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

 

A young woman got a lot of attention with her viral TikTok video lamenting her student loans. One little problem, though; the numbers just don’t add up. Borrow $80k, Repay $120k, Owe $76k: Is That Viral Student Loan TikTok Even Possible? The Brave Saver investigates.

 

The subject of that video either doesn’t understand debt or wasn’t telling the whole truth. This post might help her better understand how and why she finds herself in this predicament. Diagnosing Debt: Demystifying Interest Rates & Loan Terminology. There’s a good reason that student loans typically charge higher rates than a mortgage.

 

The debt collectors may have to get in line behind the taxman. He wants your money, too, and changes to our tax code are likely coming. James McGlynn with Humble Dollar contemplates the most likely changes we could see in the next couple of years. The Taxman Cometh.

 

If you’ve paid off your debts and entered into early or seme-retirement, you don’t have to worry much about debt collectors or the taxman. Dave from Accidental FIRE has found himself in such a position for several years. Three Years Of Early Semi-Retirement, Is It What’s It’s Cracked Up To Be?

 

Would you like to join him? Start reading! ESI Money has read dozens of books on retirement, and these are his favorites. The Best Retirement Books to Retire Sooner and Better.

 

One thing you’ve got to figure out when retiring early is how to pay for healthcare. It’s been an interesting journey for the banker behind Stop Ironing Shirts. FIRE and Health Insurance: Four Plans in 21 Months?

 

You may find that you choose to invest differently in retirement, especially if you “oversaved” and find yourself somewhere beyond FI. I’ve definitely changed things up a bit. How My Investing Has Changed After Financial Independence.

 

I’ve decreased my exposure to publicly traded stocks, not by investing more in bonds, but by diversifying more into other asset classes. Because, as Jesse Cramer from The Best Interest tells us, The Market Crash Is Coming! (…Eventually).

 

It’s tough to afford an early retirement if you’re stuck sprinting on that hedonic treadmill. XRAYVSN has been there. I Wanna Remain Special! The Allure Of The Hedonic Treadmill.

 

Would you rather be happy or comfortable? Arthur C. Brooks think we’re making a bad barter in an article for The Atlantic. Are We Trading Our Happiness for Modern Comforts? As society gets richer, people chase the wrong things.

 

If you’re coupled up, you should be sure the two of you are chasing common goals, and that you know what those goals are. The White Coat Investor shows you 7 Ways To Get Your Partner On Board Financially.

 

What tools do you use to help your life or business run more smoothly? Passive Income MD seems to be a pillar of efficiency, but he’s enlisted some serious help from a variety of apps, services, and people. Online Tools I Use on a Daily Basis.

 

This tool can be useful and fun in certain situations, but is generally ill-advised to use on a daily basis. Anesthesiologist James Turner fell into that trap as the pandemic took hold. In episode 8 of The Physician Philosopher Podcast, he describes the problem he had and how he addressed it. Read the post or listen to the broadcast and learn to Take the Edge Off Without Alcohol.

 

 

Camping Without Alcohol

 

I woke up in a Walmart parking lot.

No, really.

That sounds like an appropriate ending to a bender gone awry, and I’m sure someone’s told that story. In my case, waking up in a Walmart parking lot is literally how I’m starting my day today.

We’re beginning a somewhat open-ended two-plus week trip pulling our new-to-us travel trailer to warmer climates, beginning with 5 days near Mammoth Cave National Park. It’s about a 12 to 13 hour drive from home, which is more than we want to tackle in one day.

Many Walmarts will allow RVs to park and “camp out” overnight, so I found one along our route that was a little more than halfway, and that’s where we spent the night so we could break up the drive.

Hence, I woke up in a Walmart parking lot this morning.

We’re in the home stretch of Sober October, and that’s been going just fine. It’s the third year in a row that my wife and I have abstained from alcohol for the month. I think this has been the easiest so far since the pandemic has led to limited social gatherings and we’re not dining out anymore.

I do associate camping with beers around a campfire, so that will be a little bit of a habit to break as we finish out the month. After Sober October, we’ll have a November to Remember. The plan is to make our way to Asheville, NC where I understand many breweries have outdoor patios that are open.

We’ll be there for election night, and with North Carolina being a hotly contested and “toss-up” state, it may be a very interesting place to be.

 

A Recommended Insurance Agent

PKA Insurance Group

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Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE