If you could imitate a secret ingredient to Warren Buffett’s investment success, would you do it? Warren Buffett is considered a superstar investor and he is probably the most well-known...
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.
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.
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.
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.
Your Elements scores will highlight gaps and opportunities in your plan, and give our advisors the ability prioritize adjustments that will help you:
A list of action items will be documented and used by our advisors to:
See how your performance compares to hundreds of other dentists. Take our Elements® benchmark survey to receive your free report.
Explore educational content related to each Element in our periodic table of financial indicators
What Losing 30 lbs Reminded Me About Financial Planning
By Reese Harper, CFP® , CEO of Dentist Advisors
What Cows Can Teach You About Tough Markets – Episode 163
A Dental Coach and a Financial Advisor Walk into a Podcast – Episode 162
The Word Steve Jobs and Warren Buffett Use to Measure Success – Episode 159
3 Critical Ingredients for Your Decision-Making Recipe – Episode 156
What Dentists Want to Know — Listener Q&A #8 – Episode 155
What are the Hidden Costs of Timing the Market? – Episode 153
Do Big Pension Fund Investors Know Something You Don’t? – Episode 138
Here’s What’s Wrong with Your Investment Risk Profile – Episode 133
Four Harmful Investment Behaviors and How to Avoid Them – Episode 125
A Rant to Make You Rethink Target Date Funds – Episode 118
Video 5: Are You Taking the Right Amount of Risk?
Helps us determine whether the client will experience too much volatility risk for their personal level of spending and age.
Podcast
Six Keys to Powerful Investment Portfolios – Episode 55
Education Library
Explore Er (Equity Rate) related Resources
Measures how much money the practice owner keeps as a percentage of collections. This serves as an important indicator of business efficiency.
Podcast
Dentist Money: The Profitability Killer – Episode 8
Education Library
Explore Pr (Profitability Rate) related Resources
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.
Podcast
How to Bullet Proof Yourself Against Litigation – Episode 18
Education Library
Explore Ir (Insurance Rate) related Resources
Indicates how much of a person’s income is being put away for future expenses, emergencies, and retirement.
Podcast
The Hidden Costs that Delay a Dentist’s Retirement – Episode 61
Education Library
Explore Sr (Savings Rate) related Resources
Helps us understand a client’s spending patterns and retirement preparedness.
Podcast
This is Why Dentists Spend Too Much Money – Episode 95
Education Library
Explore Br (Burn Rate) related Resources
Indicates whether a person is servicing too much or too little debt for their individual circumstances.
Podcast
How Fast Should You Pay Off Your Loans? – Episode 102
Education Library
Explore Dr (Debt Rate) related Resources
Indicates whether tax liability could be reduced with better tax planning.
Podcast
Dentist Money: Do You Have a Tax Strategy? – Episode 10
Education Library
Explore Tr (Tax Rate) related Resources
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.
Podcast
How Much Money Should You Keep in Your Bank Account? – Episode 17
Education Library
Explore Lt (Liquid Term) related Resources
Estimates the number of years a dentist could live on the assets he/she has within qualified retirement plans (401k, IRA, etc.).
Podcast
Everything You Need to Know About Retirement Plans – Episode 53
Education Library
Explore Qt (Qualified Term) related Resources
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.
Podcast
How to Stop Your Practice from Bossing You Around – Episode 92
Education Library
Explore Pt (Practice Term) related Resources
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.
Podcast
The Truth About Real Estate Ownership – Episode 60
Education Library
Explore Rt (Real Estate Term) related Resources
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.
Podcast
How Successful Dentists Track Financial Progress – Episode 64
Education Library
Explore Tt (Total Term) related Resources
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).
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
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
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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