In March 2018 we held the first ever WCI Conference, also known as the Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference in Park City, Utah. Although it was a ton of work and stress, it turned out to be a smashing success with incredible speakers, awesome attendees, great skiing, and tons of fun. We suspect we will do another conference sometime, probably in 2020. If you are interested in attending, be sure you are signed up for our free monthly newsletter. This conference filled a 300 person room in 6 days, and by the end of day 7, there were 180 people on the waiting list. We expect the next one will fill even faster. This page will be updated as we get closer.
In the meantime, we suggest you check out the online version of #WCICON18. All of the lectures and the blogger panel have been packaged up into a slick online course available at Teachable (the same place as the “Fire Your Financial Advisor” course.) It costs just $299 for >13 hours of video and slides. You can even download it onto your iPad or iPhone for when you don’t have an internet connection. Lots of people like listening to it “podcast style” during their commute. Although the original conference offered CME and Dental CE, the online course does not. That doesn’t seem to keep people from getting it paid for out of their CME funds though! Here’s a sample:
Here’s what attendees received at the original conference
- 12 hours of formal presentations from physicians, book authors, bloggers, and financial professionals
- 8 Hours of AMA Category I CME (sorry, not all 12 hours will qualify for CME)
- A sweet swag bag including four books written by authors presenting at the conference
- First night reception including hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar
- Hot breakfast each morning of the conference
- A book signing session with the authors
- A blogger’s panel where you can get to know your favorite bloggers, including some not presenting at the conference
- Time between sessions to enjoy the best ski town in America, including the slopes above it
- A chance to mingle with other doctors interested in personal finance, physician wellness, investing, and business
- The opportunity to meet online friends in person
- Access to some of the top minds in physician finance
and the original conference schedule
Schedule
Thursday, March 1, 2018 Travel Day
- 5-7 pm Reception- Main Conference Room
- 7 pm Dinner on your own
Friday, March 2, 2018 Conference Day 1
- 6:30-8 am Breakfast
- 7-8 am The State of Physician Financial Literacy- James M. Dahle, MD, FACEP
- 8-9 am How Social Security Affects You- Mike Piper, CPA
- 9-10 am Early Career Financial Issues and Interacting with a Financial Advisor- Sarah Catherine Gutierrez, CFP
- 10-3 pm Break
- 3-4 pm Informal book signing session- meet the authors!
- 4-5 pm Physician Burnout – A New Kind of Medical Epidemic- Nisha Mehta, MD
- 5-6 pm How Insurance Can Protect A Physician’s Ability to Care For Patients- Lawrence B. Keller, CFP®, CLU, ChFC, RHU, LUTC
- 6-7 pm How Physicians Fail at Investing- William Bernstein, MD
- 7 pm Dinner on your own
Saturday March 3rd Conference Day 2
- 6:30-8 am Breakfast
- 7-8 am Decreasing Physician Tax Burdens and Structuring Your Practice Properly- Mike Piper, CPA
- 8-9 am Balancing Work, Family, and Finances- Bonnie Koo, MD
- 9-10 am How Physicians and Patients Will Pay for Health Care and Other Expenses Now and In Retirement- James M. Dahle, MD, FACEP
- 10-3 pm Break
- 3-4 pm Blogger’s panel- meet the bloggers!
- 4-5 pm Physician Wellness: Are Self-Care and Work-Life Balance Feasible?- Nisha Mehta, MD
- 5-6 pm How to Think About Money as a Physician- Jonathan Clements
- 6-7 pm Financial Independence: Overcoming the Obstacles to Create the Life and Practice You Desire- Physician on FIRE
- 7 pm Dinner on your own
Sunday March 4th Travel Day
- Breakfast on your own
- Travel safely home
Some info about Park City:
Park City
Park City, Utah is America’s premier ski town, and home to its largest resort, Park City Mountain Resort, with its 7,300 acres of skiing terrain as well as luxurious Deer Valley Resort, known for its exquisitely groomed trails and perhaps the best-tasting slopeside cuisine this side of Chamonix. Located just 36 miles from major Delta Airlines hub Salt Lake City along a major interstate highway, Park City sits at an elevation of just 7,000 feet resulting in warmer weather and avoiding the issues seen with altitude sickness at major Colorado resorts, all while enjoying the “Greatest Snow on Earth.” Park City is a major training center for US Winter Olympic athletes and home of the Sundance Film Festival. Even if you don’t like to ski or snowboard, there is still plenty to do in Park City in the Winter. Great dining options for every budget abound.Sponsors
We would like to thank the following sponsors of the original conference. Please show your appreciation whenever possible.
Platinum Sponsor:
FPL Capital Management (fee only, flat fee investment advisor)
Gold Sponsor:
Foster Group (Financial Advisor)
Silver Sponsors:
M.D. Financial Services (Physician disability and term life insurance)
Kent Costello at BMO Harris Bank (Physician mortgage loans)
Bronze Sponsors:
PKA Insurance Group (Physician disability and term life insurance)
Jonathan Brozek at US Bank (Physician mortgage loans)
SoFi (Student loan refinancing)
Contract Diagnostics (Contract Review/Negotiation)
Stephanie Arcelay at SunTrust Mortgage (Physician mortgage loans)
ELFI (Student loan refinancing)
CompHealth (Locum tenens)
Fox & Co. Wealth Management (Financial Advisor)
Mayport Wealth Management (Financial Advisor)
Original Conference Brochure
The Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference Brochure
Interested in the online version?
Buy the WCI Conference today for just $299!
Way cheaper than attending in person and all the same great talks!
1) Any chance you’ll offer a student/resident discount?
2) Any chance there’ll be a paid livestream or online viewing option?
3) Physician on Fire is stepping out of the shadows.
4) Miss Bonnie has a last name.
The sessions seem solid. I’m excited.
I look forward to meeting you and many others in real life (out of the shadows).
See you there!
-PoF
Will you be wearing a smiley mask? 🙂
I think I’ve narrowed it down to the Scream mask, Guy Fawkes mask, and Burger King guy. Still taking suggestions, though.
We’ll see. I procrastinated a bit too long and am on the waitlist (I think). At the very least, I’ll see/hear you in the post-conference recording.
If you’re taking votes/input, I’d go with the Scream mask.
Ha, yes I do have a last name. I’m not as private since if you’re in the Facebook group my full name is there, Hope you can make it!
1) Considered it but in the end decided not to make the attending physicians subsidize anyone else who wanted to attend. I dislike paying the “doctor price” so I refuse to charge the “doctor price.” Will residents, PAs etc be priced out in many respects? Yes, but the major cost of attendance isn’t the registration fee. It’s the travel costs.
2) Yes, I don’t know if it will be live though.
3) Yup.
4) Yup.
I am also interested about recorded or online viewing options- i prefer recorded pay per view or so , if possible. Please make the recorded presentations available after conference! Thank you!
Not sure it is going to make any sort of financial sense to offer those options. Surprisingly expensive to make a high quality video recording of a conference. We’ll see how it goes. Certainly won’t be available in real time.
PayPal option does not link to the PayPal site. How do I pay you???
Same here – how do I pay?
You can send payment to [email protected] via your paypal account friends/family option. If you need an invoice email me and I will send you one. Or you can mail a check to the above PO Box. Hope that helps! Thanks, Cindy
Never mind, I saw it. Katherine, here are the instructions: if paying via PayPal, please send your payment to [email protected]. Please include full name and “Conference Registration Fee” in the Notes section. If wishing to pay via credit card but you do not have a PayPal account, email [email protected] and request an invoice.
We will get a PayPal button created to add to this page. For now if you have a PayPal account, just send the registration payment to [email protected]
You can send payment to [email protected] via your paypal account — friends/family option. If you need an invoice, email me and I will send you one. Or you can mail a check to the above PO Box. Hope that helps! Thanks, Cindy
Can you allow live web access or post recording paid access?
We are considering the second and will probably do that.
I would be interested in the paid access to recorded sessions as well.
As mentioned by Katherine, I registered but was given no link to pay via PayPal. Please advise. Many thanks!
For payment: Send via Paypal – use the email [email protected] – or send a physical check or ask for an invoice if you don’t have PayPal – email [email protected]
I had no issues with using PayPal and my credit card. I filled out the WCI form and then used the email address provided by white coat investor to pay for the conference on my PayPal account. It went through without any issues and I got payment confirmation from PayPal.
I’m looking forward to the conference.
Two issues.
1. I couldn’t use the PayPal option. I’m interested and have already booked my flight…
2. When calling double tree hotel, they had no record of this conference to give the discount as stated. I looked up on line got the same rate on priceline FYI.
Super excited to meet all these people. Especially Ms. Bonnie Koo.
We’ll call the hotel and make sure they know about their conference.
If you don’t have a paypal account, email cindy (at) whitecoatinvestor.com for an invoice you can pay with credit card, send a check, or get a paypal account. There are certainly plenty of people using the Paypal option successfully today.
The hotel says “use option zero to speak to the operator (front desk) to make the reservations.” Their “central reservation office” may not have record of it, but the hotel itself does.
At WCI. Thanks for f/u. We are good to go
When I called the hotel I asked about the Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference, and when they said there was no such thing, I asked about the White Coat Investor Conference – they had that one.
They should have it down now. We just got off the phone with them.
My husband is not a physician but is very involved in our finances-and really doesmore than me-can he attend with me? We dont need more materials
Absolutely your husband can attend. However, we are not offering a spouse/partner discount to attend at this time so he would also need to pay the registration fee. The discount we would be able to offer would be small anyway as the swag bag materials are a relatively small percentage of the cost of the conference and the CME expenses are fixed. It costs us the same to offer CME to one person as to 300.
Question for WCI: will spouses be able to attend the reception, breakfasts, book signing, etc, without registering for the full conference? Or will they need to register as a full attendee?
We’ve thought about selling a “meal ticket” for spouses/partners that would allow that. Give us a few days to think about that.
Registered and happy to pay the full price! Meeting PoF in person would be HUGE!
Aren’t I going to see you at FinCon in October?
Hotel still having issues. Front desk had no idea what I was talking about. Transferred me to the “rooms coordinator” who …. isn’t there. Left a message, we’ll see if they call back.
Frustrating – just did this for our wedding and had the SAME issues with the hotel ….. and more …..
And called back … rate quoted was $349. I corrected them and they said “OK.”
????
Sorry for the hassle. You’d think with 100+ people calling them in the last 24 hours that they’d have it figured out by now.
If anyone DOESN’T get what they expect from the hotel (at least until it’s full) please let me know and we’ll get it fixed.
Hey WCI! Just registered for the conference! Tried to call the Double Tree and they told me they didn’t know about the conference. Just spoke to them (11:35 AM EST).
Did you talk to the national reservation line or the actual Double Tree at Park City front desk staff? If you stay on the line instead of hitting the number to make a reservation it’ll take you to the front desk. If they don’t know about it, let me know and I’ll call back up there.
I called the hotel directly and spoke with someone at the front desk who didn’t know anything and transferred me to the “groups coordinator.” The coordinator said she “didn’t know anything about our March 2018 schedule yet and to call back in a few days.”
fyi, I already booked a room and got the group discount so maybe you just talked to the wrong person.
Certainly possible! I’ll try back in a few hours.
We’ll keep addressing it with their staff.
Just called to reserve a room and they had no record of the conference. They had me book the room anyways and said to call back later to get the conference discount when they actually had record of it. Looks like there are still bugs to iron out.
Talked to the front desk and said others had been able to book it but he couldn’t figure it out. At least I have a room and it is only 5-6 dollars more a night. Looking forward to the conference.
That’s not acceptable. We will get you the conference rate on the room. Please send cindy (at) whitecoatinvestor.com an email with your name and the nights you’re staying and we’ll get it fixed.
I just got off the phone with the front desk staff again and they tell me “it’ll be no problem when people call in.”
I called the reservation line to reserve a room and they have not set up the group discount at this time and recommended to reserve a room but call back in the future to get the group discount applied. This was on 7/13/2017 at 7 p.m.
Grrrr……
I agree. Reserve the room and we’ll all jump the front desk staff during registration.
Congrats on the killer lineup; I’m also one who can’t come but would be interested in buying a DVD or podcast offer if it works out.
Would you be more interested in video or audio? What kind of a price would you expect something like that to be offered at?
I called again today to reserve a room and was able to use the group discount and the representative said that I got the last room that was available with the group discount code.
Interesting. Well, we’ve got some ways around that. I’ll see about enlarging the block of rooms. I mean, it’s not like the hotel is full of people coming skiing 9 months from now already.
I just called the hotel just now (7/15 3pm ). They did know about the conference, and they did have rooms available. It seems that the only option is for a room with a single king size bed. Is there any way to have an option for two queen beds so that I can bring my family or split a room with one of my colleagues who will be attending?
I don’t work at the front desk, but any room they have available should be reservable right now at the conference price. At a certain point, they may run out of two queen bed rooms, but I’d be surprised if they had already. I think the hotel has 168 beds and we’ve only reserved something like 60 of them so far (at least at the group rate) so there should be lots left still I believe. I’m skeptical they’re really out and would suggest calling back. But when they’re out, there’s nothing I can do about it.
Thanks. I called the hotel back a day later, spoke to a different person and was able to reserve a room with two queen beds!
I just called the hotel, waited for the operator. She had no idea what I was talking about in regards to the conference. She reserved a room for me but didn’t take my credit card number so I don’t know how that worked. Is there a specific person we should be talking to?
No, but it would be helpful to me to sort out these front desk issues if anyone having trouble with the front desk staff would get a name so I can report them to their boss so they can be fired for incompetence. I’d try calling back and talking to a different person on the next shift.
Amy, it is doubtful that you have a reservation without a credit card number. Do you have a Hilton Honors membership? If so, you can look it up to see if it is listed. See my comment a little further down the page.
7/15 at 4pm PDT. Called the main number, waited for the operator. Talked to Angie who knew of the conference as the “White Coat Investor” conference (which is how it is listed in the reservation profile). She had king and queen rooms available. $249. She took a credit card. Reservation shows in my Hilton Honors profile.
Thanks for the update – I also called later yesterday (7/15), spoke with Angie, she did know of the conference under WCI, knew the price per night at $249, and I was able to book a room with no problem (although she seemed a little annoyed at me…haha).
I hate to be a wet towel but will you be providing physician specific financial advice that I can start utilizing or just general advice such as avoid debt, set up back door Roths, spend less, save more concepts that my own financial advisor has already told me to do? I’m in my early 40s and sometimes feel that the advice given on the WCI blog is more geared toward the younger physicians who have time on their side to gain FI.
I would be very disappointed in my financial advisor if I was learning stuff from some random blogger on the internet that he didn’t know/hadn’t told me.
The more you know, the less you’ll get out of reading a book, following a blog, or attending a conference. There is no way for me to know if you will feel the conference is worth your time or money after it is complete. But if you do come, I’d love to meet you in person.
Spoke to Sarah in reservations and was told that the I can’t apply the group discount for the two queen room (from Feb. 27 to March 4) that I booked on July 13, 2017 until there was a cancellation. I told them that I would be happy to cancel my existing reservation for the king room with the same dates using the group code applied to open up a spot so I could get the group discount and the told me to contact Cindy R (phone number was an 801 area code that they gave me) about getting more blocks reserved with 2 queens.
We’ll work on the block thing. Busy working shifts and finalizing the registration.
will the audio-visual lectures be a part of the price if we go to the conference ? OR will we have to pay separately?
Thank you
Hmmm…hadn’t thought about that. It’ll probably be a separate charge.
Do you really think there will be a lot of people that would want both?
i think there will be a lot of demand for the audio visual, I would like both though if can get it but will likely get whichever is cheaper ..
By both do you mean the audio and the audiovisual or the conference and whatever is sold afterward?
both the audiovisual or whatever is sold AND conference : )
Conference AND audiovisual or what ever is sold 🙂
Not sure I could sell audiovisual for MORE than a conference admission. Seems like that pricepoint would be less costly.
Thank you for including women and minority speakers- something I always look for in any CME course!
will the audio-visual lectures be a part of the price if we go to the conference ? OR will we have to pay separately?
Thank you
I just attempted to get on the waiting list, but find that Google doc is “unfillable” (i.e., won’t take my name, email, etc.). Has it been suspended since the initial quota of registrants was met? Any other way to get on the waiting list?
Thanks!
Not sure what you mean unfillable? It seems to be working just fine for me. You sure you’re trying to type on top of the line and not under it? Have you tried a different browser/computer?
Got it to work with another browser. I am officially on the wait list – thanks.
FYI — the Doubletree is 100% booked. Both the conference rate rooms are gone as well as every other room. They did have a room free for Saturday night but that’s it.
I got a room at another hotel, but I also booked an AirBNB that seems quite nice for the same price as the hotel (across the street from it). I’ll figure out what to do later.
Yes, it filled up very quickly, just like the conference itself.
My husband and I would love to attend but unfortunately one of us has to stay home with the kids.
He’s 1099 Independent Contractor with no CME $. I’m W2 with $10k CME a year. Any CME money I don’t spend I get paid to me at the end of the year and will be responsible for taxes. We are in the 33% + 10% State tax bracket.
Help settle a disagreement we have. He thinks it’ makes more sense from a financial perspective to use the CME money for this conference. I think it makes no difference if we have him go and take the deduction then get my CME money in cash.
Is it the same thing?! (Guess we really do need to go to this conference.)
You get the CME money in cash if you don’t spend it? That’s interesting. Unusual even. But if that’s the way it is, that’s the way it is.
You’re both wrong by the way. It makes more sense for him to come. Here’s why. He gets to write off the whole trip as a business expense. You don’t pay income or payroll taxes on that money. If he takes that money as profit, then he pays not only income taxes, but both halves of Medicare tax on it.
If you use your CME money, then you don’t pay income or payroll taxes on it. It’s all pre-tax dollars you’re spending. But if you take the money as cash, you will only have to pay the employee half of Medicare tax on it. So, there’s a 1.45% difference. On $3K, that’s less than $50, so it shouldn’t decide anything, but if we’re going to have an argument, that’s the right answer.