The financial industry is built around managing money and investing. Our focus is on helping you make better decisions across every area of your financial life.

We create a comprehensive, evolving financial plan that integrates income, spending, debt, insurance, investments, and taxes because it's impossible to give good advice or manage investments without understanding your goals and personal situation.

Traditional advisors use an Assets Under Management (AUM) fee structure, where their pay rises automatically as you become wealthier, even when the amount of work does not. Over time, this model allows advisors to get rich off their clients' success.

Invest $1 million, and a 1% AUM advisor collects $10,000 every year. When that portfolio grows to $5 million, the same advice now costs $50,000 annually, but the work needed is not 5X more complicated.

We don't think that's fair.

That's why we have a flat fee for financial planning and ongoing support, just like you'd pay a lawyer, accountant, or consultant. You pay for our expertise and advice, not for how much money happens to be in your accounts.

If you choose to add investment management, we have some of the lowest rates in the industry. Our fees enable us to hire the highest-caliber team to support you and your investments.

Our core offerings are Financial Planning, Investment Management, and Student Loan Advice. Through our umbrella company, Extraordinary Wealth, we can also support Trust Management and Family Office Services.

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While many principles of financial planning and investing are the same for everyone, there are a few unique aspects about a doctor's life that merit a little more consideration including:

• High student loan burdens
• Late start to earning
• Lack of financial and business training
• Complicated retirement account situations
• High income
• High tax burden
• Potential medically related alternative investments such as surgical or radiology centers
• Malpractice liability asset protection concerns

Financial plans are most successful at reaching your financial goals when you and your spouse share the same goals. Death or disability may also result in the less interested spouse having to take a more significant role in the process. As such we require both spouses to participate in the financial planning process. Certain exceptions for imminent divorce, separation, and estrangement situations can be discussed with your planner.

We specialize in serving physicians, dentists, other high income professionals, business owners, retirees from these professions, their heirs, passive real estate investors, and similar high income and high net worth clients. We cannot be all things to all people and we feel that focusing on our core clients helps us to give the highest quality advice.

White Coat Planning is a fee-only financial advisory firm and we do not receive commissions from products or investments. We believe advisors should be compensated for the work they do for you, not the size of your portfolio.

Financial Planning

We charge a one-time flat fee of $4,500 to build your personalized financial plan. After that, you will choose one of four support plans for ongoing financial advice.

We require a three-month minimum commitment following the creation of your plan, allowing time for the adjustments and refinements that naturally occur as you begin implementing it.

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Investment Management

You will pay based on your total investable assets, including retirement accounts, brokerage accounts, 529s, HSAs, donor-advised funds, UTMAs, passive real estate holdings, and other similar holdings.

If your plan includes additional services outside the standard scope, your planner will discuss those details with you in advance.

Fees are billed separately from financial planning services.

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Student Loan Advice

While student loan support is included as part of our comprehensive financial planning services, we also offer a standalone option for those who are specifically looking for help managing their student loans.

Our Personalized Student Loan Plan includes a one-hour consultation with a student loan expert and six months of follow-up support, all for $599.

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All fees may increase periodically with inflation

No. We do not require a minimum net worth to work with us. Our services are designed for physicians and high-income professionals at many different stages, from early career to those with more complex financial lives. What matters most is that you're looking for thoughtful, planning-first guidance and value a transparent, fee-only approach.

This fee is paid to a third party servicer, a turnkey asset management platform (TAMP), who handles portfolio various asset management tasks (i.e., trading, tracking, reporting, etc).

Our investment platform charges a 0.10% platform fee on assets under management. Note that assets under management are different from assets under advisement.

For example:

• A client with $3 million in a 401(k), $1 million in an IRA, and $1 million in a taxable brokerage account is considered to have $5 million of assets under advisement.
• That same client has $2 million of assets under management (the IRA and brokerage account) being directly managed by White Coat Planning and thus the 0.10% platform fee would only apply to $2 million, not $5 million. The $3 million in the 401(k) is not considered an asset under management since White Coat Planning does not have direct control over the account.

Assets Under Management (AUM) refers to assets which an advisor has discretionary control and direct access over. The advisor has access to the account(s) and can make trades, withdrawals, and other changes. Common examples include IRA accounts and taxable brokerage accounts.

Asset Under Advisement (AUA) refers to the aggregate of both AUM and other assets for which the advisor provides ongoing oversight and guidance but that are not directly accessible. Common examples include employer-provided retirement plans like 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and cash balance plans, as well as personal investments like HSAs, 529s, or privately held real estate funds.

For example:

• A client with $3 million in a 401(k), $1 million in an IRA, and $1 million in a taxable brokerage account is considered to have $5 million of assets under advisement.
• That same client has $2 million of assets under management (the IRA and brokerage account) being directly managed by White Coat Planning. The $3 million in the 401(k) is not considered an asset under management since White Coat Planning does not have direct control over the account.

Student loan advice and management are included in our regular planning fees, but we also offer a stand-alone consultation service with one of our Student Loan Planners. For a one time-fee of $599, an expert will help you craft the best plan to manage your student loan burden. This fee includes 6 months of follow-up questions by email. This service has been shown to save many clients tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars.

This service is designed to cover limited scope questions from clients that are not subscribed to one of our four monthly support levels. We offer a check-in/ask questions service for which we charge hourly rates and offer slots as our planners have availability. This costs $600 per hour with a 2-hour minimum. Those interested in this service should be aware that many financial questions that seem simple actually require several hours of research, discussion, and information gathering (or even a comprehensive plan) to properly answer. If you are like many of our clients, our monthly support is often more cost-effective. This service is not a way to get a comprehensive financial plan for $1,200.

Trust companies operate as the highest level of fiduciaries and are regulated as a chartered bank. They are also regulated by individual state banking regulators, rather than SEC and FINRA. That savings can be passed on to you in the form of lower fees. Most small financial advisory companies function as Registered Investment Advisors (RIAs) because they do not meet the large capital requirements to be a trust company. We are large enough to overcome that hurdle and bring those benefits to our clients.

Yes. White Coat Planning uses a flat-fee model rather than charging a percentage of assets under management (AUM). Clients pay a financial planning fee that does not depend on portfolio size. Investment management, if selected, uses tiered flat-fee pricing instead of a traditional AUM percentage.

Yes. White Coat Planning is a fee-only firm. We are paid solely by the fees our clients pay. We do not receive commissions or incentives for selling financial products. The White Coat Investor is the majority owner of White Coat Planning. If clients choose to use products or services advertised on The White Coat Investor website, The White Coat Investor may receive compensation, but White Coat Planning and its planners do not.

A comprehensive financial plan integrates income, spending, debt, insurance, investments, and taxes because it's impossible to give sound financial advice or manage investments without understanding your goals and personal situation. Even if that plan is simple, it needs to be reviewed annually so that we can continue to serve you in the best way possible. There are some clients, like trusts, that simply need assets managed. One of our advisors can let you know about investment management options that may be available to you.

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Can I stay with my current investment manager if I hire you for financial planning but not investment management?

Yes. Investment management at White Coat Planning is always optional. If you already have an investment manager you trust, you are welcome to continue working with them while we provide financial planning services.

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Can I hire you to manage only a portion of my investments while another manager handles the rest?

No. Our investment philosophy is based on evaluating all household investable assets together. Managing only a portion of assets can make it difficult to properly coordinate asset allocation and asset location across accounts, which are key components of our investment approach.

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Do you work with those still in school or training (medical residents and fellows)?

Yes. There are many financial planning considerations unique to those still in school or training. Our planners are experienced in the specific challenges and opportunities faced by residents and fellows. We believe there is tremendous value in building a comprehensive financial plan before the major financial changes that often come with completing training.

One of our founders, Dr. Jim Dahle, spent years looking for the ideal financial planning firm and couldn't find it. In 2025, Dr. Dahle joined forces with other professionals and started White Coat Planning. While Dr. Dahle does not work in the day-to-day operations of the company, it is built on the principles taught at The White Coat Investor and Dr. Dahle has control of the mission and direction of the company.

One of our founders, Don Wenner, is also the founder of DLP Capital. However, our planners receive zero compensation or pressure to refer clients to DLP, so they can always offer you advice with as little conflict as possible. Many of our clients were previously and/or continue to be DLP investors. We work with them to ensure their financial planning needs are met and their investment portfolios are balanced and diversified.

Yes. A fiduciary financial advisor is legally and ethically required to act in the client’s best interest. As a trust company, we operate under one of the highest fiduciary standards in the financial industry.  

Yes. Financial planning is the core service at White Coat Planning and can be provided as a standalone, advice-only engagement. Investment management is optional and cannot be selected as a standalone service.

No. Fee-based advisors earn money both from client fees and from commissions on products they sell. Those products only need to meet a “suitability” standard rather than a "best-interest" standard. This structure creates a conflict of interest and can incentivize advisors to recommend products that pay them more, rather than what is best for the client, which may be no product at all.