Many physicians earn income outside their primary jobs through consulting, expert witness work, or call coverage. How is that 1099 income taxed, and which business expenses might qualify for deductions?We’re bringing back this conversation from the early days of Doctors Eyes Only® for physicians who may have missed it. As our audience has grown, we’ve continued sharing financial planning topics that address the unique circumstances physicians face throughout their careers. We felt this discussion about 1099 income, business deductions, and tax planning was worth sharing again.In this episode, Lauren Oschman, Partner and CEO of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, introduces what she calls “the business version of you.” She explains how income from independent work can differ from W-2 wages, including the responsibility to pay taxes on self-employment income and the role of qualifying business expenses.Lauren discusses potential deductions related to business travel, professional development, medical society dues, business insurance, cell phone use, and a dedicated home office. Eligibility depends on the nature of the work and applicable tax rules. She also explains why keeping business and personal spending separate, maintaining records, and coordinating with an accountant can make managing 1099 income easier.The conversation covers retirement planning for physicians with self-employment income, including SEP IRAs and individual 401(k)s. Lauren discusses why contribution decisions need to account for income from the business and retirement plans associated with a physician’s primary job.She closes with an important reminder: spending money just to claim a deduction isn’t necessarily a sound financial decision. Tax planning should be considered alongside cash reserves, future tax obligations, retirement goals, and other priorities.For physicians earning 1099 income or considering consulting and other independent work, this episode explores questions to discuss with a qualified tax professional and financial advisor.Investment advisory services offered through Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, and Vestia Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. Securities offered through Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc., 5187 Utica Ridge Rd, Davenport, IA. 52807 (563)326‐2064. Member FINRA/SIPC.Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, Vestia Advisors, LLC and Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. are independently owned and operated.This material should not be construed as legal or tax advice and is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor.Comments on this video are posted voluntarily by third-party YouTube users and do not necessarily reflect the views of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors.Comments reflect the opinions and assumptions of individual commenters and do not necessarily represent the views, services, fees, or practices of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors. Vestia does not independently verify all information shared by third parties in the comments and does not endorse or guarantee its accuracy, completeness, or reliability, including statements regarding investment performance, financial projections, advisory fees, or services. Comments should not be considered financial, investment, tax, or legal advice.

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How much money does a physician really need to retire? And once a physician has a retirement savings goal in mind, how should that number influence the decisions they make about work, family, and life today?

This episode was originally recorded more than two years ago, when we were beginning to publish the podcast more consistently. Since then, the audience has grown, and we’ve continued to hear interest in the ideas discussed here.

In this episode, Lauren Oschman, Partner and CEO of Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, discusses an aspect of physician financial planning that can be easy to overlook when the focus is primarily on retirement savings, investment portfolios, and net worth.

A retirement number can be useful. Physicians need to understand what they are saving toward and how their financial decisions may affect their future options. But Lauren believes those calculations are only part of the conversation.

Financial planning also involves understanding what physicians want their money to make possible while they’re still practicing medicine.

Lauren recalls meeting with a physician and her husband. He wanted to stay healthy, enjoy life, and have the flexibility to coach their daughter’s soccer team. She was preparing to start her own practice and wanted more control over her schedule and how she practiced medicine.

Lauren also reflects on growing up with an interventional cardiologist for a father.

She remembers how hard he worked when she was young. As she approached the end of high school, he began making a conscious effort to spend more time at home. Instead of regularly filling his afternoons with additional cases, he made more room for family.

Physicians spend years working toward demanding professional goals. They become accustomed to pursuing the next achievement, whether that’s completing training, advancing in their careers, earning more income, or building additional wealth.

Lauren believes that drive also raises an important financial question.

If you’re already making progress toward your financial goals, what would earning more money actually allow you to do?

Later, Lauren describes another conversation with a family who had accumulated additional savings and was considering whether to invest the money.

During their discussion, the family shared that their daughter would be leaving for college in a few years. They had places they wanted to visit and experiences they hoped to share before that chapter of family life changed.

That led to a conversation about how their savings could support those priorities alongside their longer-term financial goals.

At Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, this perspective is part of what we mean by Wealth That Matters®.

For physicians, building wealth may involve preparing for retirement, managing the financial implications of a demanding career, and making decisions about how much to work along the way. Those considerations are connected, and the right balance will look different for every family.

The central question isn’t simply how much money a physician needs to accumulate.

It’s what that money is meant to make possible.

Investment advisory services offered through Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, and Vestia Advisors, LLC, a Registered Investment Advisor with the SEC. Securities offered through Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc., 5187 Utica Ridge Rd, Davenport, IA. 52807 (563)326‐2064. Member FINRA/SIPC. Vestia Personal Wealth Advisors, Vestia Retirement Plan Consultants, Vestia Advisors, LLC and Ausdal Financial Partners, Inc. are independently owned and operated.

This material should not be construed as legal or tax advice and is not intended to replace the advice of a qualified attorney or tax advisor.

Click the link below to schedule your free 30 minute call!

https://www.vestiaadvisors.com/contact/

What actually happens when a physician has disability insurance and needs to use it?

In this episode of Doctors Eyes Only®, Vestia Partner and CEO Lauren Oschman talks with Dr. Alex Parikh about his experience going from a practicing surgical oncologist to filing an own-occupation disability insurance claim and moving into a different role within medicine.

Dr. Alex Parikh spent more than two decades as a surgeon specializing in liver and pancreas surgery. He trained at MD Anderson, spent about 12 years at Vanderbilt, and later served as head of cancer surgery and surgical oncology at the Mays MD Anderson Cancer Center in San Antonio.

Earlier in his career, Dr. Alex Parikh purchased individual disability insurance. As a surgeon, he thought about what might happen if a physical problem kept him from operating.

Years later, he began experiencing pain in the CMC joint of his right thumb. He was diagnosed with stage three CMC arthritis and eventually underwent surgery. After returning to the operating room, the arthritis progressed into another joint in his thumb. Operating became painful, and even moving toward robotic surgery did not solve the problem.

After talking with his hand surgeon about his options, Dr. Alex Parikh began considering what it would mean to stop operating and what he could do next.

That is when the disability insurance he had purchased years earlier became part of the conversation.

Lauren and Dr. Alex Parikh discuss the difference between group disability coverage and an individual own-occupation disability policy, including how the definition of a physician’s occupation can affect a claim.

Dr. Alex Parikh also walks through his experience filing a disability claim. He discusses gathering medical records, documenting his responsibilities as an academic surgeon, the in-person evaluation, the elimination period before receiving disability income, and the timing of moving into a new role.

Today, Dr. Alex Parikh is a full-time instructional professor and director of career advising at Texas A&M’s School of Engineering Medicine in Houston. His new role allows him to continue working in medicine without operating.

Lauren and Dr. Alex Parikh also discuss why he is glad he obtained disability coverage earlier in his career. As he explains, disability can carry different financial implications depending on when it happens, how much a physician has accumulated, the income needs of the household, and how many working years remain.

But this conversation is about more than an insurance claim.

Dr. Alex Parikh is candid about the psychological side of leaving surgery after spending decades building a career around it. He talks about missing the operating room and the challenge of giving up work that had been an important part of his professional life.

His new role has given him another way to use that experience. He now teaches medical students, advises them on their careers and brings more than two decades of clinical experience into the classroom.

For physicians, Dr. Alex Parikh’s story offers a look at a situation many hope never happens: needing to use the disability insurance they have been paying for.

Instead of discussing disability insurance only in theory, this episode follows the experience of a surgeon who purchased a policy earlier in his career, developed a physical condition that affected his ability to operate, filed a claim and then had to decide what his work would look like going forward.