The Sunday Best (6/18/2017)
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:
Coach Carson and his young family have their real estate empire on autopilot while spending a “gap year” in Ecuador. In a guest post @ Retire Before Dad, How Moving Abroad For A Year Made Us Better At Parenting & Money.
Andrew @ Family Money Plan took a different route to learn money and life lessons: Hockey. What a Concussion Taught Me About Life and Money.
Happy Father’s Day to all the Dads out there! The Frugal Vagabond will be joining our ranks soon (congrats!). In a recent post, he ruminates on how fatherhood will drive his desire for FIRE in New Life and the Urgent Quest for Freedom.
An HSA is a great investment tool, particularly for a high-income professional like Live Free MD. He breaks down the reasons why and shares features of numerous HSA providers in The Health Savings Account: Even Better than a Roth IRA.
Now that we’ve compared HSA options, let’s look at another popular investment vehicle, the Solo or Individual 401(k). From Robert @ The College Investor, Comparing the Most Popular Solo 401k Options.
You may recall Dr. Jones’ guest post on the finances behind her early retirement at 37. She has since shared an update on her life as an early retiree on her own site, OB Doctor Mom. You Retired from Medicine. Now What?
Dr. Christy Pearce from Son of a Doctor reflects on patient death, PTSD, and the nearly completed suicide of a physician who was rescued just in time. Could it Have Been You?
I think it’s good to put some distance between FI and RE. They are two very different concepts, after all. Steve @ Think Save Retire talks about FI independent of RE for the job-loving crowd in Financial Independence for the Non-Early Retiree.
My anesthesiologist friend Passive Income MD has invested in 13 crowdfunded real estate deals. Have they paid off as promised? He reports his results in My Personal Real Estate Crowdfunding Results (So Far).
The Sightsee MD has been reporting on his family’s numerous travels. Do you find it difficult to find time to travel? The good doctor shares his tips in The Physician Travel Dilemma: Finding Time to Travel.
You’re still not using Personal Capital? Track all your accounts in one place like I do.
Happy Father’s Day!
I’ve been on vacation at our modest but comfortable little second home for the last five or six days. If you read 1500days, it’s the same place he and his family occupied for a similar length of time the week before as documented in this post.
Vacationing here is an exercise in slow living. The day starts a couple hours after the sun rises. Most days start out with a run on the recreational trail adjacent to the property. Depending on the day, I may be joined by one or both boys and the dog.
We put the boat in Friday. That was the only “job” I had that day. We took it out for mid-day cruise just to make sure it worked. The boys took turns steering.
We’re investors in the local brewery (I really need to write about that — I wrote about our other brewery investment, but not this one). About every other day, we stop in for a complimentary mug or two of tasty ale and a pile of popcorn.
Other than that, we visit family and friends, play in the water, and watch absolutely no TV. We don’t even have one here. We do have laptop screens — you wouldn’t be reading this if we didn’t. But screen time is appropriately limited at the lake.
After a Father’s Day breakfast with my wife and kids, I’ll be heading west for 7-8 hours to join my own Father (and mother and brother (Happy Birthday, Bro!) for an early Father’s Day / Birthday dinner. Life is good!
How are you celebrating Father’s Day?
Have a great week!
-Physician on FIRE
Happy Father’s Day, PoF! Your vacation home sounds so relaxing! Hope you enjoy your day, and enjoy celebrating with your family!
Thank you, Laurie. I spent most of the day driving, but got to share a quality meal or beverage with my own family, then my brother, and finally my parents before making it home.
Cheers!
-PoF
I played some golf yesterday as an early Father’s Day gift. I’ll probably relax with the kids today and enjoy a nice dinner with the family.
Sounds wonderful, WSP.
Happy Father’s Day, PoF! I am celebrating Father’s Day during my last, ever IR call weekend. If you are keeping score, there have been somewhere between 520 and 540 call weekends over the last 21 years!
After an early run in the park, a check in at the hospital, and a few errands, (and hopefully no call backs), my son (18) is making dinner for all of us. Given the momentous occasion, we might even break out a bottle of Prosecco to celebrate. ? Cheers!
Wow!
It is a momentous occasion. Happy Father’s Day and congrats on you final call weekend!
Thanks, PoF! As always, it’s an honor to be in such distinguished company! My wife and I are enjoying a short little jaunt out of town before baby comes– hope you and your family are enjoying a wonderful, restful weekend to celebrate you!
Good for you guys. Enjoy that freedom and more importantly, enjoy the bundle of joy when the bundle arrives!
Best,
-PoF
Happy dads day….I am off to round, but suspect my wife has some plans for me this pm. Anyone down for some bowling? Have fun at the lake. Sounds like a nice way to relax.
You’re the second one to chime in that you’re working on Father’s Day. I hope you get a chance to enjoy the evening.
Cheers!
-PoF
Thank you for the awesome mention! Happy Father’s Day! Sounds like you have the perfect weekend planned.
The kids are still really young so as a family we’ll probably just hang out in the neighborhood, maybe listen to some live music out in the park. I’m just extremely grateful for another year of good health and the opportunity to spend time with the family (not working).
You are very welcome PIMD. That sounds like a wonderful day with your family. Make the most of it.
Cheers!
-PoF
Happy Father’s Day POF and big thanks for including me in this weeks round up. Made my day!
Happy to hear it Andrew, and a Happy Father’s Day to you, too!
Best,
-PoF
Happy Dad’s day!
Celebrated Dad’s day last weekend…..
On a plane on my way to San Diego for a partnering meeting. Grrrrr!!!
Enjoy your day and family time, sounds wonderful?
Happy Belated Father’s day. I didn’t spend time reading on Sunday. After church I got a nap and then we had dinner at a favorite restaurant.
The article from Son of a Dr was eye opening and thankful the final tragedy was avoided. Interestingly, if he had died, I suspect the police would have been in a similar predicament as to why he was fired. I was a bit shocked at how the police handled it, as he was reported to be suicidal, but otoh, he didn’t pull over either.
Ultimately, it proves once again, that one size doesn’t fit all. Some people/some brains are wired differently. Hopefully, meaningful changes can be made so others can get help before a final tragedy occurs.
Track your investments for free with Personal Capital. That's how I track the PoF portfolio.
Speaking of vacations/travelling, I am surprised not many people talk about Tele-Medicine.
I have been doing Tele-Medicine for over 11 years. It allows for wonderful extended time away opportunities. A two week vacation can be easily extended to four or more, especially in summer- two weeks of no work padded with 1-2 work weeks. We are typically out 6-8 weeks in summer. You can reduce hours during these times as well -a little work here & there keeps things going.
Of course, it works for self-employed Physicians but others can learn to negotiate as well. I have given up on every other contract except the Tele-medicine.
BTW, these are slow vacations and not ‘roided out high spending ones.