Welcome to the tenth post of my blogger interview series. I interviewed Jim Dahle, The White Coat Investor. No white isn’t his favorite color, but Jim is an MD, so the name fits. His site is a blog and a forum. The White Coat Investor is a high traffic site with a fantastic Alexa Rating. Anytime a site is ranked around 100,000 in the world and less than 25,000 in the U.S., it’s an accomplishment. Jim’s earned this power ranking by consistently creating awesome content. Jim’s also an accomplished author. His book, The White Coat Investor: A Doctor’s Guide To Personal Finance And Investing has a 4.8-star Amazon ranking with over 500 reviews. Jim’s a veteran, doctor, business owner, author, father, and blogger.
White Coat Investor Interview
Where do you live?
Utah
What are your hobbies?
Road and mountain biking, ice hockey, rock climbing, canyoneering, playing with my kids.
Which countries or major cities have you lived in or traveled to?
I practiced medicine on four different continents with the Air Force and lived everywhere from Alaska to Virginia.
Which sports or teams are your favorites?
I follow professional cycling and The Running of the Bulls.
What’s the best vacation you’ve ever taken?
We had a really great graduation present to ourselves after med school – 10 days in Italy.
When you were a child, what profession did you want to be?
I wanted to be a doc, a writer, and a heavy construction equipment operator. Perhaps I can get that third one in before I die.
What is your career today?
I split my time between running The White Coat Investor, LLC and seeing patients in the emergency department.
What is your primary motivation to reach financial independence and retire early?
I like the freedom of being able to work how, when, and how hard I want to.
At what age are you planning on retiring?
No plans yet. I’m 41 now and should be financially independent by 45 or so. I don’t know, 60? 70? Who knows.
What’s the first thing you’ll do when you retire?
I’m trying to live my ideal life right now. Life is so short that it seems a shame to waste even 10 years of your life doing something you don’t want to do.
If money were no object, but you had to have a job what would you do for a living?
Exactly what I’m doing now.
If you could go back in time, what investment advice would you give to your past self?
Don’t buy that stupid whole life policy.
If you could only use one metric to evaluate a stock, which one would you choose?
Future returns.
How do you stay the course when markets are down?
After carefully watching the 2008-2009 downturn, nothing else since has ever seemed very impressive.
What’s your favorite aspect of blogging?
Interacting with the readers via email, comments, and in person. Building a community.
Why should people read your blog?
It is the most widely read physician-specific personal finance and investing website in the world for a reason. It’s written by someone who has been there and done that and can show you how to do it too.
Which 5 blogs do you visit the most?
Aside from my own, I like The Oblivious Investor, The Finance Buff, Nerd’s Eye View, and A Wealth of Common Sense.
What’s your best source of traffic to your blog?
Word of mouth
Why do you blog?
I have two main goals – to help those who wear the white coat get a “fair shake” on Wall street and to feed my entrepreneurial spirit. I like building something and I like the financial security that comes with being paid well to do it.
What’s the name and URL of your blog or blogs?
The White Coat Investor http://whitecoatinvestor.com
My best-selling book with its 501+ reviews can be found at https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00ICXCUJ6
Additional Info
After learning more about The White Coat Investor, I think I need to stop making excuses about not having enough time to complete tasks. Jim’s a busy guy. His site is full of useful posts relevant to any investor, not just physicians. I used to live really close to his neck of the woods, and I sure miss it. If you’ve never been to Salt Lake City area, visit if you get the chance. The valley and mountain ranges surrounding the area are breathtaking. Seriously one of the nicest places I’ve been to in America.
I have many friends who are doctors and dentists. It’s a tough job and it requires years of extra schooling. Many people think that doctors are rich, but what they don’t understand is that most doctors have massive student loan debt; to the tune of more than $200k. They also have a short career span, because of the extra 4-6 years tacked onto their education. Most don’t actually start practicing until their late 20’s or early 30’s. Because of these factors, many doctors are not wealthy. What Jim is doing for his profession, trying to help others in his field reach FI is really important. Test drive the site today. Trust me you won’t be disappointed.