Over the past 40 years, I’ve helped thousands of dentists and specialists achieve their financial goals. The American Association of Orthodontists (AAO) asked me to present at their recent national meeting and share the 40 lessons I’ve learned along the way. Below are my first 20 ideas to improve your finances, with the remaining 20 strategies to be discussed next month.

1. More couples divorce over financial problems than any other reason, leading to devastating results both financially and emotionally. Rather than pointing out each other’s financial failures, agree on common goals using a written financial plan (the key is putting it down on paper!) and then track your progress and celebrate your successes. This will improve your personal relationship and your finances!

2. Never be worth more dead than alive! Avoid excessive insurance costs by maintaining amounts of life, disability, and business overhead insurance only to the extent necessary to protect yourself against risk you can’t afford to self-insure. Reduce these coverages as your liquid assets grow and eliminate them completely once you’ve reached financial independence. Regardless of your age, you should be spending no more than $7,000 annually (combined) on life, disability, and business overhead insurance premiums.

3. Don’t know how much you’re spending personally each month? Stop committing malpractice on your personal finances and begin tracking your