Net Worth Transparency

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Knowing that sooner or later, friends, family, and acquaintances will be poking around my website, I've chosen not to directly state my net worth on the blog. Regular readers and others who can do math probably have a good idea, though.

I've decided to be more forthcoming when writing guest posts, and I recently gave an update on ESI Money's site. That landed me in the fourth spot on the list of bloggers' net worth on Rockstar Finance. #1 is a familiar face -- check it out.

Cheers!

-PoF

 

[Craigy]

You just wanted to see yourself at the top of this list!  

Pretty cool list to be on, and neat to see that I wouldn't be at the bottom.  

Good to see a successful anesthesiologist.  Salaries are strong but it's surprising to hear so many of my wife's attendings who still have student loans, etc.

And $37k sounds like a solid investment for free beer, provided it's good beer.

 

[StuRedman]

Might as well jump all in then.  I am a state employee so my salary is reported and public.  I know people have searched it.

[Complete_newbie]

WCI's networth is an estimation or is that real?

[VagabondMD]

Complete_newbie wrote:

WCI’s networth is an estimation or is that real?

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Based on his year end financial reporting, I think he is conservatively estimating the value of his WCI enterprise (but he knows better, because he knows what he has been offered for it).

[VagabondMD]

Personally, I prefer the opacity of my net worth.  

[Complete_newbie]

Vagabond MD wrote:

Complete_newbie wrote:

WCI’s networth is an estimation or is that real?

Click to expand…

Based on his year end financial reporting, I think he is conservatively estimating the value of his WCI enterprise (but he knows better, because he knows what he has been offered for it).

Click to expand...

Oh ok, got it. It includes this WCI business, then it totally makes sense!

Great list.

[The White Coat Investor]

Complete_newbie wrote:

WCI’s networth is an estimation or is that real?

Click to expand...

There's an old saying that if you can pinpoint your net worth to the penny, you must not be that rich. You tell me what WCI and my house are worth and I'll tell you my net worth. Everything is an estimate really, including the value of the stocks and bonds in my index funds.

To be fair, when I did that survey, I said the following when asked my net worth:

"Depends on the value of the website, probably somewhere between $4 and $6 Million."

They apparently split the difference. At most this website may be worth $3.5 Million. At the least, it's worth a million. And of course 25% of that disappears to long term capital gains taxes. Of course, some portion of my retirement accounts doesn't really belong to me either. Nor do those UTMAs, Roth IRAs, and 529s for my kids. I'm certainly a multi-millionaire, but which million is a little hard to say.

The really interesting thing about that list, however, is just how many financial bloggers there are with a net worth under $100K. There are really two types, I suppose. Type # 1 has "been there and done that" and can teach you how to do it too. Type # 2 is asking you to "walk with me while I learn about finance and build wealth." Both can be useful depending on where you are at in life.

I think I'd lose a lot of credibility if I didn't have a rapidly growing net worth at this point in my life. We basically locked in our lifestyle at what we could afford on a pre-partner salary (a little under $200K) and aside from the occasional big splurge (the boat, the new car last year), save or give the rest. When you're saving 2/3 of a very good net income, your net worth grows rapidly. When you actually like the work you do and plan to do it indefinitely, then you start realizing the assumptions you started with a decade ago may not apply in retirement. For instance, I never would have guessed I was going to have an estate tax problem. But if I keep working and earning like I have been the last couple of years, we almost surely will. Makes me wish I'd done more Roth 401(k) contributions and conversions back in the 28% bracket. First world problems...

I don't know that I've ever blogged about my net worth (Although I certainly wrote about it in the book), but given that my readers are very well aware of what emergency physician partners make and know exactly what this site makes, and know about what we save and spend each year, it shouldn't be surprising to anyone. It's just a math equation.

[Complete_newbie]

Great post WCI. I think more interesting is how this enterprise is at least 30-50% of your NW.

[Craigy]

In my business we use professional valuations all the time, and most of them go down to the dollar and very often down to the penny.  

[The White Coat Investor]

Craigy wrote:

In my business we use professional valuations all the time, and most of them go down to the dollar and very often down to the penny.  

Click to expand...

Yea, but they don't mean anything. It's like the old economist joke:

How do you know an economist has a sense of humor?

He uses two digits after the decimal point.

The only day you really know the value of anything is the day it changes hands.

[The White Coat Investor]

Complete_newbie wrote:

Great post WCI. I think more interesting is how this enterprise is at least 30-50% of your NW.

Click to expand...

You call it interesting. I call it scary. Can you imagine something less liquid?

[Complete_newbie]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

Complete_newbie wrote:

Great post WCI. I think more interesting is how this enterprise is at least 30-50% of your NW.

Click to expand…

You call it interesting. I call it scary. Can you imagine something less liquid?

Click to expand...

Yea but I look at it from the other side: Online business is truly powerful and incredible in turbo charging the networth.

[Craigy]

The White Coat Investor wrote:

Craigy wrote:

In my business we use professional valuations all the time, and most of them go down to the dollar and very often down to the penny.  

Click to expand…

Yea, but they don’t mean anything. It’s like the old economist joke:

How do you know an economist has a sense of humor?

He uses two digits after the decimal point.

The only day you really know the value of anything is the day it changes hands.

Click to expand...

Even on that day you only have a contract value which may or may not be true FMV.

[FIREshrink]

I would have a hard time taking financial advice from a blogger with a net worth of $100,000. It's a little unfair because certainly a newly minted MBA or CFA or CFP could teach me plenty. But I trust people more who have already accomplished what I want to accomplish. And of course, I trust docs more. That was WCI's brilliant insight: that combining credibility in both finance and medicine was a viable business idea.