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Your Comprehensive Financial Health Check-up by Garrett Gunderson

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Financial health is the product of comprehensive protection and profitable production. Protection consists of transferring and managing risk. Production means to utilize your resources to generate the highest, most sustainable cash flow as possible.

In the following assessment you can identify your financial blind spots through the questions and short explanations with both your protection and production components.

Are You Properly Protected?

Auto Insurance
Suppose you were to cause an accident. The other driver is disabled and can’t work for six months. Would your current coverage cover the situation? Do you understand the different components of your policy enough to know?

Few people understand the limits of liability component of auto insurance, which covers bodily injury, as well as compensates for uninsured and underinsured claims.

Suppose someone else hits you and you’re disabled for six months or longer. He only has $25,000 of coverage, but you make $150,000 a year. Assuming your limits are high enough, your underinsured coverage will make up the difference.

Understand the difference between property value (cars, computers, etc.) and human life value (meaning your potential to produce). Strangely, most people insure their property value but are woefully underinsured when it comes to their human life value. What’s more important: Replacing your income if you are disabled, or replacing your car if it gets damaged?

Homeowners Insurance
If you were to have a liability claim on your homeowners insurance, have you fully transferred your risk and protected your assets?

Is your liability limit the same as your car insurance? Do you have the proper amount of property coverage, including full replacement (as opposed to actual value)? Do you have a video inventory of your belongings off premises? Is your deductible the right amount? Have you maximized your multipolicy discount in coordination with your auto insurance?

Excess Liability/Umbrella Coverage
An umbrella policy wraps around your auto and homeowners policies to cover catastrophic losses exceeding the liability coverage on each individual policy. This extra coverage is usually a million dollars or more, for a nominal premium.

An umbrella policy is absolutely essential for proper protection. It can also reduce your premium on your car and homeowners coverage if coordinated properly. For example, you can lower your liability coverage on your auto and homeowner policies to the minimum requirements, then use the umbrella policy to cover catastrophic losses.

Disability Insurance
Most disability cases are temporary. But even temporary disability can have a devastating impact on your family. Could you handle having no income for three months or longer? How much sense does it make to protect your car and not protect yourself and your income?

Medical Insurance
Do you have adequate medical insurance? Do you have the proper deductibles to minimize premiums and yet keep proper peace of mind that your benefits are not out of reach compared to your liquidity and frequency of use with the policy?

Life Insurance
If you were to die today, would your life insurance replace your economic value and ensure the same lifestyle your family currently enjoys?

You can’t consider life insurance as a big lump sum that is paid when you die. Rather, it must be considered as how much income that lump sum can produce over your family’s life. I’ve yet to meet a widow or widower who felt like he or she had too much coverage.

Do you understand the different types of insurance and do you have the right policy for you? Do you have the proper beneficiary assignment with your policy?

Estate Planning
Estate planning determines what happens to your assets when you pass away. But equally important is the perpetuation of your values, philosophy, vision and contribution. A proper estate plan maximizes your legacy – both financial and personal.

Do you have a properly documented will? Do you have a properly executed trust? Do you have a Power of Attorney set up in case you are incapacitated and cannot make decisions? Do you have a legacy plan or statement of purpose in your trust? Does your plan account for transferring human life value assets (values, philosophy, contribution)?

Liquidity: Checking and Savings
Are you confident in the solvency and quality of your bank? Do you have six months’ worth of expenses in a liquid account that is totally safe? Do you have at least one month of expenses in cash on hand and another month in precious metals?

When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans the banks shut down. No access to ATMs or banks meant many people couldn’t buy basic necessities because they didn’t have cash on hand.

Emergency Preparedness
Do you have an emergency preparedness plan? Do you have six to 12 months of food storage? Do you have an evacuation plan for your home that your family understands? Do you have a 72-hour kit readily available for emergencies?

Are You Maximizing Your Production?
Your balance sheet shows your assets versus liabilities to determine whether you have equity (net worth) or debt (more liabilities than assets). The key is to produce more than you consume so that you are creating a positive on your personal balance sheet.

Are you creating more value in the world than you take? Are you clear on your passion, purpose and values, and does your business/career reflect that clarity? Does your business maximize your talents and knowledge to create value for others?

Credit
Do you know your credit score? Do you know how to maintain or improve it? (Hint: paying on time is only about one-third of what makes up a score.) Do you know your Dunn and Bradstreet score (for business credit)? Do you have access to business lines of credit?

A 760+ credit score can help you lower your interest rates on existing loans or give you greater access to credit, which can be used to increase your production (such as investing in new technology).

Loans
Have you negotiated the best interest rate on your loans? Have you maximized tax advantages and savings by keeping your loan interest tax deductible? Do you have a detailed and coordinated plan to pay off loans you’d like to eliminate?

Personal Bank
Do you have your own personal banking system to selffinance and capture interest normally paid to banks? Do you know how to do this and which financial vehicles to use?

Accounting and Taxes
Do you have adequate and effective tracking and bookkeeping systems to measure your production?

Are you proactively strategizing throughout the year to save on taxes? Have you reviewed previous tax returns with someone other than your current accountant to see if you can amend returns to recapture overpayment of tax? Is your business set up optimally from a tax and legal perspective? Do you have an exit strategy from a tax perspective for your retirement plans, stocks, real estate or other investments?

Long-Term Investments
Are you investing with knowledge in an area of your expertise and in alignment with your purpose? Do your investments properly reflect your values and fit into your financial plan?

Are you truly investing, or just hoping and praying you’ll make a return (i.e. gambling)?

Do you know the person responsible for making decisions and generating the returns (e.g. money managers)? Do you have enough knowledge about the markets you’re in to get out when certain indicators are triggered? Are you happy with the current performance of your investments? Do your investments produce consistent cash flow?

Do you have all investments properly documented and organized? Have you applied risk mitigation/management strategies to your investments? Do you understand the value proposition of your investments (why and how they earn interest)? Have you minimized the drag on your investments (admin fees, marketing fees, fund manager fees, account fees, etc.)?

Do you know how your investments will benefit you now and in the future? Do your investments give you confidence and peace of mind?

Do you have a strategy to handle market fluctuations? Other than potential rate of return, do you have a reason to be invested in your current holdings?

Living Wealthy
Are you living in your ideal home? Are you taking time away from work to enjoy your family without money being an excuse preventing you from doing those things today?

Do your investments give you confidence and inspire an abundance mindset? Are you clear on making your purpose profitable?

Are your personal finances guided by your overall purpose and legacy?

Are You Financially Fit?
This isn’t about dollars and cents. It’s about living your ideal life without stress and worry. It’s about maximizing your happiness and contribution. As you read through this assessment, how confident are you that you’ve covered all your bases? Does this assessment worry or encourage you? Are your finances as healthy as you’d like them to be? If not, what are you going to do about it?
Author's Bio
Garrett Gunderson is a financial advocate to dentists and the author of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Businessweek and Amazon bestseller Killing Sacred Cows: Overcoming the Financial Myths that are Destroying Your Prosperity. Get a free hardcover copy of his book at www.freebookfordentists.com or by calling 877- 235-8324.
Dentaltown Magazine
September 2025
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