[Editor's Note: Looking to supercharge the way you plan for retirement? NewRetirement is a financial planning platform that can help people answer critical questions and model key financial issues for the future (Dr. Jim Dahle has called it “an online retirement calculator on steroids”). From now until April 30, WCI readers will get 20% off a purchase of NewRetirement’s Planner Plus (with this deal, you can get it for $96 per year—the price will increase to $120 on May 1). If you’re a DIY investor, NewRetirement is a fantastic resource. Make sure to check it out today!]   By Dr. Jim Dahle ..read more

By Dr. Margaret Curtis, WCI Columnist [Editor's Note: Readers of The White Coat Investor might know our columnist Dr. Margaret Curtis as a pediatrician, half of a dual-physician household, and the proud owner of a sidewalk sofa. She has been around long enough to have seen and experienced all kinds of professional challenges that physicians face. As her alter-ego, Auntie Marge, she shares opinions and gives advice. If you have questions about your work or financial life, Auntie Marge is here for you.] “My employer has recently mandated that physicians will chart in a shared workspace or ..read more

By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder Almost all of us with kids eventually face the dilemma of how much to save for their college education. Some kids don't go to college and some parents can't or don't save anything for their college, but among the high-income professionals that read this site, the vast majority of kids will go and the vast majority of parents will save something. The question is simply how much to save for college.   Philosophy About Paying for College Trumps All The most important consideration in this process is not the cost of school, but it's simply how you feel about pay ..read more

By Josh Katzowitz, WCI Content Director One hundred fifty-nine years ago today, John Wilkes Booth sneaked into Abraham Lincoln’s presidential booth and, while Lincoln and his wife watched the play “Our American Cousin” at Ford’s Theatre in Washington DC, Booth changed the course of history with a single gunshot. About 40 feet away from the presidential box, Dr. Charles Leale —who had arrived late to the theater that evening and who, thus, didn’t have a great seat to see the play or to see Lincoln—heard the shot and saw Booth, dagger in hand, leap onto the stage from the box. He heard a woman ..read more

By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder Doctor mortgage loans, aka physician mortgage loans, are being offered by an increasing number of banks and to an increasing number of high-income professionals other than just doctors. Today, I'll explain what you need to know about physician mortgage loans, weigh the pros and cons, and help you decide if a doctor loan is right for you. We'll also discuss other financing options for purchasing a home including conventional loans, FHA, and VA, and we'll introduce you to the best lenders offering these programs to white coat investors. For conventional home loans ..read more

By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder I am not Muslim, I do not speak Arabic, and I am certainly no expert on the Quran or Islamic investing. I have only spent five months of my life in a Muslim country, and I'm not sure I actually spoke to a single Muslim while I was there, locked down on one-quarter of a square mile on an Air Force base. Thus, there's a decent chance of an error somewhere in this post (which I'm sure will be rapidly corrected in the comments below). However, this post about Halal investing is in response to a question I have been receiving regularly from white coat investors for ye ..read more

[Editor's Note: With Match Day arriving this Friday, March 15, we’re celebrating all the MS4s by offering a free WCI course. If you book a consultation and then meet with StudentLoanAdvice.com—the best in the business for helping you save money with your student loans—we’ll send you the CFE 2023 course (a $779 value) for free! (Make sure to hurry, though. This offer ends on March 19.) Saving tens of thousands on your student loans and getting a free WCI course in the process? That sounds like a fantastic way to continue on your path to financial independence. Make sure to book an appointment w ..read more

By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder Occasionally, I hear an investor say they invest in individual municipal bonds to get a higher return than they would get by using a high-quality municipal bond fund. There's a good chance they're mistaken due to ignorance of how the municipal bond market works. Even if they aren't, it probably still isn't a good idea. Let's explore why.   What Are Municipal Bonds? Before we get into our subject today, let's provide a little background context. At its most basic, a bond is a loan to an entity. Treasury bonds are loans to the federal government. Corporate bon ..read more

By Elizabeth DiBona, Guest Writer So, your dentist is no longer contracted with your dental insurance (ie, going “out-of-network”). Here's why that might be a great thing for your teeth. “Out of network,” “unrestricted provider,” “not contracted with dental insurance corporations,” and “fee-for-service:” Essentially, these all have similar meanings, and your dentist might have a specific way to describe what being out of network is. Dental insurance may describe it in a confusing way, like, “You need to find a new dentist.” But you do not. In fact, you probably should not, because, as I will ..read more

By Alaina Trivax, WCI Columnist My generation, the avocado-toast-eating millennials, often talks about our student loan debt in what seems like the same way that previous generations talked about their mortgages. I remember overhearing my aunts, uncles, and various family friends compare mortgages and mortgage rates when I was a teenager. It wasn’t the amount they were talking about—at least, it didn’t feel like they were competing over who had the biggest/best/most expensive house—as much as it was a comparison of the length of time until they’d be free from their mortgage payment. I’d hear ..read more