COS 139 The $45,000 Cat And How We Should Talk About The Cost Of Owning Pets

A new survey from Synchrony (Parent Company of CareCredit & Pets Best Pet Insurance) indicates that the lifetime cost of care ranges from $20K-$55K for dogs and $15K-$45K for cats! Also, most pet owners have no idea that this is the case. 4 our of 5 pet owners will face unexpected veterinary bills. What does this mean for veterinary professionals, who often bear the brunt of pet owner anger when financial limitations to care arise? In this episode, Dr. Andy Roark is joined by Jonathan Wainberg (Synchrony General Manager & Senior Vice President, Pet) to discuss the findings of the study, what is realistic when it comes to setting pet owner expectations for the cost of pet ownership, and how to have financial conversations that encourage financial planning on the part of pet owners. LINKS Synchrony Study Reveals Pet Owners Spend as Much as $55,000 during a Pet’s Lifetime: https://www.carecredit.com/pressrelease/lifetime-of-care-study/ Language of Veterinary Care (AVMA Membership Required): https://www.synchrony.com/groundbreaking-new-language-of-veterinary-care-research.html CareCredit: https://www.carecredit.com/providers/ What’s on my Scrubs?! Card Game: https://drandyroark.com/training-tools/ Dr. Andy Roark Swag: drandyroark.com/shop All Links: linktr.ee/DrAndyRoark ABOUT OUR GUEST: Jonathan Wainberg (General Manager, Senior Vice President, Pet - Synchrony) brings over 15 years of financial services expertise, and a record of commercial ingenuity, market expansion and energetic leadership driving revenue growth to his role as CareCredit’s General Manager, Senior Vice President, Pet. In this newly established vertical, Jonathan will lead CareCredit’s expansion of the veterinarian credit business, pet insurance and additional market adjacencies. Prior to this, Jonathan served as SVP, General Manager GAP. He joined Synchrony following a 15-year tenure with GE Capital, where he was the Senior Managing Director, Global Sales for Industrial Finance in London. He was a key member of the senior leadership team building a new captive finance business for the reorganized and streamlined GE Capital. Jonathan developed the strategy and led the efforts that allowed GE to provide financing support to global customers in new markets, surpassing sales targets by more than 30%. With on-the-ground roles in the US, Europe and Asia, he’s managed teams around the world and delivered complex strategies in more than 50 countries. Earlier, Jonathan joined GE Capital in Corporate Finance in New York, ultimately becomingManaging Director, responsible for the Eastern US, Canada and private equity firms, in 2012. As Managing Director, Jonathan originated, structured and negotiated leveraged loans and highly structured financings for leveraged buyouts, re-financings, expansions and restructurings of middle market and large cap retail companies. He was a top individual sales contributor from 2007-2010. Jonathan has an MBA from Georgetown University and a BA in History with a concentration in Marketing from Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He began his career in the executive training program at Macy’s in New York, where he also had various merchant/management roles. Jonathan is a native of Canada, with a dual US-Canada citizenship. He has traveled to over 85 counties, enjoys entertaining, wine and playing with his energetic 2-year-old son. While based in Costa Mesa, Jonathan currently resides in Bal Harbour, Florida with his wife and son, Jonathan will relocate to Southern California soon.