Yes! I am a practicing, board-certified non-invasive cardiologist who is also a regular expert faculty contributor to Hippo Education’s Primary Care Review & Perspectives podcast. You can view my Curriculum Vitae here.
As of November 2024, I currently practice approximately one week a month as an independent locum tenens cardiologist at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Western MD (Cumberland, MD). I also currently serve as the Chair of the Advocacy Committee of Maryland’s American College of Cardiology Chapter. I am also a regular expert faculty contributor to Hippo Education’s Primary Care Review & Perspectives CME podcast.
Yes! And it’s an important question – anyone can call themselves a “financial planner”, even people with zero financial planning training. Here is my profile on the SEC’s Investment Advisor Public Disclosure site. I have the following qualifications:
The gold standard in the financial planning industry is the CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™️ (CFP®) designation, which is held by only ~30% of financial planners. CFP® professionals must complete rigorous coursework on all aspects of financial planning, commit to being always placing the client’s interests ahead of your own (which sadly isn’t standard), accumulate 6000 hours of experience, and pass the 6-hr CFP® exam, which has a 60-70% pass rate.
I have completed all of those requirements except the experience hours because I felt it would be unethical to take on my first client prior to completing everything else. Although I’m not yet technically eligible to hold the CFP® designation, I approach my clients with the same level of knowledge and professionalism, and I am subject to financial CE requirements just like my CME/MOC. (As of November 2024, I officially have 520 of the required 6000 hours.)
Everyone always asks me this! Speaking as a cardiologist, I would say it wasn’t as taxing/long as Cardiology boards, but it was legitimately hard – it’s the financial planning equivalent of Echocardiography boards, which every cardiologist I know agrees is painfully difficult.
In his classic book Psychology of Money, author Morgan Housel makes the argument that one of the most valuable dividends money can buy is the power to work on what you want, when you want, and with whom you want. That’s what happened to me. In my case, my financial foundation gave me the power to go independent/part-time after 8 years as an academic cardiologist, and I haven’t taken call or worked a night/weekend since. That gave me the agency to put my health, marriage, and family first, and gave me more time to devote to advocacy with the ACC, clinical education through Hippo Education, and my own CME.
It also gave me the freedom and flexibility to invest in the highest level of financial planning training needed to create the mission-driven financial planning practice physicians deserve. Because I’m not under the financial pressure to maximize revenue as soon as possible (many of my financial planner friends are, not unlike a fee-for-service doc opening a new practice), I can focus on value and quality of service for fewer clients instead of burning myself out trying to acquire as many new clients as possible.
Availability: Because I practice both medicine and financial planning part-time, my availability will be more limited than a full-time financial planner. Because I don’t manage client investments (and don’t need to be working during market trading hours), this will not affect my ability to provide investment planning. We offer non-business hour appointments to accommodate busy clinical schedules, child care, etc.
Sales: At the client recruitment stage, I am incentivized to sell you on DocEmpowered’s value even if it is not in your best interest. For example, if you have significant credit card debt or some other financial crisis, spending money on DocEmpowered fees would be a poor use of your money. (In this example, I would advise against working with DocEmpowered, taking care of your crisis, and then revisiting us if/when you are ready.) DocEmpowered never sells financial products to prospective or active clients.
Ongoing services: Once you are on board as a client, I am incentivized to keep you dependent on me so you’ll remain an ongoing client paying monthly fees. DocEmpowered Master is designed to counter that with a massive discount for more limited service, which incentivizes you to become LESS dependent on me and the financial industry in general. That aligns with our mission to create a more financially empowered physician community.
Fees & Fiduciary Responsibility: I am a Fee-Only, 100% fiduciary financial professional who adheres to the CFP Board’s Code of Ethics and Standards of Conduct. That means the only money I will ever make will be from your client fees, and that I am legally bound to always place your interests ahead of my own. I do not take commissions, kickbacks, or referral fees from other financial/legal professionals or companies. I do not have a personal or financial relationship with the financial/legal professionals whom I recommend to clients and will disclose any relationship transparently it that changes. I personally invest only in publicly traded ETFs/index funds or U.S. Treasury products, and there are no investment products I would recommend to you where your decision would positively or negatively affect my own investments.
I believe at its core, financial planning should focus on two critical elements: a strong financial foundation and a long-game perspective.
A strong financial foundation means that we prioritize financial cornerstones such as sustainable cash flow and healthy financial psychology over say, maximizing investment returns. The perfect investment plan is likely to fail if you don’t have the foundation or peace of mind to sustain it. That is why every client starts with DocEmpowered Foundation before making significant financial moves.
Long-game perspective means we think in terms of years and decades rather than days to months. We don’t allow ourselves to be distracted or derailed by short-term swings in the market, and we focus instead on evidence-based investment choices tailored to your specific medium- and long-term goals. We focus not only on optimizing investment returns, but also on financial resiliency – the ability to weather unexpected financial setbacks so that your long-term goals are never at risk due to unpredictable short-term threats. This leads to a justified sense of confidence, peace of mind, and greater autonomy in your personal and professional life.
You are a perfect fit for DocEmpowered if you want to take control of your personal and professional life, and you understand that becoming your own financial superhero is a key requirement. You are a looking for a mentor with professional credentials who can teach you how to do so effectively and efficiently take charge of your financial life, and you want to eventually outgrow that mentor once you’ve become that hero. You want your transformation to strengthen the physician community and benefit your patients, family, and community.
Unfortunately, no. DocEmpowered is focused on physicians who want a comprehensive approach to their financial planning, which often is not possible on limited meetings. Our pricing is based on the value provided rather than by the hours spent together so there’s no incentive for the client to rush a meeting or for DocEmpowered to drag them out or schedule unnecessary meetings.
Because we do not provide asset management services, DocEmpowered would not be appropriate for a physician looking to outsource management of their investments. We have chosen instead to focus on empowering physicians to do efficiently invest on their own. There are countless financial planners who do provide investment management services (usually for a ~1% annual fee; minimum investment amounts may apply).
DocEmpowered may also be suboptimal for physicians who:
These physicians would be better served by an expert in those financial planning areas, and I’d be happy to refer you to one.
Not only are you welcome, you may even qualify for a discount! We incorporate student loan counseling into our financial planning and stay on top of the constantly changing regulations on student loan repayment and forgiveness. We offer a 20% discount on our fees if your student loan balance is more than double your annual physician income (subject to verification).
Yes! I gladly provide free financial education talks for students/trainees as well as local physicians as long as my schedule permits. Otherwise, my speaking rates vary from $1,000 to $6,000 plus travel/lodging costs per session depending on distance/time away from home, location, and preparation time required. Contact me to find out more.