Posted by Amy Carbone on Jun 5, 2025 9:49:33 AM
If you’re a first-time insurance buyer or still new to buying insurance, there’s one thing you need to know.
Before you shop for insurance, shop for the right advisor.
You’ve probably heard about how important it is to protect your ability to earn an income; what’s equally important is who helps guide those decisions.
Disability income insurance (or “DI” for short) and malpractice (or professional liability) coverage form a financial foundation to protect your power to generate revenue. The decisions you make and options you select for these policies serve as strong examples of why the advisor you choose and the products themselves are both important components.
In this article, we will talk about the characteristics of an experienced insurance advisor and the basic elements they need to understand to best guide you.
How To Find the Best Insurance Advisor for Dental Professionals
1. Work With an Advisor Who Understands Your Career's Needs
Makes sense, doesn’t it? If you were to climb Mt. Everest, you’d want an experienced Sherpa to guide you.
Similarly, you don’t want to work with just any insurance agent or financial advisor who has access to insurance products. Instead, identify an advisor who:
- Knows the insurance landscape
- Has worked with other dental professionals
- Has a wide range of clients across all career stages
You don’t want to work with someone who just works with folks who are new to practice, nor do you want to work with someone who specializes in older, more established clients.
An advisor who works with dental professionals will understand how you make money and will also be respectful of the limited time you have to devote to your personal and business finances. If the advisor expects you to meet at three in the afternoon in his or her office, s/he probably doesn’t have an appreciation for the fact that you are in class, need to be seeing patients, or that you will be in a procedure at that time. Find someone who is flexible enough to meet you in off hours, early morning, or in the evening after work.
2. Work With an Advisor Who Is Not Captive to Any Single Company
Make sure the advisor is not beholden to a single company in terms of product offerings. You want to work with someone who has access to products from multiple insurance companies and can show you varied options and pricing.
Your advisor should be able to present you with options from at least three companies and show them side-by-side. They should be able to explain the pros and cons of each company as well as each of the products, and help you decide on the policy that best meets your needs.
3. Work With an Advisor Who Understands How Insurance Fits Into Your Larger Financial Planning Picture
While at this point in your life you are “just” buying insurance, the type of insurance you purchase, its features and benefits, the company you buy from, and all the little details of the policy can have an impact on your entire financial picture years from now.
The ideal insurance advisor should not only be knowledgeable about insurance. Instead, find someone who understands the needs of dental students and dentists early in their careers and can address your complete financial picture down the line.
As your career progresses, your finances will become more complicated. Working with a multi-faceted professional will help simplify your financial life and ensure that all of your tactics are well coordinated. It’s important to work with a firm that has witnessed the entire financial lifecycle of a dental professional and knows what makes sense for you at this point in your career.
If you are just about to graduate from dental school or residency, you are most likely not a candidate for investment products or sophisticated life insurance policies. Your focus should be on building a strong financial foundation, which you can do by completing medical underwriting and putting disability income insurance into place, and securing malpractice coverage.
As a new dentist or one in the early stages of your career, you’ll face other decisions. If you have preexisting conditions, you may have concerns about securing disability income insurance, and you may also be looking more seriously into life insurance as your family situation changes.
4. Work With an Advisor Who Can Offer You Options
We don’t need to go into technical details about disability income insurance here. To learn more about these policy features, read our complimentary guide about everything you need to know.
Regardless of the insurance company, some of the important features found in disability income insurance policies for dentists include:
- Non-cancelable and guaranteed renewable: The terms of your policy can’t be changed or canceled by the insurer, as long as premiums are paid on time.
- Own occupation: This is a definition of disability covering total disabilities that prevent you from working in the specific occupation you’ve been trained for and are currently working in. It allows someone to work in another occupation and still receive full benefits if they are unable to work in their prior occupation.
- The future increase option: The insurance company gives you the option to increase your insurance coverage in the future, regardless of any health changes with proof of income.
- The partial/residual disability rider: This rider enables you to see patients part time and work a reduced number of hours, if you’re able to, while still receiving benefits for a partial disability.
- The cost of living rider: This rider helps protect your benefits from being eroded by inflation by providing annual post-disability increases to your monthly disability benefit.
Uncover the Coverage and Options You Need
A great insurance advisor won’t just sell you a policy, they’ll help you understand what to look for before you purchase any policies, including disability insurance.
At Treloar & Heisel, we know you need more than insurance; you need a guide. That’s why you can find an advisor throughout the United States who serves dentists just like you through a local presence.
To get a head start, download our complimentary, in-depth guide, Disability Income Insurance for Dentists, and find answers to your questions.
About Treloar & Heisel
Treloar & Heisel, an EPIC Company, is a premier financial services provider to dental and medical professionals across the country. We assist thousands of clients from residency to practice and through retirement with a comprehensive suite of financial services, custom-tailored advice, and a strong national network focused on delivering the highest level of service.
Insurance products offered through Treloar & Heisel, LLC.
