Finding Financial Freedom with The Frugal Physician

This is Part 2 of our conversation with Dr. Zwade Marshall and the final episode for a while as Dr. Disha begins a new chapter, opening her own Direct Primary Care practice. Dr. Zwade Marshall is an Emory and Harvard trained anesthesiologist, interventional pain specialist, CMO of Regenerative Spine and Pain Specialists, and co-founder and CEO of Doc2Doc Lending, a lending platform created by doctors for doctors. In this closing installment, Dr. Marshall explains what it truly means for physicians to make empowered decisions when opening, financing, and building their own practice. He shares the financial pitfalls many doctors overlook, the importance of understanding market demographics, and how tools such as Tenant Improvement Allowance and ownership-based tax benefits can significantly shape long-term wealth for private practice physicians. If you are planning to open a clinic, transition into DPC, or simply want to understand practice financing more clearly, this episode offers practical guidance that medical training rarely covers. Key Topics Covered: 1. How empowered doctors make empowered decisions Why physicians must learn to evaluate risk, financing, long-term ROI, and operational decisions with the same confidence they use in clinical care—and how that mindset shift changes everything. 2. Financing your own medical practice Understanding budget allocations, startup capital, cost projections, and what you should (and shouldn't) take on debt for when building your practice from scratch. 3. The Market Demographic Survey What a demographic report actually tells you, how it affects patient volume and payer mix, and why it's one of the most critical early steps in choosing your practice location. 4. Tenant Improvement Allowance (TIA) What TIA is, how landlords use it to attract medical tenants, how much you can negotiate, and how it reduces upfront buildout costs for new practice owners. 5. Why owning your medical practice building is a long-term wealth strategy The tax benefits, equity growth, and stability that come with being your own landlord—and why many physicians only realize these advantages too late in their careers. 6. Financing (How do doctors get capital?) Especially when they don't have revenue yet. Listener Takeaways: The mindset shifts required to become an empowered, financially confident physician How to allocate budget and financing when opening a practice Why demographic surveys are essential for choosing the right location How Tenant Improvement Allowances work and how to negotiate them The long-term tax benefits and wealth advantages of owning your practice property How platforms like Doc2Doc support physicians with smarter, physician-centered lending Real-world financial advice every doctor should know before launching a private practice or DPC model Connect with Us: Host: Dr. Disha Spath, The Frugal Physician Guest: Dr. Zwade Marshall, CEO of Doc2Doc Lending   This episode is brought to you by Doc2Doc Lending. Doc2Doc Lending offers personal loans up to $100,000 for doctors — designed to help you consolidate debt, invest in your goals, or get ahead financially. Founded by doctors for doctors, we make funding simple, transparent, and tailored to the medical community. Visit their website at: https://www.doc2doclending.com/personal-loans-for-physicians/?utm_source=FrugalPhysician&utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=FP   This episode is brought to you by Black Swan Real Estate, led by physician-investor Dr. Elaine Stageberg.  Dr. Stageberg, a Mayo Clinic–trained physician, together with her husband Nick, has spent years building Black Swan Real Estate into a diversified, large-scale portfolio now approaching half a billion dollars across 2,000 doors.  Now, through their Secure Freedom Fund, a 10% fixed rate of return offering, you can invest alongside them. The Secure Freedom Fund offers institutional-quality real estate opportunities—designed to deliver strong cash flow, long-term growth, and remarkable tax advantages.  This fund is uniquely structured so that each investor can tailor it to their own individual goals: a minimum investment of just $25,000, the ability to choose monthly cashflow distributions or to elect the compounding option for higher overall growth, the option to exit the fund on your timing, the flexibility to invest in your personal name, a trust, an LLC, or a retirement account, and so much more.  If you're an accredited investor who's ready to diversify beyond Wall Street and invest with experienced, trust worthy operators who've been exactly where you are, visit SecureFreedomFund.com today to learn more. From there, you can review the slides, watch the webinar, and even a book a call directly 1:1 with Dr. Elaine Stageberg.  That's SecureFreedomFund.com.