On this episode, hosts Casey Hiers and Jarrod Bridgeman tackle a topic many dentists would rather avoid: the unexpected death of a practice owner. They stress the critical need for proactive financial and estate planning, not just to protect your business but also to spare your loved ones from a complicated and stressful process.
Jarrod and Casey emphasize the immense value of having a comprehensive team in place to manage both your personal and professional affairs. They share real-world examples of how their clients' foresight has protected their practices and families, ensuring a smooth transition during an otherwise difficult time. Tune in to learn how to secure your legacy and give your loved ones peace of mind.
Announcer:
Hello, everyone. Welcome to the Millionaire Dentist Podcast, brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory. On this podcast, we break down the world of dentistry finances, and business practices to help you become the millionaire dentist you deserve to be. Please be advised, we do speak with an honest tongue and may not be safe for work.
Casey Hiers:
Hello and welcome. This is Casey Hiers back at the Millionaire Dentist Podcast in studio with co-host Jarrod Bridgeman.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's me, Casey. How are you?
Casey Hiers:
You are him.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes. I'm wearing a sweater today. I woke up and it was like 45 degrees. What's that?
Casey Hiers:
Sweater day.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It was nice. I'm a big proponent of fall, autumn. I love colder, cooler weather because the clothes I like to wear tend to be more layered.
Casey Hiers:
What's that do for you?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It hides the fat.
Casey Hiers:
We had to dress for two seasons. We had 30 degree swing, low 42, high 72. It can be fun or challenging, however you want to look at it. But-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Supposed to get the 77 today.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Then back to 90 on the weekend.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
God, we're boring. We're old people talking about the weather.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Oh, the weather.
Casey Hiers:
What should we talk about next? Go and look at the Dow Jones and going to the bank.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Dude, I had some kid in my yard yesterday with a ball.
Casey Hiers:
Get out of my yard old man.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Speaking of which, real quick, tiny little story about that. My great-grandfather, my grandpa, Bob, who lived in Carmichael, Illinois. He had a fence up, and whenever our kids would lose a ball over it, he would just keep it and then give it to us when we came to visit.
Casey Hiers:
Oh, yeah. That's nice.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
I guess it's better than pulling out your pocket knife and just slashing it and throwing it back to the... Yeah. No, we don't have a ton of people around us, but the one. I told the kid, I'm like, "Feel free to come in the back gate, come grab your ball. That's okay."
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Don't linger.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Don't make eye contact. Don't do that.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It opens conversation, so don't look them in the eye.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, you told me earlier today, this morning, that you have to head out early today for not a particularly fun reason. You are having to attend a funeral. And so, that made me start to think about prospects We've talked to, conversations we've had with clients, and that comes to the topic of death or the unexpected happening.
Casey Hiers:
Wow. You want to talk about death today?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I do.
Casey Hiers:
Really uplifting.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes, yes.
Casey Hiers:
Yes. Unfortunately, I'm in a dark suit for a reason of college buddy, fraternity brother, pledge brother, his mom passed away. And one of those things where his dad wasn't really into picture, his mom was his rock. He's been massively successful president of a company. She's very proud of him. And she was in her 80s, but had fell, hip, femur, doing rehab, doing better. She wasn't a beacon of health, but doing better. But then boom, heart attack. Gone. And it'll be sad. I've got my old school handkerchief because I'm kind of tough as nails until I'm not, so I'll be a little weepy.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It's a little different once you're there. When I've had death in my family, I'm usually the solid one right up until I'm at the casket, or whatever it is. But I wanted to ask you-
Casey Hiers:
Casket or urn.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Urn. Sure.
Casey Hiers:
Whatever it is.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
When I bring up-
Casey Hiers:
You only have a couple options.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. The ground up bone fragments, which is not ashes, by the way. Personally, for me, I have not had a close enough death in the family where I had to be involved in any of the planning or the actual funeral part of it. Or even taking care of assets, credits, phone line.
Casey Hiers:
The logistics and business of death.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yes. No, I've not had anybody close enough where I've had to take care of that. Honestly, I wouldn't even know where to begin. I'm hoping that eventually when my parents go, that my brother will just take care of it. That's kind of my goal.
Casey Hiers:
Oh, you're one of those, huh?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah, he still lives in my hometown.
Casey Hiers:
No, it's an unfortunate thing. And my buddy's pretty tough, but he's going to be pretty sad. But unfortunately, there are some parallels with what we do in planning and when the unexpected happens, and all those things. It's uncomfortable. Nobody likes funerals. It can be uplifting because when people come together and are there for each other, human nature and the psychology of it, it can be beneficial. But it's very-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
And most often you tell good stories. It's very rare to be like, man, what a jerk.
Casey Hiers:
This is a buddy like college buddy, golf buddies. This will be a unique interaction today, unfortunately. And my buddy had taken care of a lot of the business and logistics and financial things in her life, so he's got that covered. But man, we talk to a lot of people with what we do, and that comes up a lot. It's kind of twofold. Because we were just in Tennessee, had two wonderful events.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Say Nashville and Knoxville.
Casey Hiers:
Nashville, Knoxville. Yeah, great rooms, great people. And going to be able to help some people directly, and then a lot of people indirectly where they gathered a lot of pearls of wisdom and things to work on in the practice and the financial side.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Well, if you're a new listener and you came for one of those events, thank you for coming. Keep listening.
Casey Hiers:
Oh, yeah. I guess some of those people do-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
They might.
Casey Hiers:
... sign up for the old podcast.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah. Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
But talking about this topic, which can be a little uncomfortable, and we've had a couple awkward chuckles because death isn't fun and we won't get too deep on that side of it. But as a practice owner tying it together, a couple older people in the room, they said, "Wow, I've been looking for something like this. Do you guys do this?" And I said, "Yes, but we're a boutique operation. We are very selective and we can't help everybody in the room." But he said, "Wow, I wish I would've learned or found out about this sooner." And we hear that many times a month.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I'm sure you hear that every time you meet somebody, just about.
Casey Hiers:
The people that come to our events, or new clients, like, "Wow, if I just would've found you guys sooner." And the fill in the blank is, yes, you could have retired years earlier with millions more. And so, getting the finances correct and the business side of your business right, that's really important. And enjoying cash flow today and enjoying getting things mastered, lower overhead. We talk about that all the time. That's important immediately. But another thing the person said was, "I handle everything. My spouse doesn't really know much." And they just had a minor surgery, and they said, "It crossed my mind, what if?" What if?
What if something happens to me? And I said, "Unfortunately, yes, some of our executives have been to client's funerals." We've had young people pass, meaning in their 30s, unexpectedly with families. We've had older people pass. But one thing that they say is, "You guys have helped us so much. The stress that the deceased had not had because you guys helped, was incredible. But also, having everything in one place, having a full team to help during this terrible time." Like you said, you're hoping your brother does that for you.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's right.
Casey Hiers:
Unfortunately, we try to help people on this side of eternity. But for those left behind still here, it is a breath of fresh air to have a team to help, and so that ties in.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
And they will be able to approach that stuff again unemotionally. And just provide the information too, which is a nice touch. Because in those moments, a lot of times you don't know you're left from your right because you're so engrossed in this situation.
Casey Hiers:
Well, think about this. If you're a practice owner and you pass away, not only is the immediacy and things that need to get done, but then a lot of times there's a fire sale of the practice. And that's unfortunate. And what we have experienced personally on more than one occasion, is having spent years getting the practice correct, cash flow, overhead, all of those factors, but then being able to help the spouse not have a fire sale, but have a strategy to keep the practice going while also looking to transition in a way that you're not getting crushed. Does that make sense?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right. Yeah, for sure. I wanted to ask you for, let's say... Without naming names, obviously. When we bring on new clients and the spouse may have had blinders on for most of their adult life in terms of what their spouse does in their practice, what they do at home, where the cash is going and all that kind of stuff. You've told me how much stress it's relieved from the practice owner. What have you heard from the spouse now that they've actually involved and see what's going on more than as to prior where they didn't really involve themselves whatsoever?
Casey Hiers:
It's interesting. A lot of times we joke, a spouse may work in the office or they may not know where the office is located. And with us, it doesn't matter where they fall, we want them involved because it's not just the practice, it's the personal side and the tax side and all that. But ultimately, a lot of the spouses that claim they don't know much about it, they actually enjoy being brought in, being heard, and being educated. That's a big part of what we do.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
We educate them and almost give them maybe a level of self-confidence to be able to participate, and that could just be done due to the lack of knowledge they had.
Casey Hiers:
It's very well received, and people typically like that. And it also takes a lot of stress off the relationship. Because something else, a lot of times the practice owner who also runs all of the finances tells me again that what if, but there's a little frustration I think on both sides. But it works a lot of times. "Well, I'm not involved. They have it." And the person that's doing it like, "Oh, it just works out." Ultimately, it takes a lot of pressure off of the relationship, because now they've talked about some uncomfortable things. They have third party oversight, they have a team.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
And things are out in the open too.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Very much so. It's incredible just that basic documents we looked at a lot of times some of the people we're vetting, they don't know basic things. Which is just going through the process of gathering documents and going through our process, it illuminates so many things like, "Wow, I didn't know this. I didn't know this. I didn't know that. That's insane. I can't believe I've been running things like this."
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I'm asking a question that's going to have probably a super obvious answer. But let's say for the practice owners out there who do not work with us and they might have a personal financial advisor, then they have a business financial advisor, a business advisor. What are they not getting that we bring to the table with having everything in-house in terms of this topic?
Casey Hiers:
Typically, it's more transactional. Most of the time people we speak with, you're right, they do have these external people. But like we've talked about, they're working in a vacuum. They're transactionally executing the task that they are trained in, but they're not looking at big picture, they're not looking at the forest. There's not an overarching strategy. And so, when the unexpected happens, and there's a... Beyond death, there's a lot of little things that can happen that can really throw a curveball for a practice owner. But when those things happen and you have people who understand the overarching strategy and how to best help somebody master their situation, be committed to mastery.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Because it's not just about the practice. You might have kids in college, or you just recently bought a new home and you've got a large mortgage again, or you have cars. There's so many other things that need to be thought about beyond just, let's quickly sell this practice and get some cash.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah, like I said earlier, it's twofold. You want to get this right yesterday, because the benefit of it is incredible. But when the unexpected happens, or tragedy strikes, you're just in such a better place where you can focus on the grieving and the mourning, and making sure family's okay emotionally and those things. You're not worried about the other-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Whats going to happen to them after the fact?
Casey Hiers:
... 49 things that need to be addressed. You can focus on the video or photo collage versus where's the life insurance? What do I do with this?
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Is my wife still going to have the house?
Casey Hiers:
What's going to happen to the practice? Huge questions that none of us like to think about. And unfortunately, the older we all get, we experience things like needing to go to the funeral home more often.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
I was going to ask you about that too. These are topics... This topic in particular is the fellow you met that was in his 60s. That makes sense he's thinking about that. He's getting a little bit up there, not elderly by any means. But I'm 42. Don't tell anybody. I'm 42, and this is still a topic that I don't tend to think about because I'm still in that mindset of, "Oh, I'm a young guy. Nothing's going to happen to me." But there are people my age having heart attacks.
Casey Hiers:
We have some clients in... I would say in their early to mid-40s who they've been working with us for a while. And then they're some specialists, they're making well over a million dollars. Or maybe some GPs that are making six, 700. And even in their 40s they look up and go, "I want to make sure if, God forbid, something happens to me, that everything is in place and I'm ready." And it goes back to what people should want. But then we hear that from I'd say maybe 25% of younger practice owners where, yeah, that is on their mind because they're committed to mastery and dentistry. They're good at a lot of things. And they're humble enough to realize their own mortality, and that's important to them. Those are awkward. And they literally go, "Hey, if something happens to me, what's in place for my spouse and my family?" And we've had experience in that, so unfortunately, well, here's what that looks like. But it can be comforting where it's like, okay, so that side of things is in place. It's-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
It's not a fun topic, but a necessary topic.
Casey Hiers:
Yeah. Again, you can put your head in the sand or you can look at things. And all those commercials about getting a will online, that's a good start. But ultimately, some people don't even... They don't want to think about it so they don't even address it.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Right. Because doing it makes it seem real.
Casey Hiers:
And it's foolish. It's foolish, right? Especially if you, again, own a practice or multiple practices and you have a significant revenue stream coming in, but also some debt and some other things, it can be stifling. And I've met people who, somebody was very successful, a great family person, they passed and it was a tire fire. Because the person had done so well, but then had no planning, and it was a little bit of a disaster.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
[inaudible 00:14:00] everywhere.
Casey Hiers:
And some hidden curveballs and, "Oh, I didn't know about this, didn't know about that." And again, sensitive topic. But as a listener, you've got to get out of your own way and make sure those things are covered. And again, not everybody works with us, but you need to make sure you talk to your external team. And, "Hey, if fill in the blank happens, what is in place? What does that look like?" And ultimately, what you're saying is, I want to make sure that you're stepping up and helping, not just transactionally doing my taxes, my personal financial planning, consulting in the practice, all those things.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, this brings me to the most important question of all. In your will that you have, what are you going to leave me?
Casey Hiers:
Well, I think that we've amended it a couple times, but it's probably been four or five years. I guess the next time I do it, [inaudible 00:14:51] I'll have to find something fun where you'll go, "That SOB. Ha, ha. I can't believe he actually put that in there." We've got golf clubs humidor [inaudible 00:15:02]. I've got some fun things that I like to put different people's names. And my wife looks me like, "Really?"
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's [inaudible 00:15:08] is. That's so funny.
Casey Hiers:
Well, yeah. My humidor is full of excellent cigars. Sorry, dental community, I know you're not promoting smoking cigars.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's bad.
Casey Hiers:
My 10-year-old busted my chops last night because I played-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah, as she should.
Casey Hiers:
... nine holes, had a cigar. I'll have a couple a month, maybe. But yeah, she-
Jarrod Bridgeman:
She got you good.
Casey Hiers:
"Daddy, I smell a cigar."
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Casey, thank you so much. We've got some other great events coming up, as we always do. You and I and our team have been working really hard looking at 2026 and beyond. But coming up very soon, we've got our events in Virginia that's happening.
Casey Hiers:
If you're listening from Virginia, you're too late.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Yeah.
Casey Hiers:
Because we're there.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
We sold out. It's tonight is when it's happening. So there might be a spot in Richmond, maybe. If you're lucky. After that, we're coming to Georgia, we're going to be in Houston and San Antonio. If you're listening and you're in Houston area, we've only got a handful of seats left for that one, maybe four or five. That one went quick. Please, please join us so you can learn about mastering the business side of dentistry. You'll get to speak to either Casey or one of his awesome team members. And again, we can't help every single person, but you're going to walk out of there with a handful of knowledge that's going to improve both you and your practice.
Casey Hiers:
We tell people what they need to hear, not what they want to hear.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
Exactly.
Casey Hiers:
And they tend to appreciate it.
Jarrod Bridgeman:
That's right. Casey, thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy... I know you're going golfing tomorrow, so that'll be fun. And while the weather's kind of nice for now, it'll be great.
Casey Hiers:
Yes.
Announcer:
That's all the time we have today. Thank you to our guests for their insight and for sharing some really great information. And thank you to you, the listener, for tuning in. The Millionaire Dentist Podcast is brought to you by Four Quadrants Advisory. To see if they might be a good fit for you and your practice, go on over to fourquadrantsadvisory.com and see why year after year they retain over 95% of their clients. Thank you again for joining us and we'll see you next time.
