Finances can get lost in the shuffle the closer we get to the holidays. Now is the time for your end of year financial checklist. 
Meet with Your Team
Schedule meetings with your accountant and financial advisor (if you have one). There may be time sensitive financial strategies that need to be implemented before the end of the year. Let these advisors know of any major changes that have taken place this year or that you’re planning on in the coming year.
Things, like getting married or divorced, buying a home, or having a child, can drastically change your finances and your financial plans need to change accordingly.
If you don’t currently have an advisor, consider hiring one. There are advisors whose specialty is working with doctors. Look for that specialization because doctors face unique financial challenges that more generalized advisors don’t have knowledge of.
Check Your Emergency Fund
You do have one right? If not, you need to start one. Doctors often don’t have an emergency fund because they’re used to being high earners. But everyone needs an emergency fund and doctors are no exception. The gold standard is six months worth of expenses, and that money should be liquid, somewhere you could access it quickly if you had to.
Review Your Insurance
Make sure all your policies are up to date and still in line with your needs. That includes your practice insurance, life, health, auto, and homeowner’s policies. Did you bring in another practitioner, is your life insurance policy still sufficient to take care of your family if something happened to you, did your teenager get a driver’s license, did you have any home renovations or buy a second home? All of those things (and more!) can change your insurance needs.
Save for College
The cost of a college education has skyrocketed, and that doesn’t show signs of changing anytime soon. If you have children, start a 529 Plan to help pay for their education. A 529 Plan is similar to a retirement account. The money is invested so it grows much more quickly than if you had just parked it in a low-yield checking or savings account.
The earnings grow tax-free and can be used for qualified higher education expenses like tuition, books, and other related educational expenses.
Review Your Spending
Go over your books for this year and see where your problems areas were. We all have spending leaks, areas where we’re spending more money than we realize. Find those areas and put a plan in place to shore up those leaks.
Review Staff Benefits
We already know that it’s more expensive to replace staff than it is to keep existing staff happy. That might mean handing out raises, starting a 401k program, increasing or implementing paid vacation benefits, or providing health insurance.
All of those things cost money, but having happy, loyal staff is invaluable to your practice. When you take care of them, they take care of your practice.
Consider Transitioning
Health insurance is about to become even more uncertain than it already was. Premiums are likely to rise and if the ACA is scrapped, many people may not have insurance at all.
If you’ve been toying with the idea of transitioning from an insurance based practice to a direct care practice, now is a great time to make the leap. People aren’t sure if they’re going to have health insurance or not, but they’ll still need your services.
Patients will be more open to the idea of a cash-based practice when they aren’t sure whether or not they’ll have insurance in the coming year.
Look to the Future
I hope your practice had a great year. If it was less than you wanted it to be, this site can help you achieve your goals for the coming year. We can help you with marketing, finances, staffing, patient education and a whole host of other things too. Congratulations on the year past and here’s to a great 2018!
For more information on building community connections, I encourage you to read my new book Community Connections! Relationship Marketing for Healthcare Professionals. If you want more valuable information about how to Connect with YOUR Community, you can find FREE healthcare practice marketing content, PowerPoint Presentation Jumpstart Kits, workbooks, blog articles, and my FREE “Practice Marketing Planner” Now!
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