The Sunday Best (5/7/2017)

the sunday best
The Sunday Best is a collection of articles I’ve curated for your reading pleasure.

Expect most of the writing to be from recent weeks and consistent with the themes presented on this website: investing & taxes, financial independence, early retirement, and physician issues.

 

Presenting, this week’s Sunday Best:

 

Mama Fish Saves uses here Wall Street cred to dish out investment advice. Terrible investment advice. After polling numerous bloggers including me, Chelsea compiled The Worst Financial Advice We’ve Ever Heard.

 

Want to be happier? The lawyer behind Power of Thrift has some advice. The Enemy of Happiness in Entitlement.

 

This site has a mission statement, but I haven’t crafted one for myself. The Productive Physician suggests you should Create a Personal Mission Statement for the Life YOU Want.

 

Any podcast fans? Sometimes, it’s easier to listen than read, and the Financial Panther likes to listen. See his list of 9 Best New Personal Finance Podcasts (4 of which I have recorded with or plan to chat with soon). As a lawyer married to a dentist, physician podcasts are among the Panther’s favorites. Mine, too.

 

Being a landlord isn’t much fun, but collecting rent checks is. The No-Nonsense Landlord shares some of his business secrets in Landlord Tax Planning.

 

You don’t ever feel overly busy, do you? Didn’t think so. The Doctor in Debt discusses The High Costs of Being Busy.

 

I featured the first seven parts of Dr. Big ERN’s safe withdrawal posts, and he’s kept improving and expanding the series with six additional articles. From Early Retirement Now:

 

Primal Prosperity put the Rockstar Community Fund to good use, educating high school kids on personal finance topics. Read highlights from her first workshop in What Should We Teach Kids About Money?

 

Huge bonus points to My Sons Father (not me, but the blogger by that moniker) for creating the world’s first Physician on FIRE minifigure out of LEGO to introduce his Random Questions series. His first guest? Himself. Clever.

 

We practice evidence based medicine. Yesterday, in a guest post at The White Coat Investor, I asked Why Not an Evidence-Based Life?

 

Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting

 

Within the last year, I purchased my first shares of the one and only individual stock in my portfolio — Berkshire Hathaway.

I bought BRKB for a few reasons. One, it pays no dividend, which makes it an excellent candidate for the taxable account for a person like me in a higher tax bracket. Two, the stock has an excellent track record, returning about double the S&P 500 over many years. In the 8+ months I’ve owned it, the stock is up 11.3%.

The third reason, which is truly the main reason, is that it gets me tickets to Warrenpalooza, a.k.a. the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholders’ meeting. It’s a gathering of some 30,000 investors eager to hear the words of the Oracle of Omaha and his companions.

Unfortunately, call duties prevented me from making the pilgrimage this year, but I do hope to make it to the land of beef steak and cornhuskers while Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger remain at the helm.

Perhaps next year I’ll be able to swing it, and I imagine a number of readers and fellow bloggers will be there, too. Let’s meet up!

 

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A Blogger Meetup

 

While I wasn’t able to make it to Omaha last weekend, I was able to meet up with a gregarious group of personal finance aficionados in Minneapolis last weekend. Although the gathering spot I chose was subpar — we had to skirt around a climate change protest and found no grills in spite of the website’s proclamation — we soon found a warm atmosphere and cold beer in a nearby brewpub.

I want to thank everyone for coming out, including the folks behind Apathy Ends, Bible Money Matters, Budget on a Stick, Centsibly Rich, Fiery Millennials, Grounded Engineer, No Nonsense Landlord, Wealth Well Done, and the not-yet-a-blogger Red Hooded Sweatshirt. It was a great time, and I hope we can do it again soon.

Cheers to Amanda @ Centsibly Rich for a random act of kindness, picking up a random table’s tab at The Republic, and kudos to Peter @ Bible Money Matters on his 300,000 pageview day thanks to his post on Dave Ramsey’s home.

 

optical illusion alert: who’s in front on the far left?

Vote for Hopslam!

 

If my #TopBrewTues photo (top right) gets enough likes, I’ll win tickets to a brew fest I won’t be attending.

But if I do win, I will give away the pair of tickets (an $80 value) to the FemAle Brew Fest in Fort Lauderdale, FL on Saturday, May 28th to the first person who comments below that they are willing and able to go.

Click here to vote! You may need to be logged into Facebook.

 

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Have a great week!

-Physician on FIRE

 


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31 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (5/7/2017)”

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  3. Great set of articles. Congrats to Bible Money Matters for having basically a PF superhero visit and comment.

    Love the Lego figurine, now to head over and read it.

    cd :O)

    PS – I read an article that BRK may actually start paying a dividend. I actually wonder if it is a shot across a bow of someone that has been shying away from a buy-out.

    Reply
    • Yeah, I’ll wait until I hear my voice before I decide whether or not to promote these interviews. I’m normally the guy in the corner that makes an occasional witty comment. Not used to being the center of attention.

      I’ve recorded with WCI, ChooseFI, and another Podcast that has yet to be launched.

      Cheers!
      -PoF

      Reply
  4. Another good round up. Interesting stuff.

    I like the idea of getting together local bloggers. I’ll have to figure out if there are some around where we are. Sounds like a good time!

    Reply
  5. Wow, awesome collection of articles, as usual! Thanks for the shout-out, Dr. PoF! And even the super-geeky “Technical Appendix” made into the Sunday’s Best! 🙂
    Have a great Sunday, everyone!

    Reply
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  7. It was great to get together last weekend! Who knew I like sour beer!? Thanks again for your kindness and it was great to get to know you better.

    We have the option to get tickets to the Berkshire Hathaway shareholder’s meeting each year and something always seems to come up. Next year I would really like to go. I know several bloggers make it and I’d love to attend. Maybe we’ll see you there!?

    Reply
    • Sour beer, yes! The Fair State Roselle. You learn something new every day. Glad you & Gwen made the trip up north!

      I’d like to make it next year, but this year it coincided with a first communion and piano / guitar recital for our boys. If these things happen the same time next year, I’ll opt to stay home. Can’t be everywhere, unfortunately.

      Cheers!
      -PoF

      Reply
      • Yeah, I definitely wouldn’t delay attending the BRK annual meeting if you can help it. Not many years left for either of them.

        They’ve noticeably slowed down over the years, but I’m still amazed how sharp their minds are.

        They might do the annual meeting after one or both of them are gone, but it won’t be the same.

        Reply
  8. Thanks again for the home brew and picking up the round! We’ll have to plan another get together in the near future – I know FP would join us!

    One of my friends graduated this month from dental school and wants to tackle her debt right away. I directed her over to your blog and she texted me she was hooked! She wants to eliminate her $225k in dental loans ASAP!!

    Reply
    • Glad to meet you, GE, and thank you for sending your dentist friend my way. My father and grandfather were dentists.

      As a note to your friend and anyone else reading, if it makes sense to refinance her loans, and she does it via the links on my Student Loan Resource Page, I’ll donate $50 to a charity of her choice.

      Cheers!
      -PoF

      Reply
  9. Thanks for all the Sunday reading. I don’t suppose you’re allowed to send a proxy to the BH meeting? You can auction off those tickets and use the bounty for an act of giving.

    Reply
  10. Thanks for the mention PoF! I’m super excited to unveil my second guest in my Random Questions series later this week! And I have a feeling Lego PoF will be appearing on my site again in the not too distant future.

    Reply

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