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!

Even ignoring the time value of money, Investing Doc has a hard time comparing a physician’s career favorably to that of a software developer. Is Medicine Worth It Financially Compared To Tech?

This interviewee decided that practicing clinical dentistry was no longer worth it in his forties. He’s doing just fine managing the practice instead. Post FI Notes 016: In Control of Your Time and Your Wealth.

Is it worth the stress of continually deciding whether to buy, sell, or hold, even if you made solid individual stock picks? XRAYVSN looks at his past performance in this Case Example: Behavioral Finance Biases In Stock Picking.

With I Bonds, you know what you’re going to get, and if you buy by the end of the month, that will be 8.54% for 12 months. How, When, and Why to Buy I Bonds: 7.12% in April or 9.62% in May? The answer is not as simple as it appears to be.

I Bonds are not the only investment designed to protect your money from the ravages of inflation. Origin Investments, a real estate company offering several diversified funds, share the 4 Ways We Protect Our Funds from Inflation, Interest Rate Hikes.

Real estate investments have some nice tax perks, as well. Don’t forget to file your 1040 or extension by tomorrow if you haven’t already! ESI Money, who has recently invested 7 figures into syndications, teamed up with the Debt Free Doctor for this article. The 7 Best Real Estate Syndication Tax Benefits.

Passive Income MD teaches us about 10 different fees syndicators might charge and how to evaluate whether or not incentives are well-aligned. Alignment of Interests When Investing in Real Estate.

• Bonus: Passive Income MD Podcast #102 Build Wealth Through Multiple Streams Of Income

Is agriculture providing you with an income stream? Have you diversified within the space? AcreTrader breaks down two asset subtypes. Comparing Farm Investments: Permanent Crops Versus Row Crops.

We transition from agriculturally rich to culturally rich, as I’m among many FIRE bloggers that have begun traveling more in 2022. Family FIRE Travels: Athens, Greece, a great place that really cleaned up its act for the 2004 Summer Olympics, the benefits of which can still be seen.

Angela from Tread Lightly Retire Early was nearby with her family recently, spending Two Weeks in Italy (Abruzzo, Amalfi, Pompeii, and Rome). I recognize many of her photos, having visited three of those four.

A Purple Life, traveling with her partner and mother, loves the geoarbitrage of living in southeast Asia. Slow Travel Review: Phuket, Thailand – The Land Of Sea & Food.

With all this inflation, being a millionaire doesn’t mean as much, but most of ESI Money‘s Milliionaire Interviewees have all that and then some.

• Millionaire Interview #295
• Millionaire Interview #296
• Millionaire Interview #296, Part 2
• Millionaire Interview #297
• Millionaire Interview #298
• Millionaire Interview #299

Happy Easter!

May the bunny be especially kind to you and yours this year. Please be kind back to the bunny.

Ritual de lo Habitual

Two years and one month ago, I was all by myself at our cabin, planning to spend a week quarantining after attending WCICon. When I learned of a few positive cases at the conference, I extended my alone time to two weeks.

To make good use of my time, I started doing some body weight exercises each day. Within a month, I was doing 100 pushups, 100 situps, and some air squats and dips. I eventually dropped the dips as they were hard on my shoulders (which is common, I hear), but the pushups, situps, and squats have become a regular habit.

To date, I have now completed two years of doing at least 100 pushups and 100 situps every single day for two full years. I’ve done them in airports, apartments, and hotel rooms. I’ve done them at 5 a.m., and I’ve done them just before the stroke of midnight. But I have not missed a single day.

That’s the power of habit. When you view something as non-optional, you find a time and place to do it.

When I kicked off my early retirement from medicine with a two-month stint in Mexico, I started daily Spanish language lessons. The Duolingo app is more forgiving than I am; if I miss one day, my streak can be protected by a “streak freeze.” Unlike the exercises, I have missed a handful of days in the last couple of years, but the app says the streak is alive, and even though that’s not technically true, keeping the streak alive has got to be good for continuing the habit.

If I were to break either the exercise or language-learning streak, I don’t think I’d view it as non-optional any longer. This happened with my walking-a-mile-or-more streak. One day, a travel day, I simply forgot to take a walk. After that, I wasn’t so keen on making sure I got out for that walk every day. I was no longer protecting a months-long streak.

If there’s something you hope to accomplish, take a habit that puts you closer to your goal and make it part of your daily ritual. If you miss a day due to life’s obligations, be like Duo and give yourself a free pass so you can pick up where you left off tomorrow.

Last Call for Passive Real Estate Academy

Offered twice a year, PIMD’s outstanding course that teaches you all you need to know to invest with confidence is real estate syndications and funds, is wrapping up the spring enrollment period.

Check out Passive Real Estate Academy. With a money back guarantee, you’ve not nothing to lose and a wonderful community to gain!

A Recommended Financial Advisor

CMG Financial Consulting

CMG Financial Consulting Vetting Application

Clint Gossage CFA, CFP®, CPA, has been married to a Surgical Oncologist for the past 15 years and has experienced first-hand the ups and downs over the journey from undergrad to attending. After helping friends in medical school, residency and fellowship with their finances, he left a high-paying job, managing the investments at a multi-billion dollar family office, to startCMG Financial Consulting. He helps physicians and medical professionals to get out of student loan debt, save money, invest in tax efficient strategies, manage and protect their assets and give them back their most scarce resource…time. Schedule an appointment today.

Fees:

One-Time Services:
Student Loan Review – $500

Residents/Fellows:
Ongoing Student Loan Support – $100/month
Financial Planning – $225/month

Financial Planning, Investment Management & Tax:

Early Investors: (Up to $500,000 of Assets Under Management): $450/month

Foundation Builders: ( Up to $1,000,000 of Assets Under Management ): $850/month

Financially Independent> (Over $1,000,000 of Assets Under Management): $1,250/month

Contact Info:
22816 N 79th Pl
Scottsdale, AZ 85255
(877) 695-8004
cgossage@cmgfin.com

Visit CMG

Steps of Investing For High-Income Earners to Achieve Financial Independence

10 Lessons I Learned from Star Wars About Retirement

The FTC Noncompete Ban: What It Means for Your Physician Contract and FIRE Journey

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE