Last updated: December 10, 2019
Our next WCI Conference, also known as the Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference or WCICON20, will be March 11-14th at the Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Convention Center in the middle of The Strip in Las Vegas. It had been sold out for months with a long waiting list. However, we had a few more cancellations than expected, burned through the entire waiting list, and actually have 15 spots we just opened up tonight. If you want to come, register fast for one of those spots. If you don’t get one, register anyway and you’ll go on the waiting list. There is no commitment to being on the waiting list, but please don’t abuse that. If a spot opens up, we’ll offer it to you, but if you’re not going to take it, let us know right away so we can give it to someone else. Sign-up here!
From now until the conference runs, the purpose of this page is to update attendees with everything they need to know. After the conference, this page will be converted into an explanation of how to buy the online version of the conference and an announcement for the next conference. If you wish to learn about future conferences, be sure you are signed up for our free monthly newsletter. Bear in mind this one sold out in 22 hours (it was 1/3 sold out in 7 minutes) and the next one will likely go at least as fast if we don’t expand it significantly.
Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference
We hope you are as excited to see us as we are excited to see you! It’s going to be a super fun and high-yield 3 1/2 days in Las Vegas.
Thanks to Our Sponsors!
We appreciate the sponsors who have signed up to support the conference so far. If you would like to sponsor the conference, contact [email protected]
Platinum
Gold
Silver
- FPL Capital
- Origin Investments
- Jonathan Brozek/US Bank
- Cerebral Tax Advisors
- Equity Multiple
Bronze
- PearsonRavitz
- Contract Diagnostics
- Advent Health (The Coalition for Physician Well-being)
Rooms
Our room block at the Paris Hotel and the attached Ballys Hotel is now full. Yes, we’re also disappointed that they didn’t let us expand that block. The good news is that there are literally dozens of hotels within a mile of the Paris Las Vegas as it is right in the middle of The Strip. AirBNB is also an option. Parking is generally free at these casino hotels and it wouldn’t be terribly inconvenient to be off-site (and likely cheaper.)
Schedule (Subject to Change)
March 11th (Travel Day)
- 7am-3pm Conference Staff desperately stuffing swag bags, feel free to drop in and help!
- 3-7 pm Conference Check-in
- 5-7 pm Opening Social (Sponsored by Splash! Financial)
March 12th
- 7:00-11:00 am Conference Check-in
- 7:00-8:30 am Breakfast (Provided)
- 8:00-9:00 am James Dahle, MD The State of Physician Wellness: A Review of Literature*
- 9:00-9:10 am Break
- 9:10-10:10 am Keynote Sarah Catherine Gutierrez, CFP Exploring the Tax Efficient Waterfall
- 10:10-10:40 am Caffeine Break (Visit the sponsors)
- 10:40-11:40 am Keynote Rick Ferri, CFP The Education of an Index Investor
- 11:40-1:20 pm Lunch Break (on your own)
- 1:20-2:20 pm Jordan Grumet, MD Bridging the Intimacy Gap Between Doctors and Patients through Shared Storytelling*
- 1:20-2:20 pm Panel Recognizing and Interacting Appropriately with Financial Advisors Moderator: Jim Dahle, Panel Members: Rick Ferri, Johanna Fox, Randy Gertner, Sarah Catherine Gutierrez, and Steven Podnos
- 2:20-2:50 Caffeine Break (Visit the sponsors)
- 2:30-4:00 Book Signing Jim Dahle, Rick Ferri
- 2:50-3:50 pm Shawni Coll, DO Sexual Health and How it Affects Patient and Physician Well-Being*
- 2:50-3:50 pm Peter Kim, MD Building Streams of Passive Income
- 3:50-4:00 pm Break
- 4:00-5:00 pmRandy Gertner, MD Physician Wellness in the Modern Medical Practice*
- 4:00-5:00 pm Panel Boosting Career Longevity for Women Physicians* Moderator: Bonnie Koo, MD, Panel Members: Disha Spath, MD, Carrie Reynolds, MD, Sunny Smith, MD, and Danette LeBaron, MD
- Dinner (On your own)
- Evening activities TBA
March 13th
- Breakfast (on your own)
- 8:00-9:00 am Fahd Ahmad, MD Recovering from Cases That Make You Cry*
- 9:00-9:10 am Break
9:10-10:10 am Phil Demuth, PhD Tax Planning of White Coat Investors - 10:10-10:40 am Caffeine Break (Visit the sponsors)
- 10:40-11:40 am Morgan Housel- Partner, Collaborative Fund The Psychology of Investing
- 11:40-1:20 pm Lunch (On your own)
- 1:20-2:20 pm Kurt Schoppe, MD Who Owns You? What Happens to the Physician Patient Relationship When the Doctor Does Not Own the Practice*
- 1:20-2:20 pm Panel Extreme Solutions for Burnout—Practice Part-Time or Leave Medicine Completely* Moderator: Leif Dahleen, MD, Panel Members: Jared Kirkham, MD, Dawn Baker, MD, B.C. Krygowski, MD, Jordan Grumet, MD, Crispy Doc
- 2:20-2:50 Caffeine Break (Visit the sponsors)
- 2:20-3:50 Book Signing Jimmy Turner, Phil Demuth
- 2:50-3:50 pm Brent Lacey, MD Choosing Joy Over Despair: How You Can Get Fired Up in Your Career Instead of Burning Out*
- 2:50-3:50 pm Ben White, MD Student Loans: Past, Present, Future & Advanced Payoff Strategies
- 3:50-4:00 pm Break
- 4:00-5:00 pm Dawn Baker, MD Self-Knowledge: The Key To Managing Physical and Financial Health*
- 4:00-5:00 pm Panel Investing for Retirement and College, Moderator: James Dahle, Panel Members: Leif Dahleen, Harry Sit, Paul Merriman, Phil Demuth
- Dinner (On your own)
- 7 pm FPL Capital/Origin Investments Dinner Event Harvest Restaurant at the Bellagio RSVP
March 14th
- Breakfast (on your own)
- 8:00-9:00 am Nisha Mehta, MD Physician Burnout: Moving Beyond Resilience to Tangible Solutions*
- 8:00-9:00 am Panel Educating the Next Generation on Wellness and Financial Health* Moderator: Jimmy Turner, MD Panel Members: Jason Mizell, MD, Fahd Ahmad, MD, Jesse Richards, MD, Kathy Hiller, MD, Gaurava Agarwal, MD
- 9:00-9:10 am Break
- 9:10-10:10 am Daniel Kesten Estate Planning—Taking Care of Those You Care About Most
- 9:10-10:10 am Panel Adventures in Burnout: Recognizing and Beating the Burn* Moderator: Crispy Doc Panel Members: Nisha Mehta, MD, Jimmy Turner,MD, The Happy Philosopher, and Reflections of a Millennial Doctor
- 10:10-10:40 Caffeine Break (Visit the sponsors)
- 10:10-11:40 Book Signing Ben White, Jim Dahle, Harry Sit
- 10:40-11:40 am Trevor Royce, MD A burnout reduction and wellness strategy: personal financial health for the medical trainee and early career physician*
- 10:40-11:40 am Letizia Alto, MD How to Achieve Financial Freedom Using Direct Real Estate Investing While Working as a Physician
- 11:40-1:20 Lunch (On your own)
- 1:20-2:20 pm James Dahle, MD Protecting Your Patients and Yourself from Malpractice*
- 2:20-2:50 Caffeine Break (Visit the sponsors)
- 2:50-3:50 pm Harry Sit Pay Only Your Fair Share: How to Legally Lower Your Taxes
- 3:50-4:00 pm Break
- 4:00- 5:00 pm Paul Merriman Factor Investing: Implications on Portfolio Construction
- 5:00-5:10 pm Conference Wrap-up James Dahle, MD
- Dinner (On your own)
- Evening activities TBA
March 15th (Travel Day)
- Travel home safely!
The Book Swap
We will have a table or two available for a financial book swap. Leave one or take one! Anything left over gets donated.
The Swag Bag
WCICON is known for having the best swag bag of any conference you’ve ever been to. It’s a financial education all by itself, or you can use the books for gifts. Here is some of what will be in there:
- The White Coat Investor’s Financial Boot Camp
- The Physician Philosopher’s Guide to Personal Finance
- Explore TIPS
- Medical Student Loans
- The Overtaxed Investor
- The Power of Passive Investing
Meal Sign-up
As we move closer we hope to facilitate a meal sign-up where you can sign-up to host a meal or simply join other attendees for a meal. All hosts have to do is get a reservation, choose the number of people, and host the listing. It’s all dutch treat. Katie and I don’t plan to eat alone during the conference and look forward to meeting as many of you as we can.
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.