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The financial markets never stop moving. News about rate cuts, stock surges, inflation reports, and global tensions can make even confident investors second-guess their next move. For dentists, whose time and energy are already divided between managing patients, staff, and practice growth, the added stress of volatile markets can easily lead to emotional decisions.
At PracticeCFO, the focus is simple: help dentists invest with purpose, not panic. By combining financial strategy with discipline and education, the team ensures that every client’s investments serve a clear long-term goal rather than a short-term reaction.
In this post, we will explore how PracticeCFO helps dentists stay calm, confident, and in control of their financial future, no matter what the headlines say.
When the stock market rises quickly, excitement builds. When it falls, fear takes over. These emotional reactions are natural, but they can be destructive. Research shows that most investors underperform the very markets they invest in because they buy high and sell low.
For dentists, who may not have time to follow the financial news daily, emotional investing often looks like:
These habits create instability and reduce long-term returns. The key is not to eliminate emotion altogether but to create systems that prevent it from driving decisions.
At PracticeCFO, investing with purpose means aligning your financial decisions with your life goals, not with market noise. Every portfolio starts with a foundation of intentional planning and structure.
1. A Clear Investment Policy Statement (IPS)
Each client receives an Investment Policy Statement that outlines their risk tolerance, time horizon, and target asset allocation. This document acts as a personal guide through changing market conditions. When the market drops, the IPS reminds clients to stay disciplined rather than reacting out of fear.
2. Strategic Diversification
Diversification is not just about owning a variety of investments. It is about owning the right mix that balances risk and reward. PracticeCFO builds portfolios that combine U.S. and international stocks, value and growth investments, bonds, and other assets. This structure helps smooth returns and reduce volatility over time.
3. Discipline Over Prediction
The firm does not try to predict where markets will move next. Instead, it focuses on maintaining a consistent investment process. As Wes Read often says, “You cannot control the market, but you can control your behavior.”
Market volatility is often viewed as a threat, but it can also be an opportunity for disciplined investors. PracticeCFO’s approach includes several strategies that help dentists use market fluctuations to their advantage.
1. Rebalancing Regularly
Over time, certain assets grow faster than others. Rebalancing involves selling some of what has performed well and buying more of what has lagged. This “buy low, sell high” process enforces discipline automatically.
2. Tax Location Strategies
Not all investment accounts are taxed the same way. PracticeCFO uses advanced software like Tamarack to optimize where investments are held. For example, tax-efficient assets might go in taxable accounts, while income-producing investments may fit better in tax-deferred or tax-free accounts. This strategy can add up to 0.5 to 1 percent in annual after-tax returns.
3. Automatic Contributions
Dentists who automate their 401(k) or defined benefit plan contributions are more likely to reach their long-term goals. Regular contributions ensure consistent investing, even when markets are down. Buying during downturns allows investors to accumulate shares at lower prices, which strengthens returns over time.
Dentists carry unique financial risks. They rely on the profitability of their practice, manage staff payroll, pay down loans, and plan for retirement simultaneously. That level of financial complexity requires a strategy that sees the full picture.
PracticeCFO helps dentists integrate their business and personal finances. By understanding both sides of the balance sheet, the advisory team can align practice cash flow, debt repayment, and investment growth under one coordinated plan. This ensures that investment decisions support, rather than compete with, the health of the practice.
For example, a dentist who plans to sell their practice in five years should have a different investment approach than one who just opened a new office. PracticeCFO tailors each plan to the client’s timeline and lifestyle goals, ensuring that both the current and future versions of the client are taken care of.
The foundation of long-term wealth is consistency. Market downturns, recessions, and global events are inevitable, but they are temporary. What matters most is how investors respond.
The PracticeCFO team encourages clients to:
As Brandon Hobson, Chief Investment Officer, explains, “There is always value under the surface. Even when the headlines look bad, disciplined investors are quietly setting themselves up for future gains.”
By maintaining focus on the plan and ignoring short-term noise, dentists can avoid costly mistakes and achieve steady progress toward financial independence.
What makes PracticeCFO different is not just portfolio management. It is a partnership. Each dentist receives proactive guidance, data-driven insights, and personalized support that goes far beyond investment selection.
From regular portfolio reviews to tax efficiency planning, the team ensures that every financial decision serves a purpose. This creates peace of mind, knowing that your finances are being managed with intention, accuracy, and care.
When you invest with PracticeCFO, you are not just investing in markets. You are investing in a system built to help you make better choices, reduce stress, and stay on track toward long-term freedom.
Financial success for dentists is not about reacting to every market movement. It is about having a plan, trusting the process, and letting time and discipline do the work.
Markets will always move up and down, but your financial plan should not. With PracticeCFO as your partner, you can approach investing with clarity, purpose, and confidence.
Focus on what you can control: saving consistently, diversifying wisely, and following your plan through every market cycle. The result is not just wealth, but peace of mind.Want to learn more about how to stay calm and confident in today’s market?
Listen to this episode of The Dental Boardroom Podcast
Join Wes Read and the PracticeCFO team as they share practical insights on investing with discipline and building lasting wealth for dental professionals.
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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