A Post-Holiday Financial Wake-Up Call from Mount Crumpit

Dear Friends Down in Whoville (and Physicians Beyond),

The Grinch here. Yes, that Grinch. The green one with the dog.

My heart grew three sizes on Christmas Day, true.
But my finances? Frightful. I’m sharing with you.

I spent years in my cave hoarding junk to the ceiling.
Dusty Who-gadgets that gave me no feeling.

Stuff upon stuff upon stuff upon stuff!
Exposed brick! Heated floors! All that frivolous fluff!

I had boxes of blurbers and piles of fleen.
The most cluttered cave that you ever have seen!

I bought every Who-thing that came out brand new.
My savings rate? Terrible. Three point two.

I leased a new sleigh every two years or three.
I spent every Who-dollar that came in to me!

“I deserve it!” I’d growl from my cave way up high.
“I stole all those presents! That’s hard work!” I’d cry.

But sitting alone with my plunder that night,
I opened a statement. It gave me a fright.

My net worth was small though my income was big.
I spent like a Who with a gold-plated wig!

Lifestyle inflation had crept up on me.
Each raise that I got? Spent immediately.

I watched the Whos sing without presents or trees.
They had nothing at all! Not one thing, if you please!

Yet they stood there together, hearts full to the brim.
While I sat with my stuff feeling foolish and grim.

They didn’t need things to feel wealthy inside.
They had time and each other. They had nothing to hide.

It hit me right then like a sled to the face:
Compound interest works magic when given some space!

And time in the market beats timing it wrong.
I’d wasted decades not saving along!

So as this New Year came roaring on in,
Max and I wrote down our goals with a grin:

Resolution the First: We shall track every cent!
Every Who-dollar earned. Every Who-dollar spent.

No more mystery money that just disappears.
We’ll know where it goes for the very first time in years!

Resolution the Second: We’ll save off the top!
Pay ourselves first and then we will stop.

Automate transfers before we can touch it.
Twenty percent to our FI fund. We’ll clutch it!

Resolution the Third: We shall fight lifestyle creep!
That sleigh’s running fine. The old one we’ll keep.

No upgrades, no add-ons, no fancier cave.
We’ll learn to love what we already have.

Resolution the Fourth: An emergency stash!
Six months of expenses in cold, boring cash.

So when life throws a curveball (and life always will),
We won’t have to panic or sell at a spill.

Resolution the Fifth: We’ll max out our accounts!
The 401k and the backdoor Roth mounts.

Tax-advantaged and growing for decades to come.
Our future selves thanking us. Every last one.

Resolution the Sixth: We’ll invest and sit tight!
Low-cost index funds. Sleep easy at night.

No picking of stocks. No timing the dips.
Just boring old buy-and-hold. Set it. No flips.

Resolution the Seventh: (And this one’s the key)
We’ll remember that wealth isn’t stuff that you see.

It’s time with the Whos. It’s freedom to choose.
It’s knowing when “enough” means you never can lose.

The Whos taught me Christmas won’t come from a store.
And neither does freedom. It’s so much, much more.

Perhaps wealth, I now think, isn’t bought with more things.
Perhaps wealth is the freedom that good savings brings.

Less cave-dwelling alone. More investing in time.
A portfolio growing. A life that’s sublime.

More trips down to Whoville! More roast beast with friends!
A budget that works for sustainable ends!

The Whos didn’t need stuff to sing on that day.
They had each other. What more can I say?

So here’s to the New Year! To your savings rate rising!
To index funds growing in ways quite surprising!

To paying yourself first before spending a dime!
To letting your money compound over time!

Now if you’ll excuse me, I really must go.
I’m opening a brokerage account in the snow.

Yours in reformed grouchiness (and better finance),

The Grinch

P.S. Max sends his love from our cave in the snow. He’s invested in index funds. Watch that puppy’s portfolio grow!

The Post-Holiday Challenge

Here’s what I love about the Grinch’s story: he had a high income, access to resources, and still managed to have a terrible savings rate. Sound like any high-earning professionals you know?

The physician’s version of the Grinch’s cave often looks like:

• The “doctor car” upgrade every few years
• The house in the “right” neighborhood (you know, where the other doctors live)
• The private schools because “we can afford it”
• The vacations that keep getting more elaborate
• The stuff that accumulates because “I worked hard for this”

And just like the Grinch, we can wake up one day with a high income, a low net worth, and a nagging feeling that we’ve missed something important.

The good news? The Grinch’s seven resolutions are actually a solid framework for financial independence:

1. Track everything – You can’t manage what you don’t measure
2. Pay yourself first – Automate your savings before lifestyle inflation gobbles it up
3. Fight lifestyle creep – The hedonic treadmill is real, and it’s exhausting
4. Build your emergency fund – Financial resilience is financial freedom
5. Max out tax-advantaged accounts – Let the tax code work for you
6. Invest simply and consistently – Boring beats clever nearly every time
7. Remember what wealth really means – It’s not the stuff; it’s the freedom

Your Challenge This Week

As we head into 2026, I want to challenge you to pick just one of the Grinch’s resolutions and implement it this month. Not all seven (unless you’re feeling ambitious). Just one.

Maybe you finally set up that automatic transfer to your brokerage account. Maybe you sit down and actually calculate your savings rate. Maybe you have an honest conversation with your family about what “enough” really means.

The Whos didn’t need presents to sing. They had each other and the freedom to gather on Christmas morning without the weight of financial stress.

That’s what we’re building toward, isn’t it? Not just a bigger portfolio, but the freedom to focus on what actually matters. The time to show up for the people we love. The security to make choices based on values rather than fear.

The holidays are over. The decorations are coming down. And somewhere on Mount Crumpit, a reformed Grinch is maxing out his 401(k).

Let’s do the same.

Here’s to a year of intentional choices, growing portfolios, and hearts that stay three sizes too big.

— Jorge Sanchez

P.S. If you’re looking for a fresh start on tracking your spending, I highly recommend sitting down this weekend with your December credit card statements. It’s painful, but enlightening. Knowledge is power, and all that.

P.P.S. Hit reply and let me know which resolution you’re committing to this month. I read every response, and I love hearing from this community.