Here is another guest blog from our client Dr. Lurie

It seems to
me that each person has a different reason or need to retire.  In my case, retirement came about due to age
and illness.  My body told me that it was
time to retire. 

As I stated in my in an earlier
blog, I had
strong convictions about retirement and how to proceed.  However, the illness got to me before I was totally
able to implement them.  Because I had
such good advisers, the transition into retirement was relatively easy.  Was I totally financially secure? No. I did
not sell my practice (solo practitioner of Oral and Maxillofacial
Surgery).   There was not enough time to
find the buyer and have an agreement but because I had such a good team around
me, and with an understanding wife, I was able to transition to retirement with
little anxiety.  Looking back upon it,
the lesson to be learned is to be prepared for the Health Issue.  Be prepared
for the Financial Issue.  Be prepared for the Wife Issue.    As I mentioned
in my previous article, The Team for
Retirement came to my rescue.  Due to
some wonderful real estate investments in previous years, I was able to help my
employees get positions, walk out, lock the doors and have peace of mind that I
had helped so many people over the 50 years. 
It was a profound feeling and a truly good feeling.  

Would I have like to have sold the practice?  Absolutely. 
It is well known that in today’s dental world, a solo oral surgeon is a
dinosaur.  We are in a time of
mega-specialty groups.  You can’t sell
the charts and the patients are all referred (in my case by a swell and
dedicated referral base.)  My health
issues have improved dramatically and I am now able to look back and reflect on
that time of decision making.  This is
what motivates me to write these articles and is, in no small part, one of the
ways that I can give back to dentistry. 
There are other ways of giving back that I am partial to also but I will
save them for another article.  In
review, I should have partnered with an associate long before retirement (at
least 5 years).  This would have taken
the stress of those last 6 months to a minimum. 
Had I known of impending health issues, I could have explored the
transition of the office into one of the mega offices either as a partnership
or a private contractor.  The latter is a
good means of solving several problems if you look at the logistics–space,
rent, manpower, coverage and the like.  I
ran out of time and could not complete the negotiation.  As I said, my wife was the rock behind me all
the way.  Her prayers and strength were
just part of what she extended to me to keep me going and we have been blessed
with renewed health and a great life.  We
intend to make it count.  More next time
of mistakes made and lessons learned