In this episode of The HEALS Pod, I had the pleasure of interviewing Mahesh Odhrani from Strategic Wealth Design. Mahesh shared his journey from growing up in Dubai to moving to Las Vegas and becoming a financial advisor. With over 20 years of experience in the financial services industry, Mahesh specializes in working with healthcare professionals, particularly physicians and dentists.
Mahesh highlighted the unique financial challenges faced by healthcare professionals, such as high student loan debt and the lack of financial education during their training. He emphasized the importance of creating a comprehensive financial plan tailored to each client’s goals and evolving needs.
One key aspect Mahesh discussed was the shift in priorities among healthcare professionals, with a growing emphasis on work-life balance and quality of lifestyle. He shared insights into the generational differences in financial goals and the importance of aligning financial decisions with personal values.
Throughout the episode, Mahesh emphasized the role of financial advisors as educators and time-savers for their clients. By simplifying complex financial information and providing tailored advice, advisors like Mahesh help clients navigate financial challenges and achieve their long-term goals.
Listeners were encouraged to seek professional financial advice and to prioritize working with advisors to ensure their financial well-being and peace of mind. The episode provided valuable insights into the intersection of financial planning and healthcare professions, shedding light on the importance of strategic wealth management in achieving financial security and freedom.
Full Transcript
DIEGO TRUJILLO:
Ladies and gentlemen, it’s a pleasure to have you today on The HEALS Pod. Thank you for tuning in. I have a very special guest that joins us all the way from Henderson, Nevada. Is it Henderson?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I live in Henderson, yes.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: He lives in Henderson, all the way from Henderson, Nevada, from Strategic Wealth Design. Our guest today is Mahesh Adrani.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Thank you, Diego. Thank you for having me.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Did I pronounce that correctly?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, you did.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Okay, fantastic. Well, it’s great to have you on the show. How long have you lived in Las Vegas?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Or in the Valley, I should say. You just said Henderson. Yeah, in the Valley. I moved here back in 1999. So I’ve been in Las Vegas for, this year was my 25th anniversary. It was just last month. And I moved here from Dubai. That’s where I grew up.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You grew up in Dubai?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I did, yes. Fantastic. Now, I know, I’m seeing the look on your face when I say Dubai. But it was not anything like that when I was growing up. It wasn’t that Dubai. It wasn’t that Dubai.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Fair enough. I always ask people, right? So one of the missions with HEALS as we work with organizations is to try to attract talent. So for me, it’s always the important question of, well, why did you move here? And you know, I always say this to the people that get resentful, because Las Vegas natives are all, oh, you’re born and raised in Las Vegas. And they get very excited. And people go, man, you make us feel left out. And I was like, listen, we were all stuck here. You chose to move here. So I ask you right now, what made the choice? What was the choice that brought you here to Las Vegas?
MAHESH ODHRANI : That’s a great question, Diego. My story is unique, because I started studying, when I graduated from high school, I started going to an American university in Dubai. And after the first tuition bill, my father said, I’d rather you go to the US, get the same education, but get a different experience. So circumstances, I picked Las Vegas because we had some extended family here. Now that extended family has since moved to Dubai, but Vegas has been home. And the joke always is when I tell people my story, it’s coming from one desert to another desert. The only difference is the humidity.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, right. And we’re all trying to be luxurious deserts, is that right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes. Yes, we are.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: We’re the oases, each respectively to their own areas. Well, fantastic. And so you went to school, you went to college here. What did you go to school for?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I went to UNLV. I graduated with a degree in finance and MIS, and joined the financial services industry immediately after I graduated. So back in 2003 is when I started in the financial services industry.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Okay, fantastic. Where was your first job, out of curiosity?
MAHESH ODHRANI : So I started in the financial services industry with a company called Wealth Strategies Group here locally and as a financial advisor. OK. And I was with them for about 17 years. And in between, they had a merger with another company. And 17 years into the business, I finally transitioned out and went independent. And we joined a independent broker dealer. In our world, it’s basically an independent firm that gives advisors a lot more flexibility and control in how they want to build their business.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So you kind of got pushed out of the nest.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Uh, I kind of did, I kind of grew up, uh, and all those changes happened in 2020. Okay. So, so it definitely felt, uh, nerve wracking making that change while in the midst of a pandemic, but it certainly allowed us to grow and, um.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Gave you that flexibility to kind of build it the way that you thought, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Correct. It gave us a lot of, a lot of flexibility, but just not knowing how we’re going to, what’s our next move going to be. But over time it just gave us a lot more confidence that It’s as you said Coming out of the nest.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah. Yeah, that’s true And sometimes, you know, we need that fearful push as we talk on leadership principles seeing that the L and heel stands for leadership Sometimes stepping out of that net. I know for me I was actually I had a boss tell me hey, you know, I think this is it We’re not gonna be able to continue and I remember freaking out I was pacing around in my house thinking, oh my God, what am I going to do, and should I get another job? And someone mentioned to me, they’re like, hey, you know, you’ve been wanting to get out of the cage for multiple years now. You’re out of the cage, and you’re looking for another cage to go jump in. And I immediately was like, yeah, you’re right. I mean, that fear of entrepreneurship and stepping off the ledge, like, immediately hit. And now that years have gone by, and I find myself in the position I’m in, I’m very surprised how I’ve been able to navigate, and you just learned to swim, right? But if you don’t get that push sometimes, I know that, you know, people will sign up and be very loyal to companies and be very happy with the company and then a merger happens. So it’s nothing, there wasn’t a leadership change per se or there wasn’t any negative intent or nefarious intent. And then all of a sudden you find yourself in, okay, well, what am I going to do, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah. And you mentioned something about, um, like going out and feeling nervous, right? One of my mentors always said is, is having faith and taking the leap of faith. Is is just knowing yourself and sometimes we just don’t know how things are gonna work out Yeah, but just having sometimes things are going to work out and taking that leap of faith
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know, I was reading a book, now that you mention that, I was reading a book regarding relationships and finding meaning in a digital world. And he mentioned, there was a phrase there that has stuck with me that you just, you kind of mentioned. He goes, you know, we’re growing up in a world of convenience. We spend more time worrying about what can go wrong instead of ensuring that things go right. And that one was like a punch in my stomach. I was like, yep, he’s right. Like what keeps me up at night? Not what the fight is going to be, but it’s what am I going to do? What am I going to do? What am I going to do? And what if this goes happens? And what if this right? But you kind of figure it out along the way. Sometimes people want like a very clear path of what steps they should take in life is just not that way, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Unfortunately, it’s not.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You take the path that you feel conviction for. And you make sure that that is the path that you need to take. And you make sure that it works out. So you got pushed out of the nest, so to speak. And you find yourself. So what made you think of the name, Strategic Wealth Design? Or did you just use a random name generator?
MAHESH ODHRANI : How did everything come about? How was the birth? It’s funny. I did use a random name generator to get some ideas. OK. But then what we did was, when we came up with the name. And Strategic Wealth Design has been around for eight years now. OK. Now, that was already in play while we were with our previous firm, because we were allowed to market and have our own firm name and own branding. Now, strategic wealth design came about because, of course, I use a name generator. We came up with the idea of about 10 names that I felt close to, and then we send it off to clients for a survey. And majority of the clients picked strategic wealth design as the number one choice. And that’s what we went with. Pretty much took feedback from our clients and that’s…
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They’re like, all right, just listen to the people, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Just listen to the people, exactly.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: That’s a smart choice. That’s a smart choice, serving customers and listening to them. Well, so you take this step. And I wanted to kind of preface this episode because there’s some comments that kind of come up sometimes in regards to our mixers and things like that. And I wasn’t sure maybe five years back what Heels may have looked like. As you know, right, I took over as CEO around three years ago. And And since then, I really try to keep it consolidated to the healthcare industry. And people would ask me, and they’d say, so is it just a bunch of realtors and wealth managers that all come to the heels mixers? And I remember like bringing up, well, no, no, no, we have mainly industry. However, I think there’s an important connection. And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to record this podcast. Because as I started speaking with you and exploring, right, the decisions in life, Everyone knows what a wealth manager is. You know, they help with your investments, retirement, planning, things like that. But I wanted to unpack the importance of your role and how you see your role within the healthcare industry. Because while you are not directly, you know, a provider, you’re not in healthcare, I think the decisions that you help people to make can really set up for success and for failure. And I even say that when I was in school for theology, right? So we’re learning about theology and they’re talking about, You know, we’re taking all these counseling classes and all these educational courses. And during the course, one of them was financial planning. And I remember thinking, what does financial planning have to do with how I’m going to apply my degree? And I’ll never forget in that class, the reason, the first thing they go, you know, you’re probably all wondering why you’re here. But if you don’t learn to make good fiscal decisions right now, you can put yourself in a corner that you’re not going to be able to get out of. And you’re going to be locked into the position you’re in simply because of bad, poor financial decisions or poor foresight, right? Even sometimes, because I do watch American Greed, Um, even sometimes, you watch some people get backed and make unethical choices because of earlier choices that put them in a corner, and then unfortunately on American Greed, they fang it out. They figure out, wait, did I get away with this? Maybe I can get away with it a little more. And, you know, they keep pushing it down through the envelope. There’s always a story that sticks with me of this company that makes fruitcake in Texas. And this guy must have embezzled like $27 million from a fruitcake company over like eight years. No one saw it coming. And all it did was he had to make like a car payment. He wrote a check from the company, and no one questioned him on it. So he continued to do that for years on end, and it just got more and more. So for me, fiscal responsibility should be the basic for everyone. And this is just my explanation. I’d love for you to add to this. that kind of dictates what decisions we make, the freedom and the liberties that sometimes we give ourselves. Otherwise, again, we have responsibilities, we find ourselves cornered, and we can make unwise decisions for that. So explain to me how you see strategic wealth design in the connection with healthcare and what your service is, you feel, to the healthcare community.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, and so our strategic wealth design is a wealth management and financial planning firm. So we offer financial planning services for health care providers. We work with a ton of physicians, nurses, and other health care executives in the industry who also have A lot of work that we do is also in the dental community as well. Okay. So, for our healthcare professionals, the challenge that healthcare professionals face, I mean, you were lucky to have a financial planning class when you were going through your education.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: There are some horror stories within religious circles, as you can imagine. And so, my school really wanted to make sure that no one from their school played out into those. That’s why they kind of focused on it. Again, the character and the integrity that comes with the role. But go ahead.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, and unfortunately in the medical space or the dental space, there’s zero education when it comes to personal financial planning and how doctors and dentists can actually take care of their finances and grow their wealth over time. And know enough, at least, to not be taken advantage of. So that’s one aspect. And I grew up with a lot of friends and clients in the health care space. That’s what came natural to me over time.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So you’re somewhat familiar with their struggles already.
MAHESH ODHRANI : I’m very familiar with their struggle. We do a lot of speaking at dental schools and medical schools and residency programs. And we do hear it consistently based upon the questions that they ask. that they don’t have any education when it comes to the life part of it, the financial planning, the personal financial planning, but also on the business side of things, the business of medicine, understanding how to run a practice or how a practice is actually run. So that was one aspect. The other aspect of it is our motto in our firm is to help clients build financial freedom and financial security. Now, That goes far beyond because money is one of the number one causes of stress. And it causes stress doesn’t matter who you are, if you’re wealthy, or if you don’t have enough assets or income, it causes stress across the board. So I know in the healthcare space, there’s conversations about not only taking care of your physical being, but your mental and as well as your financial well-being as well. So both the health and wealth sort of go together, and that’s, we help on the wealth side, so at least hopefully, hopefully with the work that we do, reduces their financial stress, so they can focus on what they love to do the most.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And I think that’s what it comes down to, right? So they have a calling to medicine and to be able to serve the community, but if you don’t have the money or if you’re misappropriating or mismanaging or whatever it may be, that’s going to put a barrier to what you can do because you’re worried about your house being on fire, you know? So it’s very interesting. How long have you been working specifically with healthcare? Was that a target with Strategic Wealth Designs from the beginning? You said, you know, we can step in and really provide a service.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, pretty much from when I started in the business 20 years ago. Did you have a lot of friends in med school? I did have some circles in the medical space, primarily through just social connections, being involved in the community. And that’s where we started off being in the healthcare space. And then eventually, we just got into speaking at some residency programs here locally, even across the country. And we speak at a ton of dental schools as well. So I think the work that we do, the word got out, and we were invited to come in and speak at different programs. Because we do a lot of education, financial education for doctors and dentists. So that’s, it was not intentional, It was something, I think, just over time I stumbled across, and existing clients that are in the medical space, physicians referring their physician friends, and that’s really how it all grew over time.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: But it was not intentional. It may have been you witnessing your friends make poor decisions when you were younger, and you’re like, man, if someone would just give these guys advice, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I have seen that as well, yes, yes.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So that’s great. And what do you think is the most attractive, or what do you enjoy the most, I would say, about working with health care professionals? Is there something about that market specifically? Are they more demanding, less demanding, more education, and you enjoy educating? What part of it do you think is the most attractive?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I think our clients are quite diverse. Personally, myself and my team members enjoy the education part of it. And I think because we do a lot of speaking engagements around education and going and teaching in residency programs about just financial awareness, education, how to achieve financial balance and financial freedom and security and all those topics that we cover. And I think at heart, all of us in my team, at least all the advisors, are educators at heart. Because we want to make sure the clients understand the decisions that they’re making. And sometimes we are known to talk a little too technical just because we want to make sure they understand. But our number one goal is, I think we just saw the need there. Now, my personal practice, even though we have other advisors, has evolved where I work closely with the entrepreneurs in the medical space. So I would work with the practice owners And I work closely with them. All the risk takers. All the risk takers, yes. Because I just have, over the years, I’ve just built a liking towards working with business owners, practice owners. They just think differently. They’re wired differently. They’re taking risk. And we want to make sure that we help them, not only in the personal side of things, but also help them on the business side of things, understanding how their business and their practice is functioning and what improvements can they make, essentially, to better the output, essentially, which will help them raise their income and their wealth.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, and I feel, you know, I had thought about that question when I asked you regarding the educational portion of it, right? When people think of finance, some people like the numbers, some people like beating odds, some people like outperforming in the competitiveness. You’ve always been a person that, as I’ve been around you, education just kind of oozes off of you, right? You can tell when people read and when people like learning because they always have interesting facts or whenever you say something they can add, and you’ve always been one of those people. Oh, thank you. And in addition to that, um… In addition to that, your ability to be able to kind of emphasize with those people that are struggling, those entrepreneurs that are pushed out of the nest, because you’ve been there, right? So as you’re watching these people take the risks, again, hey, I understand your fear. I understand where you’re at, being able to identify. But I feel like the pleasure and the satisfaction really comes from them learning and saying, man, thank you very much for taking the time to show me these things, right? So all of a sudden, you’re seeing the effects of you as a teacher improve people’s lives directly. And it doesn’t hurt that, you know, they invest with you and you help them perform and, you know, that also puts a smile on your face, I’m sure. What financial challenges do healthcare professionals typically face? How does your firm address these challenges?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I think one of the first challenges that physicians face when they’re getting out of their medical school or residency programs is the fact that they have a ton of student loan debt. So we come across a lot of physicians, they’re graduating out of residency programs, they’re finishing up residency programs, and now they have a mortgage without even owning a house. So they’re graduating with a ton of debt that’s gonna take them time to repay, and the laws and the rules around the student loan repayment are quite complicated as well. So we do a lot of consulting around that piece. The second challenge that I see them face is, and this is more about habits. What happens is they’re used to making $50,000 to $60,000 a year while in residency programs. And now they jump to making almost $250,000 to $300,000 per year. And that becomes a huge challenge because They’ve not been used to it. They’ve not had incremental increases. Yeah. So going from making $50,000, $60,000 up to $250,000. Many times we notice people face challenges in terms of keeping up with the Joneses. So, next door neighbor bought a new car, I gotta get a new car. And we see them overspend in the first few years of becoming a doctor, or coming out of residency program and start earning that larger income. So, those are two challenges that we notice quite common with physicians when they’re just starting off. Now, as they’ve been practicing over the years, let’s assume they’ve been doing a good job with saving and investing and protecting their wealth. Now, we notice that a lot of times some of the challenges that people face, physicians face, is that they have advisors that they’ve used over the years. But many times those- A friend told me or actual advisor? A friend, yeah. Yeah, they listen to advice on social media. Nothing wrong with advice on social media. I would say some of it is good. Majority of it does not provide the full information. It’s good, but they’re not providing the full information. So a lot of times, they’re listening to their friends. They’re listening to what others are doing. And they become very transactional, which is unfortunate. Very successful physicians, I’ve noticed, rather than trusting a handful of advisors, and crafting a bigger picture strategy for their financial life, they become very transactional in buying products and services from multiple institutions. Again, nothing wrong with that. But what we see is when those things happen, then there’s gaps that start building up over time, where things are not working together. So how we solve for that, because that was the other question that you asked, how do we solve for some of these challenges? The first thing that we do with every single client that starts working with us is putting a whole plan together.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: This is where the strategic part comes in.
MAHESH ODHRANI : This is where the strategic part comes in. Yeah, they’ve been working on wealth design, right? That’s a good point.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: That’s a good point. OK, now let’s add strategic to that.
MAHESH ODHRANI : So when we did the client survey I mentioned, several clients said that. You’re very strategic, so you need to have that word in there. But I always use the example of going to the mall.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Ladies and gentlemen, just so you know, this is where Mahesh really lets out the wisdom. Go ahead. The example of the mall.
MAHESH ODHRANI : When you’re going to the mall, and when you first walk into the mall doors, generally what do you see?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: For me, it’s the food court, because that’s why they would drop me off, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I was going to say the map of the mall. The map of the mall, yes. So you see the map of the mall. And generally, you would say, hey, I want to go here. And then you’ll figure out the best way to get there. So same thing when it comes to financial planning. It’s without knowing where you want to go, it’s very hard to create that map and the roadmap. But if we know where our clients, where the physicians, where the practice owners, where they want to go with their wealth, their finances, their practice, then we can come up and craft that map to get there. So to use an example of the mall is one of the challenges that people face is not having that roadmap, but two, not putting the effort into it. And that’s what we offer is that financial plan is to put that roadmap together to help them accomplish their financial goals.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Well, it would seem, too, that, you know, to be able to achieve something great, there needs to be hyper-focus, right? You need to be kind of zoned in. So, you go back to these people’s lives, typically, when I say these people, right, physicians’ lives, the calling for physicians starts a little younger. So, at 11, 12, 13, they start feeling this, right? At 18, OK, now I got to pick my college career. But it’s all been driving towards one goal, and all of a sudden, you cross the finish line, and they had never followed that up with. Okay, once I cross the finish line, what does that look like, right? And it brings back the memories of those posters they put in your classroom. If you don’t know where you’re going, you’re going to end up somewhere you don’t want to be. So it seems like that’s step one is just, okay, let’s look at your goals. What do you want to end up as? What are the typical answers you’re hearing when people, do they have clarity in that? Do they have some clarity? What do you find in most people that are finishing their residency programs and now are hitting, I want to say lottery ticket, it’s not, right? It’s delayed gratification manifesting all at once, right? Which is not always fantastic because you didn’t have time to build the discipline to be able to help manage those things. So that’s where you start out. What percentage do you feel have never thought of that or what do you experience as you’re stepping in with clients? I’m sure there’s an expectation when you say, OK, this is where he’s going to go. And 80% of the time, they go that way. And then you need to kind of re-educate and redirect. What do you find?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, so we find when we’re working with clients, generally, we try to segment their goals into three buckets, short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. And obviously, being in the financial world and being a financial planner, They always start with, oh, here are my financial goals. I want to move into a bigger house. We need to buy new cars in a couple of years. We have young kids, so we’re going to start thinking about saving for college. Eventually, that long-term goal is going to be a retirement. Some of them are going to have, I want to start a practice or own a practice at some point. And what does that look like? For a lot of individuals, we have to dig in further as to what are all the other soft emotional goals that they’re looking at accomplishing.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Can you expand that? What do you mean by soft emotional goals?
MAHESH ODHRANI : So, what I mean by that is, okay, in terms of, let’s talk about college. So, yes, we want to do some college planning. And where would you want your child to go to college? Now, a lot of them, if the kids are under five, they probably have no idea if they want to go, where do the kids want to go to college? The parents may say, You know, yeah, we want them to venture out or travel somewhere. But you never know, depending upon how life evolves. We’ve had clients, when the kids are closer to going to college, when they’re in their teens, then parents are a little bit more objective as to, OK, we want them to stay closer to home. In Dubai. In Dubai, yes.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And then all of a sudden, you know what, actually, maybe you should go to Las Vegas. That happened to you, is what you’re describing.
MAHESH ODHRANI : That happened to me, yes. So things can evolve over time. But when I talk about soft emotional goals, we want to get into the why behind some of the goals that they have and what they’re looking at accomplishing. So one of my close friends had a goal of eventually paying off his home, as an example. And interest rates were very low. Now, this is not advice for the audience, so this is an example.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: It’s not advice. This happened to somebody, and you’re just oral history here.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Oral history. So was very attached to paying off their home. And interest rates were low. It just didn’t make sense from a financial standpoint. And I talk about financial planning as both science and art. The science of the mathematics behind everything that we do. The art is all the emotional part of it. So in this example, was they were quite attached to paying off their paying off their mortgage, even though financially, scientifically, this was just a goal they had since they were children.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I say this is as a Hispanic, that’s like the number one thing is like, Oh, you got to pay off your house, you got to pay off your house, that and this is not financial advice either. And you wouldn’t want to listen to me on this. But And then someone explained to me, well, that’s not always the best decision, because you can write off some of that interest. You know, if the interest is low, it’s not worth it to pay off. You can grow your money somewhere else faster. Don’t know how accurate that is. You should speak to a wealth planner if you’re curious. But I remember hearing that advice. But that was just very common. It was like an emotional sentiment, until people started saying, well, buying is not always the best way to go. Sometimes leasing is better, because it allows you this flexibility, et cetera. So, go ahead.
MAHESH ODHRANI : So, in that specific example, the client and the friend was very attached to paying off the house. It had to dig into further versus say, okay, let’s put that as a goal, let’s make that happen. We had to understand what’s the why behind that. So, just digging further into it and having a conversation with the client about it, found out that when the client was a child, unfortunately, his parents, lost the home to foreclosure because they could not pay the bills, and the father had lost a job. Something had affected them, and there was trauma around it. And they’d stayed with a friend’s house for a few days until they found their feet again and went into another apartment. But that trauma stuck with this client forever. And their number one goal was they don’t want to put themselves or their family in that situation ever again. So they were very hyper-focused on paying off their loans. Now, the challenge that we faced was, yes, they were hyper-focused on that, but they were at the expense of other decisions in their financial life. They didn’t have the right amount of rainy day fund. They were not protecting the family appropriately. So there were a lot of other things that had gaps in their financial plan that they were not addressing. But understanding that why the soft emotional goal was important for us, so now we can do a better job and coach them through that process. Yes, we want to accomplish that goal. We understand your why behind it. Now let’s focus on can we take a look at the other aspects, fill those other gaps first, and then refocus on these goals that you mentioned.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah. So your role really takes on a secondary role, which I thought in case you want to expand to strategic wealth design and therapy, because you kind of have to explain to people, hey, I understand where you’re coming from. This is math. You know what I mean? And so when you start explaining the math, they still have the emotion. And so they might not see it clearly. Am I getting that right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, I mean, compliance would not appreciate me saying this, but many times I do feel that we do act like part-time therapists. I’m not a licensed therapist, but it’s just conversations, just letting people, letting our clients speak up, letting our clients share with us their why and what’s the thought process behind some of the decisions that that they have made and they want to make in the future.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, and I do say that just for clarity, right, just half-jokingly. I would notice it. I think there’s a lot of crossover. And really, we use the word therapy, but this is just human beings bonding with other human beings, right? Correct. And being able to have conversations and understand. I would see it a lot in hospice. I would meet with families. And again, my job was in marketing. My degree was in theology. And one thing that I learned working as a chaplain in hospice was stay within your scope. If they ask you a question on medications, don’t answer it. Even if you know it, that’s not your role. Tell them to speak to the nurse. And I had a family that I remember they came, they signed their dad onto service. These two daughters loved their dad. and they kept calling me to ask me questions about a wound. And they’re like, you know, the nurse is telling us to use this, this honey, uh, meta honey, but, you know, we found this other product online. And I was like, you really need to talk to the nurse about this. All I’m going to do is call the nurse. And after the third time of them calling me in one week, I realized that in their moment of crisis, I was the first person that stepped in and began the solution process. And as they were facing these challenges, right, with their father declining, the wound wasn’t healing as quickly as they would have liked to see, really, they called me. It was the third time that they called me. And instead of calling the RN case manager to say, hey, they’re complaining about the wound, I said, hey, you might want to get the chaplain involved a little bit, because they just want to hear a familiar voice. And that’s when, you know, sure enough, they did that. They never called me again. But people, you know, we tend to latch on to people that are giving us advice. And, you know, especially when it’s Sage and Wyve advice, they’re paying you for your advice. So it is very important. But it’s also equally as important for you to listen. You don’t have to. Like you said, it’s math. So you could just send them to a YouTube video to educate them on the math of it. But this is where the human element of, right, of, I don’t want to say wealth design, but it’s wealth management kind of comes in. is truly understanding your client so you can see how you can lead them to make the best fiscal decision for their goals.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, and in our business, it’s all relationship-based. And there is transactional business, but unfortunately, our firm, or fortunately, our firm stays away from most of that. So most of our business is very relationship-based. And one of my mentors, and I trained this to advisors joining our firm, that clients need to know, like, and trust you. They can know about you, so through social media, through being introduced by a friend, but eventually they need to like you. They like you as a person. And rather than just focusing on the math, is bring out the personality, bring out the emotions, because that’s really what people are attracted towards. And eventually, if they know you, they like you, now the trust has to be built. We still have to be competent to build that trust and be confident in what we do. So those are the three things that I train a lot of new advisors on. That’s your corporate culture. The know, like, and trust.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, that’s part of it. How do financial challenges, like student loans, right, what you mentioned right now, the emotional, do you feel like it’s different for healthcare professionals? Do you, if someone steps out, finishes, you know, an MBA, and they have $150,000 in debt, do you feel like it’s very different, or do you, is it the same approach, or is there some difference to healthcare specifically? So, um… And I say this for people listening that may be going to school that are doing this, that they can hear it and be like, huh, I had never considered that, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, that’s a great question. So if you look at the different occupations, different fields, anyone in the business world probably would have had some education and more knowledge around student loans as they’re going through the process and going through school. Because in the business world, they do talk a lot about finances. That’s true. Unfortunately, for physicians in the health care space, There’s not a ton of education that takes place while they’re going through the residency programs with the medical school when it comes to personal finances. So that’s one distinction in terms of the education that they receive while they’re in the program. But also the amount of student loan debt is generally much higher for physicians, and especially if they end up going into fellowships and additional education beyond that. The other thing to consider is The programs that are available in the marketplace, I have yet to find any type of government assistance or program where they would help with student loan repayment for a business graduate. So, however, there are a ton of states, a ton of programs available out there now where they are subsidizing. If you’re working in underserved, if the physicians are working in underserved areas, the state has some grants to pay towards the student loan debt. So, for example, in California, I don’t remember the name of the exact grant, but there’s a grant available where the state of California will pay, I think, the numbers are about $40,000 or $50,000 per year towards the student loan debt if they’re working in an underserved area. And even here in Nevada, I believe there’s a new one that’s launching. Again, I don’t remember the exact name of it, but there’s a new one launching here in the next year or so, if I’m not mistaken.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So it’s not just simply about making better choices towards the future. There’s opportunities you could be missing out on.
MAHESH ODHRANI : That is correct.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: As a physician, there’s things, right? There’s fruit on your tree you didn’t even know you could eat.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Correct.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So you’re stepping in and say, hey, did you know that there’s this benefit or this that you could be taking advantage of? Because you have a good point. With the amount of debt you’re coming out of medical school, compare that to hospitality and other areas, you’re probably going to be a little more in-depth. You’re going to want to take every opportunity you possibly can.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, and take every option that’s available to you. And many times when they’re finishing up residency programs, if they have two or three different opportunities available to them, either to go into a private practice or into a corporate environment or a big provider, But they’re the benefits are all going to be different from provider to provider that they join the company to company or practice to practice So so what we do one of the things that we do is when they’re looking at those opportunities Yes, you want to take a look at which one’s going to be the best fit for them? But when it comes to the financial side of the money side which was going to be the best fit for them for their career growth, but on the financial side, we can help them evaluate and compare those benefits between different providers. And there are a lot of employers now in the medical space that are also offering student loan forgiveness programs, where if you join them, they would help you pay off your student loans too. So again, that usually does not exist in other industries.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So that’s very interesting, because at that point, so you need to make the decision, because everyone’s wanting you to come over, right? So as you’re being swooned, you need to figure out which one really benefits you the most. I mean, I would think that your personal goals are going to be incredibly important to where you want to end up, you know? Because you could make a choice that seems like the easiest choice now, but 15 years down the road, you’re really going to be regretting it. And if you didn’t put any foresight into that, you might be hurting a little bit, yeah?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Correct, yeah. It takes some time to actually evaluate those. And as I shared before, it’s about one which is going to be the most appealing for your career growth standpoint. But the second thing to look at is the financial side. Sometimes, it’s not just about the dollars and cents, which one’s going to pay me the most. It’s about, okay, if this one provider is paying me the less, but I have better quality of lifestyle. I have better quality in terms of the number of patients that I see in a day. I’m still able to get out by five, six o’clock and be able to be at home with my family. So yes, there’s less pay, but you get better quality of lifestyle. So it’s evaluating those two things and saying, okay, which one’s going to be the best fit for the client?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: See, you bring that up, and I was going to do this as a follow-up question, and you kind of touched on it right there, because you’re mentioning two value systems that are very different. I would say the previous generation’s value system was make as much money as you possibly can, and at the expense of everything, right? Your kids grow up. They never saw you. Now, I speak to some older physicians, and they’re like, oh, these young kids just don’t want to sacrifice. They say they want to, you know, be at their kid’s baseball game, and they want to. And I was like, well, yeah, why would you want to live a life to earn money and not live a life, right? To say you made the most money, it seems like the values are very much changing. As you look at that, do you see the difference generationally? In other words, when you were doing this 15 years ago, do you get very different answers when you probe clients to what you’re getting now? Does that shift?
MAHESH ODHRANI : That does shift. So I probably read some research, and this was in our industry research that some companies had done, like a focus group, probably about 10 years ago, maybe a little bit longer than that. And back then, the research showed that most individuals coming out of medical schools and residency programs, and even dental schools, because it was a combination of both dentists and physicians, they want better quality of lifestyle. And they would prefer working for an organization where they did not prefer starting their own practice, but they would prefer working for an organization as a perhaps a W-2 employee where they have limited number of patients that they see. They’re still able to get out and spend time with their family, go to the baseball game. So that’s what the research showed. This is probably about 10, 12 years ago now. But you’re right. We do see that generational gap where some individuals that have been practicing, some physicians that have been practicing for many years, they are very much into hard work and working long hours, owning their own practice. And we have seen that shift take place. However, now we’re seeing the pendulum swing again. individuals are getting burned out because these large corporations have, they’re just squeezing them to see more and more patients.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They enjoy that hard work ethic and they’ve tapped into that.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, yes. And so what we’re seeing is now more and more physicians coming out of medical schools or even residency programs, they do have some goals of starting their own practice. We actually have seen some of our clients leave the large corporations and go out on their own, start their own practice, because they were just getting burnt out. And burnout is real in the medical space, in the healthcare space. especially in this town because we’re so understaffed. Yeah, everyone’s working hard. Everyone’s working hard. So we’re seeing that pendulum swing again to where, and I’m talking about practice ownership.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, how you choose to practice as an employee versus being an employer or being a business owner. Correct. And they’re finding that being a business owner is allowing them a little more flexibility to have quality of life.
MAHESH ODHRANI : It’s having… Not always, but… Not always. Okay, yeah, I know. It’s, it’s, the grass may only seem greener on the other side, right? Yeah. So, so we have, we do see individuals it’s better quality, they have more control over it. And what they’re recognizing with the tools and technology that they have access to today, they have better control over the quality of care that they can offer to their patients, as well as the number of patients that they manage in their practice. Yeah. So versus being forced to seeing 40, 50 patients a day.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And what area do you think is the most often overlooked or where focus should be placed on? Is that all dependent on goals?
MAHESH ODHRANI : So it all depends upon goals. It depends upon where they’re at in their career and their life. And the crazy thing is that our goals evolve.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So that’s a reality. That’s a truth. I still have my 13-year-old goals. I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mahesh.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, no, of course we evolve. So we do have those. Those are long-term goals. But our goals evolve. So yes, the advice, the challenges, and as those goals evolve, we want to make sure that we’re there right by a client’s side to help them accomplish those goals as those goals come up. And same thing as I shared my story, right? I was in Dubai thinking I was going to be there, and my goals changed, and I was in the US.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You said, this place is getting too nice for me. I’m out of here.
MAHESH ODHRANI : No, I’m kidding. Yeah, it was getting too big for me at that time. It was still small when I moved out. But that’s what we see, is where the goals evolve over time, and we want to make sure we’re there with our clients, giving them advice along the way.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: This is where it’s important to not just have boilerplate answers. Anyone can go online and research information and know things, right? But the human element of having an actual strategist that’s working with you on this, even as your goals evolve, so that they can help you to pivot. Do you have any clients that just drive you absolutely nuts, that are just bouncing back and forth? Or have you in the past?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, yes. We’ve had them in the past and we also have a few of them currently. I think part of, one of the things when clients ask us why should they hire us, and my number one answer is because of time. Time is is all of our precious resource. And it’s getting more and more limited. Of course, someone that finishes residency program and starts working, perhaps they’re single, perhaps they’re married and no kids yet, they may have more time on their hands. And certainly, all the data, all the research, everything’s available online now. That’s the great thing about where we’re at in society today. There’s so much information available. Yeah, the access to it. The access to the information is very easy now.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: That’s also a downside, though, I would think, right? It’s like doctors—I’ll make the connection—it’s like doctors saying, oh, let me guess, you went on WebMD and this is what you have, right? They get frustrated because, oh, he accessed information. They call him Dr. Google. Yeah. So they get frustrated there. Do you have that? We have that as well.
MAHESH ODHRANI : It sounds like that’s what you’re describing. Okay. We have that as well. But we’re educators at heart, so we want to make sure Many times the information, especially in our world, yes, information is available. It’s readily available. There’s a ton of it. We want to make sure we simplify it and help our clients understand when it fits in their goals or not. So where I was going with that was there’s a ton of information available. They can do it themselves. Our premise is we want to be that time for our clients. We want to create that time. That’s a great expression. Once they know and like and trust us, we want them to reach out to us for any financial concerns. And our goal is to help them solve, answer their questions, solve their problems, so that they can focus more on what they love doing the most. Spending time with their family, taking care of their patients, taking care of their practice, and enjoying what they do most.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, so it’s like a chief financial officer, but for your life, right? So, yes, you can sit down and research this for 13 hours. Or you can ask me, and I’ll spend my time doing it, and then, you know, give you the bullet points in 10 minutes, 30 minutes, and save you the time of having to research all that. Correct. Okay, let me ask you this, then. Can you highlight any common financial mistakes? Is there things that you see healthcare professionals do over and over again that you’re just, oh, man, you really need to rethink this? Is there something you can offer the audience as advice on that?
MAHESH ODHRANI : I think, so yes, so one is not spending time with their professionals. So I do see that physicians work hard. They take care of patients. They save lives. But unfortunately, they don’t spend enough time with their professionals, with their accountants, attorneys, their advisors, to take care of their financial life. The reason I say that is because we do see, at many times, there’s gaps in in our clients’ financial lives where they haven’t addressed several needs or several recommendations that professionals have given them, but they just don’t take the time. They’re just busy. They’re just busy. For whatever reason. They’re just busy. And so that’s one. The other common mistake I would say is what we talked about before is transactional. We do see a lot of physicians make financial decisions because their friends are doing it or someone just came by the office and was representing a financial product and they just went ahead and bought it. Again, nothing wrong with that. But what physicians end up missing out on is understanding the big picture. And many times, without understanding the big picture, I noticed that they do end up either purchasing or making mistakes with their finances, which becomes either very expensive to fix later on, just because they’re just too busy taking care of their patients.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Like buying a two-seater sports car when your wife is pregnant.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Right?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You’re just like, oh, I might not have thought. Yes, you want to drive the sports car, obviously, right? It’s very fun. But then when you start getting into the practicality of it, you’re reminded as soon as you get home, excited to explain why it’s important for you to have 550 horsepower and thinking, wait, this is illogical. This doesn’t make sense with my life, right? So I’m sure you’re seeing people make those mistakes.
MAHESH ODHRANI : We have seen this, yes. Okay.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And then do you scold them or you kind of hit your head against the wall on trying to get them? No, but you’re not understanding.
MAHESH ODHRANI : We want to sympathize. We want to empathize with them. We try to listen. And we certainly, you know, all we can do is give our advice and give our opinion around that. So the clients pay us for their advice. Right. Now, we hope that they listen and actually take action. But what they’re paying us is for the advice. And our job is to advise them, to coach them. And certainly, if they would reach out to us before they make some of the financial decisions, we can help them save a lot of headache.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know, this is really bringing a lot of memories of marital counseling and things like that, where you talk to people and you’re like, yeah, but we just keep getting in a fight. Have you guys discussed what your common goal is? Well, she wants this. Yes, you need to come up with a common goal, because once you’re both signed up to the goal, then he’ll come and say, yeah, but look at this 85-inch TV, and it’s so discounted. And all you have to do is say, yeah, but does it meet our goal? Remember we came up with a goal together? And then immediately he’ll be like, yeah, you’re right. It doesn’t work towards our goal, right? That’s the importance of goal setting. Because then you’re going to remind them as the financial spouse. You’re going to remind them as a financial spouse and say, well, you had said that this is your goal. Is it still your goal? You can buy all the TVs you want and sports cars. I can’t tell you what to do. But is this still your goal? Because you’re not working towards it by doing this, by making this decision.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Correct, yeah. And many times, you’re right, it’s just reminding them of the goals that they put together. But also, what I’ve noticed is many times they’ll have those goals, but they’re just scared or they’re concerned about making those decisions. A great example just recently, we had a client, spouse needed a new car, they just finished their residency program, just started earning income, and they were very concerned about making like bad decisions with their money. Right.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: So they didn’t want to go and— They realize they won the lottery, and they know what people do when they win the lottery, so they’re a little tentative on decision-making.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Exactly. They’re very cautious at making decisions. But the spouse needed a new car, and they’re like, uh, it’s on its way out. And I said, what car are you looking at buying? And let’s say… Porsche GT3 R8, no. No, no, it wasn’t that. It was a, I think it was a Toyota Camry RAV4, one of those cars. And we looked at the price and I said, you guys can afford this today. And you can either pay cash for it because you’ve done well, you’ve been very cautious, you’ve been saving up a lot of money since you started working. So you can do this today or you can finance it. How are you going to do it? But we’re having this conversation, and I know I’m your financial advisor. I give you permission to spend the money today if you need to. So they were not looking for my permission, but I think internally they were. You’re addressing the fear.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: They feel there’s a fear there of making the decision. And am I going to make a mistake and regret this? It’s nice having an expert that in finance say, this is absolutely not a mistake. You can make whichever way you want to make this decision, you’re in the position to make it.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Correct, yep. So it was that simple, but I think they were just looking for validation.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, that’s fair. And that’s what you’re paying for, right? And that’s the human element of what we were discussing earlier. We use the word therapy, though technically it’s not therapy, right? However, you’re just looking to know that you’re making a sound decision. Correct. And having that feedback from a professional, it’s saying, yeah, it’s sound.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Don’t worry. And if they wanted to buy the Porsche GT or something else, That would have been a different conversation. But I think with the price point they were at, it was great. And it was a good feeling as an advisor, too, where the clients are looking for that validation. They’re listening to advice. They’re taking advice, and they’re acting on it.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, that’s the educator in you, right? Yes. Because there’s nothing worse than educating someone, them saying, wow, that’s a really good point, and then going do the complete opposite of what you just suggested they do. How can healthcare professionals effectively manage their finances and find time for financial planning when there is a shortage, right, when you are busy, when you’re trying to keep everything afloat?
MAHESH ODHRANI : That’s a great question. So the first thing is what we talked about before, is know, like, and trust. So biggest thing is building trust with the right professionals in their lives. And with that, the three professionals that we always recommend that physicians have in their lives is an attorney from asset protection and estate planning perspective, a tax accountant who can come up with effective tax strategies, and a wealth advisor. And essentially all three of these individuals should know each other and should work as a team for the client’s benefit or for the healthcare provider’s benefit. As far as creating the time, that’s If they’re working with the right team and essentially working with great professionals that they know, like, and trust, they can make the time to meet with them at least on an annual basis. And the perfect strategy would be is to get all three of them in one room once a year for an hour just to be able to discuss the client’s life and look at all the strategies from a tax standpoint, legal standpoint, as well as financial standpoint. and see how everything is working and having all three professionals be on the same page. But once you trust them, then the professionals can leave that meeting and act on behalf of the client to make sure the client’s goals are taken care of.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And I’ve seen this kind of in play. It almost feels like the three branches of government keeping checks and balances. You have three professionals, right, that don’t necessarily, they don’t work for the same company. They work for the same client. They can overlook each other to make sure the other one’s doing their job. And really, when they come together effectively to work towards those goals, to make sure that those goals are being worked towards. Which gives you a little more trust in a team, right? Because if there’s going to be a failure in one, the other two might catch it and say, hey, we’re noticing this. We’re not getting this paperwork or this information, etc. How do people make the choices? What should I look for? The guy that hands the nicest card, that drives the nicest car? How do I choose my attorney? How do I choose my wealth manager? How do I make these decisions?
MAHESH ODHRANI : That’s a great question. So the first thing is the personality. So again, I’m going to go back to that no like and trust. I know I’ve said that multiple times.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know what’s funny is you’re saying this, but I have the personality that runs any detail-oriented person, drives them insane. And my accountant is very detail-oriented. So it’s very funny how I’m like, oh, thank you. I’m always apologizing. She’s like, yeah, I know, but you need to make this a priority. I know, I will, I will. And then I get back on it. But go ahead.
MAHESH ODHRANI : I was going to say that no lie can trust, right? But then the second thing is the trust aspect comes from are they complimentary to you? So, you’re not detailed, Diego, but you’re, you said you’re an accountant, right? Absolutely. Your accountant is detailed, and you need the accountant to be detailed. But if the accountant was just like you, then there would probably be a lot of mistakes on your tax returns.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, three me’s would be a mess, right? I need the skills that I don’t have, and I need to pay somebody that has very good of those skills, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Correct, and all those three professionals, one is they need to know their craft. So whatever world they’re in, they know their craft, they need to have the experience. But when you ask that question, how do you pick? So one is the personality, is making sure that you’re the right fit. Two is validation. So do they have other clients that you know that are working with those professionals? And in our business, more and more research is showing that most of the time, clients find their advisors by asking their friends and family. That’s one of the top ways clients find advisors. So asking your friends and family who they work with. And are they happy with them? And the third thing would be competency. Do they have the right credentials? Are they furthering their education? How long they’ve been in the business? Have they experienced part of it?
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And are they the best, right? Are you picking the best? It’s like looking at a resume. Yeah, someone’s it’s yeah, you’re my first client, man. I’m gonna we’re gonna find out right? That’s kind of scary versus, you know, yeah, I’ve been doing this for 15 years. I go to these conferences annually. So it’s okay. Do people ask you that? What do what do you do for your continued education?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, we’ve had we’ve had few individuals ask us that question. But I think at Like, if you look at my business card or my name online, you’ll see I’ve got about, I think, four designations. I’m losing count at this point, four or five designations. So for each of those designations, unfortunately, I have to do continuing education requirements every year.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Oh, you can’t just pay for those designations, huh?
MAHESH ODHRANI : No, unfortunately not. So, and in fact, I’ve got We’re sitting here in March, and I’ve got one due at the end of April, another one due at the end of May. So I’ll be doing a lot of continuing education over the next 60 days.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Also being busy. Well, I think it’s important to interview people, again, find that. Do you ever find that when you ever sit down with a client, they may be successful, they may have wealth to manage, but there’s just not a personality click, and you let them know, hey, I don’t think I’d be the best fit for you?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yes, we’ve had that, where we know we’re not a good fit for them. And it’s also been where, over time, Maybe initially we thought that we were a great fit, but over time we realized that we’re not a good fit anymore. So we’ve had to excuse ourselves from that relationship as well. So we’ve had those conversations, tough conversations with clients as well.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: I think it’s important. I noticed that in consulting, is that some people would pay a good amount of money for your advice and then not listen to any of your advice. And then I remember being kind of frustrated at first, and then it kind of clicked for me. I was like, wait, their plan is going to fail. That’s why they hired me, because it’s already failing. They’re not listening to anything that I’m suggesting for them to do. So when that fails, the only difference is, instead of blaming themselves, they’re going to blame me for executing their own plan. So they’re just paying me to get mad at me, right? And so I was like, yeah, this might not be the best fit, right? You’re paying me a good amount of money. Yes, absolutely I am. And then I would say, well, you know, if you don’t listen to me, then what are you paying me for? I mean, think about it logically. I’d love to just take your money if you’re just looking to give it away, but we need to be clear on expectations because I feel that your plan’s not working based on the fact that you hired me. You wouldn’t need me if your plan was working and then kind of working outwards from there, right? And kind of explaining it to them. They’re like, okay, okay, well, we’ll try it this way. And if it doesn’t work, we switch it up. But again, it’s probably the same with you.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, it’s exactly the same with us as well. Our number one goal is to consistently add value to our clients’ lives. And if we’re not doing that, and we’re just collecting fees or getting paid, then we want to excuse ourselves from that relationship. But our number one goal in terms of all my training with all my team members, that’s what we talk about is if we’re not adding value, then we’re not the right person for that client.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah, absolutely. So we talked about other people’s success, right? And what they would like to see and how you achieve them, their goals. What is your goal with strategic wealth design? What is the outcome that really makes you feel good about what you do? Not just clients making money, but are there outcomes that you ever see in clients’ lives where you just feel like you did your job to the best possible way to see those outcomes in their lives?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, I think from, and I’ll talk about strategic goals here in a moment, but the outcome, every single day that we work with our clients, our goal is to help them prepare for whatever their financial goals are. For many of them, it’s the ultimate retirement. But there’s all these short-term, mid-term, and long-term goals. And that’s what gets me up every single morning because we’re helping them accomplish their short-term, mid-term, long-term goals. Like the example that I talked to you about with a client just going out and buying a car. That was a great feeling when they were in communication with us and they booked their car. They knew the day they were going to go pick it up. and they sent us a picture that they picked up the car. So that’s great, right? And so that’s a short-term goal. Other goals, when clients have, when they listen to our advice and they save up for sending their kids off to college. That’s where it’s valuable when that child is eventually going off to college and their college education is fully funded. So that’s a great feeling.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: It’s like planting a seed and then all of a sudden you see the fruit on the tree and they pick it and they take a bite and they say, wow, this is delicious. Yeah, I’m really glad you listened and planted that seed 10 years ago, 15 years ago, et cetera.
MAHESH ODHRANI : And for many of our clients now, as their kids are going off to college, they’re having conversations with us about their They don’t have any finances, they’re just going off to college, but we’re educating them about finances and how to manage their finances while they’re in college. And what this college fund can do for them, because they’ll be one of the few, perhaps, that will graduate without any student loan debt. And then getting clients to their retirement. or working with a practice owner that eventually sells their practice and goes into retirement. So those are all just moments that we get to enjoy that makes me get up every single morning and go to work. Now, you asked me the question about strategic wealth design goals. Those goals, one of our goals, internal goals, is to touch 2,500 families. So we’re probably at about between 600 to 700 families right now. I didn’t look at the exact count this month. But we’re probably about 600 to 700 families right now. So we know we’re at four advisors in our firm currently. We know that our growth goal is to grow to about 20 advisors in the firm. and approximately each advisor serving approximately 100 to 150 families in the healthcare community. So that’s our goal as to where we want to go with our firm, but with the premise that our passion, what we’re all about is to enrich the lives of people we touch. We do it through the world of finance and financial planning, but that’s the number one goal is to enrich the lives of people we touch, and our goal is to get to 2,500 families.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: And you said something key, because sometimes when you talk about the financial planning aspect, again, people just think, they’re just thinking of getting richer. They don’t understand when people meet these, you know, these personal KPIs or these personal metrics in their life where you see these moments. You mentioned something really that caught my ear when you talked right now. which is not just the strategic wealth design, but start turning it into strategic generational wealth design, right? Where now you’re educating kids and say, hey, your college is paid for. Do you want to just flub that? Or do you want to take advantage of that and really take it to the next level, right? I always used to say it to younger people, carrying the flag further than your parents did. Or just, are you just going to live out their life, but once again, not that they didn’t succeed, but you have an opportunity that wasn’t afforded to your parents. You may be able to take this a little farther. Do you ever engage on that level?
MAHESH ODHRANI : To a certain extent, yes. I probably never say it as eloquently as you did. But yes, we do talk about a lot of the kids’ goals, what do they want to accomplish. What’s interesting is just this past week, we had a client at the office and they brought their child who is in high school, about to go to, so will be a senior in high school next year, so about a year to, actually, no, they’re a senior right now, so they’ll be graduating. this coming fall, and we’re talking about college plans, what do they want to study. But one of the goals is to go to Europe next year for education for a year. Okay. And the parents are not thrilled.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You didn’t hold that up within quotes, you just said education, right?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, so didn’t hold that up in quotes. Good child and I think has a good head on her shoulders. She’s already starting to make some financial decisions. So has already been working and wants to start taking a look at educating herself on investing. So it’s a good child, good head on her shoulders. What the parents did, we’re just concerned about the child being so far away from them.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: That’s unique to only that family and only those parents.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Every other parent is complete opposite. Yes, only unique to that family. Every other parents, yeah. But in that conversation, we talked about education, finances, and everything else, but that was her goal. And part of me was encouraging her to go to Europe because that’s what I did. And what’s interesting, This family’s also, the father is an immigrant as well. So the father has gone through the process of being, of traveling away from home and being away from home and building his business. So in this case, it was, I was very encouraging of the child to travel and experience, but I was also encouraging and assuring to the parent to consider that because it will just open up the world for this child to get that experience.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Absolutely. You know, it’s funny you say that. There’s a lot of crossover. I used to work with a lot of young people, and I’d always tell parents, listen, no one’s going to come when your child turns 18 and is going to tell you, hey, everything you used to say used to be a command. Now everything you say from here on out is going to be a suggestion. You can’t get resentful. You already let go of the arrow. You had 18 years to aim the bow and arrow, right? You’ve released the arrow. Now you’ve got to trust everything you’ve done for the last eight years, which is a very scary prospect. And I only say that because my son’s 12 and nine years old. So the thought of, all right, now you’ve got to do it on your own, right, is kind of scary. But you need to release. If you don’t release, they’re never going to fly.
MAHESH ODHRANI : Yeah, and at some point, they have to take the risk, they have to make the mistakes, and that’s how we all learn as human. Yeah. Yeah, it’s, I’ve made a ton of mistakes, but even not listening to my parents, and it’s one of those, you know, I have to, no regrets, but that’s what made me, that’s what makes me who I am today is because I’ve learned from those mistakes.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Yeah. You know, I tell my boys, and I learned this from somebody, and I thought it was such a great, you know, because they had exited and made a tremendous amount of money. And I was like, so what do you think about your boys? Because he had boys, too. And when I started asking him, he goes, you know, I want my kids to suffer. I just don’t want them to have as many scars as I do. And I love that explanation. I don’t, I’m not, I don’t want to solve your problems. I don’t want to make everything easy. I want you to kind of suffer a little bit because you, you have to kindle that fire within yourself. I just don’t want you to have permanent deformations from the burns that you get. Right? And that’s, uh, I never thought a financial planner would have to step in that way, but you have a very good point on that. And luckily you’re worldly, so the child probably really appreciates that you said, yeah, move away. It sounds like a great idea. Well, Mahesh, I want to thank you very much for coming on the program. I hope that this has been enlightening for our audience. I know it’s been enlightening for me. One of the things that I’ve learned in podcasting is just getting to know people in such a different way because I have to be very targeted and extracting, getting people to talk a little bit. But you’ve made me think about quite a few different things as we’ve been talking. What is something that people can walk away with and do today, right? They listen to the podcast and think, yeah, where is my finance? Where, you know, I don’t have an attorney, a financial planner, Do they wait until they’re making a good amount of money? What is a step they can take immediately that you would leave them with?
MAHESH ODHRANI : But first of all, thank you for having me on this podcast. This was a lot of fun. I’ve known you for several years and I was excited that when you started this podcast and thank you for asking me to be on this channel. So what I would say is where do you start is start by conversations with financial advisors. Try to maybe interview three advisors and try to find the best advisor and financial planner that fits with, again, your personality and what you’re looking at accomplishing. even if you’re not ready, most financial advisors at least do a free initial consultation. So at least go out and talk and research as to who would be a good fit. And then once you find the good fit, they can help you put the other players together. So if you don’t have an accountant, they’ll help you with that. If you do have an accountant, we can obviously ask your accountant for any recommendations for a financial planner and estate planning attorneys. But lean on your existing professionals or friends and family and ask them, who do they work with? But certainly if you start with any of one of those professionals first, ask them for recommendations and start interviewing to build that relationship. Because again, it is a long-term relationship, but certainly start somewhere. The number one thing after I’m done doing any talk at a medical school or residency program, I always say, Do something. You’ll forget 90% of everything that I said today, but I want you to take one thing and take some action. That’s all I care about. Be it, yeah, maybe meet with a professional, but it could be, it’s one of the things that we talked about is to start saving the right amount of money, start investing in your retirement plan through your employer, whatever that is, but take some action.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: You know, I really, really appreciated your answer, because so many people don’t play to win. I noticed that. And so they’ll say, well, you know, once we’re large, then we’ll implement those systems. And I would always reverse it and say, well, do you think those companies got large because they implemented those systems? In other words, pretend like you’re going to succeed and start making those decisions. You don’t have to have a million in the bank to then begin having the discussions, because then you hit that point you mentioned earlier, where you hit the lottery. What are you going to do, right? Because If you look at it statistically, make a lot of mistakes is going to be the answer. But start planning like you’re going to succeed. And then as your success, you can start interviewing these people, asking questions, so that when you begin to succeed, there is a game plan. An alternative one, right? Looking at more at the negative aspect, again, working in hospice. I would always tell people, it’s okay to learn about these things. You don’t shop for car insurance after your car’s flying off the cliff or rolling down the hill, right? Correct. Shop when it’s calm, where those problems haven’t began yet, so that you can make the best possible decision. So that, right, in this case, when the money starts flowing, there’s already a plan. And you’re not going to end up with, you know, an impractical car or a poor decision that you’re like, oh, I really should have just asked this beforehand, right? So that’s, it’s really good. That’s interesting. I want to thank you again, Mahesh, for coming on the show today. I had a really good time interviewing you and learning about strategic wealth design. How can people reach out to you if they want to find out a little, if you want to be one of the three, or they want you to be one of the three?
MAHESH ODHRANI : Absolutely. They can go, um, they can Google my name. They can go to, uh, our website, strategicwd.com. And, um, on our website, there’s an initial consultation link as well. They can click on that. Uh, but they can certainly Google my name and they can find our website and find me on LinkedIn.
DIEGO TRUJILLO: Okay, fantastic. Well, ladies and gentlemen, that is strategicwd.com. Or you can look up Mahesh Adrani. That’s M-A-H-E-S-H-O-D-R-A-N-I. O-D-H-R-A-N-I. So close. Fantastic. I was trying to pull that one off. But yeah, look them up and reach out and ask questions. Like I said, plan to succeed in your life. Start asking the questions early on because more often than not, they’ll be able to give you advice right at the very beginning that will help you get to that success a little bit quicker. So lean on experts that know a little bit more than you do. And thank you very much again for coming on, Mahesh. Thank you, Diego. And we look forward to more podcasts, to get more information, and to be able to educate the community to make the best possible decisions for their lives. And I agree with you on one thing that you said. People don’t realize how financial decisions can impact their stress, their emotions, how you are as a husband, as a father, as a wife, even as a child, right? What decisions you can make that are going to lead to you being the best person? that is able to make the clearest decisions possible. So thank you again for coming on to the podcast. That is another episode of The Heals Pod. And we want to thank everyone that has joined us today to listen. Have a fantastic day.
