Elements® Comprehensive Financial Planning for Dentists

The Elements Financial Planning System™, originally developed by Dentist Advisors, is a proactive treatment plan for your financial health. Our advisors use Elements to monitor your key financial indicators, benchmark your performance against other dentists, and optimize each moving part of your wealth strategy.

Book free Consultation

Explore the Elements®

To learn how the Elements® function, click on one of the four main questions answered by the table or select an individual block for further explanation.

How our advisors use Elements®

Organize

Elements takes hundreds of financial jobs to be done and simplifies them into 12 main categories which our team uses to make sure all the accounts, data, and documents related to your financial plan are accurate, up to date, and easily accessible.

Analyze

With a clear picture of your income, personal spending, practice profitability, savings, debt, insurance, assets, and so on, our advisors can turn your various financial inputs into quantifiable scores that provide an objective diagnosis of your financial health.

Decide

Your Elements scores will highlight gaps and opportunities in your plan, and give our advisors the ability prioritize adjustments that will help you:

  • Maintain the right mix of assets
  • Optimize your cash flow
  • Take the proper amount of risk
  • Build enough wealth for retirement

Act

A list of action items will be documented and used by our advisors to:

  • Explain your next steps
  • Delegate assignments to our internal team
  • Facilitate conversations with your other service professionals
  • Introduce you to our approved industry partners

How does your performance compare?

See how your performance compares to hundreds of other dentists. Take our Elements® benchmark survey to receive your free report.

Take Free Benchmark Survey

Elements® Related Resources

Explore educational content related to each Element in our periodic table of financial indicators

Why Dentists Retire 6 Years Later Than the Average American – Episode 80

How is it possible that the average dentists retires later than the average American? Income can’t be the reason —...

How to Make Your Money Last Longer During Retirement – Episode 65

Saving is only one part of the retirement equation. Whether you’ve already reached the end of your career, or are...

How Successful Dentists Track Financial Progress – Episode 64

Do you know your net worth? Not just an estimate, but the actual amount? And do you know what it...

3 Routines that Make Dentists Millions – Episode 21

Famous economist, Josiah Stamp said, “It is easy to dodge our responsibilities, but we cannot dodge the consequences of dodging...

How Do Your Finances Compare to Other Dentists? – Episode 14

As a dentist, you might have a general sense of your financial situation based on your collections, income, and retirement...

How Much Money Do Dentists Need to Retire?

It’s an important question for any dentist—and the answer is different for every dentist. Here’s how to set a target...

Predict Your Retirement With 2 Minutes of Math

How do you know when you’ll be ready to retire? Watch this short video to learn how some simple math...

It’s Time to Buy a Practice Space. Or is it?

How do you know whether to buy or lease your practice space? It’s one of the most important decisions you’ll...

Are You Worth as Much as You Thought?

Are you measuring your wealth the right way? You could be looking at the wrong number. Watch this short video...

Where’s All Your Money Going?

Tracking spending is an essential activity for good personal financial planning. Here’s why it is so important that it gets...

Er [Equity Rate]

Helps us determine whether the client will experience too much volatility risk for their personal level of spending and age.

EQUITY INVESTMENTS


TOTAL INVESTMENTS

Podcast Icon

Podcast
Six Keys to Powerful Investment Portfolios – Episode 55

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Er (Equity Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Pr [Profitability Rate]

Measures how much money the practice owner keeps as a percentage of collections. This serves as an important indicator of business efficiency.

TOTAL PRACTICE-
RELATED INCOME


TOTAL COLLECTIONS

Podcast Icon

Podcast
Dentist Money: The Profitability Killer – Episode 8

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Pr (Profitability Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Ir [Insurance Rate]

Measures how much insurance a person has compared to how much they need based on annual spending and net worth. Coverage is evaluated for the following types of insurance: life, general disability, business overhead disability, buy-sell, key person, personal liability, and business liability.

INSURANCE
COVERAGE HELD


INSURANCE
COVERAGE REQUIRED

Podcast Icon

Podcast
How to Bullet Proof Yourself Against Litigation – Episode 18

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Ir (Insurance Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Sr [Savings Rate]

Indicates how much of a person’s income is being put away for future expenses, emergencies, and retirement.

ANNUAL SAVINGS


TOTAL
PERSONAL INCOME

Podcast Icon

Podcast
The Hidden Costs that Delay a Dentist’s Retirement – Episode 61

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Sr (Savings Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Br [Burn Rate]

Helps us understand a client’s spending patterns and retirement preparedness.

ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING


TOTAL PERSONAL
INCOME

Podcast Icon

Podcast
This is Why Dentists Spend Too Much Money – Episode 95

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Br (Burn Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Dr [Debt Rate]

Indicates whether a person is servicing too much or too little debt for their individual circumstances.

ANNUAL DEBT
PAYMENTS


TOTAL PERSONAL
INCOME

Podcast Icon

Podcast
How Fast Should You Pay Off Your Loans? – Episode 102

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Dr (Debt Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Tr [Tax Rate]

Indicates whether tax liability could be reduced with better tax planning.

ANNUAL TOTAL TAXES


TOTAL PERSONAL
INCOME

Podcast Icon

Podcast
Dentist Money: Do You Have a Tax Strategy? – Episode 10

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Tr (Tax Rate) related Resources

Explore Resources

Lt [Liquid Term]

Estimates the number of years a person could live on his/her cash or cash-like assets outside of a retirement plan. Lt also indicates the amount of after-tax money an individual can access if needed.

TOTAL LIQUID ASSETS


ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING

Podcast Icon

Podcast
How Much Money Should You Keep in Your Bank Account? – Episode 17

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Lt (Liquid Term) related Resources

Explore Resources

Qt [Qualified Term]

Estimates the number of years a dentist could live on the assets he/she has within qualified retirement plans (401k, IRA, etc.).

RETIREMENT ACCOUNTS


ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING

Podcast Icon

Podcast
Everything You Need to Know About Retirement Plans – Episode 53

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Qt (Qualified Term) related Resources

Explore Resources

Pt [Practice Term]

Estimates the number of years a person could live on his/her current practice equity. It also indicates how much of a person’s wealth is concentrated in the practice.

TOTAL PRACTICE EQUITY


ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING

Podcast Icon

Podcast
How to Stop Your Practice from Bossing You Around – Episode 92

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Pt (Practice Term) related Resources

Explore Resources

Rt [Real Estate Term]

Estimates the number of years a person could live on his/her current real estate equity. It also indicates how much of a person’s wealth is concentrated in real estate.

TOTAL REAL
ESTATE EQUITY


ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING

Podcast Icon

Podcast
The Truth About Real Estate Ownership – Episode 60

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Rt (Real Estate Term) related Resources

Explore Resources

Tt [Total Term]

Estimates the number of years a person could live on his or her current assets if they did not grow. This includes cash, investments, practice value, and real estate equity.

NET WORTH


ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING

Podcast Icon

Podcast
How Successful Dentists Track Financial Progress – Episode 64

Listen to Podcast

Education Icon

Education Library
Explore Tt (Total Term) related Resources

Explore Resources

How much wealth do I need to make work optional?

Tt (Total Term) is the crown jewel of the Elements® table because it indicates how long you could live on your current wealth if it did not grow. In other words, it provides a conservative estimate of how many years you could survive if you stopped working today. Tt is calculated by dividing net worth by annual personal spending. It is also a summation of the four blocks to its left which represent each asset type: Rt (Real Estate Term), Pt (Practice Term), Qt (Qualified Term), Lt (Liquid Term).

Download free eGuide

There's Only One Number You Need to Predict Your Retirement

Download eGuide

Do I have the right mix of assets?

The four blocks to the left of Tt (Total Term) estimate how long you could live on your liquid assets, qualified retirement plans, practice equity, and real estate equity respectively. These represent the four asset types in a dentist’s portfolio, and when added together, they create your Tt. These four blocks also provide a clear view of your asset distribution to help you and your advisor understand if there’s an opportunity for better diversification.

Podcast #82
The Numbers Dentists Need to Know to Retire Better

Listen to Podcast

Am I using my income wisely?

The second row of the Elements® table calculates the percentage of your total income that goes toward savings (Savings Rate), spending (Burn Rate), Debt (Debt Rate), and Taxes (Tax Rate). These are the only four places your income can go and it’s important to keep them optimized to accelerate growth.

Podcast #95
This is Why Dentists Spend Too Much Money

Listen to Podcast

Am I taking the right amount of risk?

The top row of Elements® contains Er (Equity Rate), Pr (Profitability Rate), and Ir (Insurance Rate). These ratios indicate risk levels within your investment portfolio, business, and insurance profile respectively. The amount of risk you should take in each area will depend on a number of factors including your tolerance for risk, career phase, liquidity, and financial goals.

Podcast
How Much Insurance Does a Dentist Need? – Episode #100

LISTEN TO PODCAST

Sample Elements® performance summaries

(Click images to view full PDFs)

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December