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The Sunday Best is a collection of articles I’ve curated from the furthest reaches of the internet for your reading pleasure.
Every week, I scan hundreds of headlines, read dozens of posts, and bring you the best of the best to save you time and mental energy.
Financial Independence (FI) is a primary focus, but it’s an awfully broad topic. I tend to approach FI and early retirement from a fatFIRE perspective and through the lens of a physician, so expect to see those biases in the selected articles.
Related topics that have become recurrent themes include early retirement, selective frugality, tax issues, travel, physician issues, and of course, investing.
For more great articles, take a peek at The Sunday Best Archives. Now let’s get to the best… The Sunday Best!
Would you believe that Ben Carlson of A Wealth of Common Sense has taken up quilting? Updating My Favorite Performance Chart For 2022.
- Bonus: How Do Stocks & Bonds Perform Following Big Down Years? (which we just had)
Early retiree Darrow Kirkpatrick returns to Can I Retire Yet to count his losses and update us on his upcoming book, a true story that has nothing to do with finances. My Investment Portfolio: 2023.
He retired early to live by the beach, renting for a few years before finding the right place to put down roots. From Stop Ironing Shirts, We Bought a House….In This Market !?!
We talk about 2022 being a crummy year for investors, but have you noticed what’s happened since June? All Star Charts shows us how Everything is Up in This Bull Market. Wait… did he say Bull?
This market feels abnormal, and it is in some respects, but it helps to view it in historical perspective. The Measure of a Plan helps us visualize U.S. Stock Market Returns – a History from the 1870s to 2022.
For some unscrupulous advisors, obfuscation is career preservation. Ben LeFort with The Making of a Millionaire explains How Wall Street Uses Complexity to Exploit You.
Wall Street, we have a problem. According to TechCrunch, Black Founders Raised Just 1% of All VC Funds in 2022.
- Republic is trying to change that injustice. Celebrating Black founders on Republic / Category Diverse Founders.
What’s your plan for lowering taxes in 2023? The Debt Free Dr. highlights 10 Tax Strategies for High Income Earners: Avoid the Tax Man.
Yes, real estate can lower your taxes, and Passive Income MD looks at different ways to approach it. Which Real Estate Side Hustle is Right for You?
If you’ve completed your backdoor Roth IRA for 2023 (see the updated Backdoor Roth FAQ for eligibility and advice), congrats! If not, you can still do it for 2022 and there’s plenty of time for your 2023 contribution. Here’s how:
- Backdoor Roth IRA 2023: A Step by Step Guide with Vanguard
- How to Do a Backdoor Roth IRA with Schwab from WCI
- Tax Loss Harvesting with Fidelity: A Step by Step Guide (screenshots may have changed)
If the FTC gets its way, you could leave out the backdoor from one job and take another down the street! Dr. Ben White explores the details. Is this the Death of the Noncompete?
It’s Going Down. I’m Yelling Timber!
Acretrader, renowned for making farmland investments available to the [accredited] masses, has branched out (pun intended) into trees.
In this brief webinar (watch at 1.5x speed to watch it in under 30 minutes), you’ll learn how timber tracts can be sustainably harvested and potentially lucrative with low volatiltiy. You’ll also get to enjoy the New Zealand accent of Mark Foley, Director of Timber Acquisitions, who has been working in timberland finance for over 20 years.
See current investment offerings, which may include timber and/or farmland, at AcreTrader.
Offerings, which come at a pace of one to two per week, tend to be fully subscribed quickly, so if there’s nothing there at the moment, you can register to be notified of new offerings in advance.
Lumber on over to Acretrader, and if anyone asks, tell them you “saw” this opportunity on Physician on FIRE.
New Zealand, Tasmania, and Sydney, Australia
I know that I’ve got an audience of well-traveled adventurers, so I’ll take this opportunity to ask for your top tips for a visit to lands down under.
Right after WCICon (discount offer below) in Phoenix, my family and I are flying to Auckland, New Zealand where we’ll spend a week before venturing to the South Island for a couple more weeks. After that, we’ve got a week each in Hobart, Tasmania and Sydney, Australia.
All we have lined up thus far are the flights and lodging for Auckland, Hobart, and Sydney. We’ve got a rental car for our 15 days in the South Island, so we can bounce around as we please.
If you’ve got any must-dos, please leave them in the comments.
And if you’ve always wanted to cruise from Sydney to Honolulu with stops in New Zealand, Tahiti, and the Society Islands, you’re welcome to join us! Here’s the 18-day itinerary that brings us back to The States.
Learn how to better manage your student loan debt, and explore refinancing to a lower rate with cash back offers up to $1,000!
About That Discount Offer for WCICON 2023
The deadline to get the conference rate at the luxurious resort hosting the upcoming Physician Wellness & Financial Literacy Conference is January 25th. That’s also the deadline for saving $200 on your in-person general or premium registration with code CON23LD.
I hope to see you there! I’ll be hosting a retirement panel where we discuss the personal side of retirement planning and planning a retirement workshop where we focus more on the numbers, math, and order of operations of retirement planning.
Shaping the Future of Healthcare with All Global Circle
When I was a practicing physician, long before I had a website, I often made $20 to $50 while scarfing down lunch filling out medical surveys, and All Global Circle was one of my top options.
Register today to qualify for a $50 Bonus, and if you’re one of the unlucky souls who receives no surveys to participate in for your first 90 days, you’ll get an additional loyalty bonus.
Get paid to share your professional opinions and insights. I know you’ve got some opinions to share.
Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Please Let It Snow!
Numerous ski resorts in Europe’s Alps are mostly bare grass, and certain parts of the U.S. aren’t faring much better.
We plan to ski a few days in Michigan’s lower peninsula next week. With highs approaching 40, conditions won’t be ideal, but they’ve gotten enough lake effect snow, especially with that pre-Christmas storm, that there’s a solid snow base and most runs are open.
I’m more concerned about the 18-day trip I’ve got planned out east, starting in late January. The plan is to ski two days using our Indy Pass at each of the following. Current conditions follow, and I’ll be returning to this page to quickly check on the state of snow affairs out east:
- West Mountain: 9/35 trails open
- Waterville Valley: 7/11 lifts open, 35/65 trails open, 1/6 terrain parks open
- Cannon Mountain: 5/10 lifts open, 29 of 97 trails open
- Jay Peak: 8/9 lifts open, 30/81 trails open, 1/4 terrain parks open
- Bolton Valley: 4/6 lifts open, 11/69 trails open, 0/2 terrain parks open
- Titus Mounain: 3/8 lifts open, 11/53 trails open
Our first day on West Mountain, the first stop on this outing, is still two weeks away as I write this. I realize that weather is not the only factor at play here. Staffing issues and economics could also be impacting these resorts, but I sincerely hope that they’re able to open up more of their facilities by the time we arrive! And, yes, I know that the west has gotten tons of snow, but our itinerary is set. Maybe we’ll head west next year.
If you happen to be a skier near any of these places on the bullet list above, I hope to meet you on the chairlift. Contact me if you plan to be on the slopes in late January or early February.
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Have an outstanding week!
-Physician on FIRE
14 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (01/15/2023)”
I live in Christchurch and assuming you’re flying into here from Auckland to start your South Island wanderings, I’d recommend spending at least a day exploring Banks Peninsula https://www.christchurchnz.com/explore/destinations/akaroa-and-banks-peninsula before heading off for all the usual SI highlights. If your kids are animal lovers then https://www.shamarra-alpacas.co.nz/ will be a highlight. Kia ora mai.
Excellent, and thank you for the tips. You are correct — we have a week in Auckland before heading south (and another day in town on a port day from a cruise ship).
Thank you for the tips!
-PoF
I can highly recommend Freycinet and Cradle Mountain in Tazzy. Been about a decade since I last visited but really enjoyed it. We’re talking about a month long trip to New Zealand in a few years, look forward to hearing how it goes for you.
Awesome — thanks for the recs! We can’t wait.
Cheers!
-PoF
Milford Sound might be my favorite place that I have ever visited
Sounds lovely! Pun intended.
Cheers!
-PoF
I am writing to you from Australia after a couple of weeks in New Zealand. We loved the mud pots at Hell’s Gate in Rotorua, there’s a fascinating little hike (we did it self-directed) around the bubbling earth followed by the 20 minute mud bath and the dip in the hot springs. We loved the lakeside Airbnb we stayed in though it was a bit on the luxe side. https://www.airbnb.com.au/rooms/604003036365064128?source_impression_id=p3_1673821532_1xTY7Eo5mjEIG4Z2
We also loved a little sea town called Russell. We took the passenger ferry over for the day and were utterly charmed.
Edit oh my gosh I forgot the glow worms! Also a must do!
No kidding? That’s amazing, and the views from that Airbnb are outstanding.
Sounds like we’ve got to see those glow worms. It’s definitely going on the list.
Cheers!
-PoF
Leif,
Come out to Utah for skiing. No shortage of incredible snow out here this year.
NZ SI must do
Milford Sound
Franz Josef – heli to glacier (if still there, it’s been 5 years)
Queenstown – bungie jumping
Hiking – lots of options
NZ SI must do
Milford Sound
Franz Josef – heli to glacier (if still there, it’s been 5 years)
Queenstown – bungie jumping
Hiking – lots of options
Oh New Zealand! We drove around the North Island just after I retired in late 2019. As mentioned above, the Glowworm Caves in Waitomo are great to see. We took busses and a train around the South Island back in 2005 and enjoyed the glaciers on the west coast (Franz Josef), Queenstown, and a cruise on Doubtful Sound. All the tourists go to Milford Sound, but we found Doubtful Sound much calmer (in terms of crowds) and more remote. Have fun!
On the north island of New Zealand, check out the glowworm caves in Waitomo. Spellbound offers the best tour. Waitomo also has nice dark skies, so you can appreciate the southern constellations at night.
On the south island, you can see sperm whales and both wandering and royal albatrosses at Kaikoura.
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On the north island of New Zealand, check out the glowworm caves in Waitomo. Spellbound offers the best tour. Waitomo also has nice dark skies, so you can appreciate the southern constellations at night.
On the south island, you can see sperm whales and both wandering and royal albatrosses at Kaikoura.