The Sunday Best (10/21/2018)

The Sunday Best is a collection of articles I’ve curated for your reading pleasure.

Expect most of the writing to be from recent weeks and consistent with the themes presented on this website: investing & taxes, financial independence, early retirement, and physician issues.

 

Presenting, this week’s Sunday Best:

 

Fun fact: Before settling on “Physician on FIRE”, I considered “Frugal Physician” as a website possibility but realized it didn’t encompass all that I stood for. I’m happy to see that a different frugal physician has laid claim to the name and is doing great things with her site and life. How I Paid off $100,000 on Student Loans in 6 months!

 

You’ve got to have a solid income to pull off a feat like that, of course. Do certain personality types lend themselves to higher incomes? Sure as $h!7 says Kitty from the award-winning Bitches get Riches. I’m an INTJ, the fourth-highest-earning type, but am more of a highest-earning ENTJ after a beer or two. Myers-Briggs Personalities and Income.

 

I don’t know which personality type is the most giving, but I’ve seen lots of great examples of charity from the personal finance community. Apathy Ends hosts Penny from She Picks up Pennies in a post highlighting the role of giving while pursuing financial independence. I Don’t Want to Get to Where I’m Going Without Giving.

 

Speaking of getting to where you’re going, have you ever thought about obtaining dual citizenship in retirement? Typically, you have to have close relatives from there or be willing to invest some money. The Escape Artist describes how anyone with means can become a citizen of the European Union with Portugal’s Golden Visa Residency And Second Passport Program.

 

If you’ve got a second home in Europe, it might be tough to conceal the fact that you’re kinda rich, but the Debt Free Dr. has some stealth wealth tips. 7 Lessons on How to Live the Stealth Wealth Life.

 

Dr. Francisco Maldonado, one of The Finance Twins, has strong stealth wealth potential. Find out why in 5 Personal Finance Lessons I Learned in Medical School. Coincidentally, the good doctor is an intern where I interned 16 years ago after attending med school in Minnesota, as I did.

 

I believe in transparency, and this post from Dr. Emilia Sam at KevinMD is about as transparent as it gets. “I have a confession. I didn’t enter my profession to help people.” Unbridled honesty in The Myth of Compassion in Healthcare.

 

Some physicians have an abundance of compassion. Can a physician have too much? Check out this emotional piece from Reflections of a Millennial Doctor: Drowning in a Bucket of Tears.

 

The White Coat Investor recently published the Top 5 of over 700 essays he received in his scholarship contest. Here are those winning posts from students and trainees in the healthcare field.

• Reducing Student Loan Debt $2.60 at a Time
• A Random Poem About Tulips
• Dreamers
• Life is a Journey of Exploration
• Grit

 

Two years ago, I shared about a dozen FinCon recap posts in The Sunday Best. Last year, I wrote one of my own and linked to 40-some FinCon recaps from other bloggers. This year, so many physicians joined me that I’ve got a plethora of recaps just from them.

• B.C. Krygowski: You are Not Alone: the Importance of Finding your Monetary Tribe (#FinCon2018 Recap)
• Crispy Doc: Fin. Con. 18.
• DiverseFI: #FinCon18, Community, and Financial Peace
• DiverseFI: #Fincon18: Beginnings and Endings
• DiverseFI: #FinCon18: The Right Thing at the Right Time
• DiverseFI: #Fincon18: Beginnings and Endings
• Doc of All Tradez: #Fincon18 For Noobs and Physicians
• Dr. Cory S. Fawcett: A Retired Surgeon Rediscovers Work Stress
• Dr. McFrugal: My Fantastic FinCon18 Experience
• Dr. McFrugal: FinCon18 Budget / Buy Nothing Challenge September Edition
• Miss Bonnie MD: Pearls From #FinCon18
• Nomads with a Vision: Cuba Cruise and FinCon18
• Passive Income MD: My Top Ten Takeaways From FinCon 2018
• Practice Balance: #FinCon18 Wrap-Up: My Experience at a Blogging Conference
• The Female Money Doctor: A Very English Perspective Of FinCon18
• XRAYVSN (who wasn’t actually there): FinGone

 

The other night, my colleagues and I took an applicant (for an opening in our group) out to dinner. We shook hands and I introduced myself.

“Your reputation precedes you,” he says.

Cool, I’m thinking. He must know about this site. Maybe that’s how he learned of the job opportunity.

“When a friend of mine was interviewing for residency,” he says, “you were one of the senior residents who took the applicants out for dinner. And then afterward, you took him and his wife to this craft beer pub. They said there was a plaque on the wall with your name on it.”

Oh.

That reputation.

His friend did end up matching and completing his residency there at my alma mater, so my recruiting methods seemed to work well back then. We’ll see if that holds true to this day.

 

Virtual #FinCon18

 

While it’s too late to clink glasses and say Cheers in real life, it’s not too late to take in each and every one of the talks that were given over the course of the four-day conference where media and money meet.

The FinCon18 online version — more than 100 sessions and over 65 hours of professionally produced video — is now available for online viewing. The online version of the conference is well organized into learning tracks for financial advisors, bloggers, podcasters, youtubers / vloggers, along with the Big Idea and Keynote speakers.

I had the honor of participating in two panels, and those hour-long videos are a part of the package.

• Four Flavors of FIRE with Pete of Mr. Money Mustache, J.D. of Get Rich Slowly, Carl of 1500 Days, Jillian of Montana Money Adventures, and me.
• Withdrawal Strategies for Early Retirees with Jean Chatzky of The Today Show, Tanja of Our Next Life, Karsten of Early Retirement Now, Jonathan of ChooseFI, and me.

 

If you wish you had been there, are considering going in 2019, or think you might want to start a blog, podcast, or Youtube channel, this would be worth checking out (which you can do at this affiliate link).

 

 

Better than Halloween Candy? Gift a Halloween Book!

 

A couple of years ago, I picked up a spooky book of thirteen short stories tailor-made for October. I read my boys a handful stories, and the book ended up back on their bookshelf after Halloween.

The other day, I saw my younger son reading the book, and lo and behold, each of them had read through the entire book at least once.

I picked it up again and read them a few more tales. The stories are quick (about 10 pages each), eerie without being overly frightening, and the open-ended nature of them leaves the rest of the story up to my grade school-aged boys’ imaginations.

The book was written by a television meteorologist and real estate appraiser who was once a talented tennis player in my brother’s class in high school. Like me, he’s got a side gig writing, and unlike me, he’s an award-winning published author.

Consider dropping a copy of Pumpkin Spirits in your favorite costumed kiddo’s goodie bag this year.

 

 

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE