Podcast

Jun 25, 2026

Roetzel HealthLaw HotSpot: Financial Planning After Selling a Professional Practice

Host Ericka Adler is joined by Daniel Gould, Private Wealth Advisor with Heritage Planning Partners, to discuss the financial planning considerations health care providers should address before and after selling a professional practice.

The episode explores the importance of building the right advisory team, preparing for a significant liquidity event, and developing strategies to manage taxes, investments, and long-term financial goals. Ericka and Daniel also discuss common mistakes practice owners make after a sale, estate planning considerations, and how thoughtful planning can help preserve wealth for future generations.

To watch the episode on YouTube click here or on Apple Podcasts click here. To listen to the podcast, click here.

Transcript

Ericka Adler:
Hi everyone welcome to the HealthLaw HotSpot. I'm Ericka Adler, shareholder and leader of the health care practice at Roetzel and Andress. Today, I am joined by Dan Gould, who's a private wealth advisor with Heritage Planning Partners under Northwest Mutual Wealth Management. Welcome, Dan.

Daniel Gould:
Thank you, Ericka. Thanks for having me.

Ericka Adler:
Dan and I work together quite a bit, and what we work together on are physician and health care practitioners of all types who either are getting ready to sell their practice or have sold their practice, and generally these are practices that have sold for a substantial amount. And what we like to do is work with our clients to make sure that they are planning ahead of time about how they're going to handle the influx of money that might be coming into them. And if they haven't planned ahead of time, what to do when they get those payments and it's sitting in their account. So, this is really helpful, I hope, to those of you who are listening, either thinking of doing a deal or have done a deal and aren't sure what to do next. Thanks for joining me, Dan, and I know that's a big topic, but let's start with those people that come to you, and they're talking about doing a deal. Tell me a little bit about the role that you play, and some of the things that you wish people thought about or knew in advance.

Daniel Gould:
Well, that's a great start. So, I actually had a conversation two nights ago with a couple dermatologists that were thinking of selling, and what we really do is figure out number one, why? Why do we want to sell? And what are the various outcomes that could happen afterwards? Not only just control of the practice, but what does that liquidity event mean for you? What does it mean for maybe your salaried physicians? What does it mean for your staff? It's really doing the due diligence ahead of time. We've gone through a lot of these transactions together, and the best thing about going through so many is you learn from the past ones. You know what bumps in the road are there, and we try to help deal with as many of those and bring those to light as possible ahead of time. So that's been really helpful. I'd say we do work a lot, including with you with, you know, investment bankers who specialize in that world also, so kind of building the team together and knowing what it's going to take from start to finish. To have the right team in place to help with all of the various issues that a practice owner is going to deal with going through this process.

Ericka Adler:
In terms of, you know that you're going to sell, you know you're getting $10 million, let's say. What kind of steps does somebody, other than surrounding themselves with a team, are we talking about, having to do an estate plan? Are we talking about setting up accounts? Like, what kind of actual steps might need to be taken before a deal happens to be prepared?

Daniel Gould:
Yeah, that's a great question, and obviously, a lot of people are always worried about taxes, and we're not an accountant, and we're not giving tax advice. But I will give an opinion, I think that's shared by a lot of advisors, that given the current tax environment of federal long-term capital gains rates at 20%, it's a very favorable environment for physicians who are selling, and how those dollars are treated. A lot of physicians are used to paying very high-income tax, both federal and state, where a lot of the transactions, not all, but are treated predominantly as capital gains. I think that's a huge win for people right away. People do want to know what can be done ahead of time to potentially minimize even the capital gains tax that they pay. And there's a lot of different options. We talk about people, about their charitable interests. Number one, there's something called a donor-advised fund that people are allowed to gift highly appreciated stock to and get a tax deduction. There's Qualified Opportunity Zone funds that are out there that people let people defer the tax, but a lot of times, our advice will be, you know, in today's environment, it's okay to pay some tax, and then have that net proceeds to work with. And that's what brings it even to a more complicated matter. Well, you're converting, a lot of times, an asset that is a hard physical asset, it's your practice, it's what you work on, and you're making it liquid, and you're going to have to make investment choices of where that goes, and there's always risk involved, so you have to know what your risk tolerance is. How do you treat the taxes on the growth of those assets? How do you protect those assets for your family? And if you're fortunate enough to have other assets also, how do you preserve those assets as they pass also down the line, whether it's kids or grandkids also? So, integrating with an estate planning attorney and knowing how to handle that process after that liquidity event is super important.

Ericka Adler:
It sounds to me like before the deal, all we can really do is explore our options, and surround ourselves with the team. The idea being that when the deal happens and you've suddenly got the money sitting in your account, right, that at that point, it's not too late or anything, but then either you plan ahead, or you have to start figuring out once it's sitting there. Is there any downside to not planning ahead of time, or is it really just as long as you jump on it and move quickly, it won't really matter?

Daniel Gould:
I mean, I do think it's always smart to plan ahead, right? And to work with the team and come up with ideas, like, what time of the year does a transaction happen? Are there things that can be done? Does a physician have outside income that they could potentially, you know, work on, like a cash balance pension plan or something to put significant sums of money away to offset the tax liability? It's hard to tell people to look for tax losses right now. The stock market's been up three and a half years. Most people don't have losses in their investment accounts to harvest, but if you did make a poor choice, or accidentally buy the wrong fund and you've lost money, it's a great time to harvest those losses so that you can offset those against the gains. One key thing that we're running into, especially if you live in Illinois. If you live in Illinois, Washington State, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York. Those physicians are dealing with something that a lot of other people don't have to worry about around the country. The federal estate tax limit is $30 million for a couple that people can pass on to the next generation without inheritance taxes. Illinois and those other states have state taxes. State inheritance taxes, or a wealth transfer tax. And basically, those start at much lower levels. They could start as much as $6 million or $8 million for a couple. So, when you're thinking about, if you've been a physician and you've run a practice for 20, 30 years, and then all of a sudden you're having a liquidity event. I mean, that counts. That sale, your house, your life insurance if it's not owned in an irrevocable trust, your 401k, all of those assets count toward that limit, so you really have to do really good planning both before and after the sale to make sure that you have enough assets to live the life that you want to live and for your family, but also that you don't lose some of those assets down the road from unnecessary taxes.

Ericka Adler:
Okay, so being aware of the taxes in the state that you're sitting in, planning for the time of year that you might close a deal so you can take advantage of some opportunities that may be there, surrounding yourself with the right people to get the right advice. All seem totally key. If you are out there, and you have the money, and it's just sitting in your account, you know- hopefully not your checking account. Hopefully at least you're smart enough to set up some kind of bank account. What are some of the mistakes that you see people making, then? Obviously, not talking to someone ahead of time is one of those mistakes, but have you seen anything where, you know, people really came to regret what they did? From my experience, I think not talking to a tax advisor and understanding how, in a transaction, certain assets could be structured to be treated differently for tax purposes, just assuming that what the buyer's done is the only way to do it is one of the mistakes that I see. I'm not a tax person, I rely on people like you and the CPA and my tax partners, but what other kind of mistakes do you see people making, that you wish that you could warn them about ahead of time?

Daniel Gould:
We work super hard, and I think for clients and people, you're fortunate. I mean, 10 years ago, 15 years ago, people used to hand over the key to a younger partner and maybe get a check for $25,000 and say, please take care of my patients. This is a different world that we're living in right now, and to me we have to help people take advantage of that in every way. So, when you have one of these transactions, if you're used to doing things by yourself, if you don't have a team around you, I think that's really important. From the investing side of things, you know, how do you go about, like I said, taking an illiquid asset that you've been in charge of, you've run, now it's a liquid asset, and you have to decide where that's going to go. We really caution against being irresponsible with that. Like, guard that. That sale of that asset not only can provide a great retirement for you, but it really can be a building block for generational wealth, as well as any charitable giving that people want to do. We have transactions that happen all the time, and you have a stock market that has gone up for three and a half straight years. So, you also have to really know your risk tolerance about what kind of assets you do want to buy. Do you take all that money and invest it at one time? Do you go slowly and dollar-cost average it and look for better opportunities to deploy the capital? I would say one of the biggest hot-button issues in our practice right now is we're helping clients understand what all their options are. And I think once you hit a certain degree of wealth, there are more opportunities on the investment front than just buying an Index 500 fund or mutual funds or an ETF. There's a whole bucket of alternative assets that are only available to accredited investors or qualified purchasers that give individuals opportunities to have assets that not every single other investor can do, and I think that adds a broad diversification. So I think not thinking it through, making quick decisions, sometimes buying way too expensive homes that take a lot of capital out of the market- and also adds a lot of expense- a lot of times when salaries are being reduced post-sale. I think a lot of that is what we can caution people.

Ericka Adler:
Right, I think that's great advice. I definitely see people who feel like they're  suddenly very wealthy, and they go out and they spend it. I think you need to prepare and know that there are going to be some taxes, right? You can't spend more than you can afford to. But also, some of these deals assume that some of this money you're receiving is going to keep you going, right? So, you can't lock it all up and then not have it to use to operate your own needs going forward, because you've invested it all. Some of that cash flow, needs to be available. So sometimes that's a mistake that I see people making, and they just didn't understand the deal that they were agreeing to, or the idea that, you know, until they got the next part of the purchase price, or until they hit certain targets, that there wasn't going to be any more money coming their way, right? Depends on how the deal is structured. So I think that's really great advice, and I think the most important thing is knowing the role that everybody plays. So, I'm the lawyer, I will document the deal, explain the deal, but I'm not the one giving the tax advice, I'm not the one giving the investment advice. You've got to surround yourself with the right people, just like you said, you're not the CPA, and you're not the lawyer. So, there's a role for everyone, and understanding that everyone plays a role is really key, which is why you need to make sure that you have all those people in place.

Daniel Gould:
Yeah, you actually made me think of a few really good things. And you said, what do people think about before a sale? That absolutely goes back to you want to run the numbers and know that post-transaction, the physician's income, is that going to be enough to live your current life. Hopefully, it is, right? But if it's not, it's a huge point on keeping that liquidity free and making sure that you kind of divide that pot into, well, what could help supplement that revenue from the practice versus what am I going to grow as capital? The other thing is a lot of people don't realize, when you get such a large transaction and you have these large sums of money, they're not in retirement accounts. This is liquid money that clients have access to and availability to. And sometimes the initial reaction is to keep large sums in cash to just feel safe and good about it and know you have something available. But a lot of our clients create an investment portfolio, but then they're also tied lines of credit to those portfolios, which gives them incredible flexibility of having liquidity while their money's invested. A lot of people save for a major emergency, but we never know, is that emergency going to be $10,000, or $100,000, or a million dollars? And I think having lines of credit against your liquid assets that doesn't cost you anything unless you access it, it is a huge advantage of having liquidity, because you can't do that with IRAs and 401ks. So, I think for the first time in a lot of people's lives, they can actually be invested but also have access to credit just in case of emergencies and things like that.

Ericka Adler:
Yeah, I think that's a great point, and one thing that we talked about just earlier on that I want to mention again is that estate planning is really key. So, a lot of people don't realize that you create an estate plan, but you have to kind of follow through on it, meaning that if you have a trust or something like that that's going to go to your family, you actually have to put those investment accounts into the trust, right? That's a step that I actually did not really understand until fairly recently. So you can have your estate plan and be like, oh, everything I own is in trust for my family, but if you don't actually move those accounts into the trust, then they're not in the trust, right? And I think the layperson does not necessarily understand that. I mean, I'm a lawyer, and I didn't actually understand that. So, you've really got to work with an estate planning lawyer that helps make sure that what you've built here, usually it's a lifetime of hard work, actually is going to not go through probate, and is actually going to be available for your family. So, creating these investment accounts is step one, and step two is making sure that if something happens to you, that your family can access it. I think that's important.

Daniel Gould:
That is a phenomenal point, because a lot of people go through the expense and time to do these documents, and they think they're done, once they do that. And it's really important. I mean, when people look at their investment statements, okay. They should look to see, does it say it's in the name of their trust, right? Or does it say it's a joint account? Those are things that they should review with their advisors. We are involved, and this is just in general, but people need to look at their beneficiary designations on their insurance, on their 401ks, on their IRAs. People don't realize that 401ks and IRAs and life insurance transfer by contract. Whatever name is on that beneficiary form, it could be an ex-spouse, it could be a brother, it could be anybody. Whatever name is on there, that's where it goes. And reviewing those beneficiaries is super important. We actually had some clients in a hospital system that changed providers of their 401k, and all the beneficiary information was lost. And people did not know that, and they had to go back in and redo it. So I think that is a key thing, is making sure that their assets are titled properly in their trusts. They review that with their estate attorney, they look at their beneficiary designations. A lot of times, people forget about their houses and changing a deed to a house to be titled appropriately. This is a lot of information. This is why people need teams, because you have lawyers, accountants, wealth advisors, insurance people, to help people be as bulletproof as possible.

Ericka Adler:
Right, and and just one final point is, here you have somebody coming into some money, but they don't want to spend money sometimes to get this advice, and so my comment to that is you can't afford not to get this advice, because no matter what you're going to spend on a team of advisors, you're going to spend more or lose more if you don't spend that money to surround yourself with knowledgeable people. So, that'll be kind of the last comment. I know we've kind of covered a lot here, but I think working with people who have done this before, who can make some unique suggestions that suit your circumstance. There's so many new products, I know, and ideas that come out all the time. You and I talk about new opportunities that have become available in the market, that I've never encountered before, and I know you're always excited to share that with clients, and only someone in your position who's done this before is able to do that. Which is why I think working with someone like you is great for those for everyone, of course, but particularly if you're doing a deal and you're coming into a large amount of money. To really understand the products that are out there, which your average estate planner or your average investment advisor is just not going to be familiar with. Which is where Dan really brings that added value to a lot of my clients who suddenly have this money they never had before, and, you know, they should know what's available to them.

Daniel Gould:
Thank you, I think both of us are working 30-plus years in this world, right?

Ericka Adler:
Don't age me here.

Daniel Gould:
Okay, at least me almost 35 years. It really has helped kind of build that base to be able to give really good advice.

Ericka Adler:
All right, any final thoughts you want to offer? I know we kind of said a lot here, so anyone who has questions, feel free, reach out to Dan directly, get his guidance and advice, but any final words of wisdom?

Daniel Gould:
Over-prepared is always prepared. That's my final thought. These are big transactions, they're life-changing, and it can have an amazing impact on your family, your future generations, and it's well worth the time, energy, and cost to do it the right way.

Ericka Adler:
Absolutely. Great advice, as always. Thanks for joining me, and thanks to all of you for joining us at the Health Law HotSpot, and we'll see you next time. Thanks!