By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI FounderThe 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.
Advertisers
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?
Congrats on 10 years! Hoping for many more!
Congrats on 10 years!! I was lucky to discover this at the start of my residency thanks to an attending who gave us an early lecture on financial planning– making me realize how little I knew! I am now finishing up residency and a huge fan of the website, and so grateful for all you do! Thank you!!
Hi Jim,
Without you I wouldn’t have done a backdoor roth or been able to fill out the 8606 form that goes with it. Also learned tons on your blogs: made a financial statement, took one of your courses, bought 2 of your books and decided to VTSAX and relax.
Happy Anniversary WCI!
I first started reading as a first year medical student and am now in the waning days of my residency – the blog has saved me I’d guess thousands of dollars over the years and helped me to negotiate a promising attending contract and confidence in my ability to pay off my loans while living like a resident. Most importantly, it gave me a plan that I’m excited to execute in the next “most important” year of my financial life. Looking forward to celebrating financial independence with you in the future!
Happy 10th! As a 4th year medical student, WCI has been instrumental in building a financial plan for residency and beyond. My fiance and I could not have done it without the help, and it’s so reassuring to have a resource we can check on for literally any question we have. Thanks for what you do!
Congrats Jim! Your desire to serve and encourage people through financial literacy, education, books, swag, late night writing of blog posts, distribution of content, etc has become more and more evident as the WCI enterprise has rolled along. It’s so impressive. I think your ability to stick to your original mission despite significant growth, demands from all side, and life in general is amazing. I appreciate your hard work and your commitment to truth and transparency. Educating the masses can be an underappreciated place, but you’re rocking it. Thanks for all you do.
Congrats on making it 10 years! What an amazing accomplishment. I’m so thankful for all your hard work. This website, books, and podcast have been a huge resource for me over the years. I’m in my first year of practice and am in great financial shape thanks largely to your help. Keep up the great work! Here’s to another 10 years!
WCI,
Thank you so much for being the pathway to openy eyes towards PF and FI concepts. It truly does make for being a better doctor when I know my financial ducks are lined up. I hope to pass things forward one day and teach some PF seminars to residents!
I’m so glad I found WCI as a medical student!! The book and blog have been so digestible and have introduced me to the important topic of personal finance! I feel so lucky to have gotten started on this journey early so I don’t make the same mistakes of many physicians before me! Thank you and happy anniversary!!
I stumbled across the site after our med school brought in an advisor during our fourth year who gave me a bad feeling and made me realize how little I know about finances. I’m now in the process of educating myself, have the proper insurance in place thanks to your recommendations, and able to focus a little easier on the important things in life like my new daughter.
Thank you WCI for all the extremely helpful information. I am a general surgery chief, who really started getting seriously addicted to your website, podcast, and course. I feel so much more in control of my life outside of work with a solid understanding of the financial basics. The Fire Your Financial Advisor Course has been AMAZING!
Thank you for everything y’all do!
WCI, I friggin love you! I graduated with a white coat and significant debt (and no financial literacy oncesoever). You did more than create content, you created a community of like-minded people who share their information and experiences too. I have grown leaps and bounds over the last several years thanks to you and the members within WCI. Simple investing and backdoor roth IRA contributions have been a gamechanger. Most accountants I’ve encountered have never even heard of a backdoor roth!
I’m now ready to VSTAX and relax!! If only I had a t-shirt reminder! 😀
Congrats Jim! I started reading your blog posts and your first book in 2014; right before the end of residency. 7 years later, my wife and I are well on our way to FI. Thank God I found WCI. This is the first time I’m leaving a comment by the way; It’s high time.
I’m so glad you didn’t quit when considering it in late 2019! Did you ever write about that? I thought I had read all articles since 2013/2014 but seeing that in the timeline shocked me. If nothing written previously could be very interesting to write/read now through the lens of hindsight?
It’s not all that interesting. We were just faced with a decision–I couldn’t keep up the pace I was doing so we either had to get smaller (and do less) or we had to get bigger (and hire a lot more people to help.) We chose the latter. Happy so far with the decision. Heck, I just spent 3 1/2 weeks floating the Grand Canyon, came home for four days (worked shifts on two of them and am now en route to a 5 day canyoneering trip. First year of my life that sort of thing was possible.
Happy 10 year! Ive been a follower since my first year in residency in 2012/2013. I am forever grateful for you/your blog. The magnitude of the impact your blog has had on life and my finances is beyond words. Thank you for what you do!
Congratulations! My wife and I attended WCICon 2020, and look forward to WCICon 2022 in Phoenix.
I enjoy the posts and advice. The book was a great resource and the website has built on that which is great.
Congrats! read your book while in residency, then joined the forum when I found it. The 150 portfolios better than yours post is still my favorite, but asking questions and debating on the forum has increased my financial knowledge tremendously. Thanks for all that you did/do
Hello, Dr. Jim Dahle! I try to emulate the financial principles of John Bogle and Warren Buffet. In the same way, when I learned about the White Coat Investor in 2018, it became an inspiration to me. I always listen to your podcast, read your blogs, and value your financial insights. You opened the door to promote financial literacy and I share your calling – financial education is the gateway to financial freedom. Congratulations WCI on your 10th year anniversary !!
Congratulations! Thanks for your free, unbiased advice. WCI helped me start a backdoor Roth years ago, pay off all loans (except mortgage), learn how to TLH, and recently invest with a private REIT through a sponsorship deal (DLP). The education has been entertaining and more valuable than anything else I have learned since finishing residency.
Thanks for all you do Jim! Head up, shoulders back, I think you may have another 10 years of talking about that cloudy crystal ball!
E
Hard to believe it’s been 10 years. I discovered your blog early on, during Fellowship, at the perfect time to implement so much good advice. I continued to “live like a resident,” which let me get rid of my education loan and consumer debt. It gave me confidence to make my own investment portfolio of low fee funds, and keep away the insurance salesmen and high-fee fund salesmen posing as advisors. Your step by step backdoor Roth articles and your advice on HSA’s were key at the right time. I also learned from your example to study the tax forms to know the incentives government provides us to save in different ways. Thanks for all the help, insight, and inspiration for the past 10 years!
WCI is truly an accomplishment. Thank you for the work you and your staff do on a daily basis to help others. The site has given me the confidence to get rid of our financial advisor and reinforced the concept of good investing being boring investing.
Congrats on a great 10 years. Been following you for the past decade. I’m 11 years out of residency, became FI 2 years ago and working as I choose. I lecture to the medical students annually–it’s the only lecture people talk about 10 years later (may be a sign I need to buff up my PE/sepsis et al talks 😉 ) Appreciate all you’ve done to help doctors learn about finance.
Happy 10 year Anniversary WCI!
I started reading WCI back in 2013. I’d just finished studying for recertification board exams and was thinking that I didn’t want to have to go through this stressful and time consuming process again in 10 years. WCI led to other blogs such as Bogleheads, MMM, GCC, Root of Good, and through the years a growing number of physician bloggers. But WCI has always stayed my favorite because it is the most useful for my situation and had such a huge and growing content of high yield information. I’ve particularly liked and learned so much from the Forum. And I loved attending WCI 2020 in Vegas. I’m now we’ll past FI stage and at 58 am settling into a wonderful semi retired life. WCI was largely responsible for helping me realize that work was optional now.