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.

 

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Show Notes and Links at Clippingchains.com

 

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!