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.

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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

What’s the Very Least You Should Save? – Episode 295

A live-for-today lifestyle (or a desire to finance a dream house) has some dentists asking, “What’s the minimum amount I...

Strategies to Use for Kids Savings – Episode 292

There are many demands that are placed on your money. Should saving for your children’s future be one of them?...

Why Saving 10% Won’t Be Enough for Dentists

This E-Guide Will Show You: Why 10% savings rate doesn’t work for dentists How dentists should scale their savings throughout...

How Money Can Buy Happiness – Episode 261

Why does buying experiences, not things, tend to give most people greater personal gratification?  On this episode of the Dentist...

Do Your Favorite Song Lyrics Lead to Mo’ Money or Mo’ Problems? – Episode 254

Does the music you listen to influence your attitude towards money for good … or bad?  What do Kurt Rambus,...

What Dentists Want to Know — Listener Q&A #16 – Episode 247

Whether you’re accumulating over time or trying to decide what to do with a big chunk of money, you need...

What comes first? Spending or Saving?

In this podcast, Reese Harper and Ryan Isaac explain why establishing a healthy, automated savings rate can ease budgeting worries....

How does your savings rate drive your returns?

In this video clip, Reese Harper and Ryan Isaac explain why maintaining a high, steady savings rate is the best...

Graduating Dental School During the COVID-19 Pandemic?

Join Ryan Isaac in a discussion about finding the right balance between preparation and living well today.

Monthly Financial Elements® – Savings (Sr)

Join Ryan Isaac in a discussion about finding the right balance between preparation and living well today.

Dental Finance 101: Where Does All the Money Go? (Or, How Does Your Income Pie Get Divided?)

By Dentist Advisors

I still remember where I was when I found out my wife and I were expecting our first child. Let...

Why a 10% Savings Rate Won’t Cut it for a Dentist – Episode 219

Your savings rate is what indicates if you’re on the path to financial security. On this episode of the Dentist...

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

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Podcast
Six Keys to Powerful Investment Portfolios – Episode 55

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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

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Podcast
Dentist Money: The Profitability Killer – Episode 8

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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

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Podcast
How to Bullet Proof Yourself Against Litigation – Episode 18

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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

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

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Br [Burn Rate]

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

ANNUAL PERSONAL
SPENDING


TOTAL PERSONAL
INCOME

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

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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

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

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Tr [Tax Rate]

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

ANNUAL TOTAL TAXES


TOTAL PERSONAL
INCOME

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

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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

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

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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

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

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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

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

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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

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Podcast
The Truth About Real Estate Ownership – Episode 60

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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

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Podcast
How Successful Dentists Track Financial Progress – Episode 64

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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).

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

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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

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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

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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

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Sample Elements® performance summaries

(Click images to view full PDFs)

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December