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!

 

 

The Sunday Best

 

When you become a millionaire and then you double it. And then you double it again. That’s what it’s like to be the early retired and faithful Sunday Best reader Mr. Tako. His 2020 Year-End Net Worth Update.

 

If you had gone through what this emergency medicine physician has, you would seize the day every day as if it could be your last. Carpe Diem MD describes The Fall and the painful aftermath.

 

Cathie Wood’s ARK ETFs have given a 20x return in two short years, with virtually all of that growth coming over the last 10 months or so. How is this possible? Her position in Tesla hasn’t hurt, but Michael Batnick, The Irrelevant Investor, believes it has to do with The Power of Storytelling.

 

Meanwhile, Ben Carlson, Michael’s co-host on the Animal Spirits podcast, doesn’t get excited about the latest and greatest investment products. He reminds us that It’s OK to Build Wealth Slowly. I’ll add that the simple path to wealth is also easier and quite effective when compared to swinging (and often missing) in an attempt to hit one home run after another.

 

What’s that? You don’t want to build wealthy slowly? You’d rather Bitcoin, you say? You know that Bitcoin’s not a verb, right?

It can be confusing to know what Bitcoin is, exactly. Is it a currency, a speculative investment, a simple path to riches, or just a horrificly expensive Papa John’s pizza order? I’ll bet that dude wishes he had bought one and not two pies. If you don’t know what I’m referring to and you don’t know precisely what Bitcoin is, Jesse Cramer of Best Interest wrote an excellent primer. Explaining Bitcoin in Simple Terms.

 

I apologize for turning this Sunday Best into the $TSLA & $BTC show. I’ll stop now. The White Coat Investor grew tired of the same thing happening to his WCI Facebook group, so he laid down the law while reminding us of the principles that drive WCI. Why Your WCI Facebook Group Post Was Closed.

• Bonus: Check out these additional active Facebook groups, most of which have 10,000+ members:
• fatFIRE: for all comers interested in higher budget FIRE
• Physicians on FIRE (physician only)
• Passive Income Docs (physician only)
• Physician Philosophers (physician only)

 

You might have a hard time believing this, but there are ways to boost your investment returns without focusing on Bitcoin, Tesla, or the latest ARK ETF or trending SPAC. There are a lot of ways, in fact. The White Coat Investor outlines 9 Ways to Increase Investment Returns.

 

Investment returns are important, but nothing impacts your path to financial independence as much as your savings rate. That fact is illustrated very well in the all-new reimagination of one of my most popular posts from the blog’s early days. A Tale of 4 Physicians 2021: The Impact of Lifestyle on Financial Independence.

 

It sure is sublime when blog post titles rhyme. Boss makes a dollar, I make a dime, that’s why I work for ME in my free time. From Compounding.works.

Bonus: Top 5 Reasons Your Doctor Has a Side Hustle

 

A year is a long time. Try setting goals for the next 90 days, says Adam Grossman with the Humble Dollar. Moving the Target.

 

When you do reach your target — the financial independence one, that is — your priorities and habits will change. A decamillionaire reflects on this transition in a guest post at ESI Money. What Comes after ESI? The ISE Phase of FIRE.

 

Feel like you might be financially independent now, but wondering if it might be worth sticking around for one more year? Big ERN, Ph.D. shows how that extra year provides a double-whammy of both compounding and additional earnings to give you more spending money for life. He shows us the numbers in The Effect of “One More Year” – SWR Series Part 42.

 

It wouldn’t be right to bring  Part 42 without Early Retirement Now‘s Part 41 of my favorite safe withdrawal rate series, every post of which has been featured in a Sunday Best. Can we raise our Safe Withdrawal Rate when inflation is low? – SWR Series Part 41.

 

Could your FIRE possibly take you overseas? If so, Mark Stohl, CPA has some tips to share. How to Stretch Your Dollar While Retiring Abroad – Interesting Facts for US Expats.

 

 

5 Years of Physician on FIRE

 

January 9, 2021 marked 5 years since I launched Physician on FIRE with my very first blog post.

In past years, I made a pretty big deal out of the “blogiversary,” writing up a post filled with blog statistics, reflections on why I do this, and thoughts on the blog’s future.  This year, I failed to notice that the anniversary date had come and gone until the day after.

On one hand, I think it’s a sign of this site’s maturity. It’s not that big of a deal that it’s still around one more year, and the fact that it managed to live on for yet another year isn’t anything to fuss over.

For the curious, here is a snapshot of what 5 years looks like. We’re closing in on pageview # 10,000,000, which I expect we’ll see in about a week!

 

 

On the other hand, my lack of acknowledgment of the five-year mark (until now) also reflects how distracting recent events have been and how other parts of my life take precedent over this ever-present blog.

Last week, it was signing my family up for downhill skiing lessons — I need a distraction from the distractions, apparently — and the COVID vaccine.

I skied downhill for the first time in about 30 years yesterday, and I enjoyed it more than I thought I might. We’re all capable cross country skiers, and we made the transition to the slopes pretty well. We’ve got plans to ski again at least a half-dozen times over the next few weeks

Two days prior to our alpine adventure, I spent the day volunteering at northeast Michigan’s first mass vaccination clinic. We gave first doses to hundreds of people, most of them elderly, and I got my first dose, as well.

I found out that my MN medical license no longer crosses state lines — the MI executive order that would allow me to provide healthcare in this state was rescinded over the summer — but I was still able to be of service without wielding a needle and syringe.

I enjoyed my time interacting with real, live humans for a change, and I’m signed up to help out at several more upcoming clinics throughout the northern lower peninsula. I’m honored for whatever small role I can play in this Herculean effort to get people vaccinated against this terrible disease.

 

A Discount on This Amazing Everything-Money Spreadsheet

 

I introduced this to you as an amazing tax planning tool, and it was extremely useful for me in the final days of December. However, that’s only a small portion of what you can do with CPA Kathryn Hanna’s Personal Finance Bundle.

From periodic net worth tracking to budgeting to insurance coverage and more, if it has to do with money, you can set your goals and track your progress with this exceptionally well-done, interlinking set of tools.

She recognizes that the start of the year is a great time to get your personal finances organized, and she’s offering 15% off when using our referral link — no discount code required — through the end of January.

 

 

A Recommended Tax Strategist

 

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Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE