Way back in 2011, I started a blog called The White Coat Investor for three main reasons. The first was a missionary zeal I felt to help docs and similar high-income professionals get a fair shake on Wall Street that has, if anything, only increased over the years since. The second was a strange urge to get some of that “passive income” that took a long time to come and never really turned out to be all that passive. The third reason was far more practical: I just wanted to quit typing the same thing into internet forums over and over again.
By 2011, I'd already been doing WCI-like evangelizing for years on forums like Bogleheads, Student Doctor Network, and Sermo, and I figured I could just link to a more comprehensive, better-written, and better-researched blog post that directly answered the question. While some forums unfortunately don't allow you to link to your for-profit website even when the linked post directly answers the question asked, I still use blog posts all the time to answer questions I get asked by email or in the online communities that WCI controls.
Today, I'm going to list out the posts I use most often to answer your questions. These are the “classics,” the “pillar posts,” and the posts with which you should be most familiar. If you already know everything in all of these posts, your level of financial literacy is probably off the charts. If you're trying to help others around you, these are probably the posts you will find most useful. I know I do. Most of them are longer than the average post on this blog, but only because they provide more comprehensive information. Some of them have been written and rewritten and improved three, four, or five times over the last 15 years. Let's get started.
#1 Backdoor Roth IRA Tutorial
Over the years, I have somehow become the world's foremost expert on Form 8606 and the Backdoor Roth IRA process. We probably get more questions about the Backdoor Roth IRA than anything else, especially around January. This post answers all of them. If the answer isn't in the post itself, I'm sure it's in the thousands of comments below the post. The main problem with this post is that it is so comprehensive that people can't find the answer to their question, so they email me and ask it anyway. Oh well, what can you do?
#2 Multiple 401(k) Rules
Money grows faster in retirement accounts than outside of them due to the lack of tax drag. One situation that is very common among WCIers but not very common among muggles is to have access to more than one 401(k) or 401(k)-like account. Amazingly, even accountants screw this up all the time. I send out this post multiple times every week to answer questions from WCIers about how their retirement account contribution limits interact with each other.
#3 Should You Do Roth (Contributions and Conversions)?
The hardest question in personal finance deserves a blog post on this list. This is one of those posts I've written many, many times over the years, each time getting better. I think this latest version is superb, even if you might not find the definitive answer to your question (because the answer doesn't exist).
#4 Pay Off Debt or Invest?
The second hardest question in personal finance also deserves a blog post on this list. Again, it's a post I've written many times, and I will probably write again at some point. I think this is the best one I've done so far. If you haven't had this question, are you even doing personal finance?
#5 How to Think About Debt
Speaking of debt, most people don't think about it the right way. If you want to leverage your investments and your life, you really need to read this post. If you think debt is Satan's tool, you should probably read this post, too.
#6 150+ Portfolios Better Than Yours
You know what really matters in investing? Earning a lot of money, carving a big chunk of it out to invest, investing it in some reasonable way, and staying the course with that investing plan. But what do we all get hung up on? The nuances of the plan. This post, now with over 200 portfolios, was simply to demonstrate that there are literally hundreds of reasonable plans out there. Just pick one, fund it adequately, and stick with it. By showing people what reasonable looks like, it hopefully becomes more obvious what unreasonable looks like.
#7 The X Factor
One of the few “insta-classics” I've ever written, WCIers definitely need to read this one. I may never have the writing talent of Jonathan Clements or Morgan Housel, but this one was pretty good.
#8 What You Need to Know About Estate Planning
One of our pillar posts, this one will provide the framework you need to understand everything about estate planning.
#9 Asset Protection
Another pillar post, it was hard for me to decide whether to include this one in the list or the Top 16 Asset Protection Techniques for Doctors. Either way, if you want to learn more about asset protection than you can get in these posts, buy the book.
#10 Whole Life Insurance
I've written A LOT about whole life insurance over the years. And a lot has been written back to me on the topic. My problem with whole life insurance isn't really whole life insurance at all; it's the way it gets sold. If someone understands how the product works and what they should expect from it and still wants it, they should go buy a policy. It certainly has a few niche uses, but just “being a doctor” isn't one of them. I think this is the best article on whole life on the site right now.
#11 Real Estate Investing 101
I love real estate investing. I hate the hype around it (that's why our real estate course is called No Hype Real Estate Investing). This is the pillar post on the subject. Other real estate posts worth your time include How to Get Started in Private Real Estate Investing and You Can Dial Back Real Estate Risk. We do a fair amount of marketing for our real estate partners across our platforms, and sometimes it can be easy to lose the message in the marketing. These posts give the message. If you want to know what I really think about real estate investing, read these posts rather than assuming I think everybody should invest in every real estate investment company that ever buys an ad at WCI.
#12 You Need an Investing Plan
This post answers 95% of the investing questions I'm ever asked. If you don't have a written investing plan, consider taking one of our Fire Your Financial Advisor online courses or at least reading How to Write an Investment Policy Statement.
#13 10 Reasons I Invest in Index Funds
It's hard to come up with enough content about index funds to write about it 85% of the time when discussing investing, despite the fact that 85% of our portfolio is in index or index-like funds. But I do get shocked periodically when I realize the person I'm interacting with doesn't understand index funds and why they should be using them. Then, I feel guilty about not using a lot more ink on the topic. Unfortunately, I usually just end up rephrasing what I've said many, many times before. As Rick Ferri has said, there are so many lies being told around indexing that it is important to frequently repeat the truth about it. At any rate, here's what I think is the best blog post on the topic.
#14 Mega Backdoor Roth IRA Conversion in Your 401(k) or 403(b)
Mega Backdoor Roth contributions are becoming more and more available in employer retirement plans. It might be a good option for you. Here's our best post so far on the topic. Remember, you do a Backdoor Roth IRA with IRAs, but you do a Mega Backdoor Roth IRA with 401(k)s and 403(b)s.
#15 Physician Disability Insurance
Insurance sure is boring to write about, but that doesn't change the fact that almost all of us need a good disability insurance policy for at least part of our careers.
#16 How to Buy Life Insurance
You know what else we almost all need, at least for a while? Term life insurance. I send out this post all the time.
#17 The FIRE Movement: How to Reach Financial Independence and Retire Early
FIRE blogs aren't as cool as they were a few years ago (my friend and former business partner Leif Dahleen timed his exit particularly well), but the concept is still just as worthwhile to learn.
#18 Best 529 Plans
I use this one to answer questions about which 529 plan to use all the time. We frequently update it, too.
#19 Annual Numbers Page
Speaking of updates, you know what else changes most years? Retirement account contribution limits due to inflation adjustments. That makes many of our blog posts out of date in less than a year and sometimes even before they're published. So, we've decided to compile all these contribution limits onto one page that we can easily keep up to date. This is it. I felt a little vindicated when our staff urged that this be created within the last year. I created a similar page years ago when WCI was just me, and staff members got rid of it while reorganizing content—only then to realize the page was not only useful for WCIers, but it dramatically decreased their own workload.
#20 The Ideal Financial Advisory Firm
I've written many posts about financial advisors over the years. It was hard to choose which one to include on this list. The ideal financial advisory firm post encapsulates a lot of the philosophy I have around financial advisors (and introduces the community to White Coat Planning). However, something like 20% of doctors (and even more white coat investors) are perfectly competent to function as their own financial planner and asset manager. The post 8 Reasons to Be Your Own Financial Advisor can give you the push you need to try it. Another one I send out all the time to new DIYers is How to Fire Your Advisor.
#21 Ultimate Guide to Student Loans
We have also written plenty about student loan management. This is the pillar post. But I probably send out Public Service Loan Forgiveness and Student Loan Refinancing even more often.
#22 Do You Need a Tax Strategist?
More than any other post I have ever written, I regretted our usual months-long gap between the writing and publication of this post. I can't tell you how many people I emailed this post to before it was ever published. I sent a link to it out again the morning I wrote this post. There are lots of tax reduction strategies. They are not all created equal. They are not all for everybody. Some of them maybe shouldn't be for anybody. It's important to know the difference. It's also important to recognize that if you want professional help with this, it's probably going to cost you a lot more than you might think. WCIers want both their tax preparation and high-quality tax planning and advice for a few hundred dollars a year. It's not going to happen.
#23 6 Options for Legacy Investments in Your Taxable Account
This is another post I send out all the time. Legacy investments are taxable investments where selling would involve paying large amounts of capital gains taxes. Deciding what to do with them can be hard, but this post can help.
#24 Charity — How to Give, Why to Give, and the Tax Benefits You Can Receive
I wish I sent this one out more than I do. This is our pillar post on the subject. The King James version of the Bible (Luke 12:48) says, “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.” Whether you're religious or not, this is a pretty good rule to live by. There are five money activities in this life:
- Earning,
- Saving,
- Investing,
- Spending, and
- Giving.
Don't wait until the end to learn to do the last one well.
#25 How to Tax-Loss Harvest
Another post I send out all the time. Like purchasing funds or ETFs in the first place, tax-loss harvesting seems really complicated until you do it a few times. Few regret having some capital losses saved up.
#26 8 Ways to Spend More Money
You know what other money activity many WCIers (including me) aren't that good at? Spending. This post should help. While most people have the opposite problem, there are enough of us frugal, thrifty cheapskates out there that I send out this post frequently. I often include a recommendation to read Die With Zero with it. If you send me an email saying you have $20 million and spend $100,000 a year, you're probably getting a link to this post in your reply.
#27 How to Spend in Retirement
This post is less about how to spend more money than it is about how to best access the money you saved up for retirement. Either way, I send it out all the time, too.
#28 Fear of the Decumulation Phase in Retirement
I've written many posts about the decumulation phase over the years. I think this is the best one.
#29 Required Minimum Distributions — Don't Fear the Reaper
I've been railing against RMD fear for many years. Nobody ever complains about having a high (taxable) income during the accumulation years, but apparently, once you retire, your favorite hobby instantly becomes how to shaft the IRS as much as possible—even if it hurts you at the same time. Big RMDs should be celebrated, not hated, just like a high salary. Qualified Charitable Distributions are often part of the “solution” to this “problem.”
#30?
Twenty-nine isn't a very round number. As I write this, I'm sure I'll come up with another post to add to the list before publication. (Maybe something on HSAs.) And if I don't, WCIers are sure to remind me of at least one I left out via the comments section below.
What are your favorite posts? What “classics” have I missed? What other posts do you go back to time and time again or send to other people? What else should be on this list?