Comprehensive List of Physician Finance Bloggers, Past and Present

***For the most updated list please visit THIS PAGE.

I’ve secluded myself into the academic world for the past decade doing research, clinical work, and teaching (more about me). I came out for a brief peek when I met the White Coat Investor in Vegas where he gave a guest lecture in October 2016 for the American College of Emergency Physicians conference. I approached him after his lecture and he encouraged me to find my unique voice and path. That is when I had the idea for this website and purchased the domain name to promote physician personal productivity, finances, and well-being.

However, I had a lot of academic and family commitments at the time and decided to delay starting the site. Almost three years later, I’m poking my head back out to start this site (July 1, 2019) and boy have things changed! So many amazing physician finance bloggers out there and Physician on Fire is now RETIRED! 

I read the White Coat Investor’s most recent post in 2018 on all of the physician finance blogs out there and the overall message was that the field is pretty much saturated, and it would be difficult to create “another physician financial blog.” To be honest, I was a bit discouraged about entering a field with so many astounding individuals.

So, to get a better lay of the land I needed objective data regarding what I would be getting myself into and who the active players are. I looked through, Crispydoc, WealthyDoc, DadsMakingCents, and White Coat Investor’s posts regarding the overview of all of the current physician finance blogs. I noticed, however, that some blogs have not had recent posts and some were completely down! Furthermore, finding social media links for all of these sites was somewhat difficult.

So, I decided to approach learning about the physician finance blogging world in the best way I knew how, through a systematic research-like process. In a similar spirit, I wrote the post like I would a research article using the IMRaD (Introduction, Methods, Results, and Discussion/Conclusion) approach. Sorry if this structure brings back bad memories for anyone…

I further want to apologize to everyone if there is inaccurate or missing data. I am still new to the world of blogging and wanted to share the results of what I found in the process of educating myself and bringing myself up to speed in case others who are also new to this may find this information useful.

INTRODUCTION

There has been an increasing number of physician finance blogs since 2011 when The White Coat Investor site, by James Dahle, first appeared. However, the exact number of active versus inactive blogs and their social media presence is unclear. 

The Primary Objective of this post is to evaluate the current state of active and inactive physician finance bloggers.

Secondary Objectives

  • To determine the social media presence and links to physician finance bloggers. 
  • To learn the history of each blog by determining the start date of each blog: defined as the date of the FIRST blog post that could be found on their current site.
  • Determine when the date of the LAST blog post was for inactive physician bloggers. 
  • Determine which blogs are obsolete. Defined as non-functional sites that are inaccessible or no current server.

METHODS

An active search for a “comprehensive list” of all current physician finance bloggers was performed. *There are likely more physician finance blogs, but I narrowed my search using the lists obtained from the following pages:

Sites Data Collected FromDate of Article Publication
Crispydoc: https://www.crispydoc.com/physician-finance-bloggers/Continously Updated
WealthyDoc: https://wealthydoc.org/physician-blogs/2019.07.24
DadsMakingCents: https://www.dadsmakingcents.com/physician-financial-blog-rankings/2018.10.31
White Coat Investor: https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/list-of-physician-financial-blogs/2018.07.13

Data collected:

  • Demographics: site name, website address, first blog post, last blog post
  • Social Media Links to each site including: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, Linkedin, Podcast
  • Alexa GLOBAL ranking score was obtained for each site. (Click HERE to learn more about Alexa score and it’s limitations)

RESULTS

Figure 1: The Number of New Physician Finance Blogs by Year Since 2011

*Obsolete sites could not be included since those sites could not be accessed. 

***For the most updated list please visit THIS PAGE.

(*Date Alexa Ranking Data Obtained: August 22nd, 2019). You can read each blog’s FIRST and LAST post by clicking on the corresponding date.  If you would like to follow ALL of the physician finance bloggers from this table on Twitter, I made a Twitter List which you can subscribe to so you don’t have to manually find them!

**the table is SEARCHABLE and SORTABLE by Column.
**All social media accounts can be accessed by clicking on the corresponding icon for the the site.

Table 2: List of “Inactive” Physician Finance Blogs

An Inactive blog is defined as having no new blog post for over 12 Weeks (dates and links to their last blog post can be found in the table above). I want to clarify that being “Inactive” does NOT mean these blogs are not posting anymore, they have just not had any posts for the past 12 weeks that I could find. **I contacted Thrifty Surgeon and he reports he has some great content coming up! Physician REI is in Maintenance Mode. In Future Proof MD’s latest post, he is busy with Interventional Radiology residency but reports he is still alive and will be back someday. Dr. Wise Money’s blog still has ongoing post from her sister. I do remember reading from prominent blogs at the time of Amanda’s passing sometime in November 2016. Re-reading those posts reignited feelings of sadness and sorrow for her family as well. She had such a huge impact she had on the physician finance community, even as a resident. As far as I can tell, the last post actually written by her on the site was on May 26th, 2017 (posthumous)

1099 MDEfficient Frontier (Bill Bernstein)My Curiosity Lab
Another Second OpinionFinancially Free MDNegotiation MD
By Well DesignFirst HabitNisha Mehta MD
Dads Making CentsForeign Born MDNomads With A Vision
Delayed EarnerFuture Proof MDPhysician REI
Doc of All TradezKeeping Up With The DarkosSome Random Guy Online
Doctor of Finance MDLife of FI MDSon Of A Doctor
Doctors on DebtLive Free MDThrifty Surgeon
Dr. Wise MoneyMinimal MDWall Street Physician

Table 3: List of “Obsolete” Physician Finance Blogs

Obsolete is defined as a website that is not connected to a server or could not be accessed when their site was typed in. Check for yourself! Links attached for each site. (*Dr Money Blog is now Canucks Money)

A Good Life MDApprentice MDDr Money Blog*
Dr ScrillaFifteen Minute Financial FitnessMed School Financial
Military MillionsRetire Early MDSide Hustle Scrubs
Stealth Wealth MDTime For Money MDThe Boss MD

DISCUSSION

I spent about a day collecting this data and writing it up. I learned so much that I thought it would be good to share, especially for anyone new like me who feels overwhelmed with the amount of information and sites out there.

Main learning points for me:

  • The highest number of new physician finance bloggers appeared in 2017 compared to any other year. Not many sites are starting in 2019 (maybe a bad omen for me that interest is going down? yikes!)
  • I found it especially educational and inspiring to read everyone’s FIRST blog post and see how far they are today! It was also interesting to read the LAST blog post of inactive bloggers and notice that there was rarely a notice of their pending absence.
  • Twitter seems to be the most used method for social media connection among physician finance bloggers.
  • Given the amount of Twitter use in this community, I noticed only a few people actually use Twitter Lists. I found out it can be an absolute time-saver by reading Tweets focused by subgroup (Save time and subscribe to ALL Physician Finance Bloggers on Twitter from this post with a Twitter list I made: Literally takes ONE CLICK).
  • Many physician finance sites will have corresponding Facebook group pages.
  • Much fewer physician finance sites actively use Instagram, Pinterest, YouTube, or Linkedin to network or promote content.

Limitations: I apologize as a newcomer to blogging and social media that I may not know all of the key players, but this is the best I could put together from what I could find in a day. I am sure I did not include all physician finance bloggers and I apologize for any inaccurate or missing data.

CONCLUSION

To sum this up, I am absolutely blown away with the physician finance blogging community. I feel like a new 3rd-year medical student (new blogger) doing a cursory review of pulmonary hypertension and presenting his findings to a seasoned pulmonary attending (the rest of the physician blogging community).

I do feel like I have a much better grasp of the community and how it functions. My main career focus has been on personal productivity, basic finances, and physician-wellbeing. After reviewing everything, I think I may still have a place in this blogging world and hope that some may find my experiences useful. But also understand that blogging monetization is not an easy task.

I look forward to meeting these amazing physicians at FinCon. It will be my first time going and I do feel like an imposter in this world of blogging, but I am open and willing to learn from anyone and everyone. 

Whats Next?

I hope you found this post useful. After collecting all this data, I decided I actually want to formally publish something in the PubMed literature regarding alternative paths in medicine through physician blogging and social media. I already submitted to the IRB a letter of determination at my institution and have a few medical students that want to help out and collect data! If you operate a physician blog and would be willing to have a short survey sent to you (pending IRB approval) regarding how you got started and advice you would give to others, please contact me or comment below. You will definitely be acknowledged when the publication goes out. 

I truly believe collecting and reporting this data would be invaluable to the academic medical community that has little clue what the blogging community does and the importance it brings! I sure didn’t know until a month ago and I’m learning more each and every day. It’s like being a first-year medical student all over again. I love it!

If you feel this post was helpful or think further updates in the future could be beneficial, please let me know in the comments below and I can create a separate page with quarterly or biannual updates (depending on interest). Also I welcome any suggestions, words of wisdom, comments, feedback, etc below. 

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  • Dr. McFrugal was the first physician finance blogger who encouraged and really supported me starting this blog. I was fairly hesitant in doing so before talking to him.
  • The Physician Philosopher for releasing a Guest Post I wrote on his site on Personal Productivity, Burnout, and Financial Independence.
  • I have not met WealthyDoc yet, but he has been absolutely amazing with his support of this newbie on Twitter. Also, his Alexa ranking list was the framework of how I built the table in this post.
  • CrispyDoc who maintains such an amazing list of all of the physician finance bloggers out there. I could not have made this post without his hard work. If you want to get a “One-liner” describing all of the physician finance blogs his page is the place to go!
  • Xrayvsn who has has been so active and kind to this newcomer. I don’t know how he seems to be commenting on everyone’s sites and Twitter handles at one time! I think he has clones, or maybe he is dictating his comments while reading scans. His “The Hospital” page contains active blog feeds for every single physician finance blog and more!
  • I especially want to acknowledge James Dahle from the White Coat Investor for spending an hour after giving his lecture at ACEP in 2016 to talk to me about his path and inspiring me to find my own. He probably doesn’t remember our conversation 3 years ago but I sure do!
Meeting THE White Coat Investor in 2016. (Middle person de-identified)

With Gratitude,
Vi Dinh, Physician Zen Editor

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Physician on FIRE
4 years ago

Great work here, Dr. Dinh!

This is the most comprehensive breakdown I’ve seen to date, and it was a bit of a trip down memory lane. More than a few times, I’ve wondered what happened to this blog or that site. In some cases, we’ll never know, but I’m assuming for most of them, blogging was a hobby worth trying but they’ve moved on to other hobbies.

Cheers!
-PoF

Zen Productivity
4 years ago

Thanks so much PoF! You are definitely one of my biggest inspirations. When I created the site 3 years ago and before I put it in maintenance mode, you actually put a comment on the page wishing me luck. Will remember it this day. I think you may have been a mortal back then. LOL.

Thanks again for the comment and reading this post and means a lot coming from you.

Crispy Doc
4 years ago

For the record, PoF is like the NFL QB who pops up at the Pop Warner games to encourage newbies – I’d guess just about every other Physician Finance Blogger has felt taken under his wing and encouraged early in their blog’s existence.

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Crispy Doc

Totally agree. A super amazing supporter of new bloggers and encouraging!

Xrayvsn
4 years ago

What an incredible resource you just put out there. I can’t imagine how long it took you to compile this but thank you for doing it.

What is sad is seeing some of the blogs I follow in the Inactive and even worse Obsolete categories. It kind of drives home the point that blogging is not as easy as it looks (the average lifespan of a blog is around 6 months).

And thank you for including me in the acknowledgements. LOL. I am blessed with being an incredibly fast typist and I know how much I enjoy receiving comments when I put a post out so I figure if I took the time to read a post, 1 more minute to type a comment won’t kill me and acknowledges to the author that they did a great job.

By the way since you already laid the framework for this, I would suggest making this an actual page on your blog with its own tab and if not too hard keep it updated.

It is nice to see where one stands (and I actually try to use some of the data to convince some sponsors to spend money on my site).

Looking forward to meeting you at FinCon.

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Xrayvsn

Thanks Xrayvsn! I somehow don’t see you being “obsolete” at any point 🙂 I do however think you have some type of Yoda like powers to comment on blog posts BEFORE they are published somehow though….

So glad you found the data helpful. Yes, I will make it into a separate page under the resources menu after I get any further feedback or updated I should make to the table from readers.

Super excited about FinCon!!

The White Coat Investor

An impressive amount of effort and a useful resource for those of us in the field. Too bad it doesn’t include the obsolete sites. That’s really important for those considering starting one to see that 30 or 40 have come and gone and to realize that success isn’t as easy as it looks when you only look at the winners. BTW, Wealthy Doc started blogging in something like 2006 or 2008 or something like that. Bill Bernstein wasn’t blogging specifically for docs and Ben White wasn’t really blogging about finances back then, so I really only consider Wealthy Doc to have preceded me in the niche, and I didn’t even know about him for at least a couple of years.

As far as your goal to “convince sponsors” you will find that there is a lot more to this business than just Alexa ranking or pageviews. For example, is there a podcast driving traffic, a forum, a youtube channel, a newsletter, a FB group etc, who are the readers (some readers are more valuable to sponsors than others and the composition of readers is HIGHLY variable in the list above), and what other blogs do they read? For example, if someone reads your blog but also reads mine, why pay extra to advertise to that reader twice?

Zen Productivity
4 years ago

Thanks so much Jim for the comment. I can’t believe your comment was actually in the SPAM Folder until I found it today. Apologies for that. Probably the worst person to have in the Spam folder. LOL.

Thanks for the historical comments. Wealthy Doc always credits you for starting the movement and you credit him to be the first Physician Finance Blogger 🙂

Yes the more I dig, the more intricacies I am starting to find out about this business. Your insight is invaluable and I can’t tell you how much of an impact you have made for me as well as others!

Wealthy Doc
4 years ago

Thanks for doing all this work. And for the kind words.

You haven’t been at this long, but you have already added tremendous value and a unique voice.

Jim Dahle (WCI) has been consistently generous in giving me credit as the “first” physician finance blogger. My original “.Com” site started in 2007, but I made so many technical errors that I scrapped it and started over in 2018 with a “.Org” version. There is a lot to be said for DIY investing, but maybe not DIY blogging. I have no idea why my Alexa rank is so high, but it is nice to see. I used to think only my wife and Mom read my blog, but recently they both told me they don’t read it.

Jim and his WCI is really the tsunami that brought life to this space.

I’m glad to see Bill Bernstein’s site there too. He deserves a lot of credit for starting a website that I started reading in 1998. He even responded to my emails back then and shared great wisdom and guidance. His books inspired and informed me and Jim Dahle. Kudos again to Jim for including Bernstein in podcasts and conferences.

I look forward to meeting you in person at FinCon19.

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Wealthy Doc

Thanks Wealthy Doc! I don’t think the White Coat Investor just gives out credit unless it is truly earned. I don’t think your Alexa rank is a fluke at all. I’m surprised I even have an Alexa ranking 🙂

I feel so blessed to know you and feel like we are kindred spirits from different eras with similar interests in meditation, journaling, wellness, productivity, and now explainer videos!! Can’t wait to meet you at FinCon!!

Youbethree
4 years ago

This is awesome! My rank is terrible but I’m so glad I even made the list! Yay! Continue with posts like this and you’re gonna zoom straight to the top. Good luck! And happy writing!!

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Youbethree

You are so funny! I love your Tweet: “I made the list! I’m ranked! Lol. Had no hope for it, so this totally made my day. Check out all the other blogs that are way better than mine ?”

Your tweet made MY day and thank you for the kind words 🙂

Dr. McFrugal
4 years ago

Thank you very much for the kind acknowledgment!

It’s impressive to see this huge comprehensive list. I didn’t even realize my first post was 9/2/2017! Doesn’t even feel like I’ve been blogging for 2 years. I guess time flies when you’re having fun.

It is very sad to see so many physician bloggers come and go. I think most of the time, a person stops blogging because they:
1) Feel burned out (understandable because it could be a lot of work)
2) They start off excited because it’s fun and novel, but then it wears off and the joy isn’t there anymore
3) They move on to different things (more time with family, work demands increase as they become more senior, other entrepreneurial pursuits, etc.)

Some of the bloggers that originally inspired me are now obsolete.

I think in order to have a sustainable blog, you have to have realistic expectations.

If you’re going to try to turn your blog into a business and make a lot of money, you have to expect to work extremely hard on it to the point where it is a second full time job. It also take a lot of forethought, planning, business acumen, and marketing. Like Jim Dahle says: content creation, promotion, monetization. Perhaps many physicians fall into the trap of reading other physician finance blogs and thinking it’s easy without realizing how much work is required to put in. As a time/money tradeoff, a vast majority of physicians will make more per hour in their day job, unless you’re the White Coat Investor and his case it took many years for him to build up to that.

For me, I had realistic expectations. I expected to:
1) Join the physician finance blogging community, be an active participant, and learn from everyone.
2) Try to create content that is at least somewhat valuable and helps a few people.
3) Have fun.

As a newcomer, you’ve already accomplished all of those and more! 🙂

See you at FinCon!

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Dr. McFrugal

Yes, time does feel like it is flying yet I also can’t believe all of the amazing people I have to meet on this blog and social media in just the past 7 weeks.

Thanks for being the first physician blogger to show me the ropes and being so supportive.

I think you hit it on the head. The primary purpose is to share content that can help people and to have FUN. Of course with realistic time expectations. That is the only way to keep this sustainable. Monetizing is a byproduct, not a primary expectation.

Can’t wait to hang out at FinCon 🙂

Lara McElderry
4 years ago

Awesome list!

Many of these bloggers have been guests on my podcast, Married To Doctors!

I’m not a finance person, but it certainly comes up in relationship coaching!

I am going to be at FinCon this year, hope to meet you there!

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Lara McElderry

Hi Lara!! Thanks so much for the comment and the kind words. I’m glad you found this post useful. Yes, my wife is an attorney and she definitely feels the pain of being married to a doctor. I love your site and what it represents. I don’t think most people outside of medicine really understand what it means to be in medicine or “married to medicine” and how difficult the finances can be. Thanks again for the comments and looking forward to seeing you at FinCon! If you need another physician to be on your Podcast just let me know 🙂

Crispy Doc
4 years ago

What a delight to see this comprehensive survey done – I guess that you are the answer to “What do you get when you cross an academic with a blogger” – IRB funding to boot! To my (admitted limited) knowledge, Roguedadmd was the only academic physician finance blogger to turn it into a publication (his was on resident financial literacy as I recall).

I look forward to more great things from you, am grateful for the gracious shout out, and would be happy to participate in your survey.

Fondly (and with not a little awe at your work ethic in producing awesomeness!),

CD

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Crispy Doc

OMG thanks so much for the comment Cripsy Doc! I’ve shoved my head into academics for so long that I totally forgot there is a whole other world out there. Feel like a kid in a candy shop with all of the new ways of communicating and connecting with people. Your blog is a true inspiration and I appreciate everything you do for the community. We should all hang out in So cal with Dr. McFrugal and PIMD at some point :). I’ll update you on the survey IRB is in process right now. Thanks so much again!

Kenji Asakura
4 years ago

Great article! It’s a great enhancement to the lists that are out there already. If you need any help with your research project, Letizia and I would be happy to participate. Looking forward to meeting you at FinCon!

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Kenji Asakura

Thanks so much Kenji and Letizia! Your expertise in real estate is amazing. I’ll let you guys know about the IRB approval once it comes out. Thanks again and see you at FinCon! 🙂

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[…] M.D, M.D. is one of many physician personal finance bloggers now producing stellar content. When I started this site, there were maybe a half dozen of us. Now there are more than six dozen, and Physician Zen, a welcome new addition to the space, compiled what I believe the most complete list to date. Comprehensive List of Physician Finance Bloggers, Past and Present. […]

Loonie Doctor
4 years ago

A systematic review. Love it!

Comparing these to the Alexa rankings from WCI’s list last year. An Alexa ranking of one million would have been top 8 and would now just crack the top 20. With the growth spurt of 2017/18, it would seem that many have found some fertile ground. There was also a big gap between the top four and everyone else in 2018. Now, it is more of a smooth continuum with the increased data points.

It is also noteworthy that 39/78 of blogs have gone inactive or extinct. It is a large effort to blog regularly, and I think, a monumental one to do it “professionally” or “semi-professionally”. You were wise to wait for a time where you could put the effort in on it. Part of me wishes that I had done that as it would have made it easier to publish at a consistent high rate. However, I felt that there was such a vacuum in Canada around physician finance that I decided to just start plugging away at it. I am still in the active academic career and busy family stage. However, it has been a refreshing diversion to fill a need, learn new things, and add to the diversity of my career.

Looking forward to more and happy to participate in your academic project survey.
-LD

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Loonie Doctor

Thanks so Much Loonie Doctor!! I LOVE your website and your humor. If only I could have a fraction of the humor you have. LOL.

Thanks for the comment. Yes I absolutely wanted to start this sooner but I knew my academic and family life would take a big hit from this. I appreciate your words of wisdom and encouragement.

I’ll absolutely let you know when the IRB approval is done and send the info to you!

Thanks again,
Vi

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Kelsey Lander
Kelsey Lander
4 years ago

Loving the blog, Dr. Dinh! Knew it would be a success! You’re inspiring me to look through all of these great resources but also scan to see if there are many resources aimed at NP/PAs as well. I’m curious to see where the advice differs or remains the same.

Keep it up!
Kelsey

Zen Productivity
4 years ago
Reply to  Kelsey Lander

Thanks Kelsey! So nice to hear from you. Hope all is well. I don’t see any specific resources aimed at NP/PA’s but almost all of the concepts apply to any healthcare professionals. Always feel free to reach out to see how I can help as well!

Thx,
Vi

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