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Every August, the mountains call, and I must go. And so it was this year when we traveled to Yosemite and climbed Half Dome. I've been wanting to make this climb for the last three decades, and now that we completed the trek, I realize that there are plenty of lessons to be learned from this kind of adventure. And they can be applied to your financial life. We'll talk about it more below in September's financial tip of the month.

ANNOUNCEMENTS

	WCICON24 Earlybird Registration – Starting September 12th, take $300 off your registration for the best CME conference of the year happening February 5-8, 2024 in Orlando. At WCICON24 you will invest dedicated time to improve your financial well-being and personal wellness while connecting with The White Coat Investor community. Sign-up to be reminded to register early. See WCICON Speakers & Conference Details
	Start Your Side Gig Today – Physicians can earn cash by taking online surveys and have the benefits of a side gig like opening a solo 401(k). Survey companies offer special perks for using WCI links. Sign Up Today
	Learn the Basics of Real Estate Investing – Join Dr. Dahle for a Free Masterclass where you'll learn how to incorporate real estate into your portfolio, five must-know calculations, and how real estate can reduce your taxes. Enroll in Free Masterclass

MARKET UPDATE

Data sources: Morningstar and SPGlobal

After a solid month of July, August showed a decline across almost all asset classes.
The Fed raised interest rates at the end of July. While this is great for interest on cash and needed for inflation control, it is expensive for those with new or variable rate loans.
Bitcoin took a 10 point hit this month but is still up almost 30% for the year.
After weeks of climbing, US Mortgage rates dropped this week but are still over 7%.
Even with drops this month, US and International Stocks continue to show strong returns over the last year. This should be a reminder to all of us to Stay the Course. Don't get caught looking at short-term market changes and lose sight of of the bigger picture.

REAL ESTATE OPPORTUNITIES

Mortar Group – A vertically integrated investment manager specializing in secure multifamily real estate in prime New York niche neighborhoods. Preferred by investors seeking high yields but steady returns, Mortar offers a unique solution in the alternative investments market.

Southern Impression Homes – Focused on new construction homes in desirable Florida neighborhoods that are designed to maximize landlord profit and minimize tenant turnover and maintenance costs. Its system provides full service, including acquisition, building, construction, property management, and ongoing client support and education.

Wellings Capital – Helping accredited investors passively grow and protect their wealth with a diversified portfolio of carefully vetted recession-resistant commercial assets, such as self-storage, mobile home parks, and RV parks. Accepting new investors with a $50,000 minimum.

Please consider these as introductions and be sure to do your due diligence prior to investing in any real estate investment opportunity.

SPECIAL INVITATION

Join The Financially Empowered Women

The ladies over here at WCI have been working hard to bring a new community and webinar series to you. The Financially Empowered Women (The FEW) is a White Coat Investor community created to support women on their path to financial success.

Each webinar will include a live presentation from powerhouse women in the financial industry covering topics like making a comprehensive financial plan, taxes, investing, and creating a sustainable work-life balance, followed by small group discussions. You will also be added to The FEW Facebook community for candid conversations about the unique challenges of high-income households.

Mark your calendar for the first webinar on creating an intentional financial life happening on Tuesday, September 26th, at 6:00 PM MST.

Click here for more information or to sign up for The Financially Empowered Women Community.

BEST OF THE MONTH

Best of WCI

Student Loan Payments Are Resuming – Now What? – Now that the student loan holiday has ended, let StudentLoanAdvices.com's Andrew Paulson tell you everything you need to know.
What We Can Learn About Work-Life Balance and Retirement from the French – There are significant cultural differences between the US and France. But we can learn plenty from them that can help us better our lives.
How My Recent Brain Tumor Diagnosis Made Me Reevaluate My Finances – Life can change forever in the blink of an eye. It's why you need a financial plan—and why your partner needs to be in the loop.
The Gender Role Reversal and Being the High Earner of My Family as a Woman – New WCI columnist Julie Alonso writes about what it's like to be the high earner in her marriage—and how she's had to traverse a number of different obstacles because of it.
Do What Others Aren't Willing to Do – As a French writer once penned, "What is above knows what is below, but what is below does not know what is above. One climbs, one sees. One descends, one sees no longer, but one has seen."
What Happens When You Actually Have to Use Your Emergency Fund? – WCI columnist Alaina Trivax had back-to-back emergencies where she needed to dip into her savings. It was not an easy time for her and her family.
How to Get Locums Work Without a Locums Agency – It's possible to DIY your own locums job. The benefits of doing so? As explained by WCI columnist Margaret Curtis, who is soon headed to a locums job in Alaska, there are plenty of them.
How to Open a Roth IRA for Your Kids (and Should You)? – How does 60-70 years of compounding babysitting and lawn-mowing payments sound? Your kids might not know it yet, but they're going to love it!
The White Coat Investor's Most Controversial Articles, Part 2: Looking Back at Our Biggest Fights – WCI content director Josh Katzowitz and Dr. Jim Dahle go back and forth on WCI's biggest skirmishes.
Too Many Internists Are Broke – and They're Having to Work Past 70 – A survey of physicians shows what they know about financial literacy. But what they don't know (or what they aren't doing) is fascinating.

New Podcast Episodes

Be sure to check out The White Coat Investor Podcast if you haven't yet. 30,000 to 40,000 are listening to every episode. If you'd like to leave a question to be answered on the podcast, record it here.

#327 – Send Your Kids to College (Sponsored by SoFi)
#326 – Finances for Doctors with a Terminal Illness (Sponsored by Cerebral Tax Advisors)
#325 – What Is the 4% Rule (Sponsored by SoFi)
#324 – Pilots Can Reach Financial Independence Too with Captain FI (Sponsored by SoFi)

The Milestones to Millionaire Podcast has short episodes celebrating your accomplishments.

#127 – Veterinarian Starts Her Own Business and Finance 101: 457(b) Plans (Sponsored by SoFi)
#126 – Pharmacist Writes a Book and Pays Off a Mortgage and Finance 101: Index Funds (Sponsored by SoFi)
#125 – Psychiatrist Pays Off Half a Million in Loans and Becomes a Millionaire and Finance 101: The Savings Rate (Sponsored by SoFi)
#124 – Two Doc Couple Splits Their Student Loan Plan and Finance 101: The 5 Money (Sponsored by SoFi)

The Passive Income MD Podcast

#172 – The 5 Freedoms Every Doctor Should Pursue
#171 – Leveraging Your Retirement Accounts for Real Estate

Best of the Web

Every month we recommend (about) 10 articles from across the web. Thank you to those who send suggested articles to editor@whitecoatinvestor.com.

Roth Catch-Up Contribution Rule Delayed – 401(k) catch-up contributions for high-income folks were going to have to be Roth starting in 2024. Now it'll be 2026.
Despite Rising Costs, Most Doctors Would Pay for Their Children's College – Only 8% won't. Can 92% can actually afford to do so, though?
How Doctors Prioritize Family and Career with 'Physician Third' – "I propose adopting a 'physician third' mindset, where being a partner and parent are considered equal priorities to being a physician." Wait? That's controversial? Easier said than done, though, when that pager is going off.
Are You Rich? – Jim has written before about how lots of high earners and even wealthy people don't feel rich and what they can do about it. The most interesting part of the article is WHY some people don't feel rich.
How Much Income Do You Need to Stick with Your Doctor Job? – Jim used to say he'd be a doctor even if it only paid $50,000 a year. Apparently, most of you don't feel that way. In fact, a fair chunk doesn't feel like it's worth doing for less than seven figures.
10 Top Ways Physicians Earn Secondary Income – Interesting that nothing on this list was passive.
Unionization Gaining Traction Among Physicians – Treat docs like labor, and they'll act like labor. By the way, WCI wrote about this topic a few months ago, gathering four physicians to give their thoughts on the matter.
You Can Build an $80,000 TV for Way Less – Still, it's hard to get behind the med student who spent $34,500 on his. Please don't do that.
Do You Have the Courage to Simplify Your Client's Portfolios? – They might realize they don't need you (at least for asset management) if you make it too simple.
The Cake/Fruit Salad Theory of Asset Allocation – Jim is with Mike. It's fruit salad not cake as he wrote about a long time ago in his 150 Portfolios Better Than Yours post.
3 Ways to Use Fidelity as a Checking or Savings Account – Harry Sit with another great nuts and bolts post.

TIP OF THE MONTH

By Dr. Jim Dahle,
WCI Founder

John Muir famously said, "The mountains are calling and I must go." For me, that call comes each August, the month when it is still warm in the mountains and after the snow has mostly melted. August is adventure season for me, and the time when my saying, "It's not a vacation; it's a lifestyle," most applies. 2023 was no different. Together with my wife, son, and other relatives, we descended Imlay Canyon in Zion National Park and climbed the Upper Exum Ridge of The Grand Teton in a day. However, the biggest adventure of the month was a big wall climbing route in Yosemite that I have been wanting to do for almost three decades: the Regular Northwest Face of Half Dome. If you love reading adventure stories, you can read the VERY lengthy version here. The short version is that we did make it to the summit, but it ended up taking a lot more time and effort than we expected.

Here are a few lessons I learned that can be applied in your financial life.

#1 Your Partner Matters More Than Anything Else

The hero of our story is Dr. Christian Feinauer, my climbing partner. When I was exhausted after 24 hours straight of intense climbing followed by only a few minutes of sleep, I had zero desire to climb anymore. That's when we were faced with the three hardest and scariest pitches of the climb. Christian gladly stepped up and spent 8 1/2 hours on the sharp end of the rope leading those pitches. When we were lost in a nearly vertical Manzanita grove two hours after dusk on day 3, he was the one who correctly identified the way back to camp despite working with a nearly dead headlamp. No complaints. No whining. No criticizing. Not perfect but a perfect partner. In your financial life, your partner matters more than anything else. Tie yourself to the right person, and you are almost sure to become successful. Marry the wrong person and it'll hold you back for years—and then probably cut your net worth and your income in half.

#2 Planning Counts

While we've been climbing for many years, we spent many months preparing specifically for this climb: reading trip reports, pouring over topo maps, practicing specific skills we would need, carefully weighing what items were worth taking and which were not, and getting into the very best shape we could. When it comes to your finances, you need a plan. Make the plan, work the plan, modify the plan, and follow the plan. It works. If you still need a financial plan, check out our Fire Your Financial Advisor online course. It'll help you to create a plan, whether you choose to work with a pro or not.

#3 It'll Be Hard. Don't Quit

At one point in the climb, Christian found he physically couldn't climb a pitch. Instead of quitting, he had me give it a try, and I was (barely) able to succeed. Every time we looked at our watches, we found that previous climbing had taken us much longer than we had expected. By the time night fell on our longest day, we still had four pitches to climb in the dark. At 1am, I was ready to quit, but Christian talked me into one more pitch before trying to catch some sleep. Doing that turned out to be critical to getting off the wall before night fell the second time. Building a financially secure life will take a lot of time and effort over many years. It's going to be hard. Don't quit.

#4 Know Your Tools and Techniques

Big wall climbing involves a lot of tools and techniques unfamiliar even to most climbers. We purchased new gear and practiced these techniques long before we arrived on the wall. Likewise with your financial life, you need to know the tax deductions, accounts, and investments at your disposal until using them is second nature. When you are financially illiterate and cannot speak the language of finance, it's going to be hard for you to get up your financial big wall.

#5 Solve the Problem

After I came home, one of the nurses at the hospital asked if I was scared swinging around on a rope or putting all my weight on a tiny hook with more than 1,000 feet of air below my feet. The truth was that I really wasn't at the time because I wasn't thinking about the exposure (especially once it got dark and I couldn't see the ground). That's because I was always focused intensely on the problem right in front of me. How was I going to make the next move, to get to the next piece of protection, to get to the next belay? In your financial life, you will be faced with problems to solve. Don't let yourself get distracted with the hugeness of the overall task or the consequences of failure. Don't start thinking about some problem you'll need to solve later. Solve the problem right in front of you and move on to the next one.

#6 Commit!

For the first third of our climb, retreat was fairly easy. We would have simply rappelled down the wall in an hour or two from previously fixed anchors. Once we did a difficult traverse above an overhanging section of the wall, retreat was no longer an option. We were committed; the only way off that wall was to go to the summit. Like Hernan Cortes, we had burned the boats, and our only pathway was forward. You might be amazed what you can accomplish once you burn the boats holding you back in your financial life. Negotiate that raise. Go out and find that new job. Put a real financial plan in place. Open a side business. You can do it, but only if you completely commit.

You have big goals in your life, just like our goal to climb Half Dome was big. Apply these lessons and climb your own Half Dome.

The White Coat Investor

Past Newsletters

August Newsletter – How to Stay Rich
July Newsletter – The 'Guaranteed' Path to Physician Wealth and the 5 Ways to Fall Off It
June Newsletter – A High Income Covers a Plethora of Financial Sins
May Newsletter – Should QLACs Be Part of Your Portfolio?
April Newsletter – You'll Probably Get What You Want Most