I have been blogging here at the White Coat Investor since May 2011, 5 1/2 years ago. Before I started writing and especially since, there have always been a number of other blogs out there on similar subjects aimed at the same audience (doctors and other high income professionals.) I put a few out of business. A few others started their blog, then discovered mine and quit when they realized what they were trying to do had already been done. Others quit because it is a lot of work, often doesn't pay well, and they are busy doing something else that pays well. But in the last year or so, a fair number of people have started blogs and don't seem likely to quit any time soon. Frankly, a lot of that has to do with the fact that I actually publish what I make doing this every year, and the last couple of years I have actually made quite a bit of money. People have realized that if you put in some hard work, write some good content, and provide a little bit (or maybe a lot) of value to lots of people, that you can eventually make a doctor-like income doing it, even if it isn't really passive income. “Since the barriers to entry are low,” they say, “why not give it a try?”
Some have realized that it isn't quite as easy as I apparently make it look. Others have been able to take a few shortcuts by adopting the business model I worked out over several years, writing for the same publications/sites that I do, and approaching those who advertise with me. Readership, of course, takes time to build and there isn't a lot of income in blogging when you don't have much readership. I'm not surprised that most of them decided, like I did, that they didn't want to write for free and that doctors are too cheap to buy a subscription to the site/newsletter. Some are more polished writers than others, but all seem to be making an important contribution to the physician financial blogosphere.
Apple batteries, Verizon coverage, and a personal hotspot- I take more working vacations than anyone I know.
Most are surprised at the amount of encouragement I give them when they approach me. I have learned over time that blogging is far more collaborative than competitive. Sure, there might be a limited number of advertisers and every affiliate sale they get is one I don't, but the truth is I am turning down two out of three advertisers who approach me because I am uncomfortable endorsing them. At least half of those I approve decide not to follow through anyway once they learn the price. That's fine, almost everyone I have renews anyway. Besides, we can very comfortably live on half of what this site makes and I still have that side job seeing patients in the ED, rapidly diminishing debt, and a rapidly growing net worth. Some competition for advertisers isn't going to affect us personally very much. One of the more interesting experiences I had with this was a blogger who emailed me asking about a potential advertiser (that I had turned down.) He said he wasn't sure what to do since this was his first advertiser that wasn't advertising with me first!
The real reason I encourage other bloggers is because it enhances my mission- “To Help Those Who Wear The White Coat Get A Fair Shake on Wall Street.” The more they do to encourage and increase physician financial literacy, the less I have to do and the faster it occurs. If they get a nice side income while doing it, all the better. I encourage doctors to pursue their entrepreneurial interests, even if their business ends up looking very similar to mine. In my experience, blog readers will read as much high-quality content as can be created anyway. Without further ado, let's do a brief survey of the physician (and other high-income professional) financial blogosphere. I hope you find some gems that you did not know about before.
Physician On FIRE
POF is still trying to maintain a bit of anonymity, although I don't know how long that will last. He is an anesthesiologist who self-describes as a “family man” about my age who became Financially Independent by age 39. It didn't do him any good, of course, since he's still practicing medicine (maybe not for much longer though)) and now has picked up a second job as a blogger. He started in January 2016, but has been very active with his posts, on the WCI forum, in the comments section on this site and most of the others on this list, and on social media. He featured a post about me here. His focus is primarily on FIRE- Financial Independence and Retire Early. He writes, “What sets my site apart? I started from the standpoint of financial independence. I don’t need additional dollars to live our current lifestyle, and my site has a charitable mission to donate half its revenue.” Some of his better posts include:
Money Used to Buy Me Stuff. Now It Buys Time.
Top 5 Reasons I Chose Not To Retire at 39
Dr. Wise Money
This blog is written by a radiology resident and a single mother who also seems to be trying to maintain some of her anonymity (definitely a good idea for a doc still in training in my opinion.) She started emailing me back in January 2014 and has been blogging for over a year under various names including Debt Free Doc. She sent me a guest post about hitting a net worth of $0 as an intern. She had paid off her student loans by her PGY2 year. Her writing is not terribly polished, but where she really excels is in the personal finance and extreme frugality areas. For example, I tell people to live like a resident for a few years. Meanwhile she is paying off student loans, maxing out 401(k)s and Roth IRAs, and buying investment properties as a resident. In other words, she isn't even living like a resident as a resident. To say that she will eventually be very wealthy is a dramatic understatement. She has already written five books, including Debt Free Doctor. I am honestly amazed at her industry and work ethic. I guess that's what happens when you don't waste weeks at a time in slot canyons. She always has lots of nice things to say about me like “mentor,” “hero,” and “godfather of physician finance.” Here are some of her better posts:
8 Ways To Reduce The Doctors Price Tag
10 Weapons to Terminate Your Student Loans
All the Right Plastics in All the Right Places
Future Proof MD
This one was originally called White Coat Money, until I pointed out to him (and Dr. Wise Money who also briefly had a name with “White Coat” in it) what my trademark attorney thought about that. (Please don't start a physician financial blog with the words “White Coat” in it. Attorneys are expensive and White Coat Investor is a valuable registered trademark I intend to defend.) He is also a radiology resident. He does regular posts about his net worth (it's still negative like most residents but is a great case study), various deals he finds, and a random assortment of other financial topics. He writes that as a resident “there are many who can share in my experience. In addition, my focus is on providing succinct digestible tips that can be consumed in a very short period of time – think of my posts as flash cards for personal finance.” Here is a sampling of his posts.
Chinese Grandma Versus American Grandma
Why I Don't Bet Against Warren Buffett
Miles Dividend MD
This one is written by an electrophysiologist who loves to travel. The main focus is on hacking credit cards and getting travel associated deals. He also focuses a lot on early retirement. Actually, I don't really know what he is focusing on these days. Despite starting with a bang in September 2013, he hasn't published a post since November 2015. Lots of good stuff in there between those two dates though. He is nice enough to call my site the “The Best Financial Site for Doctors. Bar None.” Here is a sampling of posts:
Warning: This Post May Change Your Life
Everything You Need to Know to Manufacture Spending
Wealthy Doc
I'm told this one began in 2007, although I can't seem to find blog posts older than the last couple of months, probably just an issue with site structure. Like POF and unlike me (because we spend too much) he is already financially independent. Blog posts tend to be pretty short, so he's easy to follow. He did a nice review of my book here.
Passive Income, MD
This one is a lot of fun too. Written by an anesthesiologist in an “expensive West coast city” who is looking to uncouple his income from his work. The blog is about 4 months old but there is already some good stuff on it. The focus is on passive income, although he readily admits the blog isn't so passive! One of the most fun aspects is his quarterly passive income report. He's featured me too.
Making Passive Income as Dr. Mom
The 5 Most Important Lessons I Give To My Residents
5 Key Characteristics of Physicians Ready for Retirement
I Am 1%
This one isn't written by a doc, but it is written by a high income professional and it's been around for quite a while. He only posts once or twice a month, and I haven't seen a net worth update any time recently, but there's still plenty of good stuff over there.
5 Things That Can Make Your Taxes More Complicated
How to Negotiate a Raise With Your Boss
Does Your Personality Match Your Career?
The Financial Pharmacist
This one is also written by a WCI reader, Tim Ulbrich, a real life pharmacist, who decided to give professional financial blogging a whirl. I think it's about a year old now and seems to be successful.
My Journey Paying Off $200K in Student Loans
5 Lessons My Swagger Wagon Taught Me
Why Every Pharmacist Should Be A Multimillionaire
Senior Resident
Written by Walter Nguyen, a radiologist, this blog puts out three posts a week. Only the Friday posts are about finances, but he's been going long enough there are quite a few of those.
Actively Managed Funds (Gambling)
The Happy Philosopher
This one is written by a physician and a WCI reader who considers it a guide to freedom and happiness. I think it is about a year old. He writes “I don't write specifically about money and finance, nor is it specific towards physicians right now, but I am starting to write more physician specific material. As you know I'm a big advocate for creating financial independence as a means towards freedom. Money, depression, burnout, suicide: they are all intertwined in strange ways and on the blog I hope to explore these. There are tons of blogs on the nuts and bolts of finance, but fewer that delve into the psychological aspects and ‘softer side'.
Happy Philosopher: The Backstory
How Understanding The Marginal Value of Money Will Make You Happier
A Physician's Guide to Working Part-Time
Debt Freedom Journey
This one is written by a veterinarian about his journey to become debt free. He graduated in 2015 with $205K in debt and a salary of $69K and then just as he was about to lease a new car, he read a Dave Ramsey book. He hasn't blogged in months as near as I can tell, but hey, it was unique in that it was a veterinarian financial blog.
InvestingDoc
This one is written by a brand new attending. He seems to be slowing down already, as I only see about one post a month the last few months. I guess that blogging stuff is hard work. There's some good stuff there though that's probably worth a few of your valuable minutes.
Should You Pay Off Debt Or Save?
My Retirement Mistake in Residency
Med School Financial
This one, despite the name, is written by an attending and is a little over a year old. Posting frequency varies from a whole bunch to once a month at times.
Before You Buy A Home Or Sign A Lease
Education Debt and the Role of 529 Plans
Avoid These Investment Mistakes
Smart Money MD
This one is about a year and a half old and is subtitled “Financial and Lifestyle Principles for the Busy Professional.” If you think my posts are too long, you'll appreciate the brevity. Check these out:
How to Make a Doctor's Salary and Still Feel Poor
The Real Cost of Owning A Swimming Pool
How to Become a Rich Doctor- Ride the Wave
Son of a Doctor
This one is written by the Pearces- he's an attorney and an investment advisor who writes most of the posts and she's an MFM doc who writes occasionally. It's a nice combination and it's about 6 months old. Richard even says nice things about me. Here's a sampling:
5 Things You Need to Know About MLPs, REITs, and BDCs
How Investment Fees Destroy Wealth
Physician Wellness- Parent Win
Wealth Formula
This one is written by physician and entrepreneur Buck Joffrey. It's mostly podcasts, but there is a short blog with a few posts. He leans more toward the Robert Kiyosaki school of thought than the Bogleheads one so a lot of the topics slant more toward real estate and entrepreneurship rather than tax efficiency and correlations. He emailed me saying, “We have the same mission, but our perspective could not be more different.” I disagree. I have no idea why I get lumped in as being anti-entrepreneurship when I have a going entrepreneurial concern that makes more than my physician practice or as being anti-real estate when I've owned real estate in many forms over the years, still own portions of multiple properties, and plan to increase my real estate holdings in the future. He just had me on his podcast last week. At any rate, I wish Buck success just as much as all the other bloggers on this list and hope he keeps it up. Here's some good stuff:
What Is The Foreign Exchange Market?
I'm positive I've forgotten somebody out there, so I'll apologize in advance. But I think this gives you a sampling of all the great resources now available for doctors. I hope you find something useful for you out there and hope to provide a little encouragement and support to these bloggers to help us fulfill our mission to Help Those Who Wear The White Coat Get A Fair Shake On Wall Street.
What do you think? Which of these blogs do you enjoy? Have I forgotten any I should have included? Why do you think so many of these have popped up in the last year? Comment below!
You didn’t mention Dr. Robert Doroghazi, aka the writer of “the physician investor” books. He’s a retired cardiologist who puts out biweekly newsletters and has been for almost 8-9 years. Information is not nearly as detailed and he charges a small fee to receive the newsletters but it’s another perspective from someone who retired early.
It’s a review of blogs. As far as I know, Doroghazi doesn’t blog. I’ve reviewed his book here though:
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/the-physicians-guide-to-investing-a-review/
I’ll throw in my hat in the ring as well…I run a blog at http://www.medicusfinance.com geared towards increasing both personal finance and healthcare operations literacy. Also a resident trying to stay anonymous.
Trying to get my feet wet with this blogging thing. Started derivativedoctor.com devoted to active trading with a day job. Thanks for the inspiration!
Good luck, both with the blogging and the trading. Be sure to keep good records and track your after tax return.
Another hat in the ring…I started dentistmarketalert.com as a subscription website for my fellow dentists in 2016 with a minor public blog updated sparingly and a more robust blog behind the paywall. Posts are at least once a week on the private blog and monthly signals are generated based upon a strict rules based investing system encouraging low cost mutual funds or ETF’s that would mirror your “Portfolio #1.” Have no interest in site advertising (I appreciate what you have created here though!) as I find site membership fees provide all the incentive I need to keep the membership updated as I blog about my second passion, the U.S. stock market. I too started my blog to help my fellow doctors that were always asking questions when they saw stock market charts open on my laptop.
Portfolio # 1? You mean the 150 Portfolios better than yours post? The S&P 500 Index Fund? People are paying you a subscription to tell them to invest in a 500 Index Fund? Or more likely, you’re telling them when to be in the market and when to be out of the market. How is that going for you and your investors, after fees, expenses, and taxes? What is the system, a trend-based system like a 150 day moving average?
$199 a pop huh. Wow! That would be kind of fun if I my 11,000 newsletter subscribers were paying that. $2.2 Million a year. Gets profitable fast doesn’t it? Very entrepreneurial of you. I wish you the best of luck in your business. There are far worse ways to invest than following a simple, rules-based trend following system using low cost index funds.
Add another one to the roll call of physician bloggers: http://www.RogueDadMD.com
A slightly different approach than many of the others out there. I hope it’s too everyone’s liking…
I think your comment “Please don’t start a physician financial blog with the words “White Coat” in it” is a bit egotistical… I would agree if you said “The White Coat” blah-blah-blah, but the words White Coat shouldn’t violate you in anyway if you’re confident enough of your content. It’s almost like saying Bank of America gets offended by any bank that starts with “Bank of”… or Apple gets in lawsuit with anything that starts with an “i.”
My trademark attorney disagrees with you and I plan to follow his advice in this matter.
This is a good medical blog, especially in today’s content-heavy world. As a spine doctor, we have a blog with multiple reviews and find it hard to differentiate yourself. Thank you for this!
Time to update the list!
It’s hard to keep up with 3-5 new ones every month! Certainly people can post a comment with their blog to keep it updated.
Time to update the list!
Already did.
https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/list-of-physician-financial-blogs/