The Dentist Money™ Show Celebrates 300 Episodes – Episode 300

What has been your favorite episode? Find out if it was one of our most downloaded podcasts. In our first 299 shows, we’ve covered investing, debt, spending, taxes, and more. On this episode, Ryan and Matt look back at listener favorites and discuss why the topics of those top five shows still resonate with dentists.

 

 

---

 

Podcast Transcript

Ryan Isaac:
Hello Dentist Money Show listeners. Welcome to a special episode. This is episode number 300, 300 episodes of the mighty Dentist Money show. We are so grateful that you’ve joined us. If it’s your first time, if you’ve been here for all 300, shout-out to Reese Harper, who was number one through, I don’t know, 200 and something and the Hollywood Mountain, Matt Mulcock for stepping in after that for the last probably 100 episodes or so.

Ryan Isaac:
Shout-out to Dentist Advisors, no commission, fiduciary, comprehensive financial advisor just for dentists all over the country, dentistadvisors.com. We’re so grateful you’ve been with us. We’re so thankful for all the questions and the feedback. Just for tuning in and downloading us and listening to us and taking screenshots of your radio or your phone and sending them to us and say, “Hey, I’m listening to your crazy voice right now.”

Ryan Isaac:
We’d love you for it. Thank you so much. We’re very grateful for all the support over the years and we hope to keep doing it for many years to come. If you have any questions for us, go to dentistadvisors.com. Click the book free consultation link. Schedule a chat with one of our friendly dental specific advisors today. Today, on the show, Matt and I are just going to talk about the top five all-time episodes and what they mean to us, what they mean to you as listeners.

Ryan Isaac:
Thanks for being here. Thanks for tuning in. Enjoy the show.

Announcer:
Consultant advisor conduct your own due diligence when making financial decisions, general principles discussed during this program do not constitute personal advice. This program is furnished by Dentist Advisors, a registered investment advisor. This is Dentist Money. Now, here’s your host, Ryan Isaac.

Ryan Isaac:
Welcome to the Dentist Money Show where we help dentists make smart financial decisions, 300 glorious times, if I don’t say so myself. I am Ryan Isaac. I’m here with the Hollywood Mountain, Matt Mulcock, for number 300. What’s up, man?

Matt Mulcock:
Yo, Ryan. Three hundred, this is amazing.

Ryan Isaac:
This is episode number 300 of the Dentist Money Show. We have a cool show today. I think people used to do this on old talk shows and stuff. This was your life. Wasn’t that old thing? This was your life. What was that?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Maury Povich.

Ryan Isaac:
Was that Maury Povich?

Matt Mulcock:
I have no idea.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, was it?

Matt Mulcock:
But shout-out to Maury Povich. If you know who Maury Povich is, that means you grew up in the ’90s with us.

Ryan Isaac:
I do know. I swear there was some … that’s like, oh, it’s distant from my childhood. I can remember like, “And this was your life.” Then they show people like, “What was that?” Oh, my gosh, it’s going to drive me …

Matt Mulcock:
I have no idea. But you’re going to find it, I’m sure.

Ryan Isaac:
Someone’s going to know. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Producer Todd will know. He always knows the cool stuff that I’m vaguely familiar.

Matt Mulcock:
He’s our resident historian.

Ryan Isaac:
He knows everything.

Matt Mulcock:
Todd, every time I think of 300 and I think he might … I don’t know, you might make reference to this. But I just think of that movie 300.

Ryan Isaac:
I was going to start with that. I really tried hard to find a story to tie into financial advice for dentists it had to do with the movie 300. But it was really tough just because they all died.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
It didn’t work.

Matt Mulcock:
They were slaughtered.

Ryan Isaac:
It didn’t work. It was valiant.

Matt Mulcock:
They went down valiantly.

Ryan Isaac:
Dude, it was a brave effort. But they all died.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Wasn’t good. I try …

Matt Mulcock:
Was not good.

Ryan Isaac:
I more than just tried from the movie reference. I tried historical, all kinds … it didn’t work. I couldn’t [inaudible 00:03:28].

Matt Mulcock:
We just wanted to do some type of reenactment where Ryan was yelling, “This is Sparta” and then you kick me down the stairs, or something.

Ryan Isaac:
Just kick me somewhere. That’s awesome. Anyway, number 300. We do have a little special treat though. I’m not a technical wizard with this stuff. This might be clunky. But I actually have a clip from Reese Harper. I’ll just set it up here. If anyone’s joining us over the last few months, maybe last year, and all you know is the dear Hollywood Mountain sultry voice, you might …

Matt Mulcock:
Then I’m sorry. Then I say I’m sorry to you.

Ryan Isaac:
You might not know that the OG of the Dentist Money Show of Dentist Advisors itself, Mr. Reese Harper. We call him Big Hoss. He and I started the Dentist Money Show in 2016, I believe. Reese talked about doing a podcast for years. I’m just going to …

Matt Mulcock:
So ahead of his time.

Ryan Isaac:
I’m going to just admit this. I thought it was silly. I was like, “For what?” It was actually still at the time big to do financial radio shows. Reese’s brain lives 10 years in the future. If anyone knows him, you just know how true that is. Anyway, he talked about it for years. We launched it in 2016. I have to say, more than I could express. I’m just so grateful for everyone for tuning in and listening.

Ryan Isaac:
We’ve made so many cool friends. Just this week, random, too, I just moved. My youngest is in ortho. We got a referral from an ortho. We loved in Arizona. Can I name names? Shout out to Stuart Frost and team. My sister …

Matt Mulcock:
Sure. Yeah. Give him a shout-out.

Ryan Isaac:
I think he’s known nationally. It’s not a small personality. But we are like, “Oh, man.” Incredible office and we were just like, “Oh, where are we going to go?” We just went. We moved. We found another ortho team and they’re amazing here in Orange County. What I was going to say though is I was messaging them on Instagram, because they posted a picture of my wife and daughter coming in for the first time.

Ryan Isaac:
They had her name on a plaque and so amazing. Then he messages me back. He takes a screenshot of his radio driving into work. He says, “I’m listening to you right now.”

Matt Mulcock:
No way.

Ryan Isaac:
My first thought is, “Man, we got to get you some more interesting commute entertainment.” But …

Matt Mulcock:
That’s awesome, though. That’s pretty cool.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. It’s just so many cool friends, cool experiences, and just really grateful for all the people that have tuned in and listen and continue to listen. Anyway. Let’s go. Oh, I was just going to say Barkate Orthodontics. I think that’s what it’s called my new ortho. I just wanted to say “What’s up.”

Matt Mulcock:
Shout-out.

Ryan Isaac:
Because Dr. Barkate and I think it’s Nehi. My wife met them. They’re amazing. Anyway, I don’t know if I’m supposed to do this.

Matt Mulcock:
If you’re in Orange County, go check him out.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I don’t know if I’m supposed to do this, because a lot of cool people. That’s just where I went.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
He was listening to the show. It was cool. Anyway, I digress. Reese Harper, we started this 2016, didn’t think you would get at this point. Thank you for being along with us on this journey. I have a clip from Reese. I said, “Hey, episode 300, man. Can you just record a little clip, and tell everyone what’s up.” We’ll pause here. We’re going to roll the clip, and then we’ll be right back.

Reese Harper:
Excited for the 300th episode of the Dentist Money Show. She’s one of my favorite things I ever did was record all these great episodes with Ryan and have a few with Matt as well. I felt like this is a really good moment to celebrate and thankful for all of you listeners who’ve been supporting us over the years. Without you, we couldn’t do what we love. Thanks so much for tuning in each week and being a part of this. It’s been awesome. I look forward to the next 100.

Ryan Isaac:
Shout out to Reese Harper.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s good. Did Reese has just … He’s such a good …

Ryan Isaac:
Just love hearing his voice, man. It just so many good stories.

Matt Mulcock:
I love hearing his voice.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay. Episode 300, here’s what we did for you today. We couldn’t quite draw a parallel with the movie 300. Sorry. I really tried.

Matt Mulcock:
We tried.

Ryan Isaac:
We tried. It wasn’t good. What we did instead is we posted or we … Oh, we posted. We scanned all the data, the historical archives for the top episodes, the top downloaded episodes. The only caveat here is, of course, top downloads, they accumulate over time. The top ones are going to be older episodes. The ones over, say, the last 12 months, they’re still gaining some traction. We got some honorable mentions in those.

Ryan Isaac:
But I’m going to go through these. The top episodes, we boiled them down to the top 27. We’re not going through all those. But I took the top …

Matt Mulcock:
Buckle up everyone. We’re doing 27.

Ryan Isaac:
Twenty episodes as fast we can.

Matt Mulcock:
We found our 300 highlights. We’re going to hit one by one.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Two-hour episode today. I wanted to just read some data back from these because it was really interesting to see what people were most interested in. I’m just going to read you the top five episodes with the episode numbers and you can find these. If you go to dentistadvisors.com, you can just type in the episode number, it’ll pull right up, or any platform you listen this stuff on. Just scroll down and find the episode number.

Ryan Isaac:
Matt, actually, before I do this. Matt, any guesses as to … Did you see the data though?

Matt Mulcock:
I’d be cheating. I’d be cheating.

Ryan Isaac:
Oh, you saw the data. Okay. You saw the top categories that people were most interested in.

Matt Mulcock:
Yep.

Ryan Isaac:
But what would you have said if I said, “Hey. What do you think the most downloaded categories are that dentists want to hear about? What would you have said?”

Matt Mulcock:
I mean my guess would have been anything to do with investing, anything to do with real estate specifically. I would have guessed real estate was number one …

Ryan Isaac:
Number one?

Matt Mulcock:
… to be honest.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s what you would have said? Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Anything to do with real estate. Yep.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I think looking back, I probably would have said, yeah, I would have said real estate. I honestly thought … Well, this is giving away a little bit. I would have said that anything specifically around investments and investing.

Matt Mulcock:
Yep. Yep.

Ryan Isaac:
Would have been the thing, but anyway, well, let’s roll these out. I’m going to go number five [crosstalk 00:09:42].

Matt Mulcock:
You’re going top-down, yeah, five up. You’re going five up. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Is that how you do it when you got a list? You got to go bottom-up.

Matt Mulcock:
I think you do that. I think that’s you’re supposed to do. Yeah. Yeah. Bottom-up.

Ryan Isaac:
Top episode number five caveat here is, again, from the last 12 months. They’re not going to rank, just because they haven’t been around as long. Okay. But top downloaded episodes, number five. Episode number 202, Tax Saving Strategies for the New Tax Code.

Matt Mulcock:
That makes sense.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Tax is [crosstalk 00:10:12]. Yeah. Now, you would have thought taxes, just because it’s … I don’t know if I’ve ever met anyone who was ever satisfied with the answer like, “I think you’re doing all you can do on tax savings.”

Matt Mulcock:
Oh, no, no, no, no, that is like, faux pas. Can’t say that.

Ryan Isaac:
No.

Matt Mulcock:
There’s always more.

Ryan Isaac:
There’s always some big hidden thing that no one knows about yet. We got to find, which I totally understand. Episode 202, this was actually an interview Reese did with Morgan Hamon, CPA from HDA Accounting Group. Morgan’s been a guest to the show and webinars multiple times. Good friend of ours. What I’ve loved about some of the content … Maybe you can just pitch in here for your thoughts on some taxes.

Ryan Isaac:
Actually one of my favorite things that Morgan has done with us about taxes … If you guys want to check this out, there’s a webinar. Go to dentistadvisors.com one of the webinar series. I think it was December of … maybe it was in ’19.

Matt Mulcock:
I think it was.

Ryan Isaac:
Holy cow.

Matt Mulcock:
Which is crazy.

Ryan Isaac:
It was the end of ’19.

Matt Mulcock:
You could probably just search Morgan Hamon’s name.

Ryan Isaac:
Morgan Hamon, it’s a webinar. It was probably 2019, because it was the end of the year. But we talked about the most common, regular tax deductions that dentists are able to take from a CPA standpoint. What can you really do year-over-year proactively? Here’s what I want to say. I thought that was great content, because we dispelled a lot of myths in that webinar. Here’s what I want to say.

Ryan Isaac:
This isn’t mocking anybody. Okay. When people freak out about taxes, especially when they start achieving that level of success and income, they’re finally … They’ve been driving for them, and then they get the tax bill. It’s the most natural angering thing in the world to just be upset that’s so much has to go to taxes. You got left with the amount of money.

Ryan Isaac:
But here’s I want to say and we’ve said this so many times before. But I just want to reiterate this because I hear this on a monthly basis. I’m sure you do, too. There are proactive things you as a dentist, as an owner of a business can do proactively. You can purposefully do this year-over-year continually to lower your tax rate. One of the biggest ones you’ll ever be able to do is the retirement plan in your office.

Ryan Isaac:
That could be simple IRA, could be a 401(k). It could be a profit sharing plan or huge pension plan. We just barely did an episode on this on the Dentist Money Show on retirement plans. Check it out. It’s 297 or 298. Outside of that … Here’s what I’m going to say, controversially, that is probably the biggest …

Matt Mulcock:
Hot take.

Ryan Isaac:
… hot take. The retirement planning in your office is probably the biggest, ongoing proactive thing that you can purposely do to reduce your taxes as a dentist owner. Underneath that, you have a lot of little things that Morgan laid out and a lot of his content that an accountant can do with you, certain types of write-offs, certain kinds of expenses and deductions your business can meaningfully take that some aren’t doing.

Ryan Isaac:
I mean, there’s a lot of offices aren’t doing these things. Check out that webinar with Morgan. But after that, there’s not some hidden secret that only a CPA who wrote a book who’s selling out some conference in a hotel ballroom is only going to be able to tell you. Here’s even more hot take-ish. All right.

Ryan Isaac:
Aside from these things, and aside from buying something every once in a while, there are random huge deductions you’ll take as an owner when you buy something, you buy a building, you remodel your office, you buy equipment, you can take out 179 deduction. There’s some of those things. There are a few, or a cost segregation study on a building. It’s not something you’re doing every year.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s why I say it’s not proactive year-over-year, or something you can practically do. But these are these one off events, those are big, and they’re meaningful. You should take advantage of them when they make sense to your advisory team, your CPA team buying stuff and writing them off. That’s basically something you can do every once in a while.

Ryan Isaac:
Outside of those exists the world of bad investments for the sake …

Matt Mulcock:
Bad products.

Ryan Isaac:
… bad products, expensive investments that are not … you wouldn’t even want them unless they came with this totally sexy tax deduction along with them. I just want to say that so because every month we’re having conversations. I know why people are asking about this. I’m not mocking this. But there are proactive things you can do. There’s a bunch of little stuff you can do with your CPA. There’s a bunch of one-off, one-time random things when you buy big stuff in the practice.

Ryan Isaac:
But outside of that are this big world of mostly crappy investments that have a tax deduction that come along with it. Please just really deeply, deeply consider all of the factors in the big picture before you take the tax deduction at the expense of a really bad investment that you should not own and does not fit in your portfolio. I will end there, Matt, what do you want to say about this?

Matt Mulcock:
I mean, that was beautifully said. I totally agree. I think all humans that make any level of income hate taxes, at any level. We get it. I mean, I have clients all across the income spectrum. I mean, for the most part, the dental income spectrum. There’s a floor there. But I have clients that are in the very … strongly in the mid to high six figures. I have clients that are making seven figures.

Matt Mulcock:
All across the board, everyone hates taxes. We totally get it. Like you said, we should be trying to do everything we possibly can to avoid as much tax … the taxes as much as possible. Again, I’ve used the word avoid, very strategically not evade. There’s a huge difference between …

Ryan Isaac:
Good call. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
… tax avoid and tax evasion.

Ryan Isaac:
Legally avoid. Yes.

Matt Mulcock:
Yes. Legally avoid. Morgan Hamon has talked about this, and pretty much every episode or any joint show we ever done with him, he talks about that. You should be avoiding taxes as much as possible legally, not tax evasion. But because of this, everyone knows this that everyone hates taxes, everyone’s trying to avoid taxes. The more income you make, I think the more you’re trying to avoid them.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s very easily sold. It’s very easily sold tactic to say, “Oh, we’re going to do this to help you avoid taxes, or help you,” whatever. Just be careful. To your point, don’t let the tax tail wag the investment dog or the wealth creation dog. Sometimes we get distracted. Humans get distracted by what they think is the easy route, when they should be focused more on the simple and obvious route. Those two things are not the same.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I’m just glad you bring that up. One last thing I’ll say, I just, as you do too, Matt, all of our advisors have ongoing, constant conversations with business owners. I was just in a conversation this week with a friend, not a client, in the dental industry, business owner, very successful business, lots of revenue, very high income. I just feel bad because there’s this constant pressure to feel like there’s more you can do with tax strategy.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s the phrase that gets thrown around is tax strategy. What I witness is that there’s this chasing that never ends of trying to find the next CPA that somehow knows the strategy, or the next … someone you can bring in your business to tell you the hidden things you didn’t know about previously. It makes me feel bad. Because I’m like, “Man, there’s just better uses of your time.”

Ryan Isaac:
I hate saying, “You’ve done all you can, pay the taxes, move on, enjoy life, enjoy the business, keep growing.” But that’s sometimes the answer. Number four is Episode 206, 5 “Musts” Before Buying a Dental Practice. Again, this was another interview. We also noticed this that people just like hearing from other people in the industry besides us more than us.

Matt Mulcock:
Yep.

Ryan Isaac:
The interview’s [crosstalk 00:18:04].

Matt Mulcock:
People like other people more than they like us.

Ryan Isaac:
That is fair. It is totally fair. There’s a lot of great people to interview. This is with another CFP, who’s actually in the buyer side of dental practice transitions.

Matt Mulcock:
Our guy B. Hanks?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. What do you want to say about B. Hanks?

Matt Mulcock:
B. Hanks is awesome. Brian Hanks, if you don’t know him, check him out. Yeah. He specializes in helping dentists buy a practice. That’s like his …

Ryan Isaac:
That’s his main thing.

Matt Mulcock:
… his niche within a niche.

Ryan Isaac:
Yep.

Matt Mulcock:
Just he’s a buyer. I don’t know what he calls himself, a buyer’s consultant, buyer rep?

Ryan Isaac:
Yes. We’re probably butchering it. Brian, if you listen to this, I’m really sorry. I was going to say that Brian, he has a book out. He sent it to me. It’s sitting while I move. Actually, I don’t know where it’s …

Matt Mulcock:
He’s got two volumes. They’re great.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Go check him out, Brian Hanks. You can find him everywhere. Yeah. He’s got a book out. It’s a really easy read. He sent an email to me right before I moved. Then everything’s lost. I can’t even find my gym shoes, actually.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh, boy.

Ryan Isaac:
I’ve been going to the gym in my Vans boat shoes slip-ons.

Matt Mulcock:
Nice.

Ryan Isaac:
I look like this best … I’m such a dad, dude, just like growing up and still that guy. Anyway, Brian Hanks, five things before buying a practice. I mean, we know there’s a lot of listeners that are in that phase of career. What a huge decision. I mean, what a gigantic decision. That was episode number 206. Check that out. The next one, number 95. Oh, this is going back.

Ryan Isaac:
Number 95, we have … This is why dentists spend too much money.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh, baby. We’ve done a bunch on those since then.

Ryan Isaac:
I think that was … Yeah. It was clickbait. We delivered. I know we delivered on that episode. But this is another old one. I actually remember this one because we were in this phase for a little while. Shout-out to old producer named Jeff, where Jeff would help us stage funny pictures for the cover photo of the podcast. Do you remember this? We were recording for YouTube as well, which we probably should get back to doing.

Matt Mulcock:
We need to. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
But reason I … Somehow, I don’t even know where we got these. I mean, I know where they came from, but how they ended up here. We have two giant tubs of buttery popcorn and we’re both holding an icy slushy in our hands. It is 7:00 in the morning in our studio. I’m tossing a popcorn to Reese’s head. That’s what I’m doing in …

Matt Mulcock:
I got to go check out this picture.

Ryan Isaac:
Just look at it for the picture. This is why dentists spend too much money. What number one was this? This is number three.

Matt Mulcock:
Episode …

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Number 95 …

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Number 3, episode 95. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Matt, what do you want to say real quick about dentists and their spending and anything that … We have multiple episodes on this. There’s nothing quick about it. But what have you learned over the years about dentists and their spending?

Matt Mulcock:
Oh, man. Yeah. It’s what I was saying earlier. One of my overarching takeaways in doing this for as long as we have is what I was saying earlier of people are always looking for the easy thing and not be obvious and simple thing. This, to me, I think that defines spending. Meaning people are looking for the easy thing as in a tax saving strategy or an investment product that’s going to hit a homerun. Those are the easy.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s like they’re looking for the proverbial supplement. We always make this analogy to health and fitness. People are looking for that supplement that’s going to change their life. When really it’s just like, “Hey, eat better and work out.”

Ryan Isaac:
For a long time.

Matt Mulcock:
Spending to me is …

Ryan Isaac:
For a long time.

Matt Mulcock:
… for a long time.

Ryan Isaac:
Do it without seeing any results for months and months and months on end.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Exactly.

Ryan Isaac:
Do that.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s doing that for a long time is what’s really going to lead to success. Time is the secret there. But to me, I guess, I say all that to say that spending is the green veggies. It’s the vegetables of financial planning.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s so true.

Matt Mulcock:
It’s like, “Hey, we got to track your spending and look at you.” But it truly is probably the most important thing that you can keep an eye on and actually keep under control. When we talk about retirement readiness, it really is the number one factor that we’re thinking about, and that you should be thinking about.

Matt Mulcock:
The other thing we always joke about with spending is people come to us not for their own spending, but to blame their spouse. We joke about that a lot. But sometimes it really is the doctor …

Ryan Isaac:
It is.

Matt Mulcock:
… that is the problem. They just want to try to blame their spouse or someone else. Yeah. Spending is a big one. This is something that, again, like taxes, people don’t want to focus on what really matters all the time. I get it. I totally understand why. But it’s a super, it’s probably the most important topic, or I should say top three topics we talk about.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Matt, let me ask you a question. Have you learned anything about your own spending just as you’ve grown in your career, your family’s grown, you bought a house years back?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Any lessons you’ve learned on your own spending that are you’re seeing reflected in your client experience?

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah, man, totally. A couple of things, I would say that in my own life, and what I’m trying to impart on my clients as well. This is why this job is so great for many reasons. But it always comes full circle to our own life. But when it comes to spending, a couple of things, number one, communication with your spouse is probably the most important factor here.

Matt Mulcock:
There doesn’t have to be any … I’m not even talking about some structure of communication, or even some cadence of communication. I’m just saying you’ve got to talk to your spouse and be on the same page on a regular basis when it comes to spending. That is number one.

Ryan Isaac:
Which is like a whole episode we still need to do. We’ve been talking about for months is how to get a spouse or a partner on the same page, talking about your planning and your spending and your investing and your financial goals in general. Tough sometimes.

Matt Mulcock:
I’ve realized when it comes to that, it’s really hard. It’s hard. It’s hard for my clients. I bring this up to my clients all the time. For example, I’ll say, I’ll give one of my clients a homework assignment. I’ll be, “Okay. For this month, you guys have to have at least one 10-minute conversation.” This is just an example. “Over the next month we’re going to meet again.”

Matt Mulcock:
A lot of times they don’t do it. I’ll ask them why. It simply just comes down to like, “It’s just really hard. Money is such a hot topic issue.” In particular, spending, it’s so emotional. I admit. My wife and I, she hates it. I bring it up all the time because this is what I do. Sometimes I will admit, it gets emotionally charged. It’s a very emotional thing. Number one, communication.

Matt Mulcock:
Number two, I think people when we talk about spending, the one thing I’ve really realized when it comes to spending is it’s not about budgeting. It’s not about looking at individual categories. What it really comes down to is spent really … again, communicating with your spouse, figuring out what truly brings joy. What spending actually brings joy to your life? Then cut out the rest.

Matt Mulcock:
This is a shout-out to Ramit Sethi. He wrote a book called, I’ll Teach You to Be Rich. He’s a really big personality in the financial industry. Fantastic. But he talks about this. Focus on the things that actually bring you joy. Don’t cut those things out. It’s about cutting out the mindless things, the things that at the end of the month, you look back and you’re like, “Why did we even do that? I don’t even remember.”

Matt Mulcock:
It’s the things that you can cut out. Everyone has this. The things that you can cut out and it would not impact your life even a little bit. It’s the mindless spending.

Ryan Isaac:
Spending it’s such the brute focus, just takes the blunt end of all of the attacks on our finances, because it just feels like the most obvious thing we have control over. The truth is that most of us are just going to … our lifestyles are just going to grow, as our families get older. As we earn more money, we will spend more money. All of us do it.

Matt Mulcock:
We should.

Ryan Isaac:
We probably should to some point.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
I mean, that’s the whole balance over burnout. You’re always saying because, I mean, why else? Maybe this is a hot take. But I don’t think I’m doing this just so that I can live well and chase my favorite hobbies and dreams when I’m 70.

Matt Mulcock:
Nope. No way.

Ryan Isaac:
At this point, 75 when I actually stopped working.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Eighty-five …

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Somewhere in that …

Matt Mulcock:
Somewhere in that range. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
But it has to mean something for today. It has to, because we don’t know what the future holds. We don’t know if we’ll have the health to enjoy our wealth later in the future. I mean, I don’t know, man. I’ve just learned a lot about that, too. But it is a balance, because you can get over your head really quickly. You can get over your eyeballs in debt, monthly payments, and spending.

Ryan Isaac:
What we do know statistically and anecdotally from working with people in our own lives, once you start … I mean, we’re just used to spending levels. They are not easy to take back. It is not easy to just …

Matt Mulcock:
You’re not shoving that toothpaste back in the tube.

Ryan Isaac:
No. I’m not talking about a little Netflix here and there, or a few hundred bucks here and there, a slightly cheaper car that went from an $800 payment to a $400 payment or $500 or $600. We’re talking cutting thousands out of your budget. It just gets … It’s baked in.

Matt Mulcock:
Hey, Ryan, tell me what happens during our consultation?

Ryan Isaac:
It’s great question, Matt. The first thing we’d like to do is just get to know more about you and your practice. What are your career goals? What are you doing in your practice, in your business? What kind of big decisions are you making in your personal financial life? Then we talk about how hiring a comprehensive fiduciary, dental specific financial advisor can help you make better financial decisions in your future, help you grow your net worth, get more organized, and get more peace of mind around your financial situation.

Matt Mulcock:
I mean, you’re telling me it’s that easy and painless?

Ryan Isaac:
I am telling you it is that easy and totally painless. Exactly, Matt, just go to dentistadvisors.com. Click the book free consultation button. Do it right now. Talk to a friendly advisor today. Number two, episode 188 was an interview I did with the Weston Lunsford of Dental Intelligence, Dental Intel.

Matt Mulcock:
Good old Dental Intel.

Ryan Isaac:
DI as we all know and love them, and everyone knows Dental Intel. This is …

Matt Mulcock:
Fellow Utah company.

Ryan Isaac:
Yes. Yeah. If there is a tech company in the dental space, they’re in Utah, 95% …

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. For sure. Honestly, they’re all out of Utah.

Ryan Isaac:
Tech company in dental space, they’re in Utah. Weston was on the show. I remember doing this actually and Facetiming or Zooming with him. It was really cool. I hadn’t seen him in a while. We met Weston. Recent I did when Weston was part of a CPA firm. I think they were Weston, Peck, something. They were CPA firm in Utah. That’s how they got to know dentist so well. They did some consulting and then they just had the idea. They built Dental Intel.

Ryan Isaac:
But we knew them before that. It’s cool to catch up with him. This episode is called How Practice Analytics are Changing the Game. This just goes hand-in-hand with what I was barely saying. One of the best ways to combat a growing spending number is just to earn more money.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Keep spending the same. Don’t let your spending come up at the same pace.

Ryan Isaac:
You had to limit at some point.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Find your stride at some point and just cruise there for a little bit. Put it on cruise control. But, I mean, I don’t think there’s anything more important to invest in. I was just on a long conversation with a client yesterday, talking about all the different places you can invest money as a dentist, especially … There’s a temptation with some dentists that start making a lot of money and having quite a bit left over every month to just look at the world and be like, “Man, I feel like there’s thousands of places I can invest money.”

Ryan Isaac:
You just feel you’re really excited. You’re like, “Where should I invest money? What should we be doing?” You can get in this trap of constantly … It’s like the tax thing. Constantly chasing like, “Well, what else is there and what’s better and what’s bigger and what’s faster.” I just don’t think that there’s anything worth your money or your time until it is fully maximized, like your dental practice.

Ryan Isaac:
Because it’s the thing … Your background is in it, your education is in it, you spend all week in it, you have full control over it. You know it. It’s funny, because I was talking this client yesterday. This is a really common sentiment. He made a comment about how easy it was. This is a person doing multiple, multiple millions out of two locations in a specialty.

Matt Mulcock:
Those people out there right now just seething with anger like you just said.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. I mean, he’s got a lot of people on his team, a huge budget, a giant operation. He was like, “Yeah. It’s just so easy.” We stopped there. I said, “Hey, just realize that what you’re doing is not actually easy. You’re just used to the pain, and you’ve honed your skill set for so long that you just show up every Monday morning, and you open up shop, and you just go through the motions. It feels easy.”

Ryan Isaac:
“But really, you’re running a private business that could collapse at any moment with tons of team and people are the hardest thing to ever deal with. You have a hundred different things to deal with, besides being a clinician. This is multiple, multiple millions revenue business. There’s nothing easy or nothing low risk about it, other than the fact that you’re used to the pain.”

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Have you any runner friends, Matt, who … They’ll go run 50 miles and they’ll be like, “Yeah. I just did like an easy 27 miler this morning.” You’re like, “What?”

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Yeah. Yes. I just ran a marathon on a Monday morning. No big deal.

Ryan Isaac:
Just for a little practice. You’re like …

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. I don’t understand those cycles.

Ryan Isaac:
You’re just used to the pain. That’s all. There’s nothing easy about it. You’re going to say something. I cut you off. I’ll just …

Matt Mulcock:
Well, no. I was going to ask. How far in is he like several years, even decades?

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Few years. Not that long.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay.

Ryan Isaac:
Not that long. Just to wrap this up, I just thought … The point his trying to make was investing in your dental practice, which is what Weston I talked about, and some of the tools out there to help you do that. I just don’t think there’s a better place. There’s nothing worth chasing until that thing is absolutely maximized. Don’t forget how big of a piece of your balance sheet it really is.

Ryan Isaac:
Don’t take for granted that you already invest very heavily into a private business with high risk and high return. You already do as an owner. Don’t take that for granted and think, “Yeah. I’m bored. It’s easy. I’ve already figured this out. What else is there? What can I chase? What’s harder? What’s more complex?” There’s nothing better for you to put your resources into than your own [crosstalk 00:32:36].

Matt Mulcock:
That’s such a good point, because that happens all the time. It’s like you got to recenter your mind. We do this all the time. People get to recenter your focus and your mindset as to what that business actually is. You are investing in, like you said, a private business. You are concentrated in a private business that is going to be in our opinion, and in our experience over the course of your 20, 30 year career, it is by far going to be the greatest ROI, return on your investment.

Ryan Isaac:
Name a better investment that you have more control over, more transparency, and more expertise in that your money is more worthwhile. Besides when we say that, I just mean, now along the way, dump your money into other investments that don’t require the same amount of involvement and time and expertise that you can outsource to other people. People outsource to us to manage their investment portfolios, and we build low cost diversified portfolios and good savings rates, and we hold them for decades.

Ryan Isaac:
We can be in charge of that while you run the hard thing. You can build a real estate portfolio while … A little bit more involved maybe. But I mean, we probably said it enough. The practice is just … It needs all your time and attention and resources. No question.

Matt Mulcock:
Well, last thing I’ll say just really quick right on that point. It’s such a good point of finding that balance of being diversified in a globally diversified portfolio while being really concentrated in your business, in your skill set. This reminds me of a quote … I’m going to paraphrase it. But basically the key to investing is being diversified enough to not blow up, but being concentrated enough to matter.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah. Geez.

Matt Mulcock:
I think that was from James Clear, I think. But the whole point of that is finding this balance between … there’s this idea out there, a certain faction of people out there in the financial industry that talk about diversification being overrated. The real way to build wealth is being concentrated. Like Mark Cuban, multibillionaire is one that has been very, very loud on this. Like “Diversification is for losers” kind of thing.

Ryan Isaac:
Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
Which is ridiculous. But to his point, what he is saying is to truly build true wealth, you have to be concentrated. He did it through businesses, obviously. I think dentists forget that point. Forget that idea that they are concentrated.

Ryan Isaac:
Already.

Matt Mulcock:
They do have that wealth building power that the average person doesn’t have.

Ryan Isaac:
Heavily. Yeah.

Matt Mulcock:
Heavily in a space that the average person just can’t jump in.

Ryan Isaac:
You just don’t. Don’t do.

Matt Mulcock:
Finding that balance of being diversified enough to not blow up in the financial markets, but concentrated enough to matter, which is in your business is the key to a dentist’s success.

Ryan Isaac:
That’s cool. I love that. Number one, episode 181 called How to Solve Your Student Debt Dilemma, which I know why that was number one.

Matt Mulcock:
Oh, yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Surprising though, that was with Travis Hornsby. Reese Harper, Travis Hornsby at the student loan planner. Travis is a really smart guy.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Shout-out to Travis. He does good work.

Ryan Isaac:
He does.

Matt Mulcock:
He really does.

Ryan Isaac:
He’s really smart. Walked through his business and the things that they’re seeing in the trends in the industry on how to be strategic about student loan debt and what to do? It may be is the most frequently asked question we get from a new dentist is what do I do with my student loans, should I pay them off? That is like it’s …

Matt Mulcock:
It’s interesting that those questions have fallen off this year, or since COVID hit because the government put a stop or put a freeze on the student loan. They’ve actually fallen off. But starting this month … No, sorry, they’ve delayed it. January of 2022, they’re going to pick back up again. It is interesting that a lot of those questions, I think people have just been like, “Ah, whatever. I’m not going to worry about it right now.”

Ryan Isaac:
You’re right. Yeah. I haven’t really heard like, “Should I pay off my student loan in quite a while because no one’s paying them?”

Matt Mulcock:
Yep, exactly. But I would say be careful, because you need to be factoring … Like you were just saying earlier with the spending. The fear that I have here is that people that payment has gone away, or people aren’t thinking about it, and their lifestyle has readjusted, and they’ve adapted to that. All of a sudden, that’s going to be a nice kick in the face, or an old punch in the gut, one of the two.

Ryan Isaac:
Or both. Maybe it’s a punch and kick from an MMA expert.

Matt Mulcock:
Maybe both, maybe you’re going to get punched in the gut. Exactly.

Ryan Isaac:
Conor McGregor coming at you.

Matt Mulcock:
You’re going to punch in the gut.

Ryan Isaac:
Yep.

Matt Mulcock:
You’re going to bend over, and then you get kicked in the face by this new payment.

Ryan Isaac:
Yes. Thank you for finishing that analogy that way. Yeah. Those were the top five. Here’s some stats to think about. This is what was surprising to me, ask you in the beginning. This was from all the 27 top episodes of all-time. The number one category, this was 40% of these top episodes, top 27, 40% of them were related to the practice. It shows me that …

Matt Mulcock:
That makes sense.

Ryan Isaac:
… it makes sense and it should be. Honestly, it should be. I mean, we’ve gone over this enough today. But …

Matt Mulcock:
I actually like hearing that. That’s actually really good.

Ryan Isaac:
Yeah, 40%, almost 41% were topics related to the practice in some way. Again, that’s 40% of your attention should probably be in the practice. That’s probably right on scale. Number two came in at 23%, around general planning. I categorize it as just general wealth building, financial advice organization, which is cool.

Ryan Isaac:
Between the practice and getting just advice on building your wealth and staying organized and getting good advice, that’s two-thirds of listener attention. Most popular episodes, two-thirds.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
Which I think is totally appropriate, because when your practice is healthy, and you’ve got a good plan, you’re well-organized, you have good advice, that’s got to be two-thirds of your whole life, because everything else is just logistics after that.

Matt Mulcock:
Details after that.

Ryan Isaac:
It is details after that. Then there was a bunch of ties for real estate investing, spending, funny enough, in taxes. Funny enough, debt was the smallest category in these top 27 episodes.

Matt Mulcock:
I know. I was shocked when you posted that.

Ryan Isaac:
Four percent.

Matt Mulcock:
I was very surprised.

Ryan Isaac:
It’s really weird. Anyway, this was cool to go through. I think we need to do … Okay. Here’s what we need to do. Marketing, I’m sorry, if this caused an issue. Go to the dentist …

Matt Mulcock:
They’ll just cut it if it is.

Ryan Isaac:
Just cut it if it is. Got to …

Matt Mulcock:
This is why they won’t let us go live very often. Because …

Ryan Isaac:
We make promises that …

Matt Mulcock:
You just throw crap out.

Ryan Isaac:
We make promises to deliver T-shirts at a rate that our company can’t deliver, because we’re not a T-shirt company.

Matt Mulcock:
But we want to be. We’re going to keep pushing that.

Ryan Isaac:
Go to the Dentist Advisors discussion group. I have no way to prove this. You could lie. But just don’t lie. Go to the Dentist Advisors discussion group on Facebook and tell us if you have listened to all 300 episodes, from 1 to 300. There’s going to be more than one person doing this. I guess if there is only one, you win.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. You get multiple T-shirts, for the whole family.

Ryan Isaac:
But if there’s multiple people, we are going to … I’ll just put you in a little raffle, a little raffle and we’ll send you a little swag package. If you’ve listened 1 to 300 … Okay, I want you to go to Dentist Advisors discussion group on Facebook. Just tell us you’ve listened to all the episodes that have ever been out and tell us a memorable one, whether it’s an actual topic, an episode, a story, a joke, a cringe moment, something you disagreed with heavily, something you hate us for.

Ryan Isaac:
I don’t care. Just tell us that you’ve listened …

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. Something you hate us for.

Ryan Isaac:
… just go there, tells us if you’ve listened to all the episodes so far and then tell something you remember and we’ll send you some swag.

Matt Mulcock:
Okay. Here’s the deal. I’m going to up the ante here.

Ryan Isaac:
Crap. Okay.

Matt Mulcock:
I’m going to up the ante and our marketing team’s going to be so mad at me for this. Again, they might cut this whole thing.

Ryan Isaac:
… we’re doing?

Matt Mulcock:
Go on there. You got to say you’ve listened to all 300 episodes and you got to give us highlights, lowlights, whatever, do what you just said. You will be put into a raffle to win not just DA swag, you’re going to win new AirPod, the AirPod Pros.

Ryan Isaac:
The AirPod Pro raffle price. Okay. DA swag and AirPod Pros. Again, if you’re listening to this four years in the future, this probably isn’t going on anymore.

Matt Mulcock:
Don’t do this. Yeah.

Ryan Isaac:
But if you’re listening to this as it comes out in 2021 …

Matt Mulcock:
Again, be honest. You’ve had to listen to all 300.

Ryan Isaac:
I like it. Okay. If you listen Dentist Advisor discussion group, and get some swag and enter to win some Air Pod Pros, solid. While you’re there, if you have any suggestions for us on what you’d like to hear on the show, we love that, especially if it’s a super detailed question. It doesn’t have to be a big high level topic, a really specific question.

Ryan Isaac:
If it’s personal, and you want to be totally anonymous, we’ll keep it that way, for sure. Even if you post publicly in that group, it will reference it anonymously. But just shoot us a message privately, email me ryan@dentistadvisors.com or DM me somewhere on any social and tell us the specific question you want us to cover on the show. We’ll totally do it. We love delivering the stuff that’s on your mind.

Matt Mulcock:
If you post a question, you might also get some swags [crosstalk 00:41:50] a raffle style. That’s just you post a question. We’ll send you some stuff.

Ryan Isaac:
Hey, guys, thanks for being here, episode 300. I’m super grateful. I’m grateful. Matt’s here. I’m grateful for Reese and the time he spent, just saying his name.

Matt Mulcock:
Yeah. This has been so great.

Ryan Isaac:
Smile on my face. Thanks for joining us and listening. If you have any questions you just want to directly chat with us go to dentistadvisors.com. Click on the book free consultation link. We’d love to have a chat with you. Thanks again everyone. We’ll catch you next time. Take care.

 

Tracking Progress