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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!
Dr. Ben White is not a fan of leveraged buyouts of medical practices by private equity groups. In the third installment in a series on the topic, he interviews a physician who regrettably joined a PE-owned group. Working for Private Equity: A Radiologist’s Experience.
Joining such a group is not a great way to get paid a fair wage. Dr. Kathryn Saroski with Compensation Rx discusses Getting Paid What You’re Worth as a Physician: How to Know Your Value and Get It.
Marketers know how much we hate inflation, so they label many investments as great inflation hedges. The problem, says Bob French, CFA with Retirement Reseracher, is that many are not. A Terrible Way To Protect A Retiree From Inflation.
Will we be protected from a further decline in this bear market? Nick Magguilli with Of Dollars and Data is cautiously optimistic. Why This Crash is Worse Than 2020 (and Why It Might Be Over Soon).
I’ve argued that a bear market can’t take your FI card away, but not everyone thinks that way, says Money Flamingo, exposing The FIRE Community’s Greatest Flaw.
Two years after retiring, Mrs. Rich Frugal Life comes to an unfortunate realization. Spoiler Alert: The FIRE Movement Won’t Make You Happy.
Kristine Hayes Nibler with Humble Dollar retired on her 55th birthday earlier this year, and she seems quite happy with her new life in Arizona. Farewell, Paycheck!
This physician could afford to retire at 55 but remains in the accumulation phase. What would you do in his or her shoes? Post FI Notes 019: $5 Million at 55 and Needing Guidance.
Few people regret spending too much time with friends and family. Not many wish they had worked harder or longer. Dr. Jordan Grumet teams up with Coach Carson to discuss lessons learned from the Earn & Invest podcaster’s upcoming book, Taking Stock. A Hospice Doctor’s Advice on Financial Independence & Living a Regret Free Life.
If you parked money with Celcius, Voyager, or a handful of others to earn high returns on “stable” coins, you’ve probably saddled with regret. The Novel Investor sees similarities between what’s happening today and a story from the early 20th century. Audacity on display in The Wireless Telegraph Scheme.
The tax code is complex, and this post from The Finance Buff highlights the value of using a tax planning tool. An Unusually High Marginal Tax Rate Means Paying Lower Taxes.
As I’m sure you’ve heard by now, investing in real estate can also mean paying lower taxes. Site sponsor Origin Investments explains several ways this can happen. What are the Tax Benefits of Investing in Private Real Estate?
It’s All About the Benjamins
Want to win $100? Our partners at Opinion Site and InCrowd, two of the leading research companies offering paid surveys for healthcare professionals, are each offering one lucky new registrant from the Physician on FIRE audience $100.
The offer is for July, and this being the last day of July and the first day I’ve mentioned it on the site, you may not have much competition for the prize.
Note that this is NOT an offer to complete a survey for a chance to win money — I’ve always turned those down and I suggest you do, too. This is an offer to win $100 just for registering; every completed survey with either Opinion Site or InCrowd will pay out.
Learn more about these two companies and others offering paid medical surveys here.
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Learn how to better manage your student loan debt, and explore refinancing to a lower rate with cash back offers up to $1,000!
How About Those Interest Rates?
My Ally Bank savings account is now paying 1.40%.
Better yet, Vanguard’s Treasury money market fund (VUSXX) is up to 1.62% and no state income tax is owed on that interest. Even better, Vanguard’s Federal money market fund (VMFXX) is now at 1.84% for the 7-day SEC yield.
Not to be outdone, CIT Bank is offering 1.90% on their savings account and a no-penalty 11-month CD at 2.00%.
These aren’t keeping up with inflation — not by a long shot — but it sure beats the 0.1% to 0.5% rates we were starting to get used to. And these options are infinitely safer than the high-yield interest accounts from oh-so-many fallen crypto companies.
Zero to Freedom: Cashflowing Rental Mastery is Now Open
Passing the mic to my friends, Drs. Leti Alto and Kenji Asakura. Their popular, signature course opens twice a year, and we’re toward the end of the final window to enroll in 2022. As a referral partner, Physician on FIRE will be compensated if you choose to join and choose not to take advantage of the money-back guarantee.
If you’re a member of our Physicians of FIRE Facebook group (physicians only), you can catch a replay of our hour-long chat from the other day here. We discuss the course, yes, but also how they’re able to use Act 60 to vastly reduce their income tax as Puerto Rican residents. We also touch on the current real estate market and the tax and other benefits of active real estate investing.
Bonus: For those of you who stay in, as long as I’m credited for the referral (using this PoF referral link or any on this site), I’ll use some of that money to send you two books of your choice on real estate investing (total value up to $50).
The floor is yours, Leti and Kenji!
We’re opening up an opportunity to work alongside us as you navigate real estate investment for the first (or even the second) time.
This isn’t something we’ll be offering again until spring of 2023, so we’re extending an invitation to take the first step towards building sustainable wealth and time freedom now…So that by the time back-to-school/college football/pumpkin spice season is in full swing, you could be on the fast track to:
- Thousands of dollars in tax savings (hint: buy a property before the calendar year is up, and you’ll see those savings when you file in spring 2023)
- Cash in your pocket every month, by creating safe living spaces for reliable tenants
- Off-market deals landing on your doorstep, thanks to the relationships you’ve developed with agents and other partners (goodbye bidding wars!) And of course…
- Increased financial freedom as you start to generate cashflow—which means you’ll be less and less reliant on your clinical income as you make choices about your career (and your lifestyle)
Here’s how Zero to Freedom prepares you for success as a real estate investor (and the insider strategies & training you won’t find anywhere else):
TRAINING
The 7 key steps in Zero to Freedom are jam-packed with the knowledge that we wish we had on day 1 of starting our own real-estate business.
We start with the essentials so that you’ll understand how we calculate profitability when it comes to rental properties.
Then we walk you through how to identify properties that are going to be profitable, do your due diligence, and build a team that’s going to support you throughout the process (and even bring off-market deals to you).
You can see the specific topics and strategies you’ll learn here.
COACHING & MENTORSHIP
When you’re in the process of nailing down a market, hunting for deals, and negotiating your first purchase, you’re going to have questions. Maybe even ultra-specific ones, like “is this shaky-looking retaining wall a dealbreaker?”
After each module is released, there’s a 2-hour Q&A session with us (Leti & Kenji). Plus, our experienced coaches hold “office hours” 5 days a week, so that you can ask them for guidance on your specific situation (and if you need a pep talk, we promise they’ll deliver).
COMMUNITY
We never want you to feel alone, so w
e’ve created several ways for you to connect with your fellow investors. Each week, Kirsten (aka our Chief Experience Officer) hosts 2 one-hour sessions where you can chat with fellow students and volunteer ZTF alumni, ask questions, and pop the virtual champagne to celebrate your wins.
There’s also a Facebook group where you can share progress reports, ask for advice, and—best of all—post pictures when you finally close on that gem of a property. You’ll find ZTF coaches and mentors there, and we regularly swing by to comment as well.
(And once ZTF ends, you’ll get 2 FREE months of access to Empire Builders, our membership, which offers community, live Q&As, and tons of training on niche topics of interest to rental property owners.)
CONTACTS
We never let up on the importance of having a great team to support you. That’s why we open up our little black book for ZTF students—giving them access to over 400 investor agents. We’ll also share the names of trusted financial professionals such as CPAs, insurance brokers, and commercial/residential lenders—many of whom we’ve worked with ourselves.
BONUSES
When you join Zero to Freedom this summer, you’ll also get access to two bonus trainings:
Real Estate Bookkeeping Basics, which will show you how to use your bookkeeping data to make smart decisions so that your business starts profitable and stays that way over time.
Adding Short-Term Rentals to Your Portfolio, which explains how the market for short-term rentals (7 days or less) can put serious cash in your pocket—and bring major benefits come tax time.
And because we firmly believe in what you can achieve when you commit to Zero to Freedom, we’ll tell you this:
When you join, you have 3 weeks to explore everything it has to offer. Go through the pre-course content and watch the videos inside the 1st module. Join a Q&A call. Hang out in the Facebook group.
If you’ve checked things out and you’re still feeling like it isn’t for you…
…instead of completely pumped, with 20 Zillow tabs open as you search for your first property, maybe even lying awake at night fantasizing about your first real vacation in years…
…then just drop us an email and we’ll refund your investment, no questions asked.
Sound good?
And if you know, without a doubt, that you’re ready to make 2022 the last year you stress about 80-hour work weeks, a less-than-cushy retirement account, and time spent working and not living to the fullest, come join us inside. We can’t wait to meet you.
Here for you,
Leti + Kenji
Have an outstanding week!
-Physician on FIRE
2 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (07/31/2022)”
Great Sunday Best as always PoF! Lots of great articles this week, but I think my favorite has to be “Farewell Paycheck” because we just moved to Arizona too! I can relate to a lot of the moving and unpacking work that was described in that post, since we just went through it too.
Thanks for the Sunday Best!
I hope you’re thriving in your first summer of “it’s a dry heat.”
I love Arizona late fall through early spring, but I tend to wilt in the heat — dry or not.
Cheers!
-PoF