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After more than 100 episodes of the Dental Boardroom Podcast, I’ve learned something important: dentists are hungry for clarity. Clarity in their practices. Clarity in their finances. And ultimately, clarity in how to build a life that isn’t ruled by money, but instead guided by purpose.
That’s why I’m launching a new series—Dental Financial Planning: Turning Chaos into Financial Freedom.
This series comes from a talk I’ve given countless times at study clubs, dental societies, and the California Dental Association. It’s one of the most requested presentations I give, because it tackles the exact challenge most dentists feel every day: your financial life feels like chaos.
You’ve got checking accounts, credit cards, investment accounts, 401(k)s, IRAs, maybe a defined benefit plan, debts, and a dental practice that is both your biggest income engine and your biggest financial responsibility. It’s no wonder it feels overwhelming.
But here’s the truth: with structure and the right planning, that chaos can be turned into freedom.
Financial planning isn’t about predicting the future with perfect accuracy. Life rarely unfolds the way we write it on paper. Instead, it’s about creating a disciplined process of decision-making—one that keeps you climbing the right ladder, not discovering at the end of your career that you’ve been leaning against the wrong wall.
For dentists, financial planning has unique nuances. Your practice is the beating heart of your financial ecosystem. Unlike a corporate employee, you don’t just collect a paycheck. You generate surplus by managing a team, serving patients, and operating a business. That surplus must be stewarded wisely—split between living well today and building wealth for tomorrow.
At PracticeCFO, we call this balance your personal balance sheet. It’s where your practice’s success translates into long-term independence. Assets and debts, investments and loans—all of it shapes your net worth. And ultimately, your net worth isn’t just numbers. It’s the fuel for the life you want to live.
This series will walk through four phases of building a financial plan that actually works for dentists:
Too many dentists overpay in taxes, underutilize their practice’s potential, or fall prey to advisors more focused on selling products than giving objective advice. Financial planning—done right—removes that noise. It organizes your financial ecosystem and attaches meaning to your money.
Because here’s the truth: net worth isn’t self-worth. Money doesn’t create happiness. But when managed wisely, it creates options, security, and the ability to live a life that reflects your deepest priorities.
This series isn’t theory. It’s what my team at PracticeCFO does every day with hundreds of dentists nationwide. It’s the same framework that has helped practice owners accelerate their path to financial independence while reducing stress along the way.
If you’re ready to bring order to the chaos of your financial life, I invite you to join me on this series. Together, we’ll explore the strategies, structures, and systems that can take you from uncertainty to clarity—from chaos to freedom.
Start with Part 1: Assembling Your Team.
Wes knows what's best for dental practices. He's been doing this for a long time and he sees lots of practices. He can tell me how our practice is doing, and what we can do to increase our productivity. With past CPA's, there were no ideas. It was all coming from me, saying "I think I can do better, but I don't know how." I come in to meet with Wes and he says "You CAN do better, and I know how."
PracticeCFO is in hundreds of dental offices around the country. They know what numbers should look like. They know what percentages of payroll, rent and supplies should be, and they will hold you accountable to those numbers, which will really help you stick to your plan and your path of growth and savings. That is invaluable
Whenever something comes up, whether it's building or practice related and we weren't sure where the numbers would go, PracticeCFO has been instrumental in helping us figure that out. I can't say enough of how important that is - that it goes beyond that initial partnership. They make sure this business marriage works.
When I go home from work, I don't spend a whole lot of time stressing about what my books look like, or how much I owe in taxes. By using PracticeCFO, the burden of keeping track of a lot of the big financial numbers and metrics are taken off my plate.
PracticeCFO helped me develop a plan for the future. I have colleagues that work with other accountants that don't have a plan - they just look at the numbers of the practice and that's it. There's no plan for 10, 20 years from now. But with PracticeCFO, you get that. PracticeCFO makes you feel like you're they're only client.
(In reference to his practice sale) What could've been super stressful, wasn't! When picking John and Wes, it was from word of mouth recommendations and other people's experiences from the past that really did it for me. And it turns out that those recommendations were right on the line.
Wes knows the business side of dentistry. His comprehensive plan will organize your personal and professional finances so you can focus on taking care of patients. Massive ROI.
I can’t say enough good things about everyone at PracticeCFO. Everyone on the team is professional, organized, knowledgeable, helpful and kind. They also respond to emails and phone calls immediately and are always happy to help. They have helped me navigate year-to-year as a business owner. PracticeCFO gives me peace of mind that my business is in good hands.
I love Practice CFO! They have helped me obtain a practice and maintain a practice. They are incredible people who are on top of everything and make owning and running the business portion of a practice easy. They couldn’t be better for my business and my sanity. They have every detail of the business and taxes taken care of where all I have to do is show up and follow their easy steps to success!
Practice CFO has the best tools I’ve seen for personal tax and financial planning in addition to top-tier corporate tax and accounting services. I have been very pleased with the level of quality service. They manage my monthly bookkeeping and accounts payable. It is a great system and saves me a ton of time, and it allows us to have monthly financial statements within a week of month end.
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