Ep7 - Savvy ways to keep more of your hard-earned money
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dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: [00:00:00] are you someone who pays way too much in taxes and is looking for ways to lower them, keep listening to hear about some tax strategies to consider. Hello and welcome to the wealth minded MD podcast with your many best friends.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I'm Dr. Lisha Taylor .
Dr. Brittne Halford: And I'm Dr. Brittne Halford.
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dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: All right, this is our life is a lifing segment. And as always, we are going to kick things off with a little peek into our lives. Brittne. I know that you are this amazing hospitalist for hospital that won't be named. how are things going at your job? I know that you work very crazy shifts because I have tried to get in contact with you and you have told me that you are working
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: , how have things been for you at the hospital?
Dr. Brittne Halford: I have been on teaching recently and I wear a bunch of different hats. [00:03:00] I do a bunch of different things in my role as a hospitalist, but one is teaching residents. And whenever I'm on service, I like to give the residents enough autonomy so that they have the ability to come up with their own decisions.
Dr. Brittne Halford: As clinicians, it is really important that we get comfortable with making a treatment plan and standing in that decision. However, this time on service was a bit challenging because I found that occasionally the residents would anchor on a diagnosis. And the patient wasn't behaving in the way that we would expect them to follow that illness script.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Now I get it. Sometimes patients step out of our illness scripts, but this particular team, I think we were anchoring. Because I also wear the quality improvement hat, I didn't want to get in a situation where now there's a negative outcome, an adverse event. And there's a conversation about did the team anchor on a diagnosis and not pursue other treatment plans?
Dr. Brittne Halford: And we also think about the substitution test. Like, would another clinician have made the same decisions? That was a challenge of trying to balance out, [00:04:00] allowing them to have autonomy, but making sure we didn't miss anything and that we did a thorough workup for our patients. What about you? How's work going for you?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Well, before I answer that to me, it sounds like basically they were taking a long time or not. For folks who were listening, who may not be in medicine, , Brittne, not only is this amazing hotshot doctor, but she also helps to teach new doctors and younger doctors. In medicine, that's what we call the residents.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: She's basically trying to see patients, but trying to teach doctors at the same time, which we both do, but I think it's, it's, it's interesting whenever you do it in hospital setting for you, Brittne, I'm always going back to my days in training and being at the hospital and seeing patients and rounding on patients, which basically means going from patient room to patient room with for what seemed like hours and me wanting to die inside because I was so bored.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Not saying that seeing patients is for that part was fine, but just you would see the patient and that would take a certain amount of time and then you'd go out of the patient room and then you'd have to discuss it and you'd get pimped which means people would ask you [00:05:00] random obscure medical questions that maybe you didn't know the answer to so you're like sweating and it's basically a pop quiz every time you go to a patient room and it just like was not enjoyable for me but apparently you like it because this is like what you've decided to do for your career so I'm always interested in how that goes for you.
Dr. Brittne Halford: I think for me. Teaching is challenging, but I also feel that there's a missed opportunity sometimes because when we practice medicine, research has shown that what we learn in our resident training years is how we will practice as an attending. So I just feel that there's a need and a desire to. impact the residents so that they can think about the quality improvement so that they don't actually anchor and that they can treat patients, with ethical care, not to say that they're not and that other clinicians are not sharing these things, but I think I bring a certain identity to medicine that some clinicians may not share because of who I am.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Congratulations
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I got you. Well, I am not in the hospital. As I said earlier, that was not my forte. I am in the clinic and I'm also [00:06:00] teaching residents and what we call precepting. So they would see patients on their own. Come back to me, tell me, what the diagnosis was or whatever. Sometimes it can be challenging like yesterday, for example, I was precepting and I don't know about you, but I like to leave the clinic by a certain time in the afternoon, I don't even have kids.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So I can only imagine how that is for you and for other physicians in medicine who are parents in general, right? You got a certain time, you got to leave to pick up your kids do things for your family. And I don't even have kids, but I was still like, okay, it's after five,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: how much longer are we going to spend in this patient room? How many more patients do we have? So that can be its own challenge, but I am also precepting and teaching residents, which I do find joy in. I'm also working on some research projects and that has been fun. I, Am a very curious person and when it comes to sports medicine research, which is what I do, I've just been completely fascinated.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: , I'm so excited about this project. I have coming up. I'm so excited about, getting the budget approved, which is his own challenge. It's like, are [00:07:00] y'all gonna give me the money I need? So the answer to that question was yes. So I'm also really happy about that.
Track 1: Congratulations.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: thank you. Thank you.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Thank you. There's a lot of fun things happening, at my job. I also do some student health and something about working with college students. I'm laughing throughout the day. Most of the time they have their own challenges and I'm like, Okay. This is what we're dealing with.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: What happened in your life? What happened with your boyfriend? All right. I was not here for that, this is not why you made this appointment with me, but I get to be your therapist, your psychiatrist, all of these things basically. I think both of us kind of have some fun challenges, shall we say in our own lives, especially when it comes to our jobs.
Dr. Brittne Halford: I didn't know that you worked with college students. Yes, I think that would definitely present its own challenge and they speak their own language. It's like, hold on. Can you really explain like that? Can you say that again in different words so that I can understand?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And we're not even that old, y'all who might be listening. I consider myself still really young, I'm like , I don't really know what you mean by that, but I'm trying to use my context clues. I just want to make sure that I understand. Anyway, that's a [00:08:00] little bit about our life as life, with our careers and our jobs .
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I want to get into Brittne, our money mishaps and confessions. I don't know if we did this one last week, but before we get into our financial focus for the day. I wanted to know if you had any money mishaps you wanted to share, or maybe you just want to ask me if I have money mishaps that I want to share.
Track 1: You always talk about being hot and now it's blank. You're on me, something open and transparent. What's the H what does the H stand for?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Yeah. Humble, humble, open, and transparent.
Track 1: Humble, open and transparent. There we go. So our financial focus for today is a taxes and we. Chatted a little bit before this. I always just don't even know.
Track 1: We have a CPA and she gives us these quarterly estimates , our mid year review and our end year review, but I am always shocked,
Track 1: at how much we have to pay. So I am, looking forward talking a little bit more about this. Do you ever have that experience where you've overpaid or underpaid on your taxes?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Yeah. Unfortunately [00:09:00] it happens in the, part where I seemingly am always underpaying, which is kind of like a , humble moment for me, because. My dad is a tax professional, I mean, he doesn't work for the IRS. , but he does work for the department of defense, like the federal government.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: He looks through tax contracts that the government might have with various different companies. But I say that to say, I have a father that specializes in taxes. And yet I still cannot seem to get the tax situation just right. I think the issue is that. If I only had income from one source, like if I only was employed, like in my physician job, it was very, very easy or much easier, for me to figure out how much taxes I owe.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Partly because my job would just take that out of my paycheck. But I think what makes it challenging for me personally is that I have so much variable income, like, from different sources or. Consulting gigs with different companies or work that I'm doing on the side that it's hard for me to predict from year to year, how much income I'm going to make.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: If I don't know how much income is coming in, it's hard for me to plan ahead and try to, take that [00:10:00] money or have that money reserved, I think for me it was underpaying yet again , which I suspected this year towards the end of the year, I was like, man, I'm going to have to pay some of my taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And I just got to the point where I accepted it and started just saving money on the side for this tax bill that I knew was upcoming. My mom, whenever we would get into the car, sometimes she would say, Don't do as I do, do as I say. That's sort of my sentiment now with this episode is like, don't do what I do, don't underpay on your taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: we're going to talk about in our financial focus about ways to avoid my money mishap, which is underpaying on my taxes and some tax strategies that you might want to consider. And then, I'm going to try to take my own advice.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah. And if you're shocked like me at the end of the year regarding your tax bill, then I just want to say it's okay. I'm right there with you and just give yourself some grace and we'll strive for better next year.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: For a lot of physicians and it might be true for people in other professions as well. When you transition from trainee to attending or when you transition, if you're not a physician, if you [00:11:00] transition from making the. Average household income, which I think is around 60 or 70, 000 to let's say making six figures or more.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Obviously that change in income usually comes with a change in tax brackets. For a lot of people, it's that first year of paying taxes in that new tax bracket. That can be shocking, it's shocking because when you look at your paycheck, you're like, wow, I thought I would get more than that. Right?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So your job may be withholding more than you thought. And then at the end of the year, or maybe when you are filing your taxes you look at the total amount of taxes you paid. And you're like, Oh, Oh, that's a lot. I have some friends from high school who, love tax time,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: cause they're getting refunds or they're eligible for all these different tax credits that I'm not eligible for. I'm like, wow, , you guys are excited. I'm like not excited. This is not a fun time for me.
Track 1: I would say for your friends, that's a moment of education. Like you should not be excited for this refund because you just gave a loan and you could have used that money to be working for you throughout the year to invest, et cetera. , I [00:12:00] used to also. Be excited about the refund until I realized that I just gave somebody some money that I should have had in my pocket.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I talked to one of my physician friends about this and I was like, he was like very excited. We're not very excited, but just like, he wasn't as depressed. Let's say as I was when it comes to tax time. And I was like, aren't you getting ready to pay this tax bill? And he goes, well, Lisa, you know, I never have to pay.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I always get a refund. And I was like, I mean, I don't need to know all your business, but like, is it like a small refund or is it like enough where you can like book an international vacation? And he was like, it's probably enough to book an international vacation.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And I was like, you know, you just gave a tax free loan because you know what you and I would say about this. Right? And he goes, you know, at least at a certain point. I just like the peace of mind. He was like, you know what? I could do all of this and not get the refund. But at the end of the day, just for me missing out on a little interest or missing out on this, it's not going to move the needle in my financial life.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And I just like the peace of mind and knowing that [00:13:00] when I file my taxes each year, I'm not going to have to pay. And I'm going to get a little money back that maybe I didn't necessarily plan for that. I can use to My summer vacation. And so for him, it was like he understood the downside of overpaying on your taxes, which is you're giving the government an interest free loan.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: But he also understood the downside of not paying enough and having to have this tax bill. And for him, he was like, okay, maybe it's ideal to try to get it just right. So you're not having to pay and you're not getting a huge refund. But for him, it was like, yeah. Even if I do get this huge refund, I'm okay with that.
Track 1: Yeah. I mean, to each his own. I can definitely understand the psychological benefits and I say that money is not all logical. A lot of it is psychological and you have to do what works for you.
Track 1: this threshold, say that you're a medical student, but you're married to someone who is not in medicine, um, and they're working, or you are a resident physician, that there are still tidbits that you'll be able to apply to your taxes this year in your tax strategy when you become that high earning medical professional.
Track 1: Okay, Leisha, now I want, cause I know your dad, you know, is, is a tax professional tax accountant. And so you've been reared, you know, from, from birth learning about the tax code. Tell us some of the nuances so that we can all just have like a general understanding of how this actually works for us.
Track 1: really going to focus on tax strategies for doctors and high income professionals, right? Even if you don't fall into this threshold, say that you're a medical student, but you're married to someone who is not in medicine, and they're working, or you are a resident physician, that there are still [00:14:00] tidbits that you'll be able to apply to your taxes this year in your tax strategy when you become that high earning medical professional.
Track 1: Okay, Leisha, cause I know your dad, is a tax professional tax accountant. And so you've been reared, from birth learning about the tax code. Tell us some of the nuances so that we can all just have a general understanding of how this actually works for us.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I'll start with some of the basics, even though I think most people know this beginning part that the tax system in general is a progressive system, meaning like the more you earn, the more you're going to pay in taxes, which I'm sure you and I have had conversations about. Lots of experience with also some of the basics of like your tax rate. So the percentage that you pay depends on your marital status, ? Are you single? Are you married? Are you filing jointly with your spouse or separately from your spouse? Are you a head of household? Meaning? Is there a dependent? Is there a child or an elderly family member that you were caring for?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And which thing you fall into, can have a huge factor on how much you're [00:15:00] going to pay in taxes. So there are those sort of preliminary things, and then there, I think there are some other things in terms of your marginal tax rate and your effective tax rate, one is just the average.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Great that you pay in taxes and one is the highest amount that you pay on that last bit of income. A lot of people listening probably already know that one of the things that I wanted to really talk about was some of these nuances for doctors specifically when it comes to these different tax rates.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: When I was, younger and I first started paying taxes, I would really focus on the federal tax rate, I would look up what's my tax rate. And oftentimes what pops up is federal. When I became an attending physician, when I started making more money.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I became keenly aware of these other taxes that I was paying aside from federal taxes. I had this vivid memory of emailing another physician that I knew was really good in taxes and also talking to my dad about the same issue and saying, Hey, you know what? My brother, was paying a lot in taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: What can we do to lower them? And it was so funny because my dad on the [00:16:00] surface was like, he doesn't probably pay that much in taxes. This other doctor that I knew was really good in taxes. I asked him and he also says, your brother probably doesn't pay that much in taxes. And when we broke things down, we saw that, okay, my brother's federal tax rate wasn't that high, not that high as relative, but my brother's federal tax rate was manageable, let's say, but then when you factored in state taxes, FICA taxes, Medicare taxes, self employment taxes, then all of a sudden that does creep up. So my long winded way of saying this is. There are these other taxes that I didn't really pay attention to when I made less money that now play a big role.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: , I grew up in Florida, so there was no state taxes. I now live in Georgia. There are state taxes. I used to live in California. There's a lot of state taxes over there , and so it's the state tax rate. That can add another five to 10 percent that you're paying in taxes that I think is something for physicians to keep in mind.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Also these payroll taxes, which are FICA taxes and Medicare taxes, which [00:17:00] basically means you're paying into the social security system and you're paying into the Medicare system when you're a physician, as you start making a certain amount of income, those tax rates change.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: The amount that you pay in social security changes because it taps out after a certain income. So you only pay that social security tax until you reach a certain income threshold, and then they stop taking out that tax, which is why for a lot of physicians midway through the year, you may notice that your paycheck increases a little bit,
On the flip side, once you start making a certain amount of money, the amount that you pay for Medicare can increase. Right? And so it's like, oh, shoot, taxes, tapping out or capping out and the other taxes increasing. And if you're like, People like you and I, Brittne, who have money on the side, that's considered self employment income.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And then There's a different tax rate that you're paying on that. So I think for me, for a lot of physicians or high income earners who could be listening to this, I think one of the first things that I would tell them and one of the first things that my dad would tell them is to make sure that you understand all of the different taxes that you're paying [00:18:00] and how those tax rates may change.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah, I think that's really important. Sometimes when you talk about these specific numbers and all of these alterations and when it's going to cap out and when it's going to increase, you may have eyes that gloss over . As medical professionals, so many other things to be concerned about. so many other things to be concerned about. And then if you not only just think about your career, but also the other things like our home life, et cetera, it can cause someone to feel overwhelmed in which they just don't want to think about it. But the reason why this is really important as Leisha is outlining is not so that you can know.
Dr. Brittne Halford: All of the specific numbers, but if you're someone who's a high earning professional and you feel like we do like, oh crap, I gotta pay in at the end of the year, that there are ways in which you can leverage these tax nuances to decrease your taxable income and to just incorporate that into your decision making.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So for example, working. My mother is always like, Brittne, working. My mother is always like, Brittne,, you should not work anymore because you know, they're just going to take all of it away in taxes. I'm like, mom, [00:19:00] know, that ain't how it works. Like really know that because of the marginal tax rate, that's not how it's going to work.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Only a portion of that income is going to be taxed at a higher level. If we flow into that tax bracket, one of the reasons why I work more to, and we'll talk about a four 57, but why I work more so that I can reach those thresholds is because that's part of my tax strategy. If I have access to a four 57.
Dr. Brittne Halford: 401k, right? basically like a 401k, it has a few different nuances that we can get into later on another episode, but it allows me to put away pre tax income is not only can I put that money into that retirement account so that I can have the tax free growth, but it also allows for me to save not only on the. Federal taxes, but also on the FICA taxes. That's about what 6. 2 percent for social security, 1. 5 for Medicare tax. Altogether, that's like about 7. 6 percent that I will be getting in return because I'm saving [00:20:00] that amount on the taxes. And if you think about investing, yes, the stock market is doing much better now, but we typically estimate about a seven to 10 percent growth. So we kind of. Ways out. Not only do I save it on the taxes, but I can also put that money into, an account to work for me. So all of it to say is just when you're leveraging the tax code, it's about decreasing that expense. Lisha is highlighting that this is part of that calculations of how to understand your expenses.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Yeah, absolutely. It's, knowing that there's different kinds of taxes. And I think once you, to your point, know the different kinds of taxes, you can then say, okay, what's a way that I can reduce this one or what's a way I can reduce that one. And as we start talking about ways to reduce these different taxes, you bring up a really good point that one of the best ways to do that.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: One of the first ways you should consider doing that is taking advantage of what we call certain deductions, and I think that when you, , reach a certain income level, you're starting to think to yourself, or you start to realize, or maybe your tax professional has brought it to your [00:21:00] attention, that there are certain tax deductions that everybody can take advantage of.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And there are certain tax deductions that only certain people can take advantage of in certain situations. So it's like, all right. If you don't want to become some tax professional guru, and you're kind of at the point where you're like, okay, Lisha, just tell me what I need to know.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I think one of the things that I would say is why don't you try to focus on some of these deductions that you know, you can take advantage of and utilize regardless. For a lot of people it's maxing out or contributing the maximum to some of these tax advantaged accounts or what you were calling Britney, these pre-tax accounts.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And those are things like, your work 401k or 4 0 3 B, you talked about utilizing a 4 57 B. Some people talk about an HSA or an FSA or whatever, but my point is that there's all these different accounts that. Give you certain advantages. One of them is lowering your taxes in the current year.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: The other advantage, as you alluded to, Brittne is putting you in position to build your net worth by allowing you to invest money in a tax protected manner. So it's like you're saving money in taxes and you're building your net worth. And you're investing [00:22:00] in a tax efficient manner. I think when you talk about, Oh, okay, this is a way that I can do all three of those things, I think it's something that we want to make sure that doctors are taking advantage of, and maybe you are taking advantage of your 401k or your 403b, but maybe you're not taking advantage of.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: A 457B, you're not taking advantage of an HSA. You're not taking advantage of an FSA or a dependent care FSA, maybe you've heard of some of these accounts and not others. So this is your opportunity to maybe say, okay, let me learn about this account. Let me ask my tax professional about this account and see if I'm eligible for it.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And if it would be a good fit for me.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah. I love that. One of the things that I also learned. In this whole tax planning or tax strategizing is it requires time because if you want to invest in a 401k or 457b or 403b, whatever it is an HSA FSA, you have to plan that out because if it's November, you're like, Oh, I want to max out my 401k.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Well, actually, do you have the budget and the cash flow to do so? So we are introducing this, at this time for you to implement these strategies for [00:23:00] 2024, so go back if you don't know the details, go back to your HR to say what do we actually have access to and what can I access now so that maybe you can start strategizing for 2024. And if you can't access it now because, the enrollment, open enrollment and period has canceled, what is going to be my strategy for 2025? Ask them what are going to be the limits for the 401k and 403b for 2025? What are going to be the income thresholds? As you mentioned, Not all institutions have a 4 57 B. And some institutions that do have a 4 57 B, for example, my job, you have to meet a certain income threshold. So I only work part-time as a hospitalist. When I got my schedule, I was like, oh, I am never working. This is great
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Must be nice.
Track 1: But then I got that email to say, oh, Dr. Halford, do you want to contribute to a 4 57 B and you don't meet that income threshold?
Track 1: And I'm like, oh. Let me find some open shifts so that can meet this income threshold. Because I understand what my goal is. Like, I don't want to work until 65. I want to have the option to work if I choose to. And in order to do that, I need to be able to maximize my retirement investments. And so I, Increase my shifts so that I can meet that threshold, right?
Track 1: So here's an opportunity for you to go back to HR, say like, what am I not aware of that I can access if I make these small shifts? Maybe it's that you pick up a cute, uh, an additional role or, you know, you work a little bit more so that you can get access to this because you have, you begin with the end in mind and that end is like how much you want in retirement and what you want your life to look like overall.
Track 1: Uh,
Track 1: income threshold. Because I understand what my goal is. I don't want to work until 65. I want to have the [00:24:00] option to work if I choose to. And in order to do that, I need to be able to maximize my retirement investments. So I, Increase my shifts so that I can meet that threshold,
Track 1: so here's an opportunity for you to go back to HR, say like, what am I not aware of that I can access if I make these small shifts? Maybe it's that you pick up an additional role or, you work a little bit more so that you can get access to this because you begin with the end in mind and that end is like how much you want in retirement and what you want your life to look like overall.
Track 1: Uh,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Yeah. So I think you're highlighting a lot of the benefits in that, a lot of people focus, as we mentioned, solely on retirement accounts, which is a good account, obviously, or one K or oh, three B, you put the money in tax free and if you're contributing the maximum to this account, which as of 2024 is, you know, 23, 000 and you're in the, let's say 30 percent tax bracket, then you're saving what 30 percent times 23.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I don't like doing math on the spot, but some amount of money, which I think is like six or seven grand in taxes by, , contributing the maximum, to that account. [00:25:00] And one of the perks of a four 57 B is you can stuff another 23, 000 into that account. It's not a retirement account.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: But it is a pre tax account. With that account, you put the money in tax free, it grows tax free, and you can take it out even before you retire. Cause it's not a retirement account, right? You can take that money out, get that money back when you leave your employer. So if you're someone who wants to retire early, or you stop working because you're raising your kids or doing other things, when you leave that employer, you can say, okay, I want the money.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And that four 57 B, all as a lump sum or divided evenly over 10 years. You look at the distribution options and we should probably do a whole episode about the pros and cons of four 57 B. So I'll try to not get into it now, but I mentioned this as like, okay, this is another pretext account that could save me potentially another six or 7, 000 in taxes each year.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So I got my four three B, I got my four 57 B. My health savings account, which is an HSA, and the amount that you can put in depends on if you're married, if you're single, that sort of thing. You have a flexible spending account, which maybe you do or don't have access to, a dependent care [00:26:00] FSA, you
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: that's a pretext account. You could put money in to pay for daycare expenses , or nursing home expenses for your parents. That's an account that you may want to consider. I think the first step for how can I lower my taxes is understanding the different taxes you may have to pay.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And then the second thing is Taking advantage of some of these pre tax deductions that you can get oftentimes through your job. And then the next 1 is, as you alluded to, Brittne, maybe starting to do some tax planning throughout the year. So that you can be more proactive and not reactive.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So it's not every April. You're looking at your. Tax bill and going, Oh, shoot, I need to lower my taxes or getting mad at your tax professional because you're like, Hey, you're supposed to be helping me lower my taxes. Your tax professional is like, Hey, my job is to file your taxes. My job is not to make your taxes lower.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: If you want tax planning, then that requires strategy that requires us to meet throughout the year that requires a little bit more planning. And it probably requires more money. If you're going to do that, if you're someone who's motivated. To say, I need to find ways to lower my taxes. There are certain things I could do on my own, but there are certain strategies that you may not even be aware [00:27:00] of that you could utilize, and maybe you do want to hire that out, that's fine.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: But you need to figure out whether you hire it out or you do it yourself. How can I be more proactive? What are the things that I can start thinking about now so that I can put them in place within 2024? To utilize to lower my taxes because you can't wait until April and say, let me lower my taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: . A lot of these things have to be done within the calendar year and they have to be usually done throughout the year. so It's like, okay, I'm going to try to do some tax planning. I'm going to understand the tax code. Or start learning parts of the tax code. I'm gonna try to maximize some of these deductions and I'm gonna start doing some tax planning so that I'm in a position to lower my taxes the next time I file.
Track 1: Yeah. I love that. I don't know if this happened to you or not, but I remember, one year I was like, Oh, let me like document all of these donations and all of these other details so that I could itemize. Then when I review my tax, I'm like, , you just gave me the standard deduction!
Track 1: I'm Like, yeah, you didn't have enough expenses in order to itemize, I don't know, do you itemize your taxes or do you take the standard deduction? Like What's your expenses. in order to itemize, I don't know, do you itemize your taxes or do [00:28:00] you take the standard deduction? Like What's your approach and what advice would you give to someone if they were trying to plan this and do this on their own so that they can figure out which one they should choose, itemization or standard deduction?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So I think for those listening who maybe didn't realize there was a difference, right? When you are inputting all your income and subtracting out any sort of expenses or deductions that you have, then you have what the government calls your adjusted gross income. And the government says, okay, we're not going to make you pay taxes on that amount.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: We're going to let you take another deduction. We're going to decrease some of the income that you have to pay taxes on. We're going to shield some of your income from taxes and the amount that we shield. Is either going to be the amount of the standard deduction or it's going to be itemized deductions itemized as you're going through and you're going through each different deduction in the tax code and trying to take advantage of it.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Standard deduction is like, we're going to give you a set amount, and which one you choose depends on how many deductions you have. If you have enough, if you can get a bigger discount by itemizing, then you itemize, if you don't get a bigger discount by itemizing, then you take the standard you're asking me, Brittne, which one I chose, I chose the one that saved me the [00:29:00] most money, which was itemizing my taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I was shocked. I think it's because I had a lot of business income or a decent amount. I should say of a business income this year. So I had a lot of business deductions and things that I could take advantage of, including the qualified business deduction. I also paid a lot in state taxes cause I spent half the year living in California.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I actually had to pay state taxes in Georgia and California. Not fun. Don't recommend. And I am Christian and I tithe. So I give 10 percent of my, income to the church. so I actually had quite a bit of charitable. donations. I don't keep track of me giving out individual money, like a donation to the Girl Scouts.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Somebody asked me for money on the street, right. I'm not writing that down. That's not even deductible anyway. I go to a church and I pay my tithes online. At the end of the year, they automatically give me what's called a giving statement, or they give me access to a giving statement, which makes my life easy because then I'm able to say, okay, this is the total amount that I donated.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And I was like, wow, I gave that much this year. It's like, wow, Mike, Mike, no wonder church is doing well segue to answer your question, [00:30:00] I do write down business expenses and things, cause those are things I want to deduct. At itemizing just because when I factor in. State taxes I'm paying, business deductions and stuff, and then my charitable giving, it often puts me over that threshold,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I'm not married. The standard deduction threshold is a lot smaller for people who are single than people who are married. So I'm curious as to what that means. Since you're married, do you and your husband do the standard or do you all itemize?
Track 1: We itemize, and the reason why is because we own a home,
Track 1: and property taxes and mortgage interest and all of that. So we want to make sure that we can gather those deductions as well as we also have the charitable giving. My husband sits on a board of an organization, and there's required for the board members to make a donation to the organization.
Track 1: So there's a lot that we offer in charitable giving. We could probably talk about this in another way, like ways to optimize your charitable giving tax deductions. But there was a time in which we did not take the itemization because the standard deduction was, much higher for us. However, I think that there are some ways in which you can DIY it and [00:31:00] figure it out. If you are a homeowner or if you have a desire to give to a charitable organization and you really want to take itemized list, then to meet with a tax Professional if you want to or just figure out what the standard deductions are for that year. For 2023 Mary filing jointly is 27, 700. And then singles for 2024 is 14, 600. But if you want to DIY this, basically, you can take those standard deductions and look at your charitable giving, look at your other business expenses.
Track 1: If you have a private practice or have 1099 income, then there are ways that you can do your own calculations throughout the year to make sure that you have more expenses than that standard deduction so that you can take the itemized deduction.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I think that's really helpful. We got doing some tax planning throughout the year. We got, maximizing. Your deductions being strategic about whether you're going to take the standard versus itemized deduction, understanding some nuances in the tax code.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: 1 of the things or a couple of things that I've also want to say is that it's really important to stay up to date, which I think is what you were alluding to, even with. The different deductions, things change each year. So [00:32:00] making sure that you're up to date on how much can I contribute to my retirement accounts or how much is the standard deduction this year.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And you don't necessarily have to know those numbers off the top of your head. Oftentimes this is easily Google able, right? Or if you're doing taxes yourself through TurboTax or H& R Block or whatever, they have that information. Obviously, if you have a tax professional, they know that.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: But I think it's making a decision of, am I going to hire this out or am I going to do this myself? Am I going to DIY it, do it myself, or I going to hire a tax professional? And if I decide to hire a tax professional, am I hiring a tax professional to file my taxes or am I hiring a tax professional to hire my taxes and help me with tax planning throughout the year?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And that's a decision that you have to make. Sometimes people ask me, well, Lisha, how much should I pay? . I have seen such a wide range in costs and we'll talk about this in a future episode. The costs for building a financial team and a tax advisor is included in that.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Brittne's laughing because she pays a lot, , she pays a lot for tax prep and I do my taxes myself. [00:33:00] A part of it is. I think your tax life. is more complicated than mine, right? You have two kids, you have a husband, you and your husband are both employed, but then you also have side income.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: You mentioned he sits on the board. You guys are doing all these fancy maneuvers, like setting up investment accounts for your four year old. complicates your life and you get to a point where you say, I could do this myself, but I don't know if this is the best use of my time and I could make a mistake.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So let me hire this part out, make sure it's done correctly and make sure that I have somebody whose sole job is to focus on this so that they can help me, maximize certain deductions and decrease my taxes. Maybe even more than I could. On my own.
Track 1: Lisha, I, so appreciate that you talked about this because the complication and the peace of mind, for me, that peace of mind is so valuable in hiring this out because yes, I can learn a lot about it. Actual doing. If I. put in a number incorrectly somewhere, or maybe miss a deduction that, I'm eligible for because [00:34:00] this is not something that I do on a day to day basis, that I think that would weigh more heavily on me than the amount that we actually pay our tax accountant. I also want to say that although we pay. A decent amount of money for someone to help us with this, I still got to give her the stuff, right? Trash in is trash out. So as Lisha said, like, you can't be mad at the tax professional if at the end of the year, you have to pay all of this money because you didn't do the work. We meet, we create the plan, but you still have to work the plan. And you also have to review, once they create your taxes, you need to go through to make sure that the deductions were put in properly. You need to go in and make sure that things are accurate. So I don't want you to feel that because you've hired this out, you can be completely blind and lazy with your tax strategy.
Track 1: No, it's still requires for you to work the plan. And this is why we are talking about this episode, because we want you to. take action and make sure that you have these things in place, [00:35:00] or at least have these considerations so that you can have a conversation with your tax professional, and we're actually going to have an episode upcoming about what questions you should ask a tax professional when you're thinking about outsourcing this task so that you can be well equipped for that interview to make sure that it's a person who's going to be best fitted to help you achieve your goals.
Track 1: Thanks.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Yeah.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: The last 2 things I'll say about this in terms of tax strategies for doctors, is to think about, are there some specialized investments or specialized deductions that I may really want to consider? And then the other thing is, What are tax free ways that I can increase my income?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And I think those are the last two buckets that to your point, Brittne, a tax professional may be able to help you out with. Correct me if I'm wrong, it's one of the reasons why you and your husband also for the peace of mind and things like that have decided to pay a tax professional have decided that that is an investment worth making is because.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Oftentimes I find that a lot of physicians can do some of this themselves. They know they should maximize their work 401k. They should consider a [00:36:00] 457b, they have collected their tax rooms throughout the year. They know that they can get a deduction from paying their mortgage interest. They know they get a deduction for paying state taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: They know they get a deduction for, contributing to, five to nine accounts for their kids, college education and some things like that. But they're thinking, okay, Lisha, are there other deductions that I can take because even despite me doing those things, I'm still paying a lot in taxes and I would really like to pay less.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So maybe there are two things that we can do. The first thing is consider hiring a tax professional, especially if you're a physician who has some 1099 income or some side income who can help you take advantage of some of these specialized investments. Brittne, you and I were talking offline about how.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: You and your husband take advantage of certain business deductions and certain things like a cash balance plan, , you and I have talked about how people invest in real estate because that also, has some benefits from a tax perspective. You and I talked about how you rent your home to your business and how you're able to take advantage of that.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: We talked about, hiring kids in your business and why that's a tax break and [00:37:00] why you can take advantage of that and, certain land easements or energy investments and things like that.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So again, I'm not a tax, professional, but I think just being aware that, Oh shoot, there may be other things that I can take advantage of. There are some of these specialized investments and these are some other things that you should think about.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Brittne, did you have anything to add? Cause I know that this is something that I think you and your husband do quite well.
Dr. Brittne Halford: very grateful for the professional, the financial community that we have. We do utilize a cash balance plan, which is basically like a pension. It's a defined benefit plan, and it allows us to put away pretax dollars into this account for retirement. It decreases our taxable income and you could put a lot more money into the account than what you can a 401k or 403b.
Dr. Brittne Halford: And so we both have a W 2 income and we have the 1099 income.
Dr. Brittne Halford: So the cash balance plan just helps us significantly to decrease that taxable income.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: yeah, I really like that. And I think that you mentioned even earlier to me about renting your home to yourself and setting up accounts for your [00:38:00] kids. That's something other doctors may be interested in doing as well. As we wrap up this part of our financial focus, I know it's getting a little long is talking about tax free income increases.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: This is one of the things that I actually spend a lot of time coaching doctors on. Because again, I'm not a tax professional, but I do know a lot about taxes. One of the things that I get asked a lot is, Leisha, can you give me some ways to decrease my taxes? We can talk about different tax deductions and things, but I also like to say, Hey, we may also want to consider ways to get a raise at our job.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: In a tax free way or in a tax efficient way, because maybe part of the solution is lowering your taxes and taking advantage of deductions, but maybe another solution is finding ways to increase your income in a tax free way so that you don't have to rely solely on deductions. The money you get is tax free , just to give you some examples of some tax free income increases, it's, increasing your PTO at your job, increasing your time off,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: If you're getting paid more and you're able to take more time off and basically that increases your income. Thinking about, okay, [00:39:00] can I get more vacation time? Can I get more sick time that I can utilize at my job and still maintain my salary,, increasing your CME money, your continuing medical education money.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Most of us get some allotment of CME money at our job and that money. Is reimbursed tax free, so it's like, okay, if my job was going to give me 3, 000 a year, maybe I try to increase that to 6, 000. Maybe I use my CME dollars to go to a conference and a location that I've always wanted to visit.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And so I can turn my attendance at that conference into a vacation. And since the hotel is already paid for by my job, maybe I can invite my partner or my kids or my friends, and we can do some things, in the evening times or whatever. So now I've turned. This work conference into a vacation that's paid for by my employer,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: and so we talk about increasing CME money. We talk about increasing the retirement match, any money that your job is giving you as a match is given to you tax free. So if they do match, 4 percent and they're willing to go up to 5%, maybe that's something you negotiate, or if you're not contributing the maximum to [00:40:00] your work retirement accounts.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Contributing the maximum is another way for you to get a tax free raise. We talked about in a previous episode, Brittne, how you and your husband are employed, maybe in different places. So you have access to different retirement accounts. Finding out a savvy way to maximize the match at these different places can result in more tax free money.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Thinking strategically about tax free income increases, we're going to have a future episode on about optimizing credit cards and how sometimes credit card rewards and points Can be a great way to get some tax free income increases. These are just some of the strategies that you may want to consider as a physician, who's looking to lower your taxes.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah, I love all of that. Another thing to think about is moonlighting when you pick up those extra shifts versus adding those into your salary.
Dr. Brittne Halford: I just explained that, 150 K was not meeting that threshold for the four 57 B. So I had to pick up extra shifts to meet
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: We didn't know it was 150 K we didn't know if that was the amount is that, are you saying that,
Track 1: You know what? I am an open book. I talk about our numbers often because I feel [00:41:00] like there's just so much money hesitancy and like emotions with money about how much we're making and how much we're taking home. That's why I like to be really transparent about the numbers. In hopes that I empower another woman to be transparent about her numbers, because your number is literally a number today. And that's what this podcast is all about is if you want to increase that number, if you want to decrease your expenses and increase your income, then you are in the right space because we're going to teach you how to do that here. To be open and hot, open and transparent or humble, open and transparent, I'll get it right. One episode, with the schedule that they had built out, it was 150 K that I would make as a salary, and the threshold is 170 5K. So now I've increased that salary, but I've also picked up extra shifts and the administrator is always like, do you want these shifts to be paid out and moonlighting me that they will be paid out in like the next pay period? Or do you want them to be incorporated in your salary? And I'm like, in my salary, because our employer matches 10 percent of our [00:42:00] salary.
Track 1: If I just said, yeah, I want the money now, just pay it out as moonlighting, then I would be missing 10 percent of that money. So you just really want to be informed and use that information to make your decisions.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: yeah, I totally agree with that. To clarify for the audience, you're talking about, at your institution, you have to make 170 something thousand in order to be able to contribute to that four 57 B pre tax account. At my institution, the threshold is much higher.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: It's like 300 or. 400, 000 or something. Just to give the audience descriptor, these, accounts are called deferred compensation accounts for highly paid employees. They want to know that you make a certain threshold amount of money per whatever their standards, you can afford.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: To then invest extra money into this account and you can afford, , the pros and cons and all of that with the account. At different institutions, they have a different threshold of how much you have to make in order to be eligible for that account. And you're saying that when you first made your schedule, you were working part time and you love the fact that you didn't have to work that [00:43:00] much, but then you realize that if you kept that schedule, you wouldn't then be eligible to contribute to this pre tax account, which would then decrease the amount of money that you were investing each year.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And push back your potential date of retirement. So you were thinking, okay, let me maybe work a little bit more so I can meet that threshold then be able to contribute to that account. And you also talked about when you were working more and they gave you the option of 1099 versus W2,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: do you want this to be paid out in 1099 income versus W2, or maybe do you want this to be considered part of your salary? Right. You said, Hey. Actually, salary makes more sense because if I add that to my salary. Then it's the match amount that's based on my salary. So basically if they're going to match 10 percent of my salary and not 10 percent of my bonus income, then let me make this part of salary.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Let me increase my salary so I can get a little bit more match. I can get a little bit more money. So I get you, I get you. I think that's a little healthcare hustle tip. If somebody at your job, if [00:44:00] you make it more money up there and they give you the option of, do you want us to add this to your salary or even when you're negotiating, right?
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: This is something that I had to learn. When I was negotiating is do I want a higher salary or do I want more money as a productivity bonus, for example? And this is very, popular. , and a common kind of dilemma in the sports medicine world, especially in orthopedics, because a lot of people, myself included, you get this base salary that might actually be quite low.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Then you make so much extra money in productivity. What I have Come to find out is actually, I kind of want the base salary to be higher because my benefits at my job are based on my base salary. So if I can increase my base salary is probably what I want to do when I'm negotiating a new contract.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: If they give me the choice between do you want to sign on bonus or retention bonus? Or do you want to hire base salary? The answer is I want to hire base salary. The base salary is guaranteed from year to year versus these bonuses, maybe one time, or maybe based on other factors.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: And so I think, look at you, Brittne, giving us healthcare, hustle tips today about things that we can do [00:45:00] again, that can be a little bit more tax efficient.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Leisha, I love all of that. You're always for the win of strategizing and the negotiation piece. If you learn nothing else from this podcast, just know that everything is up for negotiation, but you can only negotiate. Efficiently to find that when you have the information.
Dr. Brittne Halford: You have to understand some of the nuances about how these things work at your job so that you can negotiate to work better for you. And I would even think that may take. Some reworking. It may take some time, but potentially you can negotiate that threshold in which the 4 57 B would be accessible if you had enough buy in from other clinicians who wanted access to that account, especially because it's a deferred compensation. But with the 457B, you always want to max out your 401K first. So 457B is on top of that. If you haven't maxed out your 401K first or your 403B first, then start there. And then if you have the option to do a 457B, pursue that after. Just to hint on one other thing that we did last year that other [00:46:00] physicians will have access to is the energy piece.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Some of those non traditional investments, and the reason why this is important. So last year we invested in oil and gas to help us from a taxable perspective.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: hold on. Hold on. Hold on. Pause. We might have to pause this, podcast real quick while I get some tips. Brittne, we're investing in oil and gas. Do you have more money than I think you do? You also want to hear Brittne's tips on oil and gas, like what, but I think Brittne, you and I were talking offline about how we had both read similar textbooks, cause.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: That's what we do in our spare time. We read textbooks, we're money nerds. One of the books that I think you and I have both read was this book by Tom Wheelwright, he has a, few good books actually. And I don't agree with everything he says in every book. Let me be very clear.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: But I do think he's really good at strategizing when it comes to taxes. And One of those books is tax free wealth. The other one is, he talks about seven sort of nontraditional investments that can really lower your taxes.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: It goes through real estate and energy and oil. And these are some of the things that I think you're about to bring up. So let me stop interrupting you so
Track 1: no, [00:47:00] that's great. And That is a great book. And I would just say, listen to it on Audible. That's what I did. But the reason why I raised the oil and gas specifically is because sometimes when you're looking for a deduction, so for example, real estate, and we're not going to jump into all the nitty gritty, but real estate income is considered.
Track 1: Passive income. So if you are a high earning professional working as a physician, et cetera, then you likely have a W2 or most of your income is active income and passive deductions can only offset passive income. So you want to look for deductions that will offset your active income. And that's what the oil and gas can do is that amount of money.
Track 1: So say for example, you invest about a hundred K and oil and gas, then that can reduce your taxable income About 75 percent of that. So you'll get a 75 percent pass through deduction, which would be about 75 K. So you would reduce your earned income by 75 K. And then, depending on your effective tax rate, all of that, then that will be the amount that would be reflected as a tax deduction. So that was one of the things that we invested in to reduce our taxable income. So that's the tax benefits. And then you have that whole other investment benefits that we could talk about at a [00:48:00] later time.
So we're going to wrap up this segment in this episode, cause it's getting a little long, we realize, if you're a high income professional , and you're thinking, man, I pay a lot in taxes. Number one, understand which taxes you're paying so you can understand some of these nuances in the tax code and how they may affect you.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Number two, maxing out certain deductions that are open to everybody. Those are, investments into your 401k, 403b at your job, 457b, HSA, FSA, those kinds of things, figuring out if you want to hire out a tax professional, hire out the sort of tax planning throughout the year, if you want to do it yourself, and making sure that regardless of what you choose, you're being proactive and not reactive.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Thinking about different ways to get tax free income increases at your job, whether that's increasing your PTO, CME money, retirement match, optimizing credit card rewards, which we'll talk about in a later episode. And then lastly, looking into some of these specialized investments, like Brittne, maybe you want to invest in oil and gas.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Maybe you want to think about real estate. Maybe there's certain business deductions. Maybe you want to rent your home to yourself. Maybe you want to employ your kids. And so these are some of these other things that I think [00:49:00] would be really good to consider. Then we also kind of talked about our healthcare hustle.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Which was, really strategizing and thinking about how you want to get paid at your job and which payment method is going to result in fewer taxes to you and higher retirement matches and better benefits for you. We're going to get into our favorite segment of the show, which is our fun money segment.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Brittne, I'm so excited about this. So what are you doing that is fun with your money?
Dr. Brittne Halford: Leisha, we are purchasing a new home
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Okay. So notice audience, she didn't say purchasing a home. She said we're purchasing a new home. So that means you already have a home. So this is a flex right here. Cause Brittne's like, forget one home. I'm getting another one. congratulations, by the way,
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I'm very happy for you.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Tell us more about this home purchase.
Dr. Brittne Halford: Yeah. When you think about your money, you make logical and psychological decisions. That's why I put this in kind of a fun money because it does feel like a [00:50:00] psychological emotional. Ooh, now we're getting
Dr. Brittne Halford: a new house. And logically I'm still trying to reconcile if it's a good decision or not, but we're going to it work. We live in Boston, Massachusetts, and we live in a pretty pricey area that has really good. school system. And things are quite expensive here. So it's not a lot of space as my dad would say, baby, that's no space. And I'm like, yes, dad, but we live in Boston, but it's definitely more space than we currently have. And let me tell you the person who built this home, Leisha. The bathroom floors are heated like what? No rugs. We don't have to have any rugs because he could just keep the bathroom floors. Now I'm frugal Franny. I would never I would just be purchasing rugs, right? I would never put the heated tiles or whatever in a bathroom floor.
Dr. Brittne Halford: But because the house has it, I'm going to enjoy it. So that's that's my fun money.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I'm so happy for you. I think heated floor sounds very nice. I mean, granted, I don't live in [00:51:00] Boston, so it's not as cold where I live, but, I would still want something soft and cushiony to put my feet on when I get out of the shower. So maybe that's just me. Maybe I'm just weird, but I am very happy for you in terms of your heated floors.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Cause I know it gets very cold in Boston. What am I doing fun with money? I am currently trying to figure out a time to talk to two of my girlfriends, which we're all physicians. And so it can be challenging, but we're all trying to find time to get on the phone because we are going to buy concert tickets.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: We are going to go to the Usher concert. I think in one of our earlier episodes, Brittne, you talked about how you and your husband went to the Usher vacancy and, The usher show, in Las Vegas and how y'all weren't sitting as close as you would have preferred. So me and my friends are going to avoid that.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: , we have come to a decision that we are going to buy some usher tickets and we are going to sit in a decent area. We want to make sure that we're in, they call it the 100 level or whatever. We don't want floor things. We don't be standing in the whole show.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Cause we're old. But we want to be like in the 100 level. I'm so excited about this. I have [00:52:00] vivid memories of being like in middle school or high school or whatever, when the usher confessions came out and me jamming to it at my middle school spring dance or whatever. I'm really excited about this.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: I think it's going to bring back a lot of childhood memories and to be able to do this and go to this concert with some of my girlfriends, I think is just going to be fun. So that is something fun that I am doing with my money.
Track 1: Yeah. I'm really excited. Usher. I mean, he's still, he's still fine. He's getting old. Six pack. Don't look as six pack as it used to be.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: No, it's great. He did great for the super bowl performance. And so I really
Track 1: Yes. It's going to be a great show. I'm really excited for you and your girlfriends. Yeah.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: as we are closing out this show, we definitely want to encourage you to have some fun with your money as well. We also want to be sure to remind you, I actually let you know that Brittne and I have created a gift for you. Yes, you heard that right. We have created.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Our one of a kind wealthy [00:53:00] minds starter kit. So if you are somebody who is looking to build wealth and be able to take advantage of all of these fancy investments, like oil and gas that Brittne's doing or buying another house that Brittne's doing, or maybe you want to, have enough money so you can do the fun things that I'm doing with my child free life, go to our wealth minded MD website.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: So that's just wealth minded, md. com. You can just click to join our wealthy minds community. We want you to join our community. And when you do so, you will get a free, yes, we said that right. Free copy of our wealthy minds starter kit. So go to our website, feel free to sign up on our email list serve, and then you will have access to a free wealthy minds starter kit.
Track 1: It's like everything that you wish you would have known in training or, school and we make it look good. So go to the website and download it today.
dr--lisha-taylor_1_03-20-2024_105548: Yep. We hope that you have an amazing day and we can't wait to join you again next week.
Track 1: Bye bye.
Hey, money, best friend, we want to buy you a [00:54:00] drink on this show. We are all about spilling the tea on our finances and our personal lives, but we also want to share a little bit more tea with you. Basically, we're trying to give you a free drink on us. All you have to do in order to put your name in this drawing for a free drink.
Is to leave a review, hopefully you'll give us five stars and share this podcast with others that you know, whenever you wait and review the podcast, it just makes it easier for other people who maybe haven't heard of us before to find us, right? And review, subscribe to the podcast and don't forget to share with your girlfriend.
Cheers.
Hello everybody, it's me Brooke. I'm recording a little disclaimer for my mommy, Dr. Brittne Halford and her friend, Dr. Lisa Taylor. Just so you know, they're not financial advisors, tax professionals, lawyers. financial planners. Everything you hear is for education and entertainment. [00:55:00] It's not strict financial advice, you know.
So use your best judgment. Chat with a top professional. And all those other people that you need to talk to. Thanks for tuning in today. Keep cruising on your journey to wealth and wellness. Buh bye.
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