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Dr. Hyman: Financial Mistake
25 Plays3 days ago
In this episode of Dental Fuel, we're diving into the crucial topic of financial wisdom with the remarkable Dr. Mark Hyman. "Dentists are smart, but that doesn't mean they're financially wise." Dr. Hyman emphasizes the importance of savvy investments, exceptional equipment, and the transformative power of networking. Success leaves clues, and he shares how surrounding yourself with successful peers can open doors you never knew existed.
Key Takeaways:
- Early Financial Struggles: Dr. Hyman discusses his financial challenges after purchasing a bankrupt practice and losing money in a real estate investment.
- Importance of Smart Investments: Investing in quality dental equipment, continuing education, and capable team members is crucial for building a successful practice.
- Lessons in Personal Finance: Dr. Hyman underscores the value of living within one's means and investing assertively, sharing his own experiences and mistakes.
- Mentorship and Networking: He highlights the benefits of connecting with seasoned professionals and learning from their experiences.
- Long-term Vision: Success in dentistry requires patience, strategic investment, and a commitment to excellence in all aspects of the practice.
About the Guest:
Dr. Mark Hyman is a distinguished dental professional with an illustrious career spanning over three decades. He is a quadruple Tar Heel with undergraduate, dental school, and residency credentials from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he also teaches. With a career highlighted by his transformation of a bankrupt practice into a top 1% practice, Dr. Hyman is a recognized speaker and mentor in the dental industry. He has held 51 seminars last year alone and has presented at prestigious conferences like the CDA, Hinman, and ADA. Despite retiring from clinical practice due to back issues, Dr. Hyman continues to inspire and educate through his teaching and speaking engagements.
Connect with Mark Hyman: https://drmarkspeaks.com/
Connect with Ignitedds and Dr. David Rice: @ignitedds Free Intro Call
Connect with Tanya Sue Maestas: @tsmaestas.dds
Learn more about 90 Day JumpStart : https://ignitedds.com
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Transcript
00:00:00
Speaker
Dental Fuel, the podcast that focuses on what no one else is talking about. Mistakes. The dental world is full of before and afters, and no one is talking about the middle. Dental Fuel brings you the unspoken in-between. Welcome back to another episode of Dental Fuel. Dental Fuel is brought to you by 90 Day Jumpstart, a program to help you increase production and break free from financial stress.
00:00:25
Speaker
We're back with the amazing Dr. Mark Hyman. In this episode, Dr. Hyman talks about his initial struggles when he bought a bankrupt practice and the challenges that he had with early investments. He reflects back on his dental journey that serves as a cautionary tale for young dentists and seasoned dentists alike. Let's listen in to what Dr. Hyman has to say.
00:00:46
Speaker
On the topic of finances, you know, it is very important for our patients to make that decision and in to take the next step and finances are important. But for, from a dentist perspective, we make a lot of financial decisions as well. And financial mistakes are are definitely some that we make along the way in our practice of dentistry. And you shared one at the beginning and I'm curious if that was your, your biggest financial mistake that you've made or if there are, there are more.
00:01:14
Speaker
How much time we got? So I bought the practice July 1st, 1986, tanked it, was already bankrupt, heard Linda Miles, boom, the practice exploded. I'm running from room to room doing more single tooth dentistry than anyone you've ever seen in your life. Patients are saying yes to me left and right. I had no clue what to ask of them.
00:01:40
Speaker
And I got an investment opportunity to buy into a limited partnership in Sanford, Florida, right near Disney, Sanford Town Square Center. There was a limited partnership selling shares of the shopping center near Disney, $7,000 a share in 1986. That's when crowns in my office were 320 bucks a crown. wow When I left private practice, a crown buildup was 1,500. So imagine $7,000 a share. I bought two shares. What what could go wrong?
00:02:10
Speaker
Sure. Except the tax laws changed and I lost $14,000. My first six months of private practice. My tuition at UNC in 1980 for dental school was $1,000 a semester. My undergraduate tuition at Chapel Hill in 1976. Are you ready? Was $268 a semester and I just lost $14,000. I thought I was going to die.
00:02:39
Speaker
Tanya Sue, do you want to know who the son of a gun was that sold me on that? I'm hoping you'll say um Walt Disney himself. My brother, my older brother who I love head to toe. He and his brother had gone to, he and his best friend had gone to Carolina, moved to Florida, started buying up properties for no money down. What could go wrong? Everything. So I find It almost cliche, it's been there's it has been said in dentistry that every dentist has to have the opportunity to lose money in the restaurant business. Almost everybody knows a dentist who's invested in a restaurant business, in a limited partnership, in something where I could show you, Dr. Tanya Sue, how to spend $17 a day if you work 200 days a year. I'm a huge intro camera guy, I had eight operatories.
00:03:34
Speaker
I had eight DigiDoc control cameras. It's the number one camera rated by reality magazine and dentistry. I slam guarantee you cannot use an intro camera on every patient for every procedure during your eight hour day and not add a $500 a day. Times 200 days a year we work, it's $100,000 change in a year. Boom, by spending $17 a day for the number one image in dentistry. So I've got colleagues that might say, well, i'll I'll buy the cheaper camera. I'll use even better.
00:04:04
Speaker
I'll use my iPhone yeah and like in the days of COVID and HIV and HPV and hepatitis, you're going to reach your hand into your pocket and pull out a cell phone and the patient's going to hock a loogie on it. I don't think so. That's kind of disgusting. So I have people say, oh, Dr. Mark, I'll get a camera and I'll move it room to room. And the answer is no, you won't. There's no way you're taking a before, during, and after photo of it everybody you work on.
00:04:31
Speaker
without having a camera in every operator. So the men and women of dentistry are so smart and sometimes so stupid because we think we know better than good common sense which says you invest in exceptional equipment, exceptional continuing education, exceptional teammates, exception exceptional systems and put it all together and then you can really rock the house. So investment wise, I'm a huge Warren Buffett fan with Berkshire Hathaway.
00:05:01
Speaker
This is another huge mistake I made. My mother-in-law was tax collector in Teaneck, New Jersey. I read a dental newsletter 35 years ago that said every dentist should buy a share of Berkshire Hathaway stock every year. At the time, it was $7,000 a share. Have you heard of Berkshire Hathaway, Dr. Tanya Sue? I feel like I can see their logo in my mind, but I don't know. Warren Buffett is the perhaps the, one of the wealthiest men in the world and his pledge to give all of his money to Bill Gates foundation essentially. But today Berkshire Hathaway stock closed at $613,000 a share.
00:05:40
Speaker
I had a chance to buy it at $7,000 here. My mother-in-law said, don't do it. It's too expensive. I didn't realize it's not an individual stock. It's a mutual fund, really. That owns a huge chunk of Apple and Coca-Cola and American Express and Seize Candy and Dairy Queen and Railroads. And I think they make a billion dollars a year just in dividends on Apple anyway. wow so Hey, if you are you're looking ah to donate a share, I won't be mad. Well, I actually, when Berkshire B came out, it's one eighth a share of Berkshire A. So I bought a bunch of that. So it's just interesting. I'm not here giving it investment advice except I'm going to quote that famous dental scholar, Shania Twain. Do you know of her? Of course, let's go girls. That song, Don't Be Stupid. Oh, yeah. young Young doctors, don't be stupid. Invest, save aggressively, invest assertively, and live within your means. So I'm amazed. My students at UNC, they're so smart, Dr. Tanya Sue, they're unbelievable. We had almost 2,000 initial applicants for admissions this year. The September out of state average GPA was like 3.9 in the DAT 26. It's crazy smart kids.
00:07:08
Speaker
And I asked a group of my students, what's your dream car? And they're like, in Maserati, Lamborghini, Porsche. And I'm like, Dr. Marks had a practice top 1% in the United States. And I drive a 10 year old Acura that I bought with 20,000 miles on it, which saved me $20,000.
00:07:27
Speaker
that that's that that's That's wisdom to me. And I said, you want to buy a Maserati Lamborghini, please be my guest, pay cash. And they're like, I said, otherwise you can't afford it.
00:07:38
Speaker
you're financing a lifestyle that can put you in a difficult position. And then you're gonna look at your patients and say, I gotta do this bridge or I can't afford my Porsche payment. So biggest business financial advice is just because you're smart in dentistry doesn't mean you're a savvy investor, that you're sophisticated in real estate. So that's where I would ask you. Dale Carnegie organization has a huge impact on my life and they use three magic words, success leaves clues.
00:08:06
Speaker
So who's the most successful men and women in dentistry that you know and partner with them? You go to a dental meeting, go up and meet the speaker and get their email and say, can I give you a call sometime? I stalked all sorts of speakers. One thing I did early in my career, Dr. Tanya Su.
00:08:24
Speaker
I went up to every speaker that I went to hear and I said, do you have lunch plans? And most of them say, no, no one's even talking to me. And I said, well, could I join you for lunch? So I ended up having lunch with Gordon Christensen and Erwin Becker and Pete Dawson and John Cois and Bill Dorfman and Bill Dickerson and Dave Hornbrook. You go down the list. I ended up starting a relationship with this before I was speaking because I had the audacity to ask.
00:08:51
Speaker
One thing I tried to teach my teammates and my students is two things happen when you ask him one when you don't. So you may as well ask the question. So I wouldn't be as appreciative of where I ended up financially and business wise if I hadn't face planted early on.
00:09:10
Speaker
Very well said. and And, you know, to your point of going up to different speakers or others who may be more seasoned, they have so much value to share to you. You know, the worst that they can say is no. And that's okay. No is all right. You move on to the next one. then To me, it's not, no, it's not yet. I like that. I like that. So, you know, it just, and you know what I found out meeting all these men and women, these amazing famous names in dentistry,
00:09:38
Speaker
almost to a person, they're exceptional men and women. They're kind, caring souls. They've been willing to leave their family to fly across the country to put on a seminar. you know And that's one of my best friends in my life, ah folks I've met through dentistry and through the dental speaking world. So that's been a real joy for me. And I'm very sensitive to me when young folks come up to me with questions, remembering I was that guy 30 years ago, 35 years ago.
00:10:08
Speaker
And um so that's that's been a real joy for me. We hope you're enjoying our conversation with Dr. Mark Hyman. And we hope that you will join us next week where we continue our conversation talking about a tea mistake. If you're looking to grow your practice and need some help along the way, be sure to check out 90 Day Jumpstart. You can start for free by contacting Dr. David Rice. Check out the link to his calendar in the show notes.