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Everyone wants to leave some type of legacy when they're gone.

One person might want to be remembered as a famous surgeon, while another hopes people will remember her as a mega movie star, the world's best parent, or just a really good person.

Most everyone agrees on one thing, though: They want to leave a legacy of wealth for their loved ones.

Legacy Wealth Management® in Memphis helps physicians and other corporate executives with their financial planning for any occasion that life brings, whether it is for fun, family planning, retirement or for growing that gift of wealth to pass on.

For the third time, Legacy Wealth Management was recognized in Medical Economics as one of the top 150 financial advisors for doctors. And John Ueleke, founder and president who started the company 25 years ago, has been listed in Worth magazine nine consecutive times as one of the nation's Top 100 Wealth Advisors. His company has $500 million under management with more than 350 clients, of which between 10 percent and 12 percent are physicians or high net worth individuals and corporate executives. So when Ueleke talks, people listen.

"Go back to the basics," Ueleke advised. "The thing that gets overlooked so often is what I call the blocking and tackling of the business. There are some pretty good rules and if people will follow them they'll be retired successfully. It's not the sexy thing; this is not the hot idea. But, you've got to go back to the basics."

Ueleke said he's a great believer in having a plan, but first things first. You must identify and define what the important objectives are in your life.

"They're going to be different for everybody," Ueleke said. "One of the big things I see with physicians is some types of specialties will tend to retire early. Radiologists are a good example of that and some other specialties. You don't seem to see early retirement as much in the heavily patient-oriented practices. We're working with one right now in his 70s and he still can't define what his retirement should look like. He's got a general practice and loves to serve his patients and that's one of the difficulties. Not only do you have to be able to save money but have to be able to understand and verbalize what you're saving for. I look back and what keeps people from being successfully retired is that they haven't put a plan together. They have typically bought the investment du jour."

Ueleke said another problem he often sees is that physicians often measure their success by their practice as opposed to measuring the shape of their personal finances.

"Part of that goes back to the fact that it's hard to hold ourselves accountable for reaching a goal," Ueleke said.

Ueleke urged healthcare providers to get second and even third opinions when it comes to investments and financial planning. He likened listening to more than financial option to that to a patient getting different opinions.

"I'm a cancer survivor. I've been cancer free for 10 years. I was told 10 years ago that the kind of cancer I had was very aggressive and for me to get my affairs in order. I got a second and third opinion and we were able to coordinate together to devise a different protocol, which ultimately saved my life.

"There are a lot of parallels there with successful retirement. The advice you're getting may be so biased because of a person's background or where they're coming from that they don't consider all the other options. Getting a second opinion may allow you to be able to live, as in my case, or retire."

Ueleke said people should ask themselves this question: How complete is the analysis of my situation so that I can have some degree of assurance that I can retire at a certain age? If you cannot answer that question, it may call for a second opinion.

"It's easy to get caught up in the material side of our society and that is particularly dangerous in the medical profession today because of the pressure in the fees that are being able to be charged and more importantly collected, as well as rising expenses. The result is many physicians are working longer and harder today for the same or less and the prognosis for the future is the situation is not likely to improve. It becomes very important to coordinate all of the aspects of a physician's financial aspects of their life. That includes making sure they have the right type of insurance, disability insurance, property and causality insurance, the insurance along with reviewing taxes, estate plans and making sure all of these things are coordinated and produce the best long term financial position for our client."

Ueleke cautioned all healthcare providers to make sure their portfolio is diversified and that they're working with people they trust.

"It's so important to build a relationship with someone whom you can trust and who has exhibited the willingness to put the client in this case, physicians, first and foremost above compensation. One of the words we often use with clients is "fiduciary" – whoever is advising has to legally put the interest of the client first. It's a good question to ask someone. Are you acting as a fiduciary to me? If the answer is no, that's a clue it may not be in your best interest. That person is not legally held to give you advice to put you first. In the investment world it's a big, big deal."

What makes financial planning different for physicians? Ueleke said unlike most businesses, physicians can't control their costs.

"In many cases the prices they're able to charge for their services are not under their control. Hence, the expense side of their business they have some control over, but the outside forces cause significant expenses that you or I would not have. They have very high malpractice insurance outside pressures. It makes the importance of managing their personal finances even greater."

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