By Dr. Jim Dahle, WCI Founder
Due to popular demand, The Physician Wellness and Financial Literacy Conference (WCICON) has left the Intermountain West for the first time. Since its inception, our conference has taken place in Park City, Utah; Las Vegas; and Phoenix (twice). In 2024, we’re trying something a little different.
Instead of sunny Arizona, we’re going to sunny Orlando. Not only will this make it easier for those of you on the East Coast to attend, but it will make for a really nice trip with the family, as a couple, with friends, or even solo to the Orlando-area theme parks.
Though WCICON is designed to be a wellness retreat (and it definitely will be!), the real reason we come together is to experience what you won’t at any other medical or financial conference. AT WCICON, you will carve out time to focus on your financial life and gain clear direction on how to improve your specific situation. It will give you the space to reset, recharge, and imagine your ideal life, and you’ll return home with practical tools to build that life. You also will be together with like-minded professionals who can relate to your specific situation.
Not many of us have people we can discuss our financial challenges with—people who can relate to having student loans hanging over your head, paying what seems like too much to the tax man, or feeling burned out of doing something that you’ve wanted to do since you were a kid.
I’ve found that spending time with those who truly understand is one of the most important parts of our conference. The content will be top-tier. Paula Pant, from the “Afford Anything” podcast, and Tarryn MacCarthy, a DMD who is a happiness and transformational mindset coach for high-achieving professionals, will be joining me as Keynotes. We will also have 30+ other amazing breakout speakers.
Early bird registration (and pricing) opened yesterday, September 12, and it will run through October 12. After that, the price goes up. As usual, this is a mid- to late-winter conference, which is the perfect time for us Northerners to escape the frozen landscape and, as you Southerners already know, the best time of year to be outside in Florida. The dates for WCICON24 are February 5-8. Despite everything else in your life going up in price, we’ve kept the early bird price (the price that most people pay) for this conference exactly the same for the third year in a row.
Early bird registration gets you $300 off the regular in-person prices. We also have guest passes available (which get your partner into meals and wellness activities but not the content activities); a virtual option; and, of course, the premium option for those who want the first-class treatment throughout the conference.
Our Destination
We are going to the beautiful Rosen Shingle Creek Resort, just 25 minutes from the Orlando airport (cheap flights into Orlando!), 7 minutes from Sea World, 10 minutes from Universal Studios, and 12 minutes from Disney World. Look at this place; it’s incredible!
It has all that you would expect from a wellness conference resort including:
- On-site spa
- Championship golf
- Pickleball
- Sand volleyball
- Heated pools
Oh yeah, and there are a bunch of hotel rooms and suites because you’re going to want to stay on-site to fully participate in this conference. Guess what? We found a place that is at least as nice as the JW Marriott resort in Phoenix but significantly less expensive. Once you register, you will receive the link for our group reservation to Rosen Shingle Creek.
Conference Sessions
Despite the fact that we’re going to send you home with an electronic version of the entire conference (with additional content and CME), some of you actually come for the content of the conference! And let me tell you, we’ve got some great stuff planned for this year. We have a lot of favorites returning but also plenty of talented speakers who have never been part of the WCICON faculty before. This includes:
WELLNESS TRACK
In-Person Sessions
- Family Strong: How to Enhance Your Most Important Relationships, Jim Sheils
- How Operating at Your Highest Paygrade Will Create More Joy (at Work and at Home), Kate Mangona, MD
- How to Be Happy with Less, Dimitrios Tsatiris, MD
- How to Survive a Toxic Workplace, Margaret Curtis, MD, FAAP
- Investing in Your Health: Practical Recommendations for Busy Individuals, Kevin Forey, MD, MBA
- Principles of Positive Parenting, Julie Alonso, MD
- Psychological Trauma and Recovery Basics for Physicians Across Specialties, Gina Clark, MD, DPhil
- Reclaiming the Joy of Being a Physician, Cory Fawcett, MD, CHPC
- Retire or Just Tired?: How to Re-Engage and Re-Motivate When Burned Out, Paula Pant
- Staying Sane in the Era of Social Media, Dawn L Baker, MD, MS
- The New American Dream: How to 100X Your Life and Your Impact, Don Wenner
- Unleash Your Potential: An Empowered Path to Success, Tarryn MacCarthy, DMD
- Unlocking Personal Fulfillment: Harnessing the Power of QI and System Thinking, Brittne Halford, MD, MPH
Virtual Sessions
- A Developmental Approach to Physician Well-Being from Residency to Retirement, Robert Leschke, MD, CPCC
- Charting in Medicine: Parallels and Synergy to Enhance Well-Being, Ryan Stegink, MD
- Thriving Beyond the White Coat: Navigating Career Transitions, Miguel Villagra, MD
FINANCE TRACK
In-Person Sessions
- Advanced Estate Planning for White Coat Investors, James Dahle, MD, FACEP
- Advanced Topics in Physician Contracts, Margaret Curtis, MD, FAAP
- Financial Minimalism: Simplify Your Financial Plan and Declutter Your Mind, Jake Zadra, MD
- Habits for a Wealthy Life, Cory Fawcett, MD, CHPC
- Health Insurance for Early Retirement and Beyond: Get the Facts First, Patricia Tan, MD
- How to Create an Effective Elder Care Game Plan, Jack Carney, JD, CELA
- How to Put ‘My Real Magic Number’ to Work Building Wealth, Sarah Catherine (SC) Gutierrez, CFP®, CRPS
- Physicians, Property, and Prosperity: Current Topics in Real Estate Investment, Peter Kim, MD
- Pre-Tax or Roth?: A Deep Dive, Christopher Davin, MEng
- Right-Size Your Spending: Learning How to Save More or Spend More, Leif Dahleen, MD
- Tax Reduction Strategies No One Should Be Missing Out On, Alexis Gallati, MBA, MS Tax
- The Blueprint to Wealth: Understanding Real Estate Fundamentals and Investing, Michael Episcope
- The Kiddie Tax on Your Career, Erin Garvey, MD
- The Unsung Benefits of Index Investing, James Dahle, MD, FACEP
- What to Know When Investing in Bonds and Bond Funds, Elizabeth Chiang, MD, PhD
Virtual Sessions
- A Neurologist Guide to Fighting Behavioral Biases, Rikki Racela, MD
- Aligning Your Wealth and Your Values to Live More Fulfilling Lives, Daniel Wrenne
- Case Files: Cash Balance Pension Plans for the Solo Practitioner to Private Practice Partner, Victor Mangona, MD
- Lean Private Practice: A Sustainable Model in a Changing Healthcare Landscape, Sangmitra Sadhu, MD
- Retirement Plans: Get Your Fair Shake, Michael George
- Why the Turtle Beats the Hare in Real Estate Investing, Jordan Frey, MD
You can learn more about each of the speakers here. There were more than 250 talks submitted for this conference. We chose the best of the best just for you.
Continuing Education
Did I mention you get 16 Continuing Medical Education or Dental Continuing Education credit for this? That means you can use your employer’s dedicated CME funds to pay for this at no cost to you. Or if you’re self-employed, write it all off as a business expense. That’s like a 25%-50% discount on the whole thing! Plus, when was the last time you went to a medical conference with people outside your specialty? For many attendees, WCICON is the first time they’ve ever done that.
Find Your People
Many of us don’t have anyone in our personal lives with whom we can talk about money. Come to WCICON and talk about it without any shame or guilt, no matter where you might be in your financial journey. We all know this is a single-player game—you against your goals—and we’re here to support you in reaching yours. Make and renew friendships, network, and go home relaxed instead of stressed. Come with a partner, come with friends, or come by yourself and make some new ones.
The Schedule
Here’s the general idea behind the conference:
The most important part of this schedule begins at 4pm. When we started WCICON, we threw some wellness stuff into the content to ensure you could use CME dollars to pay for it. What we’ve discovered over the years, however, is that people want the wellness content (and especially the wellness activities) at least as much as the financial content. So, you get to shut off your brain at 4pm, and the rest of the afternoon and evening are just pure enjoyment. Happy hours. Receptions. Dinners. Golf. Pickleball. Swimming. Yoga. A 5K run. And everything else we (and the sponsors) can come up with between now and February.
Speaking of sponsors, we’re super grateful to them too as they make this conference even better than we can make it ourselves.
Platinum Sponsors
Gold Sponsors
Silver Sponsors
Bronze Sponsors
Testimonials
But don’t just take our word for it. Hear what others have shared from their WCICON experience.
“This conference has changed my life. As a new attending physician, I had so many conflicting opinions about student loan debt, retirement contributions, and what I should and shouldn’t do with my money and time. After only a few years of practice, I felt overwhelmed with which steps I should take in creating my financial plan, and this conference has provided me with the resources and confidence to move forward and take action.”
“After attending WCICON, I feel refreshed and rejuvenated in promoting health in both my personal and financial life. I got to connect with my husband about things that are important to us, learn more, play a lot of pickleball, and enjoy a nerdy vacation together.”
“This conference was fun and motivating. Being surrounded by others who have similar interests in personal finance and self improvement allowed for exchanging of personal stories and strategies. I would recommend this conference to anyone who wants to gain more control and influence over their time and life.”
“WCICON fills the knowledge gaps that are omitted in medical training. I feel like a more well-rounded person who can be a better physician, spouse, and parent because of the knowledge passed on through the WCI community and conference.”
We surveyed attendees after the first conference, and more than 99% of them would recommend this conference to their peers. And the conference has only gotten better since then. We let last year’s attendees sign up for this year’s conference at the end of WCICON23, and 118 of them signed up on the spot because it was just that good. And this year will be even better.
Got FOMO yet? I do, and my room is already booked. This is going to be awesome. My favorite part, though, is talking to each attendee individually. The conference is bigger than it used to be, but it is still small enough that I still seem to be able to talk to every attendee and hear about your successes and challenges. That recharges me for another year of producing great blog and podcast content for you.
You don’t want to miss out, so register today!
Register today for WCICON and get early bird pricing!
You’ll get directions on how to book your room as soon as you register. While there are lots of hotels in Orlando, you’re going to want to be on-site, so book right away.
Still have questions? Check out the FAQ or ask them below. We can’t wait to see you there!
