Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money. In the spirit of Independence Day, today’s episode explores a different kind of freedom—financial independence—and the common decisions that often stand in the way of achieving it. I walk through five recurring mistakes I see optometric practice owners make that limit their long-term financial freedom, both personally and professionally. From overleveraging and ignoring balance sheets to misjudging the impact of time and delaying planning altogether, these...
Jul 07, 2025•40 min•Ep. 348
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today's show are my two good friends—and successful practice owners—Drs. Jeremy Ciano and Jennifer Stewart, OD. This is another takeover episode, so I'm honestly not sure where they'll take the conversation. The only direction I gave them was the title of the episode, so I'm just as curious as you are as to where the conversation will lead! As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today’s conversation by visiting our website...
Jun 30, 2025•51 min•Ep. 347
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today’s show is Dr. Michael Neal, OD. Mike joins me on the show to talk about the evolution of delegation as a practice owner—specifically, the journey of learning to trust your team with everything outside of your core revenue-producing activities. We share our own experiences with delegation, what it looked like early on, how our thinking evolved, and the impact it’s had on our ability to focus on our Unique Abilities™ and lead more effective...
Jun 23, 2025•50 min•Ep. 346
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Mike Jorgenson from Carr Healthcare Realty. Mike joins me back on the show to talk about what goes into a demographics search when evaluating the location of a practice—and he does it from both a cold start as well as existing practice's point of view. We talk about the minimum OD:population ratio that's generally advisable when setting up or buying a practice and other details as it pertains to the factors that influence the de...
Jun 16, 2025•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 345
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Mick Kling, OD. Mick joins me back on the show to talk about the power of community within the profession and how optometrists can avoid the “race to the bottom” when it comes to pricing by focusing on delivering and communicating value to their patients. We also discuss how to evaluate the affordability of a practice, the tools available to help aspiring owners make informed decisions, the current shortage of associate ODs,...
Jun 09, 2025•44 min•Ep. 344
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today's show is Dr. Mike Satryan, OD, a partner with Mountain View Eye in Altoona, PA. Mike is a long-time practice owner who brings over 25 years of experience running an in-house optical lab within their practice. We dive into the substantial cost savings his practice has realized by finishing lenses on-site and how that margin improvement supports a compensation model tied to gross revenue growth. We explore how having an in-house lab not on...
Jun 02, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 343
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Lee Raykovicz, OD, a mortgage broker with Go Rascal Mortgages. On today's episode we dive into what goes into the mortgage underwriting process, how practice owners can get creative when it comes to purchasing their homes, the details on what Physician loans actually are and how they work, how to think about the total DTI ratio when thinking about your mortgage & student loans, and ARM strategy ideas in today's rate environm...
May 26, 2025•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 342
Welcome to this REWIND episode of 20/20 Money! Given that my grandpa just recently celebrated his 96th birthday, I wanted to bring back this episode and share it again for new and long-time listeners alike. It's also a subtle reminder about the importance of understanding longevity risk in one's financial plan. I can only imagine the unfortunate situation my grandpa would be in had he and my grandma not had a sound investment strategy that has allowed them to build up a portfolio that has lasted...
May 19, 2025•33 min•Ep. 341
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Dr. Chris Wolfe, OD. Chris joins me back on the show to talk about why it's important to be intentional about the business decisions you make in your practice and make those decisions based on data and a plan. We talk about this concept through the lens of schedule management and how to think about pre-appointing your patients within a practice, and it's in part based off some listener feedback that I received almost a year ago....
May 12, 2025•39 min•Ep. 340
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today's show is Kayla Ashlee . Kayla joins me on the show to discuss how the communication cues (or miscues) that unknowingly are happening in your office can be both positively or negatively impacting your patient experience and thus influencing the buying decisions of your patients. She shared examples of good and not-so-good cues that can be happening across the patient journey—from the moment the patient comes into your office all the way t...
May 05, 2025•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 339
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes with Books & Benchmarks and IDOC. On this show, Nathan and I RAGE!! That's right, we Rant Against Growth Excuses. We talk about the common headwinds, obstacles, and challenges that we both hear when talking with practice owners...and how to think about solving those issues by thinking differently about the challenges. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today’s conversation by visiting ou...
Apr 28, 2025•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 338
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This week's episode is the recording of my presentation at NSUOCO, titled "Top 10 Tips for (Financial) Success for Optometrists." Over the course of the year, I'm privileged to present in front of a variety of optometry schools' private practice clubs and classes. The purpose of the presentation is to help ODs understand the ABCs and 123s of personal finance and how to better understand the business of optometry so that, upon graduation, they are able to m...
Apr 21, 2025•1 hr 18 min•Ep. 337
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! What would I do if I were starting an optometric practice from the ground up? A listener posed the question—and I went deep. In this episode, I walk through everything from choosing the right location (hint: geography is everything) to building the skills that matter most when you’re just getting started. We cover: Why defining your Ideal Patient Avatar (IPA) is mission-critical The underrated value of sales coaching and communication training Why I’d buy ...
Apr 14, 2025•1 hr•Ep. 336
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! In this episode, we tackle the confusion around key financial numbers in your optometric practice and why it’s critical to have a common understanding of their definitions. From gross COLLECTED revenue, cost of goods sold, and net operating income, we explore the most important KPIs that influence your bottom line. Whether you’re looking to grow, improve efficiency, or just understand your business better, this conversation will help you create a clearer, ...
Apr 07, 2025•39 min•Ep. 335
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! In today’s episode, we’re diving into the details of your tax return—beyond just whether you got a refund. We’ll break down the difference between deductions and credits, how our tax brackets work, why you should focus on Line 24 —your total tax paid—instead of Lines 34 or 37, and what Line 38 might be telling you about penalties and interest. We’ll also highlight common areas for errors, clarify how the QBI deduction applies depending on your income level...
Mar 31, 2025•49 min•Ep. 334
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Ted McElroy, OD. Ted and I share in a conversation that's on the heels of a 2 hour CE session I did at SECO 2025, which was titled The Art of Delegation. We talk through why practice owners get stuck on delegation, ways to think about becoming more comfortable delegating, the true cost of NOT delegating, and some NBSs for you to think about around this very important topic. As a reminder, you can get all the information disc...
Mar 24, 2025•58 min•Ep. 333
In this episode, we break down the common misconception that tax deferral is the same as tax savings—spoiler alert: it’s not. We discuss how strategies like funding retirement plans, loss harvesting, and depreciation only push taxes into the future, while true tax savings come from tools like QCDs, business deductions, and Roth account growth. We explore when deferring taxes makes sense, and when it might actually cost you more in the long run. As a reminder, you can get all the information disc...
Mar 17, 2025•48 min•Ep. 332
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Daniel Palmer. Daniel joins me back on the show to talk through a growing service and role in small businesses (optometry included), which is the Fractional C*O service. I use the * to depict the fact that this role could be Chief Operating, Marketing, Information/Technology, and yes Financial Officer. We talk about the differences between a consultant and a fractional C*O and how to think about each of those roles in your organ...
Mar 10, 2025•46 min•Ep. 331
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Rick Norwood, founder & President of Norwood Device & Diagnostics. Rick joins me on the show to talk through an often-discussed topic in practice ownership, and that is the responsible purchasing of equipment. We talk through how practice owners should evaluate various suppliers, the cadence and frequency of replacing and upgrading your equipment, and how to avoid purchasing "buyer's remorse" through the process. As a re...
Mar 03, 2025•48 min•Ep. 330
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guests on today’s show are Drs. Jennifer Stewart & Sam Hornberger, both private practice owners in their respective practices. Sam and Jennifer join me on the show to talk about a topic that admittedly, in over 300 episodes of 20/20 Money, I haven't talked about yet: edging and the decisions around whether to bring edging in-house or continue to outsource it to your lab. We talk through how each of them made the decision to bring edging in-house—Sam...
Feb 24, 2025•1 hr 15 min•Ep. 329
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Leigha Nielson, OD FOVDR, founder of High 5 Vision Development in New Braunfels, TX. Leigha joins me on the show to talk about how she's created both a successful practice and a life she loves—personally and professionally—through a vision-therapy focused practice. She talks about her journey as a practice owner under the TSO (Texas State Optical) brand and how she transitioned to her own stand-alone practice and why she mad...
Feb 17, 2025•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 328
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! This week's episode is my guest appearance on Dr. Steve Vargo's show "Eye Own a Business," produced by IDOC. Steve had me on the show to talk about something that I've been thinking about for some time, and I used his show to "stake my claim"—I don't like term "admin day" and want to see the profession start embracing a different way of thinking about the work that owners do ON the business. I share my beliefs and reasoning behind this and why I feel it be...
Feb 10, 2025•52 min•Ep. 327
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Jackson Pace, CPA. Jackson joins me on the show to talk about ways owners can maximize the ROI on their team, specifically non-OD team members. He shares examples of ways in which practice owners have brought focus and intention to different areas of the practice, how practice owners can empower their team to take ownership of an incentive program, and examples of a couple of different "dark corners" of the practice that can ben...
Feb 03, 2025•53 min•Ep. 326
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Dr. Steve Vargo, OD. In addition to being a practice management consultant with IDOC , Steve is also the host of the podcast " Eye Own a Business " a show with episodes aimed to help independent ODs grow a thriving practice while wearing the hats of both OD and business owner. In this episode Steve and I talk about the importance of staying true to your vision and passion in practice ownership. We talk about how easily owners ca...
Jan 27, 2025•49 min•Ep. 325
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Nathan Hayes with IDOC & Books & Benchmarks. Nathan and I spend time discussing a topic that was briefly brought up on our last conversation ( here's the link to that discussion ) which is the importance of understanding the relationship between multiples and the risk associated with ownership. Said differently, we bring clarity to the math on why it's less risky for a buyer of a practice to write a bigger check for a la...
Jan 20, 2025•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 324
Welcome to this episode of 20/20 Money! My guest on today’s show is Peter Lazaroff, CFA, CFP® , Chief Investment Officer at Plancorp , host of The Long Term Investor podcast , and the author of the book Making Money Simple . Peter joins me on the show to talk about an investment approach that has been around for a long time but is starting to become more prevalent for investors: direct indexing. We talk about what direct indexing is through an abridged story on the evolution of investment vehicl...
Jan 13, 2025•51 min•Ep. 323
Welcome to the first episode of 2025! In this episode, I take a bit of a trip down memory lane as I recently came across a list that I wrote 10+ years ago. Re-reading it, I thought it would be a great way to kick off the new year and give optometrists & practice owners some principles and habits that can guide and shape how they plan & live their life, on purpose. As a reminder, you can get all the information discussed in today’s conversation by visiting our website at integratedpwm.com...
Jan 06, 2025•53 min•Ep. 322
As we set up for the beginning of yet another year, I wanted to bring back an episode that I released earlier in the year. I think the timing of replaying this episode is good as it's being released during a very busy time of year and also while you're likely thinking through how you want to set yourself up for success in 2025. All the best to you and your family during the holiday season! In the spirit of managing information overload, I wanted to take a week to pause on new information and rat...
Dec 30, 2024•29 min•Ep. 321
Welcome to this episode rewind of 20/20 Money! In keeping with tradition, I'm bringing back this episode again, just like I did last year, for one of the last episodes of 2024!! Given that this is the last episode of the year, this is usually when we are thinking about goal setting, and everyone’s schedule is anything but normal being the day after Christmas, I wanted to bring back the conversation that I had with my friend, business collaborator, and advisor coach Stephanie Bogan from early 202...
Dec 23, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 320
Welcome back to another episode of 20/20 Money. My guest on today's show is JR Armstrong, CPA and a partner at May & Co , a CPA firm dedicated to serving optometric practice owners nationwide. JR joins me back on the show for a year-end tax planning episode. We talk about the importance of taking a multi-year approach when evaluating your depreciation strategy on equipment, how inventory influences year-end tax planning, how to "penalty proof" your personal tax return, and other important ta...
Dec 16, 2024•56 min•Ep. 319
