Registration for the 2020 Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference (WCICON20) opens TONIGHT (July 8, 2019) at 7 pm Mountain Standard Time.
Register for the Conference Here!
Paris Las Vegas Hotel
The educational sessions for the conference will take place over three days, Thursday to Saturday the 12-14th of March, 2020. The idea is that Wednesday the 11th and Sunday the 15th will be travel days. We anticipate an opening reception the evening of the 11th and are confident there will be other sponsored events surrounding the conference to be announced at a later date.
The conference will take place at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Convention Center. We have reserved a block of discounted rooms both at the Paris Hotel (slightly nicer rooms, slightly shorter walk to conference area, $189+ resort fee/taxes) and the attached Bally's Hotel (slightly larger and cheaper rooms, slightly longer walk to conference area, $139 + resort fee/taxes.) BLOCK OF ROOMS IS SOLD OUT AND THEY WON'T INCREASE OUR BLOCK DUE TO DEMAND FROM OTHER EVENTS
Reserve Your Room in Our Block Here!
This conference is aimed at attending level physicians, dentists, and others interested in reducing burnout and improving patient care by teaching techniques for managing burnout among doctors and their staff, improving the management of the practice, and increasing financial literacy. We believe that financially stable physicians are less burned out and can have longer, more meaningful careers providing better care to their patients.
Like our last conference (WCICON18 in Park City), only some of the presentations will be eligible for continuing education credits. However, we are pleased to announce that the conference will qualify for 15 hours of AMA Category 1 CME credit for physicians and 15 hours of FAGD/MAGD CE credit for dentists. This should be more than enough hours to use continuing education dedicated funds to pay for the conference and associated travel.
Conference Agenda
There are a total of 27 hours of presentations/expert panels in the conference, although you will only be able to attend 18 (6 hours per day) of those 27. Don't worry, all attendees will also receive FREE access to the online version of the conference to watch the sessions you missed live. Half of the day will be composed of “keynote” speeches to the entire conference and during the other half of the day, the group will be split into two to attend smaller sessions and panels. Starred sessions below qualify for CME and Dental CE Credit.
Thursday Morning Sessions (General)
# 1 The State of Physician Wellness: a Review of the Literature* James M. Dahle MD
# 2 Exploring the Tax Efficient Waterfall Sarah Catherine Gutierrez CFP® CRPS®
# 3 The Education of an Index Investor Rick Ferri CFA
Thursday Afternoon Sessions (Breakout)
# 4A Bridging the Intimacy Gap Between Doctors and Patients Through Shared Storytelling* Jordan Grumet MD
# 4B Panel—Recognizing and Interacting Appropriately with Financial Advisors Moderator: James M. Dahle MD; Panel Members: Steven Podnos MD MBA CFP®, Randy Gertner MD, Johanna Fox Turner CPA CFP®, Rick Ferri CFA, Sarah Catherine Gutierrez CFP® CRPS®
# 5A Sexual Health and How It Affects Patient and Physician Wellbeing* Shawni Coll DO
# 5B Building Streams of Passive Income Peter Kim MD
# 6A Physician Wellness in the Modern Medical Practice* Randy Gertner MD
# 6B Panel—Boosting Career Longevity for Women Physicians* Moderator: Bonnie Koo MD; Panelists: Disha Spath MD, Carrie Reynolds MD, Sunny Smith MD, Danette LeBaron MD
jason
Friday Morning Sessions (General)
# 7 Recovering From Cases That Make You Cry* Fahd Ahmad MD MSCI
# 8 Tax Planning for White Coat Investors Phil Demuth PhD
# 9 The Psychology of Investing Morgan Housel–Partner, Collaborative Fund
Friday Afternoon Sessions (Breakout)
# 10A Who Owns You? What Happens to the Physician-Patient Relationship When the Doctor Does Not Own the Practice* Kurt Schoppe, MD
# 10B Panel—Extreme Solutions for Burnout—Practice Part-Time or Leave Medicine Completely* Moderator: Leif Dahleen MD; Panelists: Dawn Baker MD MS, B.C. Krygowski MD, Jordan Grumet MD, Crispy Doc
# 11A Choosing Joy Over Despair: How You Can Get Fired Up in your Career instead of Burning Out* Brent Lacey MD
# 11B Student Loans: Past, Present, Future & Advanced Payoff Strategies Ben White MD
# 12A Self-Knowledge: The Key To Managing Physical and Financial Health* Dawn Baker MD MS
# 12B Panel—Investing for Retirement and College Moderator: James M. Dahle MD; Panelists: Leif Dahleen MD, Harry Sit, Paul Merriman, Phil Demuth PhD, Morgan Housel–Partner, Collaborative Fund
Saturday Morning Sessions (Breakout)
# 13A Physician Burnout: Moving Beyond Resilience to Tangible Solutions* Nisha Mehta MD
# 13B Panel—Educating the Next Generation on Wellness and Financial Health* Moderator: James D. Turner MD; Panel Members: Jason Mizell MD, Fahd Ahmad MD MSCI, Jesse Richards DO, Katherine M. Hiller MD MPH, Gaurava Agarwal MD
# 14A Estate Planning—Taking Care of Those You Care About Most Daniel L. Kesten JD LLM
# 14B Panel—Adventures in Burnout: Recognizing and Beating the Burn* Moderator: Crispy Doc; Panel Members: Nisha Mehta MD, James D. Turner MD, The Happy Philosopher, Reflections of a Millenial Doctor
# 15A A Burnout Reduction and Wellness Strategy: Personal Financial Health for the Medical Trainee and Early Career Physician* Trevor J. Royce MD MS MPH
#15B How to Achieve Financial Freedom Using Direct Real Estate Investing While Working as a Physician Letizia Alto MD MA
Saturday Afternoon Sessions (General)
# 16 Protecting Your Patients and Yourself from Malpractice* James M. Dahle MD
# 17 Pay Only Your Fair Share: How to Legally Lower Your Taxes Harry Sit
# 18 How Factor Investing Can Change Your Financial Future Paul Merriman
NOTE: Schedule is subject to change.
Cost
The cost of the conference is $1,299. Although this is our “premium product” here at WCI, we still consider this to be an exceptional value. There is not a lower price for dentists, APCs, residents, students, or anything else not only because we think it's already a great value and fully expect to sell out quickly, but also because we don't think it is fair to attending physicians to gouge them with higher conference prices than everyone else. However, from now until midnight MST on Monday, July 22nd, we are offering an “early bird” discount to everybody. From now until then, the conference is available for just $1,199, a $100 discount.
Yes, we're fully aware this is a significant increase from the cost of our last conference ($750) that sold out in just six days. But we're also offering dramatically more. Instead of getting just 12 hours of conference over 2 days, you get 27 hours of conference over 3 days. Instead of getting 6-8 hours of CME/Dental CE, you get 15 hours. Instead of having to pay extra for the online version of the conference (a $399 value), it will be included for FREE! Our swag bag will be even more valuable than last time, including best-selling books from authors speaking at the conference who you will get to meet at book-signing events. Other receptions and events will take place around the conference as well. Drinks and limited food will also be provided by the conference. But most importantly, the education and inspiration you will receive from meeting people you have only known online and being surrounded for 3+ days by doctors of every specialty interested in wellness and financial literacy makes the cost of entry a bargain. Even if you don't have a CME fund, practice owners should still be able to deduct their attendance as a business expense, further reducing the cost.
Las Vegas
Las Vegas is the premier conference destination in the country. Inexpensive, direct flights are available from all over the country and the airport is only a short Uber ride away from the conference hotel. The Paris Las Vegas hotel is located in the very center of the famous Las Vegas Strip. If you cannot find something fun to do in Las Vegas, you suffer from a lack of imagination. Many visitors are surprised to discover that only 22% of revenue in these hotels comes from gambling and that The Strip is a far more family-friendly place than it was 20 years ago. Other activities include dining, clubs, pools, music, comedy, and acrobatic shows. If you need to get away from the neon, Red Rock Canyon, Hoover Dam, Mt. Charleston and Lake Mead beckon. Day or overnight trips to the Grand Canyon, Death Valley, or Zion National Park can also easily be combined with the conference.
If you are looking for cheaper or more luxurious accommodations, there are dozens of possibilities within a mile in every direction, although the Paris Hotel itself is large enough to accommodate our entire conference several times over.
Space is Limited
Although we have more than doubled the size of the conference since Park City in March 2018, we still expect it to sell out. I don't know if it will sell out in minutes, hours, days, or weeks, but I do know that over 20,000 people listen to each podcast, over 26,000 are in the Facebook Group, 16,000 people follow us on Twitter, 25,000 people take the free monthly newsletter, and >150,000 people come by the website each month. These numbers are all far higher than they were in the summer of 2017 when we did registration for Park City and I've been telling people when registration opens for several weeks. So if you want to come to the 2020 Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference, I recommend you register TONIGHT starting at 7 pm MST. Not 100% sure you want to or can come? You can hold your spot all the way until December 1st for just $100 (see below for cancellation fees.)
You can pay with credit, debit, ACH, or ChasePay. You cannot pay with cash, checks, Paypal, or Venmo. Sorry, it was just too much of a pain dealing with mailed checks last time.
Cancellation Fees
- Prior to December 1st: $100
- December 1st to February 1st: $500
- February 1st to March 11th: $1100
- After March 11th: No refund
You cannot sell your tickets to others. Your ID will be checked at conference check-in. You must show up to get your swag bag; we will not be mailing them.
Communication
Be sure to use a real email address that you actually check when registering for the conference. While emails will be sent with updates between registration and the conference, sometimes they end up in spam folders so be sure to also check the official conference page periodically for updates like formalized schedules and other special events (and add editor (at) whitecoatinvestor.com to your contacts list.)
Register for The 2020 Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference Today!
Continuing Education Credit Information
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the accreditation requirements and policies of the Utah Medical Association through the joint providership of the UMA Foundation and The White Coat Investor. The UMA Foundation is accredited by the Utah Medical Association to provide continuing medical education for physicians. The UMA Foundation designates this live activity for a maximum of 15.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credits™. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the standards of the Academy of General Dentistry Program Approval for Continuing Education (PACE) through the joint program provider approval of Embrasure Space and White Coat Investor, LLC. Embrasure Space is approved for awarding FAGD/MAGD credit. AGD ID# 378539
Disclosures
Relevant financial relationships (or none) will be disclosed prior to the conference.
Official Conference Flyer
What do you think? Will you be attending the conference? Do you have questions about the conference? Comment below!
I’ll be there — apparently I’m a keynote speaker and panelist. Not sure how they made it past the judges.
Hoping to attend either way, but was wondering if this or future conferences might also be RACE-approved for veterinary CE?
Unlikely, but if 50+ vets want to come, I’d be willing to look into it.
fair enough, i can barely get 5 vets to run cytology and charge for it…so…looking fwd to wci con!
I’ll be there. When do we choose the breakout groups?
About 2 minutes before they start. No need to choose in advance.
FYI – Paris hotel rooms through the link are actually $189/night, not $169.
Thank you for the correction. It is $189 + resort fee/taxes.
Are spouses of physicians welcome to join their physician at the conference?
They pay just like everyone else.
Sure, but there is no discounted price for attending the conference.
I didn’t think a discount :). These topics have me thinking – might be interesting to add some “couple/partner” topics in the future (I.e. burn out issues that relate to dual physician/career couples, meet ups for physician partners, relationship between divorce/burn out…). Or might stray a little far from your core message. But there’s definitely a relationship between money, burn out, divorce, and your relationship with your partner.
Great idea. Too late for this time though! At least in the formal content. But an evening or lunch meet-up would be easy to arrange.
That’s annoying. I wish we had control over that, but yes, additional persons in the room beyond 2 are $30 each per night.
Thanks. It looks like on the regular website the rate is a little cheaper for a family of 4 with the 4th of July sale they currently have going on… not a deal breaker.
Ugh. Are you kidding me? How are we going to sell our mandatory block if they’re undercutting us? We’ll have to look into that and maybe we can get them to at least match the price in the block.
They’ve told us they will match any better price in our block, so please let them know to count your rooms toward our block. We’ve got 600 room nights that need to be sold!
Something to think about. Paris is my least favorite hotel in Vegas. They routinely hold parties with loud bass that shake the rooms until 2-4am. If you aren’t a partier in Vegas, you may want to book elsewhere.
Any recommendations on hotels nearby that would be better? I never remember what hotels are right next to each other.
Ended up booking through the WCI block, I like the convenience of being in the same hotel as the conference, but I’d like to sleep more than 2 hours.
I suspect that comment is a little exaggerated, but if you’re really concerned, just book in the Bally’s part of the block.
Does the WCI hotel reservation website charge the entire stay to your credit card immediately? Or just a deposit? Or no charge to reserve?
Good question. I think like any hotel there is no charge to reserve. None of that flows through our hands.
I found the answer:
“Please note that upon booking your reservation, your credit card will be charged a deposit equal to the first night’s room and tax. To avoid forfeiture of deposit, please ensure all changes and cancellations are made at least 72 hours prior to scheduled arrival date.”
That’s pretty standard for most hotels.
This looks like a great event. Thanks for getting it approved for CME.
Now I just need to clear it with the wife.
Dr-ess: “Another medical conference in Vegas!?”
Me: “Yes honey, but this one is special. I promise!”
Wish me luck.
— TDD
You can do it!
Or bring her along! I’d love to meet more physician. Partners from this group. :).
Let’s get a spouses group going at the pool while the attendees are at the conference!
Just a heads up that these dates coincide with 3 ( I think) college basketball tournaments in Vegas that week/weekend. If you’re going, better book through the room block or you will regret it later!
Always lots of stuff going on in Vegas. You’d be surprised what the events are that actually fill the place up- like big tech conferences.
Anyone else manage to register yet?
It’s 2/3rds full in a little over an hour.
Registration worked just fine for me. But I made sure I was one of the first to get in, I regretted missing out on the last WCICON and didn’t want to take a chance on this one. Doesn’t surprise me that even with the increased number of spots it’s going fast.
The registration site only recognizes American addresses. I had to pick a random US state as part of my Canadian address.
(The billing section did have the option to pick a non-US credit card address).
Thanks for the heads up. Sorry for the inconvenience. We’re not planning on mailing you anything, so I think it’ll be fine.
I think I just successfully registered for the 2020 WCI conference from the Fifth Station of Mount Fuji!!! We’re about to start the climb. I wasn’t asked for any payment yet. I just wanted to make sure the registration was successful even though I wasn’t asked for payment?
I think you need to pay to lock things in. Hopefully you get this message soon on your assent of Mt Fuji!
Thank you Hank!
We’re up at the sixth station on Fuji now. We have a WiFi box and still have cell service! I was able to successfully register for WCI 2020 Conference from the sixth station of Fuji and completed payment by credit card! If anyone else is up here on Fuji and needs to register, or runs into this situation in the future, you can do it at least from 5th and 6th station!
Awesome! Best registration story so far! Enjoy some ramen on the summit for me in the morning.
Getting the email about this was a godsend. I was looking for a conference in 3/2019 and given that I’ve been utilizing the FB group a lot lately as I figure out my own finances, I’m hopeful I can scrape together the registration cost by 7/22! 🙂 Keeping my fingers crossed it all works out, and that I’ll get to learn a lot more in person from everyone in LV!
This will be full long before 7/22. We had 221 in the first 7 minutes and 500 in the first 4 hours.
I mean I can pay with PayPal credit but that’s not accepted. Forced to resign from last full time job for medical reasons / burnout 3/2019, telemedicine hasn’t paid what it promised, locums gig starts 7/29 as I duke it out with insurance erroneously sending medical bills to collections and ruining my credit. On the phone hours a day about it all. Would love to be able to attend if at all possible… obviously I need it
I still don’t recommend anyone in a financial mess of any kind shell out 4 figures for a conference, but something that might work for you would be to purposely put yourself high on the waiting list (i.e. register just as soon as it fills.) We’ll likely take a couple of dozen off the waiting list and you would still get the early bird price, but your credit card wouldn’t be charged until you are taken off the list.
You need financial education, discipline (and income). You don’t necessarily need a conference. There are other ways to learn this material.
I agree; what I really need financially is an income and doing my research with resources that you’ve already made available (thanks!). The reason the conference appeals to me is more to meet people in person and network. I’m not planning to go back to corporate medicine. I want to share my story and have people learn from my own mistakes and learn from others’ as I move forward in my career and live a healthier life. Rather than have my therapist and PCP just be like “yeah you’re screwed can’t help you”… it helps to take steps forward to improve mental and financial health of myself and ultimately colleagues, be inspired by people you see on social media, etc. I value the opportunity to attend in person and live only 3 hrs from Las Vegas. I posted in the group about the specifics of the situation I’m in. If you could at least put me on the waiting list I should be able to have the deposit together in the next couple weeks.
I would sign up on the waiting list right now since the conference just filled. Maybe you’ll have the money to attend by the time you’re called off the waiting list.
I registered yesterday evening. I tried registering my wife (a pediatrician) tonight and she was wait-listed after roughly 24 hours of open registration! I needed to line of child-care to get her on-board (my parents, of course). What are the chances of coming off the wait-list for people registering tonight? I hate to book a hotel room by my lonesome self.
I don’t know where she is on the list, but we do expect to take at least a couple dozen off the wait list. If you email Katie, she can tell you where she is at on the list. It just filled at 5 pm tonight so your wife is probably pretty close to the top.
I registered and am so excited about attending this next year. Two questions:
1)would it be possible to have an area with standing tables? I have a hard time sitting cod prolonged periods of time but can stand up and pay attention for hours. Wondering if those elevated round cocktail tables could be placed somewhere for this purpose.
2) Which of these hotels is quieter? I’d love to return to a quiet hotel. Is that possible on Vegas?
Finally, thank you for all you do. Your blog and Oscar reach so many of us who wouldn’t otherwise have/make the time to take care of ourselves financially. You really are contributing to my wellness, and I am grateful to you.
1. That’s the first time I’ve gotten that request. That doesn’t seem too hard to accommodate to get a table or two. I imagine you’re pretty unusual in that desire so we can’t possible need very many. It would obviously be in the back of the room of course. Please send Katie a note about it in February when we’re arranging that sort of stuff.
2. I don’t know to be honest. Might be worth calling and asking. A commenter above though the Paris could be a bit loud but neither seemed loud in the hotel areas when I was there in March, but admittedly that was the middle of the day.
Avoid Paris. The Bally’s tower away from Paris is fine. Bally’s is a little more smokey downstairs. JockeyClub across the street is a hidden gem if still there. Bellagio is always nice but expensive.
The conference block at Paris is already full anyway and the room price is significantly more now there than it was.
I am on the waitlist. What is the last possible time I will find out? If I want to get off the waitlist, how would I do that?
Thanks
JH
We’ll take most of the people we are going to take off the waitlist in one big swoop in a couple of weeks as soon as we nail down the details on the room layout and know exactly how many seats we’ll have. But theoretically, you could be taken even just a few weeks before the conference if you wanted.
Contact [email protected] for all things wait list related, but be aware we’re in the boondocks all next week and will be incommunicado.
Waitlist person here. What do you recommend regarding booking room? Had an issue with Wilderness Medicine conference registration when mountain ran out of rooms. Wait until off waitlist then book immediately? I was gonna do the block and the deposit is only one night’s rent
Happy to provide the entertainment for the group. Checking out all the karaoke spots 😉
Las Music Karaoke & Bar
4821 Spring Mountain Rd a, Las Vegas, NV 89102
(702) 495-4000
https://goo.gl/maps/ZKnv7bBMxSf8vguA8
You can book it. The cancellation policy is something like 100% money back up to 72 hours before the conference. But like I said earlier, most of the folks who come off the waitlist will come off en masse in a couple of weeks when we nail things down. I thought we’d have that done before registration and by the time I realized we wouldn’t, I’d been telling people when registration was going to open for two months already so we deliberately undersold by a couple dozen to be absolutely sure we had a seat for everyone who had signed up. But it wouldn’t surprise me if we take 50 off the waiting list and the waiting list isn’t all that much bigger than that. In fact strangely, the waiting list was larger last time I think because I made a specific announcement to sign up for the waiting list.
Hi there, Our group of three residency friends is planning our annual CME conference for the Spring and we REALLY want to attend yours! Do you have a sense of the likelihood of making it off the waiting list at this point? For work and life scheduling reasons, we need to nail down a weekend and a conference very soon, so we can’t really hang out on the waiting list – unfortunately. We really, really want to go to this conference! What are the chances??? We haven’t signed up yet, but could if the chances are good. Thank you!!!
Email Katie (at) whitecoatinvestor.com and she can tell you where we are on the list but we’re going to be taking most of those who are already on it off it soon as soon as we work a couple things out.
Are the hotel blocks filled up already? I’m afraid I have really missed the boat on that
Maybe, but the hotels won’t be. They’re way bigger than our conference. Let us know if you can’t get the pricing and we’ll see if we can help.
I just registered for 2 attendees and it was successful, also booked a room. Are there still places available?
You JUST registered and were successful? You mean you registered for the waitlist? While the waitlist is much shorter than it used to be, I don’t think we’ve burned through the whole thing yet.
Hi,
My wife and I want to come so I’m curious if we register for the waitlist now, when would be the latest time we would find out if we got spots or not? Just need to know in order to plan for flights/work time off, etc.
Thank you and hope there will be spots! ( I emailed Katie as well)
I suppose it’s possible right up to the event, but you won’t be on the hook for it if you can’t make it. She gives you 24 hours to get a refund after she takes you off the waiting list. We’re just trying to get through the waitlist efficiently without screwing anyone over.
Thank you! I registered both of us and hoping to get off the waitlist soon.
Is there a waitlist for discounted rooms in case someone who got the WCI rate backs out? I’m gonna book rooms at the going rate but would love to get the discount if it becomes available. Thanks.
Not one we keep but you can ask the hotel.
Jim, I did call Bally’s about this and they actually said that when a WCICON attendee, who has one of the blocked rooms, cancels, that room actually goes back to the standing price, not the WCI group rate. Essentially the room is lost from the WCI block and put back out into the general vacancy. To me that doesn’t seem fair, really.
I’m sorry that I will have to cancel my registration for the 2020 conference. I cant find a link or phone number to contact to accomplish this. Can you help me with this?
Forwarded your email to [email protected]
Any thoughts of cancelling due to Corona Virus? Many medical societies are cancelling meetings to avoid large gatherings and travel.
No. We’re full speed ahead. I think we’ll all get out there and back home before this thing really hits. But it’s obviously your call as to whether or not you want to come.