Medical professionals face unique challenges. While they are high earners, many are paying down student loans from nursing and medical school, managing the costs associated with maintaining various licenses and certifications, running an office and renewing insurance policies.
For financial advisors, there is tremendous potential to build a client base among medical practitioners by focusing on their needs and helping them develop strategies to build wealth. Here, we’ll examine how to effectively communicate with medical professionals, demonstrate expertise, and earn a resoundingly positive reputation through profitable investment recommendations.
Primary Insights From a Leader in Medicine
To gather insights, I spoke with my friends and personal health care gurus, Dr. Ray Callas and Dr. John Scott Jr. Dr. Ray is a board-certified anesthesiologist based in Beaumont, Texas. He’s president of Anesthesia Associates—a $17 million company and the oldest medical group in the state of Texas. Committed to a leadership role in medicine, he’s a past president of the Texas Society of Anesthesiologists and sits on the board of trustees for Texas Medicine, representing 53,000 physicians. Dr. John is a Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine based in Keller, Texas. He’s the chief medical officer and chairman of the board of ALLCARE Physicians Group, an assistant professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center and is a gubernatorial appointee on the Texas Physician Assistant Board. He was appointed to the UNT Board of Regents Board in 2019 and served in the United States Army Reserves until his honorable discharge. Both doctors’ resumes are extensive, but suffice it to say: They understand the financial perspective and position of medical professionals. And despite being an expert in his field and obtaining the highest quality education, Dr. Ray attests: “I could tell you in all my days I did not get any business education at all, going through medical school or residency. We were more concerned with learning medicine and taking care of patients.”
Challenges Facing Medical Professionals
Perhaps the most significant challenges for medical professionals are developing wealth management and investment strategies, finding trustworthy partners, and knowing where to turn to get started.
As noted by Dr. Ray, business and finance education is not typically a staple of med school curriculums. Resultingly, there are many “wealth advisors” eager to target physicians with the next new get-rich-quick scheme. “We're good with cash in the sense that we make a lot of it—but we don't know how to utilize and leverage it for the long term. I used to think that the smartest thing was to be completely debt-free. Eventually, you realize this is short-term thinking, and you're missing out on opportunities to leverage investments that provide greater upside for the future.”
Physicians and all medical professionals benefit from financial planners that can guide them in setting and achieving realistic goals. Achievable milestones and financial measures allow the enjoyment of family and career without overly tight budget constraints. Without forethought and planning, many professionals allocate excessive income to exotic cars, fine homes and other immediate luxuries with diminishing returns. Reflecting on a woeful scenario and any sensible physician’s fear, Dr. Ray commented: “One day you realize you made almost 50 million dollars in your life. But guess what? You've spent all your money and don't even have any assets."
Debt is another critical issue for practitioners. Many physicians are $200,000 or more in debt—often comprising primarily student loans—and they're seeking financial advice that can help them get out of the “hole.” We need to educate medical professionals early in their careers to enable them to make better decisions and give them a higher potential for success. Dr. Scott shares his struggle with debt: “You spend your 20s to get through medical school, and now you're devoting your 30s to paying your debt back. When will you be able to start saving money? Half of us get married in school or college, and most subsequently have young families with all kinds of expenses. Despite the image of affluence associated with a medical career, it's still a challenge to save money.”
Developed through necessity, seasoned doctors have a lot of “street” business sense. Getting started as a private-practice provider, most don’t know how to start a business, estimate typical expenses, or how to decide which billing company or software to use. Medical practitioners need business advisors and financial planners in their network that understand their goals, investment needs, and help them identify and stay accountable to financial goals.
Connecting With the Medical Community
Connecting with ideal prospects as a financial advisor is a matter of engaging with them where—and how—they prefer to communicate and learn. Concerning medical professionals, this means networking in person and online, while projecting a positive tone and communicating using professional, precise and logical language. Health professionals often seek advisors with credibility and a robust social media presence: financial planners that provide value, offer seminars, and publish educational articles that inspire and inform. Accordingly, financial advisors require thought leadership strategies that position them as authorities and foster trust. Building rapport and trust are integral to mutually transparent communications and to generate a sustainable flow of organic business. In our conversation, Dr. Ray noted how doctors choose other professionals to work with: “We're very trust-centric people. We work on referrals."
Dr. John offers some additional insights as to the questions doctors ask when seeking a financial advisor:
Credibility: How do you make your money? What is your fee structure?
Track record: How long have you been in business? What are some of your successes?
Diversification: Where do you put my investment? Is there a commission bias or conflict of interest?
Availability: How fast and professionally do you communicate?
Once an advisor can confidently respond to these points and engages with medical professional networks to build trust, their marketing and promotional efforts grow exponentially.
Pursuing a Niche With Potential
Financial advisors accustomed to working with high-income clients that respect clear communication and transparency can find many new patrons among medical professionals. These thoughtful and high-status prospects need the insights and guidance of financial professionals that help them identify where they want to go and what it’ll take to get there. Bespoke investment strategies, thought leadership, personal networking and engaging with your potential clients where they frequent online allows you to establish your presence and expertise and generate a stable referral-based practice.
Ari Rastegar is the founder and CEO of Rastegar Property, a vertically integrated real estate investment firm.
