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
He’s been living the FIRE life for longer than I’ve been writing about it. Mr. Tako looks back on the half a decade that has passed since he left corporate life behind. 5 Years of Freedom.
She and her husband traveled the U.S. for years living in a motorhome, and they now sail the oceans blue full-time on a catamaran. Also, she maintains a 7-figure-a-year blog. The latest Christopher Guest Post: Making Sense of Cents.
With markets near an all-time high amidst a pandemic, now does not feel like an ideal time to have an all-stock portfolio. The White Coat Investor shares another 7 Reasons Not to Use a 100% Stock Portfolio.
I can see my up-to-date net worth anytime I want with a quick login to my Empower app. The Darwinian Doctor doesn’t think the figure is all it’s cracked up to be. Why your net worth isn’t as useful as you think.
No matter how high our net worth climbs, I’m not sure I’ll ever feel good about paying full retail for shoes off the rack. Crispy Doc assures me that I’m not alone while not-so-reassuringly insinuating that he and I may have a problem. What A Pricey Pair Of Kids’ Shoes Taught Me About My Baggage.
What if you get those expensive shoes and everything else under the sun? Then what? Why We Money talks happiness and possessions in What happens when you get everything you want?
We’re headed to Asheville, NC this week, home of the Biltmore estate, a 178,926 square foot former home of George Washington Vanderbilt. The Debt Free Dr. talks about the Vanderbilts, the Rockefellers, and you. Family Wealth – 3 Things To Pass On Besides Money.
Joel from Budgets are Sexy is not a Rockefeller or a Vanderbilt, and he won’t be mistaken for one, even though he does have a bit of wealth to his name. He’s laying low and Living a Stealth Wealth Lifestyle.
Mr. 1500 is another ordinary, average guy who just happens to be sitting on a retirement portfolio of $3 Million and growing. His original plan was to reach $1 Million within 1500 days, and blowing right past that mark has changed things a bit. When leanFIRE Goes To fatFIRE: Lifestyles Of The Dirty And Smelly.
- Bonus: What is fatFIRE?
Some people opt not for leanFIRE or fatFIRE but for BaristaFIRE — that’s where you work just enough to get health care coverage and other benefits from a place like Starbucks. But if what if you don’t like the smell of coffee or serving coffee to others? Adam Hardy of The Penny Hoarder discovered that These 6 Employers Offer Health Insurance to Part-Time Workers.
You don’t need to worry about BaristaFIRE if you’ve got a pension and employer-provided insurance in retirement, right? But can you count on those benefits being there? Ben Carlson from A Wealth of Common Sense ponders What’s Going to Happen to All the Underfunded Pensions?
Low, low interest rates are a real problem for those pension funds who are grasping for yield right now. Those same low rates are a boon for borrowers, though, even those with private student loans. They’re Paying 0% to 1% Interest on Private Student Loans. How Variable Rate Refinancing Helped These Physicians.
If you’re a physician feeling symptoms of burnout, The Physician Philosopher is here to remind you of this important fact. You Are Strong: Don’t Let Burnout Win.
Dr. James Turner also offers a solution, and that is life, career, and business coaching, because Everything is Coachable, as he and Ryan Inman discuss in their latest episode of the Money Meets Medicine Podcast.
Dr. Peter Kim brings Dr. Turner on to his Passive Income MD Podcast to discuss the specific ways in which coaching can benefit physicians dealing with issues. Episode #32: How Coaching Can Help to Overcome Burnout feat. Jimmy Turner, MD. Who’s Jimmy?
What can you expect as a physician being coached? Dr. Peter Baum shares his experiences with The White Coat Investor in What It’s Like as an Alpha Coaching Client.
Why all the coaching talk this week? My friend and business partner you know as The Physician Philosopher is wrapping up enrollment for this fall’s round of the Alpha Coaching Experience. You can ascertain more about what the program actually entails here.
Enrollment in this fall’s coaching program ends Monday, 11/2. WIth three male physician coaches, all genders are welcome, but these guys represent, to my knowledge, the only male physician coaches offering life coaching for doctors. Tune in this evening or click here to learn more about this potentially life-altering opportunity.

From the Lakes of Minnesota to the Hills of Tennessee
I grew up playing in the lakes of Minnesota. This weekend, I find myself hiking in the hills of Tennessee. I’m proud to be an American, and I performed my civic duty prior to embarking on this family camping trip; I voted by mail.
Be sure to vote if you have not already by masking up and voting in person or by dropping off your ballot in an official drop box if you received one by mail. Tuesday is a very important day and obviously your last chance to vote in the presidential and other elections in 2020. Perhaps the results will finally give you something to celebrate in this otherwise crummy year! We’ll be taking in the results from a hotel in Asheville, NC before heading back to Tennessee and eventually back up north.
One week into our first long-distance RV trip, I’d call it a resounding success. Our mighty Nissan Armada, nicknamed “The Beast” pulls the thing with ease. We’re getting 9 or 10 miles to the gallon, which isn’t awesome, but it could be worse, I guess.
Sleeping on a new foam mattress in the front of our travel trailer, we’re very comfortable, and the four of us have snuggled up in bed to watch a few movies when it’s been raining as the remnants of Zeta have passed through.
We’ve got a 3-burner stovetop, an oven, a microwave, and a separate fridge and freezer. It’s a little smaller than our kitchen back home, but it’s got everything we need. I’ve also got a handy little portable grill so we can grill out when it’s nice out.
When the weather has allowed, as it actually has been most days, we’ve done quite a bit of hiking in the hill country of Kentucky and Tennessee. It’s a great way to explore the area while rarely seeing another soul — an ideal activity in pandemic times.
Mammoth Cave National Park is not currently offering guided tours, meaning most of the caves are off-limits, but the main cave with the entrance near the Visitors Center was open. We were able to get tickets for the self-guided tour and walk over 2 miles underground. That’s less than one percent of the total they have there in the park, but I’m glad we got to see (and photograph) it.
FI School Starts Today!
This virtual summit is free to watch now through November 5th, and the talks will be released a few at a time each day starting right now. Dave Mason (no, not that Dave Mason) has put together an outstanding group of speakers, several of whom I’m sure you are familiar with if you follow the FIRE movement at all.
As an added bonus — yes, he’s incentivizing you to take in a free virtual summit — Dave is offering a free digital download of his FI novel, The Cash Machine. You can find that here.
Grab your Free All Access Pass to FI School now, and you’ll catch talks with me, JL Collins (author of The Simple Path to Wealth), Scott Trench (CEO of Bigger Pockets), Doc Green (What’s Up Next / Earn & Invest podcasts), Joe Saul-Sehy (Stacking Benjamin Podcast), Cameron Huddleston (author of Mom & Dad, We Need to Talk), Andy Hill (Marriage Kids & Money podcast), and I’m done name dropping but there are other great guests!
Sayonara Sober October
I managed to make it through all 31 days of October without a drop of alcohol or a gram of caffeine. No beer, soda, or carbonated beverages of any kind.
And now it’s time to fill some receptors.
I’ve got a number of friends who eschew both alcohol and caffeine for religious reasons. I can see that it’s doable, but for me, it’s definitely not preferable. Look for me on the streets of Asheville tomorrow downing a Diet Dew on my way to the nearest brewery. I hear there are several to choose from.

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Have an outstanding week!
-Physician on FIRE
10 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (11/1/2020)”
No booze or caffeine–wow! Enjoy that well-earned diet Dew and an ice cold brew! Looks like an awesome trip. Great list of reads as usual!
Thanks!
And I did.
Cheers!
-PoF
It’s truly a pleasure to be featured in the Sunday Best! Thank you PoF! And the first link too!
I’ve been following your blog for year now, and I’m almost certain you’ll have a “5 Years Of Freedom” post one of these days too!
Enjoy Asheville!
Woops, I meant ‘years’ not ‘year’
I love how you never allow those who have fact based proof regarding eating as our ancestors did, to be published in your comment sections. Yet another web site where if someone has an opposing view, Mr. Tako deletes it.
You are a disgrace Mr. Tako.
Your Dew comment reminded me of my friend’s crushing disappointment when she discovered that clear drinks aren’t caffeinated in Canada. Sounds like a lovely adventure you’re having, wish I were there with you!
PoF,
I just finished a shift where my last patient required CPR, intubation, and a central line. It was a two hour resuscitation.
Which is why it was a particularly pleasant surprise to change to the lighter tone of our shared phobia of paying retail for children’s footwear.
Glad the RV travel is working out well. While I imagine you’ve got plenty of great ideas as to where you want to ditch sober October and start celebrating barely-remember-November, the artists formerly known as Pour Not Poor (now How to Money) may have some helpful suggestions of overlooked gems in the areas you are exploring.
Thanks for the updates on the family travel – enjoying your trip vicariously!
Fondly,
CD
PoF, I have really enjoyed all of your content and hearing about your travels. Regarding Asheville, I can’t think of a better place to say goodbye to Sober October! I have to recommend starting with Burial Beer Co and Green Man, but there are so many great options. White Labs Kitchen and Tap is a newer place, but their concept of brewing the same beer with two of their different yeast strains was interesting and worth checking out if you can.
Where in Tennessee?
Thank you for bringing us FI school. I have not had the chance to listen to these voices before- except for JL Collins and you. And I look forward to it!