Xélan Introduction

Xélan Introduction

Dr. Guess:

Welcome to the website for xélan, the Economic Association of Health Professionals.

xélan began as a research project in the early 1970’s to try to figure out why some doctors succeed financially and others fail. We started with the realization that as health professionals, our education in the areas of financial affairs was limited at best. We had enormous busyness levels that prevented us from really becoming educated in financial matters when we were so involved in the demands of private practice. A lot of health professionals don’t like anything to do with money anyway. If you had wanted to be in business, you probably would’ve gone in that direction. Health professionals are different, I think, from other people because they’re dedicated to helping others. The rigors of study in the scientific areas preclude much education related to economics and financial planning.

When we began the xélan Research Project, I was still in active practice. After talking with my doctor colleagues in the San Diego area, it became apparent that there was an enormous amount of frustration about where to find qualified authorities that could answer pressing financial questions like; “How on earth do you get enough money saved to retire?”, “How do you invest money?”, “How do taxes work?”, and all of the other money issues that come up as annoyances. It’s a horrible thing to have to go out and ask questions on money matters. I think doctors like money like everyone else. We know that to have a large enough savings account is to be free. I also think many doctors are uncomfortable, like I am, talking about financial matters with other people. One of the great difficulties we encountered among doctors to begin with was this general lack of financial education. So we began the xélan Research Project and Seminar Program, in 1973, with the first of a series of financial seminars. These seminars were limited to doctors and their spouses, and focused on how the capital accumulation process for doctors worked.

Thousands and thousands of doctors have attended xélan seminars and have provided data on their planning needs. Over the past few decades, xélan has accumulated one of the largest databases in existence, from seminar attendees, on the financial structure of doctors. xélan then created audio and videotapes to answer doctors’ frequently asked questions. We were asked by doctors to help them with their planning. One of the first findings that came from the research project was the realization that doctors’ financial planning needs were unique. Some type of a planning program was really needed that was exclusive to doctors. xélan, the Economic Association of Health Professionals, was formed in 1974 as a membership organization that was limited to doctors. xélan was organized in a way where doctors were involved in creating programs that other doctors were interested in. We’ve learned a lot over the past 30 years, and I think xélan has become an outstanding program for health professionals. I know that there are thousands of doctors who’ve benefited from the education provided by xélan seminars, audio and video materials, newsletters, and the planning recommendations of xélan written financial plans.

When we began the financial planning process for doctors, our first goal was to help doctors get enough money saved to be able to retire. xélan approached that problem by defining how much money a doctor currently needed in a savings account, in order to write a check for their lifestyle purchasing power needs through the rest of their lives. We call this amount Critical Capital Mass. The next common question from doctors was, “Was there some way that tax losses could be dealt with?” By searching out authorities in the various fields of taxation, we discovered that a doctor could limit losses to income tax to the tax cost of their lifestyle needs. Not every doctor makes more money than they spend for lifestyle cost. So income tax reduction is really a function of making more than you spend and then being able to save the difference in a deductible manner. Accumulating capital is a function of investing earnings that exceeded lifestyle costs in a way that savings would not be lost and a predictable rate of return would occur. xélan became involved in tax planning and in investment management. The success of our doctors in saving money led to the development of vehicles for controlling savings, such as, the xélan foundation, that enabled doctors to perpetuate their value systems by gifting savings that they didn’t need for their own lifestyle to their children and/or to charitable and educational institutions and professional associations. One of the obstacles that doctors encountered while attempting to succeed in financial matters, aside from a lack of financial education, a lack of the ability to measure progress, and things of that nature, was that doctors’ advisors were on the lowest level of expertise rather than on the highest level.

So, xélan formed affiliations with major law firms in America who had expertise in the areas of tax. We formed affiliations with major investment management companies to provide a level of investment sophistication that was similar to what institutions had available to them. We looked to science, because everywhere doctors have succeeded, some science was involved. And there’s science involved in the institutional approach to investing. There certainly are attorneys in America, who understand specialized sections of the tax law better than other attorneys. xélan raised the bar and gained access to the right kind of information, the valid information, needed by doctors to succeed financially under our guidance. We’ve had thousands of doctors reach Critical Capital Mass (CCM).

The purpose of this website is to give doctors a place to go where they can ask their planning questions and receive answers on the highest possible level. Some doctors simply ask only a question or two, while others take advantage of the Complete xélan Integrated Planning Program. xélan does planning for a group of high income, high net worth doctors called Integrated Planning Clients. xélan planning integrates tax reduction, investment management, asset protection, and value system endowment planning for doctors, in what is one of the finest planning programs in existence for doctors today.

xélan has a group of financial consultants, that we have recruited, trained, and managed over the years. They’re marvelous. xélan has approximately 60 consultants across the country. Although small in number, we are proud of xélan consultants’ abilities to do things for doctors the right way. When things are done correctly, the result is very, very favorable. Doctors who utilize xélan services have been very pleased.

As you explore this website, you’ll see testimonials, and you’ll see doctors who have participated in the program all the way back to the day we started. We’re now working with the children and grandchildren of doctors that we began with in the 70’s. Capital accumulation and capital distribution planning eventually becomes an intergenerational wealth transfer issue for successful doctors. I’m happy to say that xélan doctors, have at this point in time, created billions of dollars of gifted funds that will go to medical schools, dental schools, universities, churches, and professional associations that will perpetuate these institutions that support doctors’ value systems.

If you just have a question or two, or you want information on how capital accumulation or capital distribution really works on the highest level, subscribe to the newsletter, or obtain some audio and videotapes on the subjects that interest you. If you’re interested in integrated planning, then participate in the Complete Integrated Planning Program. You will be very pleased with the end result. It’s been a real pleasure and privilege for me, over the years, to work with thousands of wonderful doctors. I hope that you’ll find the xélan website helpful to you.