White Coat Investor Podcast

Do doctors need a side gig? No. But it certainly can ease the stress that comes from changes in your physician income beyond your control, like with this pandemic. But living like a resident, saving and investing appropriately can also do that. I think each of us needs to find a balance and realize that if you will carve out a chunk of your income and invest it in some reasonable way, you'll be okay. Doctors make enough money that if they will just manage the money well, they don't need a side income. But it never hurts to have a little bit of side income if that is something that interests you.  Besides discussing the necessity of side gigs in this episode I also answer listener questions about where to put your PSLF side fund, what asset allocation to have in your 457 account, whether my opinion on the use of bonds has changed given recent market events, and should you be interested in a side gig, how to pay yourself from that money.  As a white coat, you have valuable knowledge. Various companies want that

What is it like to train and practice medicine in Venezuela? Dr. Postalian emailed me a while ago saying, “if you are interested in learning about medicine in a completely crazy and destroyed economy like Venezuela, let me know." See the full show notes here https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/classic-blog/ We have talked about medicine and finance in other countries, but they're usually very developed countries. I thought it would be interesting to talk a little bit about growing up and training for medicine and particularly finances in a mixed economy like Venezuela. Besides discussing what it is like to train and practice medicine in Venezuela we talk about hyperinflation. Hyperinflation is devastating to live through, but academically very interesting. Most of us have never lived in a country that experienced any sort of hyperinflation. We discuss how that affected his physician parents, their incomes and savings. How does that experience affect his investing strategy now? Venezuela was doing great, best ec

Which states are best for real estate investing? This is like asking which investment is best. You can really only know in retrospect and it'll depend on how things perform over the next 10-30 years. But there are a few things to know that would probably help. I discuss those in this episode as well as list the states that typically make the top of that list. But personally, if I was going to buy a rental property, I think the best place is down the street. It is easy to check on and you can fix the small things yourself without hiring a professional. If you want to invest in real estate outside of your state I think the best way to do that is through syndications or private real estate funds. I also answer many listener questions in this episode about investing in a Roth or a tax deferred 401(k), what to do if you income goes up, mortgage forbearance, tax loss harvesting, multiple 401 (k) rules, small practice retirement plans, paye vs repaye, mega backdoor Roth contributions, keogh plans, and more. Lots of

Financial infidelity can mean many things. I have talked for a long time about the important of being on the same page financially with your spouse. It is so important to be open with each other as far as your finances go. If you are not doing this together, you are almost surely not going to be successful. For this show I have a guest that shares her story of financial infidelity, a spouse who was hiding a gambling addiction. See the full show notes here https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/classic-blog/. She wanted to come on the show to share her experience so that others in similar situation would not feel so isolated. A lack of support when faced with a spouse with an addiction can be a big obstacle to getting help. She shares her story along with resources where you can turn for help if you are dealing with addiction in your family. We also discussed what she did to protect herself financially, and in her recovery, so that she can thrive after a worst-case financial scenario like she experienced. I would h

If you want to retire early, which specialty would be best to go into? Let's get one thing straight from the beginning, medicine is not a great option for FIRE in the first place. With the long years in training, you won't even start making significant money until your mid thirties with $300-400K in student loan debt. Traditional FIRE at 30 or 35 like all these FIRE blogs talk about is not possible in that situation. So if your goal is to retire early, medicine is probably not the right place for you. Not to mention if you are a medical student with this question, there is probably an issue with the career you chose. Maybe you should be thinking about getting out of medicine into a career you’ll be happier in long term. But I do answer this question in this episode even so. Shorter residencies do get you to attending income sooner but those also tend to be on the lower end of salaries for physicians. It may not make sense to choose a specialty with a shorter residency if you will be paid significantly less ea

What should a physician or dentist who wishes to sell their practice know about the process? What mistakes do doctors make in this transaction? What strategies can doctors use at the time of sale? These are the questions we answer during this interview with Kyle Rudduck, CFA, CFP of Constellation Wealth Management. Kyle spent the early years of his career working with consulting firms that focused on the healthcare sector with buyers and sellers of medical practices.  He describes the practice valuation process in this episode and we discuss the range of multiples on EBITDA for a practice, how to minimize the tax cut when you sell, as well as what can be done in the years prior to the sale to increase the value of a practice. He talks about how a sale typically affects employees, and how a sale is different than a merger. We discuss how often doctors regret selling their practice to a hospital, private equity group, or other entity. This can be a huge transaction that you will probably only do once in your li

During this pandemic many physicians have seen their income dramatically lowered. What can you do when you are faced with a severe pay cut? We have a guest on this show who is dealing with that right now, having lost 50% of his income. I walk him through what can be done in this situation. Getting on a budget and cutting out any discretionary spending is the place to start. Putting your private loans on forbearance may be necessary. Stop investing. You really need the cash at this point especially if you don't have an emergency fund. The less you spend the longer you can go. Start looking around for other work. Whether you realize it or not, you're in a negotiation right now with your employer. They are trying to decide how little can they pay you and not have you leave but also without them going out of business. Now is the time to be the team player so you are the last guy cut and the first guy hired back. If this is you situation, we get into more details in this episode. so give it a listen and hopefully

My risk for an above policy limit malpractice judgment is one in 20,000. A listener asked me how I came up with that number as he is in a different specialty and wanted to figure out what his risk is. In this episode I share where to find the numbers to figure out your risk for being sued above the policy limits. But the truth is the vast majority of above policy limit judgments are reduced on appeal to policy limits. If you are worried about an above policy limit judgment realize that it is possible but the chances are pretty low. If this is something you worry about, listening to this episode will help calm that fear. If this isn't something that worries you, we also cover other listener questions in this episode. I address whether to investor or pay off debt during this bear market, shopping for disability insurance, what to do with a 457 from an old employer, starting a side gig, variable withdrawal rates, HSAs, and my experience owning single stocks. If you have questions you want answered on the podcast

You are going to face many bear markets in your investing career. Having an action plan to survive a bear market is critical. I go over an important list of things to do in a bear market and things to not do in a bear market in this episode. Things like don't sell at the lows, stay the course, following your investing plan, and have a cash reserve on hand. You want to be a long term stock market investor. You don't need this money next month, next year, or even in the next decade. Don't act like you do.  All bear markets come to an end and stocks recover eventually. In some respects, this one is a little bit different from other bear markets in that it involves a pandemic. I have a little bit of advice for you specific to this bear market as well in this episode. Your mortality may be a little higher, your income a little lower, and you have more time on your hands. I address what to do for all of those things as well. I think this show will be helpful to you right now. Soon we will be out of this. Maybe it i

Tax loss harvesting is an important topic, especially right now. If you have been hemorrhaging money in the markets, like most of us have, you may want to do some tax loss harvesting. This a great way in which you can get Uncle Sam to share the pain of your losses in a taxable or a non-qualified or brokerage accounts. Why is tax loss harvesting useful? You can take up to $3,000 per year in capital losses and offset your ordinary income with that loss. So it lowers your tax bill. Any other losses are placed against your capital gains so you can use them in any limit, not just $3,000 a year, but hundreds of thousands of dollars a year if you want, toward any capital gains taxes you owe. If you don't use all of the losses in one year, you get to carry them forward and you can carry them forward for years and years. Thanks to the recent bear market I now have hundreds of thousands of dollars in tax losses. In this episode I talk about what I can do with those loses. In a lot of ways you are just deferring taxes w

With medical school classes now having slightly more women than men, more physicians are or will be juggling the challenge of being a professional and a mother. Figuring out the work-life balance can be difficult. Fortunately women physicians have some great role models to look to. One of those is Dr. Barbara Hamilton, also known as Tired Superheroine https://tiredsuperheroine.com/  our guest in this episode. We discuss her experience in the field of interventional radiology as a female physician, a field where women still make up a small percentage. Dr. Hamilton is trying to change that by educating early career doctors on the benefits of choosing specialties currently dominated by male physicians. In this episode we discuss her mentoring work, what it is like to be in a male dominated specialty, negotiating your salary in that environment, finding life balance as a professional and mother, dealing with childcare, and financial empowerment. 6 years out of training she has crossed over into the millionaire st

Choosing which charities to give to is important. It takes just as much effort to give well as it does to earn, save, invest and spend well. We all know that some charities are better than others so how do you choose a charity to give to? What should you look for in that charity? For me, the most important thing is to to begin with choosing a cause that you want to support. Once you know the cause you want to to support, there are resources to identify the best charities for that cause. See the show notes at https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/classic-blog/ for links to the resources.  In this episode we discuss how to pick a charity to donate your money to as well as using a donor advised fund and donating shares to charity. Besides charitable giving, we answer listener questions about getting disability and life insurance outside of the United States, asset location, how to balance Roth conversions against ACA subsidies, PLLC vs LLC, resources to use for budgeting, and more. At some point in our financial liv

Medical school classes now have slightly more women than men. In today's episode we talk a little bit about what that means, both for male and female doctors, for employers, and for patients. We cover some controversial topics that typically I only talk about with this week's guest privately, but Dr. Nisha Mehta of Physician Side Gigs and I delve into the demographic changes that we are seeing in medicine and the issues women physicians are facing. Whether you are a male or female physician you will finish this episode with the confidence to be an advocate for yourself and your family. You can have a life in medicine that works for you. Nothing is impossible. We talk about how to make that happen in this episode. I estimate that 80% of doctors need, want, and should use a financial advisor and/or an investment manager. Some investment gurus such as Dr. William Bernstein think my estimate is way too low. At any rate, if you want to use an advisor temporarily or for your entire life, there is no reason to feel

Should you try to time the market? No! Why? Because it is very hard to do well over the long term and it introduces significant transaction costs to the equation. Beginner investors have trouble staying the course in market downturns but I've noticed that what I call intermediate investors, people who have learned a thing or two about investing, become fearful at market highs and want to sell when the market is at new highs. What they don't realize is that the market is usually at new highs because it is usually going up. You are much better off setting a static asset allocation of a reasonable mix of stocks, bonds and or real estate and rebalancing back to it each year. That way you hold your risk constant, and when the inevitable downturn comes, because it's going to come, you can simply rebalance back to your percentages. That forces you to sell high and buy low because you're selling what did well in the recent past and buying what did poorly in the recent past to get back to your plan percentages, your p

Life balance is an important topic as we address physician wellness in the medical community. Why is it so hard for high-income professionals to find balance in their lives? Most of us are striving to do so as we juggle busy careers, family responsibilities, and personal pursuits but it is challenging. Our guest this episode is Dr. Dawn Baker who blogs at PracticeBalance https://practicebalance.com/ . She became interested in writing about wellness when she experienced a major health crisis during residency training. In this episode we discuss what doctors, that feel their lives are unbalanced, can do to change that. Many of us want to do it all but will we be happy trying to do it all or would it be better if we figured out what is most important to us? After interviewing Dr. Baker I feel like I want to hire her as my life coach! Dawn will be a speaker at the WCI Conference next week speaking about how self-knowledge is the key to managing physical and financial health. If you'll be at the conference you don

All of us can become a finance buffs if we are willing to put in the time to learn. Our guest in this episode is proof of that and is a bit of an of an idol of mine. Harry Sit has been blogging at The Finance Buff https://thefinancebuff.com/ for 13 years. When I was considering getting into blogging, I decided to reach out to the only two people I knew who had financial blogs, Mike Piper, who blogs at The Oblivious Investor and Harry Sit. I asked them what they thought about me getting into blogging as a business in the niche of reaching doctors. They were both very encouraging and gave me a couple of quick tips that really got me off the ground and running which I am very grateful.  Harry Sit and his wife are immigrants who came to the US in their 20s with just a few hundred dollars in their pockets. Now they are financially independent in their 40s. When they first came they didn't know how the financial system worked in this country and had to learn everything from how a checking account worked to doing a

The 5-year rule for Roth IRA Conversions can be confusing because there are two 5-year rules regarding Roth IRAs. We discuss the difference between them in this episode. See the full show notes here https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/classic-blog/ . The first five year rule applies to Roth IRA contributions and determines whether the earnings will be tax free. The second rule applies to Roth conversions and applies to whether or not the principal that was converted will be penalty free when it comes out. In the case of conversions each conversion amount actually has its own five year time period. With multiple conversions, there may be multiple different five year periods underway at once. When withdrawals occur from the conversion amounts, they're deemed to come out on a first in first out basis, so that means that the oldest conversions, the ones most likely to have finished their five year requirement, come out first, and the most recent conversions come out last. We discuss in this episode why the rule is

In this episode we are looking at faith, family, and finances through the lens of medicine. Fahd Ahmad, also know as Rogue Dad, M.D. is our guest. See the full show notes and transcription at https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/classic-blog. Three years ago the concept of Rogue Dad, M.D. originated as an anonymous, creative outlet born out a desire Dr. Ahmad had to express himself when he was frustrated and dismayed by the presidential election of 2016. We don't delve into politics too much in this episode but as a Muslim son of immigrants, he felt very frustrated, worried, and upset, and wanted an outlet to talk about that. I first met Fahd at the WCI Conference in March 2018 in Park City where he was on a blogger panel. I was so impressed with his presence on stage that I thought he would make for a great keynote speakermat the next White Coat Investor conference. I'm excited about the topic he will speak on at our conference. I think it is an important one, a really significant contributor to burnout. He wil

The question often comes up about sending money to or receiving money from India. It turns out international gifts of money are not that complicated but there are a couple of issues to pay attention to like gift taxes, which is directly connected to estate taxes, and expatriation issues. We talk in more specifics about making international monetary gifts in this episode as well as how to invest large sums of money gifted to you. This situation won't apply to everyone I know so we answer many listener questions in this episode as well. We address questions on captive insurance, asset protection, using tax deferred 401k vs a Roth 401k, several questions on 529 accounts, buying disability insurance when also growing your family, non qualified compensation plans, backdoor Roth IRAs with an inherited traditional IRA, and a couple questions about REPAYE and being married. See the show notes and full transcription at https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/classic-blog/ Still not sure what to do with your student loans? O

Managing your medical school loans is one of the most important first financial steps that a medical school student or resident needs to take care of. You need to have a student loan plan of action. Our guest today, Ben White, from https://www.benwhite.com/, wrote what I consider to be THE book on student loan management, called Medical Student Loans: A Comprehensive Guide, (get it for free at https://www.benwhite.com/studentloans/. When he started thinking and writing all about medical school loans there just was not that much information out there. He understands some of the history behind medical school loans, how things have changed, and has suggestions for how to handle the changes that could come in the future. He considers student loans to be a "gateway drug for personal finance education." For a lot of students, the moment that the monopoly money becomes real is the first time they have really been forced to confront these issues. We talk all about medical school loans in this episode. If you still ha