The White Coat Investor turns 10 years old today, so we're going to be celebrating this milestone for the rest of the month. Happy Birthday to us! What a long, crazy journey it has been! None of this would be possible without you, the White Coat Investor community, so thank you today for your trust, loyalty, and support.
Early Days of the White Coat Investor
Here are the first words that showed up on this site:
“Welcome to The White Coat Investor. The blog and site are just getting off the ground. I want the site to have quality static pages independent of any future blog posts, so I've really been working hard on those for now. I've been learning a lot about blog software, widgets, plug-ins, affiliate agreements, advertising, and PayPal as I assemble the various pieces of what I hope will become a successful blog for busy physicians interested in managing their financial affairs well. I've finished the about page, contact page, books page, and websites page. I hope to work on the various static tax and investment pages over the next week. So take a look around and see if you can find anything useful.”
That was pretty much it. The entire first post. As you can see from the first post, it was a business from day one. Didn't make any money in 2011, though, and hardly any in 2012. It probably wasn't worth the time and effort I was putting into it until at least 2014 or 2015 and didn't surpass my clinical income until 2016, the year I went from full-time to 3/4 time. The “static pages” were a dumb idea, too. I think the blog got a little better after that first post, and its readership grew and grew. Here's what the first five years looked like:
Many of you have never seen what the site looked like originally. Here's an example from its first week:
First Subscriber
Just for fun, I went back to find our first subscriber. Dr. Josh Laird subscribed on May 19, 2011, two days after the blog started. That's a full four days before my mother even subscribed. (Funny story, if you fell for the 4/1/21 story about “My New Tesla“, don't feel bad. My parents didn't realize I hadn't really bought one until a phone call a week later.) I asked Josh to share a few words about his relationship with The White Coat Investor over the last decade:
The First White Coat Investors!
“Back when I first subscribed to WCI I was about to finish medical school. At that point in time I had over $230K in school loan debt. I was highly stressed over this amount of debt and sought sources other than what was available at my medical school to have a plan of attack to discharge this debt. I had joined the Bogleheads forum which was an incredible tool but also very intimidating. I came across several of Jim's posts which seemed to resonate with me.
Once WCI was started, I immediately jumped ship in preference of a website with curated content and easily searchable topics. WCI helped me to build my financial knowledge tremendously. I was able to knock out that debt in 2 years after residency. By following the principles of WCI, I have been able to build my net worth to close to 7 figures easily and reduce my financial stress. I was also able to knowledgeably pick disability insurance and avoid high fee financial advisors. I even avoided buying a whole life policy!
After reading the website posts for years I'm still surprised that Jim is able to find topics that are relevant to me and keep us on the right track. I'm also shocked at how large the empire has become. Thanks to Jim and all of the WCI team for everything you guys do. Keep up the amazing work.”
The Timeline
For those who are relatively new to The White Coat Investor, let's go over a timeline of all the fun stuff that has happened with it over the last decade.
- May 2011: Blog is Born!
- December 2011: Started Twitter and Facebook page
- January 2012: First made >$1,000 in a single month
- January 2012: First speaking gig (Detroit), made $500 for 2+ days of time
- January 2012: Mentioned on CNN– 28,000 pageviews in a single day, not exceeded for 6 more years
- February 2012: First Newsletter sent out
- September 2012: Clinical partners aware of WCI and supportive
- March 2013: Formed an LLC
- October 2013: Attended FinCon and learned how online entrepreneurship works
- November 2013: First made > $5,000 in a single month
- January 2014: The White Coat Investor book published
- September 2014: Hired Cindy (Business Manager)
- January 2015: Gave half the business away to Katie
- February 2015: Hired kids as models
- May 2015: Started the WCI Scholarship
- June 2015: Afton (model # 4) born
- September 2015: First had 100,000 users on the site in a single month
- October 2015: Major Site Redesign
- October 2015: WCI Forum started
- January 2016: Dropped night shifts, a major motivation for me to work, save, and invest
- August 2016: Cut back to 3/4 time clinically
- January 2017: Incorporated
- January 2017: Started the WCI Podcast
- March 2017: Youtube channel started
- March 2017: WCI Network started- Physician on FIRE joins
- May 2017: Dahles pay off their mortgage
- November 2017: WCI earns > $1 million in a single year
- November 2017: Passive Income MD joins WCI Network
- January 2018: Hired Jill (Content)
- January 2018: Fire Your Financial Advisor online course launched
- February 2018: Dahles achieve financial independence
- March 2018: First WCICON in Park City
- June 2018: WCI Subreddit started
- July 2018: Hired Michelle (Social Media)
- August 2018: WCI Facebook Group Started
- August 2018: Cut back to 1/2 time clinically
- October 2018: Started Pinterest and Instagram accounts
- January 2019: First hit 1 million pageviews in a single month
- February 2019: Financial Boot Camp book published
- April 2019: Financial Educator Award begun
- April 2019: The Physician Philosopher joins the WCI Network
- May 2019: Hired Wendel (audio/video)
- November 2019: Episode of severe blogger burnout, almost quit
- March 2020: Hired Brett (COO), first full-time staff member
- March 2020: WCICON Las Vegas
- March 2020: CFE 2020 online course launched
- May 2020: Hired Chrislyn (Conferences)
- July 2020: Hired James (CTO)
- September 2020: Hired Emily (Books, Content)
- October 2020: White Coat Investor pre-med scholarship fund endowed
- January 2021: New WCI 401(k)
- January 2021: Guide for Students book published
- January 2021: Hired Andrew (Student Loans)
- February 2021: Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention Course launched (CME for FYFA)
- February 2021: Milestones to Millionaire Podcast
- March 2021: WCICON21 is a smashing success as a virtual conference
- March 2021: > $1 million in books given away to medical students
- March 2021: CFE 2021 online course launched
- April 2021: Launched StudentLoanAdvice.com
- April 2021: Hired Lauren (SEO)
- May 2021: Launched the White Coat Investor Store
- May 2021: 10 Year Anniversary
Whew! I'm exhausted just putting that all together. It's been a wild ride for sure. We also wanted to take a moment to say thank you to our longest-term advertisers:
- Josh Mettle (Mortgages)
- FPL Capital Management (Financial advice and retirement plans)
- MR Insurance Consultants (Disability insurance)
All three of them have been with us for over 9 of our 10 years of existence! Thanks for your support. You know a company has top-notch products and services when it can span a decade serving thousands of White Coat Investors who continue to refer them to friends, colleagues, and family.
Free WCI Swag!
As part of our celebration this week, we're going to be doing some giveaways and some special promotions. There will be some great WCI swag from the WCI Store given away every day across all of our platforms, and one grand prize winner will even receive a WCI online course of their choice. Winners will all be announced on this blog on Tuesday, May 25th.
Daily Contests
If you want more chances to win, be sure to participate across all of our platforms.
- Today's contest is super easy to enter. All you have to do is leave a comment below this post talking about how WCI has helped you over the years. We'll select three winners to get a free WCI T-shirt.
- Tuesday: We'll select three winners from among those who sign up for the free WCI Newsletter on Tuesday. They will each get a WCI Journal, WCI Pen, and WCI Sticker of their choice.
- Wednesday: Post on Instagram describing how WCI has helped you over the years. Include the tag #wcianniversary and you'll be entered to win one of three sets of all three WCI books.
- Thursday: We'll be giving away a WCI Yeti Tumbler to three people who leave a review of the WCI Podcast on Apple Podcasts on Thursday.
- Friday: We'll be giving away a free WCI T-shirt to three people on Twitter. All you have to do to enter is post how WCI has helped you over the years and include the hashtag #wcianniversary.
- Saturday: Lest those who prefer Facebook to Twitter feel left out, it's the same deal. Post on Facebook (not in the WCI Facebook group) how WCI has helped you over the years and include the hashtag #wcianniversary to enter to win one of three WCI T-shirts.
- Sunday: This is Forum Day. There will be one thread on the WCI Forum, one thread on the WCI Subreddit, and one thread in the WCI Facebook Group. Post how WCI has helped you over the years in that thread and you'll be entered to win a WCI T-shirt.
- Monday: Watch the Milestones to Millionaire video posted on Youtube this day, subscribe to the WCI Youtube channel, and leave a comment on that video to enter to win one of three WCI T-shirts.
Grand Prize
The grand prize winner (WCI online course of your choice) will be chosen from all of the other winners. 8 Contests to enter. 24 chances to win. Enter them all to maximize your opportunities, then watch the blog next week to see if you won.
What do you think? Want some free swag? How long have you been reading The White Coat Investor? How has WCI helped you over the years? What has been the biggest surprise to you? Comment below and enter the contest for a free T-shirt!
Happy anniversary, WCI! This site and the podcast have been foundational to my financial education. The 10 Commandments post is my favorite and thanks to you, I did my Backdoor Roth IRA conversions correctly. Thank you, Jim and team! I’m so glad you stuck with us!
I’m a resident currently on a slow night call and I learned about WCI relatively recently as an MS4. During my interview season I had a lot of downtime in between program visits. I thought about what I could occupy myself with during my flights/train rides and came to realize that one I’d be making a salary soon and two I had no idea how to manage money or what all of these acronyms (IRAs, Roths) meant. Unfortunately no one (not my family, college, nor medical school) ever devoted time to teaching this. So I figured that I could try teaching myself and went from WCI blog post to blog post learning the basic concepts. The net result of this has seen my open up my own Roth, enact my desired asset allocation in my 403b, and put away about 35% of my residency salary towards retirement. When the time comes to get DI, a mortgage, and purchase (the right kind of) life insurance I expect those tasks to be pretty straightforward given the quality resource WCI has turned out to be.
Hi Jim (and staff),
Thanks so much for a wonderful site. I have learned SOOOO much about investing from WCI. I still cannot believe that even now, as busy as you are, Jim, that you find time to respond to my questions personally, either via private email response or through a blog or forum post comment. Not only do you respond, but in such a timely manner too, even when you are supposed to be unreachable by email. Through your site I have been introduced to some great companies, like FPL (Michael is great, but Amanda- you are amazing!) and DLP (will be investing with them this week). You deserve every cent you have earned!
What a transformative website. Before the WCI I intuitively did the bare bones of paying off my loans, and then continued to “save” money in my chase account, blissfully ignoring my TSP.
I had actually walked into a Chase bank and asked them what to do with my money, and they told me I didn’t have enough yet to invest, and to come back when I had more.
After WCI, I have been maxing out my tax-deferred accounts, have a taxable account, have disability insurance, and most importantly, my money isn’t sitting in a chase account collecting 0.04% APY.
Thanks!
Dang! 10 years, that is impressive. This is probably my most read blog, and for sure the most useful. While I had pretty good ground work laid, before finding WCI, it has definitely helped guide our financial journey.
I give a single piece of homework to my pharmacy rotation students, and that is an assignment to read the original WCI book. I have received multiple comments that the book, is the most important assignment they received during their rotations, and that they will be making immediate changes to make their life better.
Congrats on 10 years! Really amazing! Certainly you have been an inspiration as I have started my own blog to help physician achieve financial well being. Thank you!
Congrats on the anniversary Jim. I’m not a doctor but your site was the actually the one that connected me (can’t remember how but it was in 2013) to Mr. Money Mustache and some of the early FIRE blogs. And here I am in 2021 four years into early semi-retirement myself and with a blog that’s almost 4 years old. Keep putting out the great content, it’s good for the world.
Hello! Happy anniversary!
I’m new here, but as a PA student in my final year of schooling, I (much like your first subscriber Josh) am looking for a way to pay off my student loans, invest my money in a smart way, and avoid detrimental financial errors by researching into solid investment strategies. I found your website through another blog, and have truly enjoyed what I’ve read so far, and am excited to follow along as I continue my investment journey pre and post-grad!
Crystal
I recall finding the blog as a young military physician unable to increase my income through additional work or deployment opportunities. This outlet provided tools and confidence to manage my finances to a successful portfolio by the time I finished residency 3 years ago.
I graduated medical school 8 years ago, and, thanks to WCI, I am meeting my retirement planning goals with no student loans! I also have affordable life and disability insurance. But most importantly, I feel capable and prepared to manage it all myself, without an advisor, thanks to the resources WCI has provided to my friends and I. Thank you!
Wow. Congratulations Jim. A decade of blogging is an incredible feat. I never knew how hard it was to put out a 5 min read until I started blogging myself. Mad respect.
You have definitely deserved all the success you have achieved. You helped me early on find my way when I was just coming out of a divorce. Appreciate all the encouragement you have given me in the past personally and also with my blog.
Here’s to another 10!
Congratulations on 10 years! Thank you for providing great content and inspiring me to help other doctors manage their financial lives.
Congrats! I just recently discovered your website, but as a graduating resident it could not have come at a better time. My husband and I have now made our detailed financial plan, shopped and purchased disability insurance, set up children’s educations funds, contributed to our retirement accounts more thoughtfully, learned about the back door Roth, and so much more. The best thing the website has giving us is a positive outlook on what seemed like a life crushing amount of student debt. We now see an end date with our planning. Our financial planning dates are the best so thank you!
Jim,
WOW, been an impressive 10 years. Congrats Jim for all you have done for me and my family. Almost at FI at this point thanks to you. I believe I have been with you since 2012, but honestly don’t remember as time certainly has flown.
Quick question, as someone in the process of starting my own online business/website once the website launches what is the best way to track website metrics such as page views etc. to better track important data and metrics.
Thanks again so much for all you do.
Duke
Google analytics.
Jim, thank you so much for your time and dedication to helping us get a fair shake on Wall Street. I am 44 and anticipate achieving financial independence within the next 2-3 years, largely as a result of the outstanding advice I’ve received via your website and newsletters. You’ve even kindly responded personally to a few of my questions on your posts and on the Bogleheads forum, and I’m honestly surprised you’re able to find the time. But more than anything else, you’ve shown us all that you are trustworthy–someone whose advice we can follow and not have to wonder if it’s truly in our best interest. Thank you so very much. Best wishes and God bless you and your family.
Changing lives for 10 years! Including mine.
First got tipped to WCI at a college football tailgate in 2012- I was complaining about 10 years of a flat market.
One small quibble: Pretty sure I joined the Forum on the 1st day possible which my profile says was 1/8/2016.
Thanks Jim & crew!
Sounds about right for the Forum.
Thank you so much for the financial education. As a resident, I love the waterfall. It’s so easy to follow and share. I love that I can find all the basics (and resources to accomplish those basics) in one spot. I now have an emergency fund, all the proper insurances, and am getting closer to fully funding my Roth 401k while still enjoying life. I also like that you don’t hoard your info. I have used your powerPoint as a jumping off point for financial lectures for fellow residents. You have built such a supportive community. Thank you for all you do!
WCI has helped me tremendously these last 7 years. Probably the best advice I was able to follow was “Live like a resident” while paying down student loans. That really set me on the correct path and prevented early lifestyle creep that can take hold of new attendings. Thankyou WCI!
Happy Anniversary. Crazy to think that I must have been one of the first readers as I was finishing medical school in 2013 and I had been reading for a while. Must have been around 2011 or 2012 when I started during my clinical years, and it has only grown since then! Congrats.
Congratulations on 10 years!!! I first discovered your blog during residency and it helped build a strong financial foundation to carry me through fellowship and my first couple years as an attending. Thanks for everything you do!
entering for swag and to brag? Dunno how long I’ve been here, but as I like to humble brag when I am loaning/ giving the first book to younger colleagues (like when your Army boss is half your age- no thanks I don’t want your job again) “we’re in there”. [Also a cheesy way to hint how wealthy I probably am if they read the book.] I knew a bit of what Jim had to teach us since I’m older and luckily read Andrew Tobias early on. Still learning more- about finance and my still not fully eradicated ignorance of finance- from the blog. Gives me the hutzpah though to feel confident in advising friends when interested about their finances and the tool (“Go to whitecoatinvestor.com !!”) to try to help colleagues and medical friends. And amazing how much help they need- just learned good friend my age whom I had not presumed to give financial advice has no umbrella policy- anesthesiologist/ landlord!! And recall the overly confident RN (sorry guys, XY chromosomes) speaking of his wealth- we sat down with his advisor for yucks, and decided we’d keep that 2-6% for ourselves. These advisors are out there, targeting government and military.
Congratulations on your 10th anniversary!
You have assisted countless people over the years by teaching them how not to do dumb things with their money.
Jim, congrats on 10 years! I believe I found your website a few years ago trying to figure out if the advice my “financial advisor” was giving me to convert my life insurance into a “investment option” was a good idea. I am glad I found your website and didn’t follow advice of my “advisor”! Since then, you have helped me get connected to others in the FIRE community and we are well on our way to be financially independent. Thanks again for all your great advice and continuing to share your knowledge to those who need it!
I’ve been reading every post by WCI for years and I’m not even a doctor (in tech). Aside from learning alot WCIs backdoor Roth post helped, and them Jim answered my questions incredibly fast on a super old post. Having that extra tax advantaged space has helped alot and I’m well on my way to FI.
Thank you so much for all the free advice! The ever confusing financial world needs great resources for all of us. I appreciate this blogs orientation toward the white coat community. I would also appreciate posts that specifically apply to spouses who have little to no knowledge. Maybe Jim’s wife could write more? I would love to share this with my wife who generally is disengaged with our financial life, feels overwhelmed and provides more judgment than support. Congratulations on 10 years! So many achievements and so much room to continue making a positive difference in so many of our lives.
Once every few years is probably all you’re going to get there! She’s a great Chief Product Officer but isn’t so interested in being on the content creation side.
This is actually a pretty great idea. Before I started working for WCI, my husband would try to discuss finances with me, but I was frankly overwhelmed with raising our 4 kids and didn’t feel like I had the mental bandwidth to take on “one more thing.” I already was in charge of the bills, shopping, etc, and we had already worked hard to pay off our student loans, but I just left all the investing stuff to him. Now we are able to talk about financial planning for our future more easily and I am even able to teach him a few things he didn’t know yet.