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"Just pity all those millionaires they never can relax
Because they’re always worryin’ about their income tax
Why waste time on high financin’, I’d rather spend it on good romancin'..."

Elvis Presley, "Who Needs Money", From the Movie "Clambake", 1967 (Words & Music by Randy Starr).

I was in NYC this past weekend for the Vision Expo and am proud to say I survived 17 hours of back to back CE in 3 days. It was great to see some old friends from optometry school, experience NYC, and absorb a bit of quality CE.

Intertwined with my scheduled CE, I was on a deadline to complete an extensive accounting homework assignment and exam. Yes, accounting homework! I am half-way through Accounting 501 and working towards my MBA in Healthcare Management at Davenport University in Michigan.

In my 20 years of private practice, I never heard the phrase “basic accounting equation” and I THOUGHT I understood debits and credits! I had no idea. For most of us with science backgrounds who run our own practices, the concepts of basic accounting are far removed. It has been fascinating to begin to know what I did not know.

And during the 17 hours of lecture at Vision Expo, all of which I had every intention of absorbing (of course), I have to admit there were moments I transgressed – not in the ways of Tiger – but in the ways of Accounting. Particularly, my fixation with the basic accounting equation: Assets = Liabilities + Equity. My lovely wife need not worry!

You may say, she should worry – because Martinelli needs to get a life!

However, as I prepare to leave practice to attend medical school, my fixation with the basic accounting equation has nothing to do with money. It has everything to do with life! The “balance of life” and what does it all mean? Could it really be that in some existential way the basic accounting equation applies to life itself?

Assets = Liabilities + Equity.

Assets = Liabilities + [Capital – Drawings + Revenue – Expenses]. This equation must always balance!

I have to ask myself, what side of the equation am I on? What part of the equation have I concentrated my energies over the years? Have I debited or credited life just a little too much?

Have I been spending too much time financin’ and not enough time romancin?

Am I balanced? Without a doubt, there are certain individuals who have known me who would love the opportunity to publicly express their opinion!

So…where are you in the equation? Where would you like to be? What are you willing to do to balance the equation?

To Your Circle!...