What’s your biggest “aha” moment on WCI?

[StarTrekDoc]

2017

Via bogleheads when looking into ways to optimize megabackdoor and 403+457 opportunities.

finding my tribe of DIY physicians and that there are more than I thought about optimizing investment and retirement savings. ... And holding my virtual hand when markets get into a schism.

[SLC OB]

• What year did you discover WCI? I think it was mid to end of 2017. I listened to Hippocratic Hustle and heard about WCI from Bonnie Koo MD.
• What led you here (internet search, colleague, hearing Jim speak, etc)? I always loved finances but didn't know how to get the knowledge I needed. This pointed me in the right direction.
• What has been your biggest lesson, impact, aha moment, surprise? Manage your own money! My "financial advisor" did not give me the returns I should have had for 7 years of a bull market. I watched "fire your financial advisor" and did just that! My returns have been SO SO MUCH better since then! Love the easy index funds. I was always a pay off debt and save girl but the investing is what I learned here.
• Thank you WCI! And happy 10th birthday!

[childay]

Must have been 2011 or 2012. Bought the bogleheads book in 2012 so somewhere around there. I think the WCI book came out a few years later.

Agree with the sentiment about having a like minded community

[Zaphod]

I think 2014ish?
Like minded community at various stages of life to give perspective and different things to think about and look forward to.
Camaraderie of like minded folks for sure.

[G]

1) Whenever that first CNN article came out.
2) That CNN article
3) Not all doctors are money morons. (It's just that the handful that aren't seem to all be on this forum.)

2012 with this: https://money.cnn.com/2012/01/16/sma...akes/index.htm

[PedsCCM]

1. 2018 - about a year out of fellowship
2. Googled something financial - probably what amount of mortgage was reasonable
3. Working through the calculations of a safe withdrawal rate and expected spending in retirement to see just how big my number actually was. Then using Excel's FV and PMT functions to play around with different saving rates and rates of return to see how much we needed to save. I was shocked. Thankfully my wife was on board almost immediately and she enjoys quarterly updates on our progress. I'd love it if she wanted to know more and I keep trying to convince her that it's really interesting and cool once you get into it

[Cubicle]

2015

BogleHeads

There are specifically doctors who discuss finances.

[ObgynMD]

1. Heard about WCI years ago (~2016) but only read a few things in passing. Started seriously following WCI/reading the forum about 1.5 years ago (motivation: COVID and getting our financial
house in order just in case)
2. Heard about WCI through word of mouth from a fellow resident.
3. Thankfully my husband is a natural saver has done the big things right: paid off my loans while
I was a resident, helped make us a budget which factored in some double digit % of savings, put said savings in a mutual fund. My Aha moment was within the last 12mo when I realized the guy managing our mutual funds wasn’t a CFP, fired him, hired a real CFP (JFox FTW) and learned enough to manage our own personal finances. Another Aha moment is realizing that after a relatively humble two income salary esp during training, we have reached Lean FI just by my husband getting the ‘big rocks’ right. And we are only in our mid-30’s. I love WCI’s ‘There are many roads to Dublin’ and ‘personal finance is personal’. We are not ‘hare-type’ people (no options, no syndications, no side gig, no rental income, no huge inheritance). Heck, up until less than 12mo ago our portfolio wasn’t even balanced- it was a mess with single stocks and high-cost mutual funds managed by a broker. But it didn’t matter. Get the ‘big rocks’ right (budget, save a double digit %, invest in the market, never sell) and there is no shame I’m being a tortoise. The third Aha moment is still materializing- thinking about what is ‘enough’ and consciously thinking about purposeful work and how we want to raise our two small kids.

[jfoxcpacfp]

1. Heard about WCI years ago (~2016) but only read a few things in passing. Started seriously following WCI/reading the forum about 1.5 years ago (motivation: COVID and getting our financial
house in order just in case)
2. Heard about WCI through word of mouth from a fellow resident.
3. Thankfully my husband is a natural saver has done the big things right: paid off my loans while
I was a resident, helped make us a budget which factored in some double digit % of savings, put said savings in a mutual fund. My Aha moment was within the last 12mo when I realized the guy managing our mutual funds wasn’t a CFP, fired him, hired a real CFP (JFox FTW) and learned enough to manage our own personal finances. Another Aha moment is realizing that after a relatively humble two income salary esp during training, we have reached Lean FI just by my husband getting the ‘big rocks’ right. And we are only in our mid-30’s. I love WCI’s ‘There are many roads to Dublin’ and ‘personal finance is personal’. We are not ‘hare-type’ people (no options, no syndications, no side gig, no rental income, no huge inheritance). Heck, up until less than 12mo ago our portfolio wasn’t even balanced- it was a mess with single stocks and high-cost mutual funds managed by a broker. But it didn’t matter. Get the ‘big rocks’ right (budget, save a double digit %, invest in the market, never sell) and there is no shame I’m being a tortoise. The third Aha moment is still materializing- thinking about what is ‘enough’ and consciously thinking about purposeful work and how we want to raise our two small kids.

Thank you for the shout-out. I don’t know who you are b/c I don’t like to know our clients’ online names and don’t ask, but I am glad we could be a part of that process.

[racelari]

1. Dec 2018
2. read the WCI book wife got me
3. realized I was getting screwed by Northwestern Mutual, which was the reason I was in $31,000 of credit card debt

[jfoxcpacfp]

1. Dec 2018
2. read the WCI book wife got me
3. realized I was getting screwed by Northwestern Mutual, which was the reason I was in $31,000 of credit card debt

Your wife must be a very wise woman.

[xraygoggles]

Discovered it during late med school, around 2012 or so, through search engine.
The aha moment was that I would be able to succeed financially, if I followed the very rudimentary financial steps during residency and thenceforth.

[Kamban]

1. Found his blog around 2012-2013.

2. Probably internet search and the website popped up.

3. That there are a small subset of physicians who are steady long term savers and don't do day-trading unlike the physicians sitting in the doctor lounges who do while they are wolfing down the free food and talking about the next sure bet.

[Huggy]

1. 2016

2. While applying to medical school, I frequented the SDN forums where I occasionally would see WCI's postings. At the time, I already had an interest in personal finance so I purchased his original book to read while waiting to hear back from schools. I instantly was hooked and re-read the book multiple times that week despite not really being able to put any of that knowledge to practical use. Shortly after, I made my way over to the podcasts, forum and blogs.

3. One of the most shocking lessons that I have learned is just how much money is required to afford a comfortable physician's retirement. Coming from a family where my parents are excited about their 60k in retirement savings, it was truly shocking to learn of the seven/eight figure retirement accounts of some of the members of this forum. These posts have truly inspired me to work diligently towards securing the type of financial future that I never even thought was possible when I chose to pursue a career in medicine.

[Fullhouse11]

1 Around 2013-14 when I realized my physician husband had been slowly taking himself out of all tasks/decisions financial. I realized that I would be steering the ship and he would be the money maker. In 2008 we had made the decision to save aggressively, I kept that as the plan. He continues to love his lucrative practice, to the point of averaging $800k+ annual income. I show him our books a few times a year and he just says, ‘good job.’

2. Google search about physician financial planning.

3. Biggest aha moment was probably the 4 physicians by Physician on Fire when it first came out. I read that and the millionaire next door at the same time. Now, firmly in FI territory, almost 50, I still think about those lessons.