Jim Dahle is the founder of the White Coat Investor, a widely consumed personal finance and investing blog and podcast specifically designed for physicians and other high-income careers. What Jim created in 2011 as a simple blog has grown into a multi-media empire that now employs fifteen people and hosts content from a range of columnists.
Jim has cut back from his full-time (plus) emergency physician career and White Coat Investor responsibilities to focus on what makes life worth living, and that’s where I wanted to pick up this conversation. Jim is a climber, husband, and father of four. Today we discuss how he’s managed to step away, at least slightly, from his hard-charging career and blogging days to what he’s now describing as his ideal life.
Topics Discussed with Jim Dahle
- How his life evolved from his early career and his adventures from the summer of 2023
- The Venn diagram of ideal life vs. actual life and why he feels he is living his ideal life
- Jim’s motivation to monetize White Coat Investor (WCI) and how that led to unexpected lifestyle changes
- Thoughts on keeping WCI sustainable
- The importance of the servant mentality
- The events that led to Jim cutting to part-time emergency room physician
- How much career capital is necessary to ask for part-time hours in your career?
- Why Jim passed on several multi-million dollar deals to sell WCI
- Thoughts on early retirement for those who are young (<50 years old)
- How Jim balanced climbing with high early-career workloads, WCI, and raising four kids
- Thoughts on the tradeoff between adventure and career
- Advice on spending for memorable trips when early career vs saving for future
- Why Jim maybe was too career-focused early on
- Why people are “dumb” to get dogmatic about specific investing styles and asset classes
- Jim’s asset allocation and why he prefers a mix of asset classes
- How Jim is invested in real estate without managing properties directly
- Thoughts on the recent pressures on the housing market (high prices and mortgages, increased costs of insurance, etc.)
- Advice for prospective homeowners in today’s turbulent market
- Thoughts on climbing ambition and climbing style
- Resume virtues vs eulogy virtues and the importance of being a good and honest person
- So much more!
Get in Touch with Jim Dahle
Jim Dahle Trip Reports
Cathedral Traverse Trip Report
Other Episodes and Resources
EP 60: What You Need to Know About Financial Advisors with Chris Mamula
Resume Virtues vs. Eulogy Virtues: The Moral Bucket List (David Brooks, New York Times Opinion)
Books
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