The Physician Philosopher Joins the White Coat Investor Network

I never thought that the Physician Philosopher would join the White Coat Investor Network in less than a year and a half after the blog was started.  I did know that the site was starting to gain traction, though, when the following happened 9 months after The Physician Philosopher was created…

After our patient was asleep and stable, my resident and I discussed the goals of the case in OR 15. (My resident’s name has been redacted to protect the innocent).  As natural conversations go, there was a lull after we discussed the plan for the patient. We sat silently for a moment while we watched the surgeons prep the patient for surgery.

That’s when my resident chimed in, “Dr. Turner, I have a question for you. If you don’t know what I am talking about, it will seem really strange, though.”

I said, “First, call me Jimmy.  You don’t need to call me Dr. Turner.  Second, you know that I’m an open book.  What’s on your mind?”

“Well...my question is this.…are you The Physician Philosopher?“

After staring at my resident for a second, I said, “That’s some impressive investigative work! How in the world did you figure that out?“

“Well, I was talking with one of the other residents and he said you were writing a book for medical students and residents.  I know that you teach us about personal finance, and I started reading The Physician Philosopher blog after I found it through the White Coat Investor.  I thought it might be you.“

This was the first time that I realized that this little blog of mine was starting to have some reach.  My own residents were reading what I was writing before the blog ever had my name on it (I introduced my name to the world on this site in February of 2019 with this post).

My Little Secret

Have you ever had a secret about something that others would soon know about, but that you couldn’t share right now?  That is exactly how I’ve felt for the past six weeks as I’ve maintained a secret from all of my readers on this site.

In the last 16 months, I’ve written over 300,000 words.  I’ve guest appeared on some pretty awesome podcasts. I’ve even published a book on the 20% of personal finance doctors need to know to get 80% of the results.

Despite all of this, one of my quiet (but major) goals since creating my blog was becoming a reality…

The Physician Philosopher Joins the White Coat Investor Network

Leif, or POF as many of you know him, over at Physician on Fire was one of the first people I emailed to ask for advice when I started the blog.  In fact, after I emailed him, he featured one of my first blog posts in his Sunday Best.

POF has remained one of my biggest sources for honest advice since I started blogging.  He encouraged me to continue to focus on burnout, wellness, and behavioral finance topics. Even when it felt like no one else was reading my posts.

Then, in September while attending FinCon 2018, I had the chance to meet Peter Kim of Passive Income MD who authored the post that inspired me to start The Physician Philosopher.

While at FinCon, Peter and I shared a meal (quite literally – we split the two meals we ordered because we wanted to try both).  We also shared a passion for golf and side hustles.

As for advice, Peter and Leif both told me similar things.  Keep hustling.  Separate your content from the rest. Focus on the traffic.

Then, in February I finally closed in on a target number of page views.  In a month, the site’s traffic had more than doubled thanks in large part to an article shared on Doximity (you can read the original here).

So, as my wife and I got ready to watch some Netflix episodes on the last day in February, I decided to send an email to the editor of The White Coat Investor.  You may have heard of him…

I didn’t know if Jim would respond, but what could it hurt?

First, let’s discuss a little bit of…

WCI Network History

For those interested, the White Coat Investor was formed in 2011.  He was a solo show for the better part of six years until Physician on FIRE and WCI joined forces in March of 2017.

If interested, you can find the posts about that original WCI/POF partnership here:

WCI’s post on POF joining the network
POF’s version of the story

Then, about 9 months later (Nov 2017 when The Physician Philosopher had just been created), that is when Peter at Passive Income MD joined the network.  The three amigos wrote their respective posts on the newly formed partnership, and those can be found here:

WCI on PIMD joining the WCI network
POF’s version
PIMD’s view of the ordeal

Joining the scene right when the third partner joined the network provided a lot of internal motivation to get my own blog where I wanted it to be.

It would remain a goal of mine, though I shared it with only a few people.

Could Three Amigos Become Four Compadres?

Now, back to that email I sent Jim right before my wife and I started watching Netflix…

The email explained the growth of The Physician Philosopher, and the current state of the blog. I then asked the good Dr. Dahle if they would give any consideration to any new partners to join the WCI network.

He pretty much responded immediately. (My wife then got mad because I paused the Netflix episode we were watching.  I was officially a “worst husband of the year nominee” until I explained what was going on).

What happened next seems like a blur.  Phone calls were made, multiple emails were sent, and deals were discussed.

On this day – April 15th, 2019 – I have the privilege of joining the WCI network with three leaders in the physician finance space.  If you want to read WCI’s introduction post on the new partnership, you can read that here.

Topics Covered on The Physician Philosopher

For those of you who are visiting the site for the first time, you might want to get to know me.

If you want to know more about my experience going through bankruptcy as a kid you can find that here. Next, you may want to know more about my bad experiences with the financial industry that led to this site you can read about my disability insurance debacle and financial advisory fraud.  You can also read about how I used The 10% Rule to pay down $200,000 in student loans in just 19 months.

As for topics/series covered on this site that have been published on the site (if you don’t want to read every post ever written on this site), they are listed below:

• Physician Burnout
• Financial Independence (as a tool to prevent/treat burnout)
• Finding Wellness
• Physician Finance Interview Series (if you want to fill out an interview, email me)
• Behavioral Finance
• High-Yield Posts Attending Physicians Series
• Resident High-Yield Posts Series
• The Monthly Checkout
• The Financial Industry (i.e. how to avoid conflicted advice)
• Student Loan Management