I recently received some sincere, but brutal criticism from a regular reader in the form of a book review. Brutal criticism is the most useful type you can get, although I confess I prefer getting it in a private email than an online review. Some of it is worth a response and discussion. The rest of it simply represents a limitation of any blogger- when you get personal you can only share your own experience rather than that of someone whose life is quite different from your own. This blog, however, has a great mechanism for overcoming that limitation- about 1/3 of the posts I run are guest posts. More on that in a minute. First, I'm going to post the relevant sections of the review (I left out the nice things she said about the book/blog) with my comments:
So why only three stars? [WCI] just rubs me the wrong way, probably unintentionally.
It's definitely unintentional. Why would someone want to rub someone else the wrong way intentionally? At any rate, three stars are better than one!
Constantly referring to spouse/wife, as opposed to simply “spouse” and he never includes “husband” or “partner.” Perhaps his view is that physician families always consist of two parents and two or three kids in a nuclear family. Even in Utah I am sure there are diverse and nontraditional families, and the undercurrents in his book and blog would be perhaps uncomfortable for them.
I'll try to use “spouse” and “partner” more frequently. But I don't have a husband! There are certainly plenty of diverse and non-traditional families in Utah, although I'm confident the numbers pale in comparison to large cities on either coast given that I haven't seen a case of sickle cell anemia in years. Obviously I don't think physician families always consist of two parents and 2.2 kids. In fact, I don't know anyone with 2.2 kids. 🙂
He castigates people to move to low-cost areas but never addresses the reasons people might need to live in a bigger city (diversity, for example.)
I'm not sure how to address this any more than that people who choose to live in a location with low pay, high taxes, and a high cost of living will need to spend less money on something else-like retiring early, buying toys, paying off a mortgage early, taking expensive trips etc. The reason(s) someone may choose to live in an expensive location are largely irrelevant to a personal finance blog. I really don't care if it is to take care of an elderly parent, to have a unique aspect in a practice, to be near a cultural group, for the quality of schools, for nice weather, or for “diversity.” If you want to get rich fast, then you need to make a lot of money, spend very little, and invest the difference wisely. If you want something else, that's fine too. Most physicians can still afford to have a reasonable life even in an expensive place.
He occasionally addresses childless readers but never female-headed households, single parents, couples that are not married etc. He does not address folks who have to work part-time due to family concerns.
Most of the topics I address don't care much about how many kids you have, your marital status, or how many hours a week you work. Personally, as someone who works 28 hours a week at one job and perhaps about the same at my other job, I think I know a lot about part-time work!
Additionally, he has very few women guest writers on his blog and seems to dismiss lower pay for female physicians as largely a myth. It would be great if he would try and reach a wider audience. Maybe this is his world in Utah, but it would be more welcoming if he realized that the rest of the world is often different.
Having lived and practiced medicine in several states and on four continents, I'm quite aware the world has a great deal of variety. However, let it be known that every single guest post submitted to this blog by a female regular reader or financial professional has been published and I have solicited at least a dozen more that were never sent in. I wish this reviewer, who is clearly intelligent, who is a talented, articulate writer, and who obviously has a useful viewpoint to share would have sent in a guest post, rather than just added a book review complaining about the lack of them! I also can't figure out where I ever mentioned anything about lower pay for female physicians or the lack thereof. (If someone knows, please point it out in the comments; I probably ought to address it.) I don't doubt the averages do show lower pay for female physicians, since they show that for nearly every profession for reasons that are widely researched, debated, and published elsewhere. However, I've never been part of a practice where that actually occurred. My female colleagues and I were/are all paid exactly equally in residency, in the military, and in my current partnership.
There are several assumptions in both the blog and book that may make this book less than useful for certain kinds of docs. [WCI's] discussions of retirement investing seem to assume that his audience has the option to save 55k yearly in retirement accounts through work. For employed physicians this is rarely true…..
I will readily admit I think many docs would often be financially better off in an ownership rather than an employee situation, at least from a retirement plan standpoint. An independent contractor can easily set up an individual 401(k) ($53K in 2015, perhaps $55K in 2017), a personal defined benefit/cash balance plan, personal and spousal (sorry, not partner unless partner has his own income) Backdoor Roth IRAs, and a Health Savings Account. An employee may be stuck with only a non-matched 401(k) or 403(b) ($18K in 2015) and a backdoor Roth IRA. If that's all you have, and you aren't interested in picking something up on the side, and you need to save more than $23,500 per year ($30,500 if 50 or older), then you're going to have to use a taxable account. That's just the way Congress has written the law. Of course, there are benefits of being an employee too- like not having to pay for your own benefits and having your employer pay half of your payroll taxes.
However, I don't see how this readily admitted bias of mine actually makes it hard for employees to learn about how they should invest for retirement. The only topics I can think of adding would be how to build around a lousy 401(k), which is covered daily on The Bogleheads forum and how to invest in a tax-efficient manner in a taxable account, which I cover frequently.
…and he gives short shrift to what may be major issues with private 457s, the option beyond the 401k for employees.
I haven't written a lot about 457s, but I have written about them. The main issue with a private 457 is that if the hospital goes out of business, your retirement account disappears since it is accessible to your employer's creditors. Unless my employer was really in bad shape, I'd probably still use a 457 available to me, but it would be the first money I spent in retirement.
He gives bonds, bond funds, and munis short shrift and minimal treatment (although he has thankfully changed his assertion that there is no place for munis in a physician portfolio) possibly because he has access to the G fund for his portfolio and thus little interest in bonds.
This is where I got really impressed with the reviewer, who has clearly read a great deal of my writing. I am guilty as charged to most of this particular criticism. My initial post on munis was critical of them for the reason that at the time I wrote it, I bought into the belief that bonds should preferentially be in a tax-protected account. I subsequently realized/learned that probably isn't true for many of us. And if it isn't true for you, and you're in a high tax bracket, well, munis (and I bonds) are what should compose a good chunk of your fixed income. I recently had a big post about muni bonds vs bond funds and did a lengthy review of a book about nothing but bonds. My own portfolio is nearly 100% tax protected, and the G fund does make up a large chunk of my fixed income. That certainly isn't a reason not to write about bonds. I don't own whole life insurance, and I write about that all the time.
Finally, he seems to assume that most people want lots of stuff but need to restrict themselves so they do not retire penniless. This may well be true, but others are really not materialistic but really want freedom very young (those of us who believe the boat owns us, not the other way around.) For those physicians this is not the right book or blog.
Maybe I'm biased, but I think it is safe to assume that MOST people do want lots of stuff, or at least the newest shiniest stuff. And I certainly do think that those who want lots of stuff need to restrict themselves so they don't retire penniless. I find it rather funny, however, that I'm now seemingly being accused of being a spendthrift. The usual criticism, at least until the recent posts on “Loosening the Purse Strings,” is that I'm way too much of a cheapskate. In fact, until 2014, the most expensive item I had ever bought brand new cost a very low four figure amount. I'm not exactly a flashy materialistic guy (although I confess, I did buy the boat.) The truth is I don't care what you spend your money on. If you wish to be financially independent early, then spend your money on investments (I know I've spent a lot on them in the last 10 years.) If you want to be debt free, then use your earnings to pay off your loans. If you want a boat, then spend your money on a boat. If you want a fancy car, or fancy vacations, or to give tons of money or time to charity, then you can also do that. You can define “the good life” however you like. But you can't do it all; there simply isn't a limitless supply of money, even for doctors. Saying this isn't the right blog for you if you prefer to retire early instead of buying a boat seems a bit of a stretch, especially since the blog's author could retire (if he wanted to) in about the same time period and on the same income as Mr. Money Mustache (whose blog you might enjoy if your main financial goal is to retire in your thirties and live on less than $30K a year for the last 60 years of your life.)
This is a great book for the right audience- a beginning investor, preferably male, with a traditional family who lives in a low to moderate cost state. Others may need to look elsewhere for advice on their particular situation.
Ouch! Readers, help me out here. If you are female, have a non-traditional family, or live in a high cost state, send me a guest post about how your financial situation is unique and how you have dealt with your unique challenges. I certainly don't want this to be a blog that is only appropriate for traditional physician families in the fly-over states. Personal finance is both personal and financial. Blog readers in general love posts that reveal a little bit about the writer and the personal aspect of finance. It makes it easier to relate to the information and think about our own lives in a little bit different way. But I can't write something personal about a situation I haven't lived. I have to rely on you, dear reader, to do that. If you would be willing to share your story, here are the guest post guidelines. Here are some possible topics that would be great for a guest poster to address because I will never be able to do so effectively:
1) Unique financial aspects for dentists, attorneys, accountants, pharmacists, mid-levels, small business owners, veterinarians, podiatrists, optometrists, and two physician couples.
2) How to be successful financially despite living in a high-cost of living area
3) How to make sure you (as a female doctor) are paid what you're worth, no matter your gender
4) How to deal with the financial aspects of divorce
5) The financial aspects of being a single physician parent
6) Financial upsides and downsides of living with an unmarried partner
7) Estate planning or asset protection issues for singles or unmarried couples
8) How to open your own single physician/dentist/attorney practice
9) Financial issues of DINKs (Dual Income No Kids)
10) Estate planning when you are single without kids
11) Taking care of elderly parents living nearby or in your home
12) Going from an ownership practice to an employee practice or vice versa
13) How to get decent investment returns while still complying with Sharia Law
What do you think? How else can this blog be more inclusive? What other topics would you like to see a guest post on? Comment below!
Thank Dr Jim
Excellent blog
It seems like the author of the review is more of the Mr. Money Mustache crowd. Nothing with her philosophy but if MMM wrote a book, I wouldn’t criticize his book/outlook for his lack of fondness for fancy things. Different folks, different strokes!
I, like WCI, happen to enjoy fancypants vacations/modestly expensive hobbies etc and do not want to live on ~25k-30k/year for the rest of my adult life.
Fantastic blog.
I just bought and read the book. I’m two years out of fellowship and live in a high cost area. Just finishing off paying high interest educational debt.
Your core advise is universal and applies to everyone:
1) Pay off high interest debt, then
2) Start saving with the tax shelters you’re given
3) Save as much as you can without making yourself miserable
In response to the critical comments by the reviewer, everyone wants to have more money. You don’t have to spend your on material things. You can use to have flexibility, freedom, and peace of mind. Those are probably the best things money can buy.
Thanks again – the blog and book have saved me a hundred hours at least.
No blog can be all things to all people, but in my view this blog (and your book) strike a very nice balance. Your growing following attests to the fact that your content is appealing to many. I’m not a doctor, and I understand that the blog is aimed mainly at medical professionals, but the blog also includes a great deal of valuable content for other high-income professionals (I’m a Biglaw partner). I hit both this site and Bogleheads about every day. Some days, the posts here are irrelevant for me, so I barely glance at them, but overall, as compared to Bogleheads, I believe there’s a much greater percentage of material here that is directly on target for me as a high earning professional. I would encourage you to keep that balance.
Agree with the above post. The main topics of the book and this blog are universal to everyone. And I mean everyone.
1) live below your means and try to save 15-20% of your income
2) pay off high interest rate debt
3) don’t spend a lot of money on financial advisors through AUM fees
4) stay away from permenant life insurance policies
5) invest as much as you can in tax sheltered accounts
6) if possible do a Backdoor roth contribution
7) low cost index funds are generally the way to go.
Name me one person, male or female single or married, gay or straight, with or without kids, of any ethnic background that the above is simply not great advice.
WCI,
Constructive criticism is always important in terms of getting better, but I think there is far more positive feedback than negative. Personally your book is the best money I’ve spent on finance thus far and I’ve tried to read as many of your posts as possible. Definitely recommended the book to all of my coresidents and every student that’s on my service. One request would be a post dedicated solely to moonlighting both as a resident and later as an attending. I’ve seen a few scattered references searching your site, but a dedicated post about everything surrounding moonlighting (paying taxes, solo 401k, any paperwork, balance between learning/academics at program vs moonlighting, etc…) would be awesome. If you already posted on this and I just missed it, I apologize. Again, fantastic site!
Oh sure. The positive feedback far outweighs the bad. But the bad is far more useful. The moonlighting post is a good idea.
Criticisms like this are tiresome! I am relatively new to the blogging world and I am already getting tons of stories when I write about what I do (bike to work, don’t own a car, other bike related topics). They say that I am naive and short-sided and I don’t understand their situation. My point is never to say, “Hey, look at me!” It is “The way I do things is awesome! And here are the benefits. Here is how you do it.” (Similar to WCI on investing) One can take this advice or leave it but complaining to me about how out-of-touch I am with their particular situation is not going to help them!
I’m a bit of chemistry nerd so I’d like to make an analogy to stoichiometry. Let the methane and oxygen to carbon dioxide and water reaction serve as our reminder of a balanced equation:
CH4 + 2 O2 → CO2 + 2 H2O
It true that most high income medical professionals are pretty close to being a”beginning investor, probably male, with a traditional family who lives in a low to moderate cost state”. This is not a political, social, or moral perspective it is just a fact. Perhaps this fact is a political, social, and/or moral disservice but it does not change the reality of the overwhelming demographics to which this blog is written. This brings us to the stoichiometry. If the readers are the reactants, the blog is the reaction, and posts are the products then we must have balanced reaction. Said differently, if 85% of the readers are a certain demographic then 85% of the posts should be relevant to that demographic. Luckily most of the time WCI is posting on things that are universally relevant to all demographics. I personally don’t want to see posts related to these alternative topics (one every once in a while would be fine) because they don’t pertain to me or the vast majority of the other readers.
This critic could/should start her own blog. “The single and/or partnered non-materialistic 457 bond oriented low income non-tradition white coat investor”. Maybe she would find an audience where her stoichiometry would be balanced.
This blog has literally changed my life. The depth and breadth of the material is staggering. The principles are true and applicable across a myriad of incomes, family settings, and life situations. Just keep up the great work and know that for every one vocal minority there are tens of thousands silent supporters.
I found your blog at exactly the right time in my life. As a fourth year student, I was ready to graduate with 22K of debt and not once had anyone sat me down and tried to teach me even the basics of personal finance. Reading your blog has prepared me to make the correct decisions regarding my loans and investment accounts. I am truly grateful for your work.
Shortly after being introduced to your blog, I chanced onto Mr Money Mustache (actually, it was probably from a link in one of your articles). At first, his message was pretty abrasive to my established world-view (money buys happiness).
After thinking on the subject, experiencing a few life changing events (losing three family members over the holidays, ending a serious relationship and realizing that I’d be an intern in few months) I started to come around to the MMM philosophy. The amount of material crap surrounding me was oppressing and it felt good to par it down. Eating cheap was actually pretty enjoyable and healthier. I hate driving anyways (car ownership is actually pretty cool, if you do the work yourself). Most importantly, I realized that even with my debt, I could achieve financial independence by age 40. For me, that’s worth any amount of material trinkets.
The idea of financial independence (I hate the term “early retirement”) is pretty intoxicating. I love my chosen career (EM) but I worry about the future. Whether I’ll continue to enjoy the profession. Whether I’ll be able to work a schedule that swings between days and nights. Whether it would be financially tenable to pursue a fellowship. Whether reimbursement will remain at such high rates or whether we’ll be sold down the river. To me, FI means insurance against that worry; I can reassess whether I want to practicing EM at 40 or whether I should transition to another career.
I apologize for rambling and I will get to the point. I feel that you and MMM are preaching the same message–make your dollars work for you and enjoy the freedom from wage slavery. That said, I kinda cringe a little whenever I read articles in which you assume a retirement age of 60 or 65. I know that this assumption fits the majority of your readers’ needs, but not mine.
That doesn’t mean that I don’t hold your blog in high esteem. No, I appreciate the detailed analysis that you provide regarding financial planning but I derive my philosophy from MMM and related writers.
If I can maintain a frugal lifestyle through residency, I’d love to write for the blog in the future. Maybe I could convey the joy of simple living to your high-income audience. There is at least one other reader living an “extremely frugal” lifestyle, at least based on the comments elsewhere on your blog.
Thank you again!
I’ll be interested to see if you still espouse the “extremely frugal” lifestyle 10 years from now, especially if married with kids. 🙂 I was pretty darn frugal as a student too! Now, I’m only relatively frugal.
At any rate, I think it’s funny that you think my blog talks too much about retirement in your 60s since I expect to be financially independent in my mid 40s, 5-10 years earlier than my original plan.
Also, since I’m working hard on being more inclusive, I just wanted to point out that a cut in reimbursement is very different from being sold down the river. That was usually a death sentence for a slave, whether they had misbehaved or not.
The review seems very petty and I actually found her insinuations about Utah kind of offensive.
There was a story that went viral a few months ago about a lawyer and his girlfriend who verbally abused a restaurant owner for not selling them take-out food. The owners explained that they ran a sit-down restaurant but the lawyer just wouldn’t have it and threatened a lawsuit. The reasonable answer is: eat somewhere else.
If the blog fits your needs, use it. If it doesn’t, adapt it or don’t use it. The reviewer should have stuck to reviewing the content of the blog, rather than launching into what felt like a personal attack (and I’m not even the one she was attacking).
The reviewer just revealed her own intolerance.
Via Email:
First, I want to inteoduce myself. I am female in my mid 30s, ENT specialist, living in NYC, with 3 kids and my husband is also in medicine. I want to tell you what an awesome job you are doing with this book and this blog! And what a great service you are providing to the physician community. Your advise is accurate, as I have read all the books on your bookshelf and I can attest to that. ANYONE who attach you in that kind of manner is both Unprofessional, lack of integrity and biased by their own personal agenda!
I have made many of the financial mistakes you have cautioned in your book and website, and We are paying for them. The cost of living coupled with a relative lower salary in areas like NYC definitely lower our ability to accumulate wealth faster. However, it is a choice we made to be close to both sides of family. If no strings attached, we would move.
Further, NOBODY has ever taught me anything useful about retirement planning or wealth building! I have been approached by insurance agents only to sell life insurance, disability insurance and so on. No one has said this to me: you should maximize your 401(k) and contribute to Roth IRA when we were in residency. I have never heard id HSA or backdoor IRA before. I applaud the courage of White coat investor to give these genuine and good willed advise! We need more doctor/investor like you to educate us, and Not to attack you on absolutely trivial issues as this reviewer has done!!!
I encourage you to continue on with your work and we are loyal readers!
>I’ll be interested to see if you still espouse the “extremely frugal” lifestyle 10 years from now, especially if married with kids. 🙂 I was pretty darn frugal as a student too! Now, I’m only relatively frugal.
Fair enough criticism. I feel strongly about living frugally at my stage in life, but there are definitely scenarios that I can imagine which would lead me to consuming more. That said, if I do seek out a spouse (not really sure if I even desire that), I will look for a person who also values frugality. It’s such a key issue that I know I wouldn’t be happy in a relationship with someone with a materialistic mindset.
For me, I see living frugally and investing as a decision to purchase freedom instead of material goods. That said, there are a few things that I’d like to acquire. I highly value my hobbies (kayaking, gardening, homebrewing), so I plan on spending a decent amount in those areas after I pay down my loans. I know that those purchases will make me happier than status goods. In this way, I plan on making the best use of my dollars (nothing that hasn’t been discussed on this blog or MMM). I’m not completely against discretionary spending, but I want to make sure it aligns with my values.
>Also, since I’m working hard on being more inclusive, I just wanted to point out that a cut in reimbursement is very different from being sold down the river. That was usually a death sentence for a slave, whether they had misbehaved or not.
Okay, you called me out on that. I didn’t actually realize that it was such an offensive phrase. It will join “Indian giver” and others in my book of things not to say aloud or type online. I definitely feel like a jerk for using it in this context.
It was hyperbole, but I used that phrase because I worry that there will be a significant decrease in physician reimbursement in the coming decades. It may not be fair, but the public perception is that US physicians are paid more than their counterparts in other first world countries. That makes us an attractive target to policy makers looking for cost savings. At the very least, we might experience a freeze on increases, which will cause salaries to erode from inflation.
The practice of medicine is very fulfilling to me and I can’t imagine doing anything else as a career at the moment. That said, I want to maximize the return on my educational investment. Since I anticipate declining reimbursement, I feel the need to make hay while the sun is shining. In my opinion, it’s a great time to be alive and practice medicine, so that’s what I’ll do for the time being. I’m okay with putting my head down and building net worth by working hard and living frugally.
When I reach FI, I’ll reassess how I’ll practice medicine. I’d love to contribute to medical education or provide charity care, but there are other options too. Maybe I’ll plant an apple orchard and brew cider. Maybe I’ll pursue a second career in medical toxicology (a strong interest of mine). I’ll have a better idea when I get there.
>At any rate, I think it’s funny that you think my blog talks too much about retirement in your 60s since I expect to be financially independent in my mid 40s, 5-10 years earlier than my original plan.
Like I mentioned before, I feel that you and old MMM have a lot in common. You’ve done the research, put it in practice and shared the process on your
blog. I really respect that! You’ve inspired me to tackle my finances head-on instead of trying to kick the can down the road and that has changed my life for the better.
Everyone has their own time-table regarding financial independence and I am willing to make some sacrifices (which in my mind actually improves my well-being!) in order to get there faster myself.
How do we educate our children about financial education
Should be taught in hi school
The best financial education begins at home. I would not want this farmed out to high schools.
PLEASE do not morph this into some politically correct-obsessed blog. Criticism like this should be completely ignored. Your blog and book are framed very well for 99.9 % of physicians. Do not change a winning formula to try to appease the other .1%
“Perfect is the enemy of good.”
All of those “criticisms” just seem like someone trying to produce errors. If the “critic” can produce a book that has the same depth of content, explained as well as yours is, along with meeting their incredibly specific and unique circumstance, I’d love to see it.
I just discovered your blog (via a comment on Bogleheads.org), and what good timing – this post just gave me the rundown!! 🙂
As a female married childless (so far) banker in a moderate cost of living city, I am happy to join the conversation. Many of my clients and friends are physicians, and I hope that following WCI will give me insight on their unique issues and also a place to direct them.
Since you’re asking, I may just have to consider contributing a guest post too! Off to peruse the archives now…
The best bloggers are authentic. Once you stop being who you are, you will lose your credibility. You should always welcome good guest posts, but you clearly do the bulk of the work. You are a good writer and good writers write about what they know. Your success speaks for itself.
Hi WCI: I was first introduced to your website by a pretty traditional guy friend who is married to another physician with two kids as we were idly chatting about financial stuff while signing out to each other between moonlighting shifts. The friend and I are both still in training and had both started to make some real money from moonlighting. I think I shared that I felt very ignorant of all things financial and he recommended your blog. I am a single, childless biracial woman living in the northeast and I have found your blog super helpful. When you talk about being married or having kids, I often skim, though I try to pay a little attention because I hope to be married and have kids someday. Like many others have said, I had little financial education growing up and my parents are not wealthy by any means. Your blog has been a big part of my financial education. I have recommended you to many physician girlfriends and two of them (one married with two kids, the other married without kids) have recently told me that they have made huge financial changes based on what they read. The second friend just got married and she said telling her about the blog as we got our manicure/pedicures at her pre-wedding event was the “most valuable wedding present” (her words). We all have to be smart about what we read, if it doesn’t apply, skip it. We do this all the time in medicine. Honestly, I think buying a boat seems like a waste of money, but you probably think spending over $200 to get my hair done every few weeks is a waste of money too. I would recommend taking the valid critiques and move on. BTW, newly married physician friend thinks you oversell the benefits of Roth IRA/401K/403bs, perhaps I can convince her to write a guest post.
First, to be clear, the boat is definitely a waste of money. No doubt about it.
Second, $200 to do hair is definitely a waste of money too. But you can get a lot of hairdos for the price of a nice wakeboat.
Third, oversell is so relative. I certainly think buying index funds in a Roth IRA is a smarter idea than say, buying whole life insurance for instance. I’d be curious to see her guest post. Might make for a good Pro/Con post.
It seems to me like the amazon reviewer is taking the sound, sage advice of the WCI for granted. WCI has helped countless physicians and health care practitioners turn their financial lives around. She clearly has learned something from the website. In a world of finance sharks trying to steal our money, he has our best interests in mind. Its unfortunate that the criticism was so cutting. I applaud Jim and his efforts.
As a female medical student in an non-traditional family structure living in a moderate-high part of my state and who is *decidedly* non-materialistic, I greatly appreciate your blog and will mention I haven’t found your lack of she/her/ze pronouns disturbing. You provide sound financial information that is applicable really whether or not one self-identifies as a cis-gendered hetero monogamous male. It also frustrates me a bit that there would be any sort of thought that a financial blog needs to cater to females in any particular special way (outside of a very few particular financial issues, such as the excellent guest post on DI for female physicians) – that seems inherently sexist.
Anyway, glad the review sparked some additional topics – I can’t wait to read about topic 8 on opening your own single physician/dentist/attorney practice. Topics 11 and 12 also sound awesome.
I went to Amazon to see the actual review, and I do think that she made some good points. You did not include all the positive feedback she left. I fit into multiple of the categories that aren’t included in your “target audience:”
1. Female
2. Unmarried – I do have a longterm SO that lives in another state as he took a great academic job (he’s a PhD clinical researcher) during my residency. As soon as it and fellowship are over, we’re finishing this long distance thing. I would be perfectly happy just staying as “domestic partners” forever, but I’ve learned that there are many legal benefits for married couples so this one might change in the future.
3. No children and have no plans for it (we’ll be DINKs with a dog)
4. Not a homeowner and not one that is going to seek it out highly – I like the flexibility that renting affords. Definitely will look once I’m settled into a city more and buy something more on the lines of a townhome if we find one that we like. I have no desire to spend time and money taking care of a house or yard.
5. Prefer city living to the suburbs – Granted, I prefer the more mid-sized cities with good residential neighborhoods to large cities. I need to be able to walk to public parks, running trails, and non-chain bars/restaurants to be happy. This also ties in with #4 above.
6. Plan to stay in academics (though not mentioned in her review, your site is definitely are geared towards private practitioners) – Though I do realize that the money is less, that is a sacrifice I will take since I would not be happy in private practice. I love research and teaching and also the educational lectures that comes with an academic department. I could not work in a job without any of these. (Of note, this is something that I would like to see as a post at some point and is not on the list above. Pretty much any mention to academics is just a mention of how you out on money by doing academics)
With all that said, I have found this site to be extremely useful. I have sent your whole series on how to build a portfolio to my boyfriend since he’s starting to get interested in some of the details of investing. There are a good number of posts that do not apply to me so I just gloss over those; however, this is why I did not purchase the book. I have no problem picking and choosing what is useful to me on a free blog, but I would not be thrilled about it if I spent the money.
Maybe I’ll have a guest post set up in a few years when I hit the attending world.
As mentioned in the first paragraph of the original post, and I quote:
I didn’t think that either needed to be addressed/corrected or was useful for improvement, the real point of this post despite the many comments “defending” me.
I did see that, but since you did, this post is unfairly critical of her review (and based off a lot of the comments unfairly critical of her) because you took the statements out of context.
You think the post would be better if I posted the entire review? I disagree. Since the review is anonymous and I certainly made no effort to identify the writer of it, it seems to me that little offense should be taken due to my taking only the relevant excerpts out of the review.
I agree many of the comments are a little on the mean-spirited side. You should see the emails I got.
One has to read between the lines for it, but the upside of academics is the myriad of tax-deferred retirement accounts that may be available in that setting. (It’s sort of akin to the self-employed IRAs used by private practice 1099 contractors.)
Substitute 401(a)/403(b)/457(b) or some combination of or all three for the private practice world’s self-employed IRAs and employ the same basic principles of maxing tax-deferred contributions then topping off a backdoor Roth and the advice written is equally valid.
Although it is highly employer dependent. Some academic docs don’t have 401(a)s or 457s and are limited to $18K into their 403(b).
I do think Shanti has a point about your bias against academics. That may be because it is not what you have chosen. Give us a couple of years and either Shanti or I can write about financial issues related to academics. Otherwise, I have another colleague who I will try and convince to write a guest post about this.
The only biases I have against academics is
#1) You generally make less money for more work (I’m “biased” against pediatrics that way too) and
#2) Academics tend not to understand business very well.
But be careful accusing me of not having actually been an academic. I was faculty at an EM program for 3 years right out of residency while I was in the military. It’s probably not quite the same, but I can certainly understand having limited retirement plans and being underpaid!
I found a link for your blog through Bogleheads.org. I enjoyed your blog until April 11, 2014. Your article on how to choose a retirement plan for a small business with employees included
“The Age-Weighted Method is a great way to go if the business/practice owner is much older than all the employees. (It turns out that beautiful, young front desk and nursing staff isn’t just about eye candy.) The logic behind this method is that contributions need to be comparable AT RETIREMENT AGE. So if you’re 60, the retirement age in the plan is 65, and the employees are 25, then a small lump sum at 25 that is allowed to grow for 40 years is equal to a much larger lump sum at 60 that can only grow for 5 years, especially when discounted at the maximum allowed 8.5%. A really young employee may only get a profit-sharing contribution of 3 or 4% of salary where the older owner can get a 20% contribution. Beware, however, of hiring older staff with this method, even if they are not paid well. The profit-sharing contribution could be much higher than 20%!”
What makes you thing anyone, young or old, is there to provide you eye candy? I’m glad you’ve been enlightened and realize that women work to earn money and are not there exclusively for your enjoyment. It made an impression on me as very sexist, unprofessional and unnecessary.
Bogleheads.org can give the same information without the chauvinism.
Yes, the phrase “eye candy” is totally inappropriate and I apologize for its use. I have removed it from the post.
However, there is nothing particularly gender-specific about the phrase. It could apply to men equally as well as women. Will most readers think of men when they read that? Probably not. Even someone who seems particularly attuned to things like that didn’t consider that it could apply to men.
At any rate, I could not find the information in that post on Bogleheads.org anywhere, which is why I wrote it. Even searching today for it, I cannot find that same quality of information on the forum or the wiki. However, a quick search did find over 100 uses of the phrase “eye candy” on Bogleheads.org. I’m sure Alex would appreciate a note pointing those out so that his forum could avoid offending its readers.
Not that it is appropriate but plenty of people get jobs due to their being physically attractive. Others make more money because of that. Denying the facts are a good way to make mistakes.
This “review” hardly seems worth responding to.
This is a private blog, by Jim, about Jim’s experiences.
He is under absolutely zero obligation to try to create a big tent.
I firmly reject the notion that “non-traditional” families are some unique bird when it comes to financial planning.
There is way too much of this floating around just about every meaningful conversation today:
“Well I found [insert conversation] somewhat useful but I really thought it was lacking [an endless fascination with me and my particular situation] and would have benefited from [a long discussion of me].”
Tell the reviewer to start her own blog and see how she does. This blog has been invaluable to me and I point dozens of students and residents towards it every year, almost all of whom thank my effusively.
I live in a high cost of living city because I damned well want to. I don’t whine because Jim points out its not the best financial decision I could make. He’s absolutely right. For me being able to walk to amazing restaurants, walk to my gym, walk to the grocery story, and never use my car unless I’m driving to work is worth a lot.
WCI,
As a long time reader and occasional poster to this site I want to thank you for your time and dedication. No advice is without some type of personal bias even medical advice. The WCI does a great job at opening the eyes of young new investors to the biases of the financial services industry. The WCI is not making a commission on his advice. We should all appreciate that he takes the time to do this.
The information here is much more applicable than any other investment book or blog. (Demuth’s “The Affluent Investor”may be on an equal footing.) If not every post applies to you then just skip it. It might apply to you later however.
I read posts that don’t apply to me out of interest. I am shocked by the level of debt that is common place now.
I usually avoid putting myself into a gender defined category as I don’t think this is useful to me. I might send in a post about being a female OB/GYN in the South who started a solo practice.
I’d love to see the post. I also like Demuth’s book:
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/the-affluent-investor-a-review/
While I’m not making a commission from you, I’m certainly making money on this site:
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/state-of-the-blog-2015/
Yes I read your state of the blog post. Your side gig income is impressive. I am curious how many employees do you have?
No employees, but I do contract with other people including my business manager. She prefers to be an independent contractor and it keeps the hassle factor down for both of us.
Low overhead I love it. It also helps the retirement planning.
I think that the “reviewer” has a bias and probably needs to start their own blog with their own spin on it. I am not a doctor and really don’t see the advice given here as being associated with any lifestyle. It is good advice for everyone, single, married, partnered up, any gender, any religion, and culture. I would ignore most if not all of the so called “review” it is basically a too sensitive and PC response to the information here.