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Dr. Jeff Horowitz: Financial Mistake
34 Plays1 month ago
In this week's Dental Fuel episode, Dr. Jeff Horowitz dives into the financial challenges dentists face beyond clinical work. He shares his personal experience with tax planning pitfalls 💸 and offers real-life tips to get your finances in check. Plus, learn why continuing education is an investment , not an expense, and how building a community of like-minded pros can elevate your practice!
Key Takeaways:
- Recognize Your Weaknesses: "Acknowledge what you're good at and what you suck at... and delegate those or find somebody who can help you find a solution."
- Importance of Tax Planning: Dr. Horowitz shares his ten-year struggle with tax planning and stresses the significance of having a disciplined approach or becoming a corporation to manage taxes efficiently.
- Invest in CE: Viewing continuing education as an investment, Dr. Horowitz highlights how CE can significantly enhance both personal and professional growth.
- Proximity Principle: Surrounding yourself with passionate and skilled peers can elevate your practice and provide invaluable networking opportunities.
- Community Building: Creating and engaging with communities through CE and organized dentistry adds immense value, offering resources and support beyond the classroom.
About the Guest:
Jeff Horowitz is a distinguished dentist based in the Myrtle Beach area of South Carolina, with practices in Myrtle Beach and Murrells Inlet. Originally from New Jersey, Jeff moved to South Carolina for dental school and planted his roots there, developing a reputation for his expertise in functional dentistry, specifically focusing on TMJ, airway, and orthodontics. He is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh and Charleston’s Dental School and has advanced training from various prestigious institutions, including the Kois Center and the Piper Education and Research Center.
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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
Investing in CE can be expensive, but we need to remember it's an investment, not at an expense. In this episode, Jeff discusses his journey in the world of dentistry, focusing on the financial pitfalls that many practitioners face, including himself. We dive into a financial mistake, but also the importance of continuing education, where Dr. Horowitz will emphasize the importance of taking CE and seeing it as an investment rather than an expense.
00:00:55
Speaker
Along with the clinical mistakes that we make, financial mistakes are are some that we see many dentists make, including myself. And I'm curious if there was a financial mistake that you have made in your past, or if it has to do anything with this case that you just shared.
00:01:08
Speaker
So no, not with regard to that case. um And I didn't end up getting sued. In fact, I that's still and have a relationship with the patient. Yeah. um But, you know, we always talk about this and and, you know, I think some of the issues in medicine revolve around, you know, be willing to say, look, this was the best I knew at the time, but we know more now and thank you for helping me grow as a clinician.
00:01:33
Speaker
um On the financial side, really where where you know I've always kind of had a little bit of a knack for that in the dental practice, um but but where I really failed was in tax planning. um and I think that that's an area that a lot of dentists struggle in, which is you know they they start a business, whether it be an LLC, or just a traditional partnership or you know maybe it's just a ah sole practitioner entity and there are no taxes being taken out and figuring out how much to be setting aside and having the discipline to do that. There was literally 10 years of my life where I was always playing catch-up on taxes.
00:02:17
Speaker
from the last year so what my piece of advice to anyone out there is first of all um if you're very disciplined talk to your accountant and learn how to do that proper tax planning.
00:02:33
Speaker
If you are a little bit less disciplined you know consider becoming a corporation or an entity where you can draw a paycheck draw the right amount of taxes out every time and ah because it's it's really no fun when you work a whole year and then tax time comes around and literally you're working the next six months to figure out how you gonna pay your tax bill because you didn't you know send enough in quarterly taxes so i would say that's been my biggest financial mistake throughout my career. That's huge. I don't think we've had anyone speak on taxes. And that's really important. um So for how did you get better? by you be My accountant said, Jeff, you don't have the discipline to do this properly. So you are going to become a corporation. We are going to draw taxes out. And problem solved.
00:03:27
Speaker
you know So get get the knowledge that you need and get a good accountant is what I'm hearing. Right. And then the other side of that is like acknowledge what you're good at and what you suck at, right? The second we do that and say, okay, I'm good at this. You know, these are my strengths. Here's where I'm going to focus and be good at it. But these are the things I'm not so good at as a human being and not just as a dentist. And delegate those or or find somebody who can help you find a solution.
00:03:58
Speaker
Very well said, Jeff. Jeff, along the line of finances, I know that you have invested a lot in yourself and it can be kind of challenging for dentists to find the time and resources to do that. What would your advice be as far as those who are considering making maybe taking those um very expensive continuing education courses or, you know, taking that big step to take Poise or look into, you know, something like Piper, what would you say to that?
00:04:24
Speaker
um Find one thing at a time. so First of all, my philosophy in dentistry has always been that CE is an investment. It is not an expense. You've got to take a lot of really bad CE for it not to be fruitful um in in really adding to your bottom line, not just as a dentist, but as a human being and all the other things that you'll learn from the people that you surround yourself with at these courses. um you know There's a this thing called the proximity principle, which says, you know if you really want to get great at something,
00:05:04
Speaker
Surround yourself with people who are great at that very same thing and so when you go to these kind of continuum learning courses it's not just about i paid x to learn why it's i paid x to surround myself with a lot of other passionate.
00:05:25
Speaker
people who want to do good by their patients and want to improve the level of dentistry that they're doing and what you learn from those people that you surround yourself with often supersedes what you learn from the didactic information that you get.
00:05:43
Speaker
and And so that's always been the thing that has fed me in in my career, even when you know you kind of get down in practice or sometimes feel the monotony or you get frustrated at what it's like in the office. The thing that has always fueled me up, like the way that I threw that in there. Oh, I love it. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Till David, thank you very much.
00:06:07
Speaker
The thing that has always fueled me in in dentistry is going to another course and learning something new and talking with the people next to me about how we're going to implement it in our practices, how our practices were different, and how you know it's it's like a reinvigoration. Every time you learn something new, you're not going to use it all. But if you take one or two things that improve your practice, improve your bottom line, or improve your outlook,
00:06:36
Speaker
you know in in how you diagnose and treat patients then um it I have made so much more um emotionally and and financially as well um from the money I've spent in CE than I could ever imagine. and um so that That's my message to everyone. Never, ever, ever look at CE as an expense. It is truly an investment not only in yourself but in the practice as well.
00:07:09
Speaker
Can you build upon the thought of creating a community in attending these CE courses and what that has done for you in your practice at dentistry? Yeah, and again, that's the hidden annuity of CE is the community that you build from doing that. You know, me getting to meet the Tanyas, and I said Tanya, not Tanya, I'm so sorry. That's all right, that's all right. You got me what you'd like. No, TS, how about that?
00:07:40
Speaker
That's perfect, there you go. That works, okay. um but But meeting people like you, meeting the David Rises, you know, and and having just a community of people that just learn to um adapt as they practice and and not try to stay in this lonely world of, you know, this is just me, this is how I do things. And, you know, when when you meet like minds like that, it just, it That's where excitement comes from. And and having those resources um without having to go back to the John Cois and say, now, wait a minute. You talked about this. Having a community of people who have sat in those same courses with you and say, how are you doing this? Or what was your take on this? Or I know John talked about um this in in the lecture, but how is that working out for you clinically with your patients in your setting?
00:08:36
Speaker
and And there's so much more that can come from that than even going back and saying, hey, John. Because you know he practices in a completely different environment that many of ah many of us do. So um you know everyone has a unique situation. and And the only way you can meet people who might have similar experiences or um You know, a similar point of view is by getting into these communities that come from structured continuums and and structured CE. For me, it is very important to have a community that I surround myself with. And and I agree with you. CE is a great way to do that. Organized Industries is another great way to do that. And I know you and I have had great conversations about this with ah Dennis in the know, and and we feel very strongly about it. But building a community and your team
00:09:27
Speaker
in your practice is also another great way just to help you get by in the world of dentistry. Our friends at Dennis in the know are truly the best. Have you checked them out yet? Be sure to tune into their episodes every Wednesday evening live on YouTube. 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 lead in the show notes.