What I Took Away From WCICON 24

I have just returned from WCICON24 (The White Coat Investor Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference) in Orlando.

I have been wanting to go to this conference since the first one was announced in 2018, and was super-excited to finally go this year. It didn’t hurt that I was worn out and looking forward to some time away from all the craziness at home.

I tried writing down a pearl from each lecture. It wasn’t always the point of the talk, and towards the end of the meeting, I skipped a few. I thought I might share them with you.

I added a few other thoughts about the meeting as well.

Takeaway lessons

From James Dahle (The Unsung Benefits of Indexing):Benefit #8: the simplicity of index investing is a form of senility insurance.

From Cory Fawcett (Reclaiming the Joy of Being a Physician): Write down 10 possible ways to get the outcome you want. The first few options may not work, the last few might be silly, but the middle options may work out better than you think.

From Kate Mangona (How Operating at Your Highest Paygrade Will Create More Joy): An inspiring talk, with a great slide: (10 Ways to Maximize the Value of Your Time). The idea is to outsource time-sucking tasks that you find unpleasant, though it’s OK to keep chores that you actually enjoy doing. Use the extra time to spend with your spouse/family/loved ones. (Topics: hire a scribe; an MA, PA, NP or Coach; a Housekeeper. Or, outsource: Lawn Care; Grocery Shopping; Meal Planning (or hire a Chef); Maintenance; Organizing; Childcare; Financial Advisor/Coach).

Encourage audience engagement with each other. The keynote talk by Paula Pant (Retire or Just Tired?) talked about burnout and community engagement. She stopped for 5 minutes at a time, to have you talk with your neighbor (preferably someone you didn’t already know) about a question she posed. I loved this–it encouraged people to meet each other (I enjoyed meeting mine). This is a trick I plan to use, if the opportunity arises.

From Tarryn MacCarthy (Unleash Your Potential): Over-excitement of the sympathetic system impedes executive function—i.e. task initiation, cognitive function, etc. (Yes, I have noticed that when I am super-stressed, I can’t get things done with any efficiency). Meditation slows this down, by activating the parasympathetic system.

Another two from Cory Fawcett (Habits for a Wealthy Life) :

• “Win the Return”. The first 15 minutes home after work is key. Enter the house ready to engage with your family; they want to see you. After 15 minutes or so, you’re old hat again (especially with little kids), but those first few moments you can make them very happy.
• Don’t wait for retirement to live your life. Your life is happening now. I had been thinking about booking a big trip for 2025 (something I thought would have to wait until after retirement)–after this talk, I am waiting for flights to open up for January.

From Dawn Baker (Staying Sane in the Era of Social Media): A collection of books to look into while thinking about how to put down the phone and pay more attention to your life. The list includes: How to break up with your phone, by Catherine Price, and Dopamine Nation, by Anna Lembke.

From Leif Dahleen (Right-Size Your Spending): Evidence that AI can help with illustrations. Some of them were truly disturbing. Also, the line between cheap and frugal is not always clear.

From Margaret Curtis (How to Survive a Toxic Workplace): Sometimes you really need a lawyer.

From lawyer Jack Carney (How to Create a Effective Elder Care Plan), multiple takeaways:

• Look at the ABA PRACTICAL tool, which discusses signs that a person may need some help with decision-making
• CCCs (continuing care communities) offer different levels of care in one institution, which means a person in decline won’t need to move (which can be difficult). However, you need to check on the financial health of facility. You pay a large entry fee to guarantee care in higher levels of care, so you want the CCC to be in business when you need it.
• He uses the football team as the metaphor. Think about the Roster: who is the backup quarterback ? They don’t have to be great, they just have to be serviceable.
• Revisit your plan every 5-7 years.

From James Dahle, in the last talk (Advanced Estate Planning for White Coat Investors): He goes over a lot of information about taxes, trusts, foundations vs donor advised funds, and more. One detail I found a little slick: IRA money is assessed the same as Roth money for the purposes of estate taxes. So doing a Roth conversion can give the same amount to heirs but you pay fewer taxes. (This only matters if you are worried about have a large enough estate to trigger estate taxes. ~$14 million this year. Something tells me this will not be my problem.)

Other takeaways

The best parts of attending the meeting were in the attendance.

I enjoyed some of the activities that were available, including yoga, walking outside without my winter coat, and–most especially–the happy hour for women.

I met some amazing doctors in fields other than my own: quite a few OBGs, Psychiatrists, Pediatricians. Also ER, CCM, and others. It was great to hear about medicine from other specialists. We met at lunches, dinners, in the snack sessions and while seated at lectures.

I saw many people whose names I recognized: bloggers, columnists at WCI, guest speaker Paula Pant (I love her podcast!). I wish I weren’t too shy to barge in to their conversations and say that I admire their work. They probably were happy to finish their conversations in peace, though.

As an aside, the food was amazing, the rooms very comfortable, and the grounds beautiful. This is mostly irrelevant, as the meeting is moving to a different city for next year.

For those interested, registration for WCICON25 is on sale through today (I receive no financial benefit if you sign up, it’s just a good deal).

I am not sure that I will be going–not because the meeting wasn’t good, but because the trip I have been inspired to take will likely take place only a few weeks before the 2025 meeting.

Did you attend WCICON24 too? Or prior meetings? If so, what did you take away from the event?