MD Preferred Blog

If you’re like most Americans, ringing in the New Year also means resolving to change old habits, or start new ones. Year after year, getting one’s personal finances in order consistently ranks as one of the top 5 New Years resolutions. As with any resolution, the hard part is not making the promise, but actually putting it into action – consistently. Many of us have suffered through overcrowded gyms in January, only to see attendance slowly wane in February and March. But, if you are like the majority of Americans who will commit to get your finances in order in 2011, here are five concrete steps you can take now to get you on the right track. 

The finance reform has created many questions regarding financial advisors. This article discusses the differences between a fiduciary advisor and a suitability broker. A registered investment advisor (RIA) works under the Investment Advisor Act of 1940. A broker-dealer works under the Securities Act of 1933. The Investment Advisor Act of 1940 requires the advisor to act as a fiduciary and therefore act in the best interest of the client. Generally an ongoing relationship is developed when working with an RIA. The RIA provides unbiased advice about the investments being managed and directs the investments based on the goals of the clients. 

Medicare and Medicaid reimbursements continue to drop. HMO penetration in many areas is increasing. Malpractice premiums are rising at an alarming rate. And, healthcare reform will soon overwhelm private practice groups across the country with 31 million new patients. In response, many physicians are turning to the Physician Wellness Group and their unique office based nutrition business model that enables a practice to provide additional health care options to their patients. The Physician Wellness business model offers full-time business support, income not tied to insurance reimbursements, separate tax benefits; all with no additional overhead. 

Information is the key to success when a practice opportunity comes along. When entering the interview process a candidate can expect the practice to have their list of questions in hand. It is equally important that the physician candidate be prepared to gather the information he will need to make a career decision. How much, how long, how many are questions that usually come to mind:  

On November 9, 2010, Realty Times, a respected national source for information about the current Real Estate market, published an article titled, “Value in Homeownership”, based on the recently released 2010 National Association of REALTORS® Profile of Home Buyers and Sellers survey. The article made several good points which are pertinent to our local market. Here are some comments that our readers might find interesting. 

With only a few weeks left in 2010, it’s a time not only of reflection on the past year’s accomplishments, but also a time to prepare your finances for the upcoming year. Here are a few things you can do to make 2010 a more profitable year, and put you on the right financial track for 2011. 

Increasingly, patients are turning to the internet to find ranking tools that measure a wide range of healthcare outcomes and delivery systems. In Illinois, a new web site that ranks hospitals on a wide range of performance and cost parameters was launched recently. It was so popular that it crashed twice before it managed to get up and stay up. 

I can insure my personal auto and an insurance company can compute with relative accuracy what they need to charge in premiums to make it worth their while. I’ll bet I could insure a race horse or a champion bull. Someone out there could figure out the commercial value of the animal and compute a premium. But the insurance wouldn’t be for the health of the animal but rather for the value of the animal as a commodity.