, we explore stocks versus bonds, the different ways investors should think about risk, and why reducing short-term volatility can sometimes introduce a different kind of long-term risk.   Most importantly for optometric practice owners, we discuss why your investment portfolio cannot be evaluated in isolation. Your practice is an asset on your personal balance sheet. Its cash flow, value, concentration risk, liquidity, insurance needs, and eventual sale should all influence how you think about the rest of your wealth.   Peter's central point throughout the conversation is a useful one: there may not be a universally perfect portfolio, but there can be a portfolio that is appropriate for you, your goals, your behavior, and the entirety of your financial life.   NBS (Next Best Step): Look beyond your brokerage and retirement accounts and create a complete picture of your personal balance sheet. Include the value of your practice, cash, real estate, retirement accounts, taxable investments, and other meaningful assets. Then ask yourself whether those pieces are working together intentionally—or whether you've been making investment decisions one account at a time.   Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here!   Resources: Book a Triage call with Adam Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice   ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!   Check out Adam's other podcast! The Optometry Success Podcast  Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://bit.ly/4tttng6 Subscribe on Spotify: https://bit.ly/4tuf0YM 

You may feel diversified while quietly becoming more dependent on the exact same sources of wealth. In this episode of 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry, I explore concentration risk from two angles that practice owners often don't connect: what's happening inside an investment portfolio and what's happening on their personal balance sheet as their practice becomes more valuable. We start with the S&P 500. Because the index is market-cap weighted, the companies that perform best naturally become larger portions of the index. Today, the largest companies represent a significantly greater share of the S&P 500 than they have historically. That doesn't make the S&P 500 a bad investment, but it does challenge the idea that simply owning VOO means you've built a complete, diversified portfolio. "VOO and chill" is an implementation strategy. It isn't an investment philosophy. The same phenomenon can happen with a successful optometry practice. You may never intentionally decide to put the majority of your net worth into one business. You simply grow a great practice. But over time, your income, distributions, enterprise value, and perhaps even your real estate can all become dependent on the same economic engine. Having a high net worth isn't necessarily the same thing as having diversified wealth. The solution isn't to stop growing the practice or abandon the S&P 500. It's to broaden the sources of your wealth. That means consistently harvesting excess cash flow from the practice and investing it outside the business while building a portfolio that captures more than just one segment of the market. We also discuss why this matters enormously when it comes time to sell your practice. The more financial independence you've created outside of the business, the less dependent you become on receiving a specific number or specific terms from the eventual sale—and the more optionality you have when navigating that transition. The Next Best Step: look underneath both sides of your balance sheet. Ask yourself how diversified your investment portfolio really is, what percentage of your family's net worth depends on the success of your practice, and whether you're intentionally becoming more diversified over time—or simply becoming more concentrated in whatever has worked recently.   Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here!   Resources: Podcast: Are you building wealth, or just feeding the machine Book a Triage call with Adam Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice   ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!  

What if one of the most familiar parts of your optometry practice is also one of the things most overdue for a rethink?   This week's episode of 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry is a little different. After a few updates on what's ahead for the podcast—including upcoming guests, a potential optometry-owner ski meetup at Copper Mountain before IDOC Connection 2027, and an opening in the OD Masterminds Founders Club—I'm sharing an episode from another project that some listeners may not yet have discovered: The Optometry Success Podcast.   The Optometry Success Podcast is the show I co-host with Dr. Chad Fleming, partner at Wichita Optometry. Each week, we combine my perspective from working with optometric practice owners across the country with Chad's boots-on-the-ground experience as a practicing OD, owner, and operator. The goal is simple: short, actionable conversations about ideas you can actually implement to build a more successful practice.   And today's conversation is a great example.   We tackle a deceptively simple question: Does an optometry practice even need a traditional front desk anymore?   As technology changes the way patients schedule, check in, communicate, complete paperwork, and interact with your team, it's worth questioning whether the front desk should continue functioning the way it always has—or whether those valuable team members and payroll dollars could be deployed differently.   This conversation is also timely because a follow-up to this discussion is coming Wednesday on The Optometry Success Podcast. If you enjoy today's episode, subscribe there as well so you can catch part two.   Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here!   Calls to Action: Interested in the OD Ski Trip? Message us!! Learn more about OD Masterminds The Optometry Success Podcast   Resources: Book a Triage call with Adam Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice   ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!  

If your practice has been using the same retirement plan for years simply because "it works," you may be leaving valuable planning opportunities on the table.   On this episode of 20/20 Money: The Business of Optometry, I'm joined by Jared Porter, co-founder of 401GO, for a practical conversation about how much the qualified retirement plan landscape has changed—and why optometric practice owners should periodically reevaluate whether their current plan still fits their business. We discuss why SIMPLE IRAs may no longer be as "simple" or advantageous as many owners assume, how technology has reduced much of the administrative burden historically associated with 401(k) plans, and why payroll integration should be one of the most important considerations when evaluating a provider. We also unpack some of the planning opportunities created by recent retirement-plan legislation, including startup and auto-enrollment tax credits, increased contribution opportunities, plan-design flexibility, and the ability to use profit-sharing contributions as part of a broader tax and cash-flow strategy. Jared and I also dig into an increasingly popular strategy: the mega backdoor Roth. While it can be valuable in the right circumstances, we explain why after-tax contributions aren't automatically available—or advantageous—for every practice owner and how required nondiscrimination testing can quickly change the math. This episode isn't about convincing every practice owner that they need a 401(k). It's about understanding the options available today so you can make an educated and informed decision about whether your current retirement plan is still the right tool for your practice, your employees, and your own financial independence.   Some of the topics we cover include: Why SIMPLE IRAs can become limiting as a practice grows How modern 401(k)s differ from the plans many owners remember from years ago Payroll integration and what "360-degree integration" actually means Auto-enrollment requirements and recent retirement-plan legislation Tax credits that may offset the cost of establishing and operating a plan Matching versus safe-harbor non-elective contributions Using profit sharing as part of a practice owner's tax strategy Why plan design should begin with the end in mind Roth 401(k)s, after-tax contributions, and the mega backdoor Roth The testing requirements that can derail an after-tax contribution strategy   NBS (Next Best Step): Pull out the details of your current retirement plan and ask your advisor to evaluate it based on today's rules—not the assumptions that were true when the plan was originally established. Specifically, review your contribution limits, employer contribution structure, payroll integration, investment flexibility, administrative costs, available tax credits, and whether profit sharing could improve your overall tax and retirement strategy.   Have a podcast-related question? Contact our team here!   Resources: 401GO Link: 5 reasons why I hate the SIMPLE IRA Book a Triage call with Adam Download the Practice Owner's Financial Toolkit 20/20 Money Ultimate Financial Success Masterclass OD Mastermind Interest Form Check out Adam's book: How to Buy an Optometry Practice   ————————————————————————————— Please rate and subscribe to 20/20 Money on these platforms Apple Podcasts Spotify ————————————————————————————— For past episodes of 20/20 Money with full companion show notes, please check out our episode archive here!