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!

 

 

I had a good chat about life and finances with my Minnesota friend David Denniston on the Freedom Formula for Physicians podcast. He Retired from Medicine… Now What? with Physician on Fire.

 

Retired from medicine at 54 and having recently turned 60, Dr. Cory S. Fawcett reflects on his choice and how he’s filled his time. Six Years Retired from Surgery at Financial Success MD.

 

Katie’s not even halfway to 60, but she’s got her eyes on the FI prize. From Money With Katie, Why I Want to Retire Early.

 

This hospitalist has found FI but is more interested in a career transition rather than full-on retirement, so back to school, it is. FIRE Crossroads 036: FI at 45 With a One-Fund Portfolio.

 

Speaking of career transitions, “retired” physical therapist Chris Mamula got his CFP in 2022 and has taken a new job in 2023. He explains his rationale and describes the new gig at Can I Retire Yet. The Year Ahead.

 

Mike Drak was laid off at age 59, and that suited him just fine at the time. Then reality set in, as he recounts at Humble Dollar. My Retirement Shock.

 

Saving enough for retirement is one thing. Figuring out how to invest and access money in retirement is another. Krisna Patel with CFA Institute details Retirement Income: Six Strategies.

 

Both of these funds give you monthly income of about 0.5% of your investment as a preferred return in a tax-advantaged way while targeting high single-digit to low-double-digit annual returns. Comparing Real Estate Funds: DLP Housing Fund & Origin Investments IncomePlus Fund.

 

I had a great chat with DLP Capital’s founder and CEO Don Wenner the other day, talking about living a full life, prioritizing family and personal goals, work-life integration, and of course real estate. You can view the replay here.

Earlier in the week, 37th Parallel Properties co-founder Chad Doty spoke with me on the topic of Using Multifamily Investing to Accelerate Wealth. You can view the recording here.

 

As your body ages, your brain does, too. Ph.D. Retirement Researcher Wade Pfau asks, Does Your Retirement Plan Account For Your Own Cognitive Decline?

 

Stickint with the morbidity and mortality theme, Michael Kitces describes The HSA ‘Deathbed Drawdown’: Making Tax-Efficient Distributions Of Large Balances (When There Isn’t Much Time) for those with large HSA balances late in life.

 

Are you familiar with Maslach’s Burnout Inventory and the six contributing factors? Pediatric endocrinologist Dr. Sarah Hart-Unger opens The SHU Box and shares her Thoughts on Burnout (from a Non Burned Out Place).

 

If you’re feeling burned out, perhaps you need to get out. Out of your comfort zone, that is. Anesthesiologist Dr. Michael Mulick shares his story with The White Coat Investor. When Everything Clicks into Place: How Foreign Travel Can Make You a Better Doctor.

• Bonus: From MikeMulick.com, We Sold Our House and Hit the Road.

 

 

Coming Soon: 2023 Leverage & Growth Summit (Online, Virtual, and FREE!)

 

From March 15-19,  2023… Dr. Peter Kim will be hosting 30+ other speakers to share some big ideas about how to:

• Take more control of your professional life
• Create multiple streams of income
• And reclaim your personal time, starting NOW…

 

Save your complimentary virtual seat here.

 

When you join… you’ll also get access to the exclusive Facebook group, where you can network with like-minded people. Here’s what other doctors are have said about this free virtual summit:

 

• “I am invigorated after hearing fellow physicians who have successfully established multiple streams of passive income.” – Dr. Girish Hiremath

• “The L&G summit was powerful beyond measure. It is the antidote to years and years of decision paralysis, fear of the unknown, and feeling trapped in a career that I love, but that has excluded so many of my interests and talents over time, and has taken too much time away from my family…” – Valerie Cote, MD CM FAAP FRCSC

• “The summit really helped reassure me I am not alone. While I am just starting on my journey of figuring out the other income streams, it was helpful to know others have felt the same way about wanting to give more and not limiting their ideas to traditional medicine.” – Brooke Jeffy MD

 

This summit is so important because it helps physicians to see new creative ways to leverage their skills and medical degrees…

From personal branding… to real estate… consulting… venture capital… podcasting… brand partnerships…. social media… and more…

The Leverage & Growth Virtual Summit will reveal the “insider” info you need to succeed — no matter which way you’d like to diversify your income and life.

 

Grab Your Free Registration

 

Hello, Treadmill

 

Most people who set out to get in better shape in 2023 hit the gym and hopped on the treadmill six weeks ago. I’m a little late to the game, but I finally strapped on some running shoes and did some jogging after about a four-month hiatus since running a marathon in mid-October.

I didn’t move very fast and my heart rate ramped up pretty quickly, but that’s to be expected. In the last four months, I did run once on a cruise ship treadmill in November just for kicks, but the only exercise I’ve been doing are my daily pushups, situps, and squats. Maybe downhill skiing counts for something, but it’s not really a cardio exercise; it’s more of a quad-burning thrill ride, if anything.

I’m not a huge fan of running indoors, but the conditions outdoors are rather cold and treacherous, and if I’m going to be in half-marathon shape by June (my wife, brother, and I are registered for Grandma’s Half), it’s best not to put it off until the snow’s gone in April, so treadmill it is for now. In two weeks, though, we’ll be off to New Zealand and a more running-friendly, temperate climate, and I’m pretty excited for all of it.

One cool thing to see when resuming a workout routine is what it does for my resting heart rate. It had dropped into the low forties during marathon training, but once I got lazy, it was back to the mid-fifties. A few beers in the evening would send it into the sixties at night. It’s incredible and a bit unsettling to see how alcohol raises the overnight heart rate by 5 to 10 beats per minute.

This last week was a dry one — my wife and I completed a dry January with some mixed precip in February, but we took a total of six weeks off from alcohol in two stretches to start the year. THe combination of no beers and some treadmill work has started to bring my resting heart rate down after just one week, registering a 47 most recently. My anesthesiologist’s mind likes to see immediate results when changing things up, so this makes me happy.

 

 

 

 

 

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE