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

 

Nobody’s perfect, and I am far, far from it. I made a couple of big gaffes in 2020 that I’m embarrassed to admit, but if it helps a few of you, my errors will have been worth sharing. Investing Mistakes 2020: Misadventures in Stock Picking and Tax Loss Harvesting.

 

I can’t blame anyone else, but it’s true that there is a lot of bad advice out there. Even if the advice is good, it may not apply to you; I encounter this frequently with advice for the masses that makes little sense for physicians (and lawyers and other high-income professionals). A Lawyer and Her Money on Why So Much Financial Advice is Wrong.

 

Thankfully, I do my best to bring you sound financial advice from a variety of perspectives here in The Sunday Best. The Prudent Plastic Surgeon celebrated Thanksgiving with 15 Reasons to Be Extremely Financially Thankful This Year.

 

I’m thankful to be in a position of financial independence; you could say it makes me happy. Educator FI is here to teach us about the role money plays in our lives. Money Can’t Buy Happiness? It Can Buy Important Ingredients.

 

If you are unhappy with your career or another major aspect of your life, what do you do? The Physician Philosopher discusses why Finding a Way Out may not be the best solution.

 

The Dragons on FIRE may disagree, but then again, a cancer diagnosis changes your perspective. Year One of My Early Retirement.

 

Stephanie and Gillian don’t regret leaving their corporate jobs. Complete with a number of videos, they describe Our Freedom Years in What’s It Like To Retire In My 30s.

 

What does it take to pull off a feat like that? Allison & Dylin of Retire by 45 tell us. The Top 12 Traits Needed to Achieve FIRE.

Travel was supposed to play a big role in our FIRE plans, and I feel good about our chances to resume traveling in 2021. So much so that we’ve booked our first family getaway for the fall of next year, and we got a screaming deal. A comprehensive look at How to Score Cheap Flights from Your Money Geek.

 

Small cap stocks have looked relatively cheap for a decade or more. However, they are on pace for their best month ever in November. Best Month Ever! What does history tell us about what we might expect? Ben Carlson with A Wealth of Common Sense investigates. What Happens to Small Caps After a Huge Monthly Gain?

 

Perhaps you’d like to venture into real estate investing. Passive Income MD has a bunch of ideas, as you probably know. 6 Ways to Invest in Apartment Buildings.

 

ESI Money‘s series has come a long way since I filled out Millionaire Interview #5. The series is now up to #205!

• Millionaire Interview #201
• Millionaire Interview #202
• Millionaire Interview #203
• Millionaire Interview #204
• Millionaire Interview #205

 

Millionaire Money Mentors is an online membership community that sprung from the interview series. It’s a place where aspiring millionaires can be mentored by those who have found success. I’ve been a part of this growing group for a few months now, and there are some great conversations going on.

John from ESI Money is a regular, along with a bunch of former interviewees like me. It does cost money to participate, but the cost of admission has been reduced for Black Friday / Cyber Monday.

 

We’ve talked about some estate planning strategies in the MMM membership group, some more complex than others. Jim Wang of Wallet Hacks describes a straightforward but effective plan that doesn’t involve layers of trusts or the involvement of lawyers. The “Buy, Borrow, Die” Estate Planning Strategy.

 

 

A Free Course from WCI with the Purchase of Another at 10% Off!

 

Amazon has thousands of items on sale, as do online retailers far and wide. It’s a good thing, too, as packing the stores as people have in years past would be a riskier proposition in 2020.

Our friend Jim Dahle, The White Coat Investor, has but both his signature course, Fire Your Financial Advisor, and the most recent offering, Continuing Financial Education 2020 (good for 10 CME), are on sale at 10% off ’til tomorrow.

Purchase either course and you’ll be hooked up with all the talks from the first WCI Conference as an added bonus!

 

Giving Tuesday!

 

I’ve been making anonymous $100 grants left and right to honor the requests of site sponsors, and in two days, you’ll have the opportunity to make a request of your own.

For the 3rd consecutive year, I’ll open up the comments section on Giving Tuesday, taking requests for charitable causes that you’d like me to support. There are no strings attached, although I think it’d be cool if you also support the charity in some way. There are so many people in need this year.

The first year I did this, it took all day and much of the evening to reach 100 requests (28 from sponsors beforehand and 72 from readers that day). Frankly, I was flabbergasted that it took that long.

My giving post from 2019 was more successful. I gave to 30 or so charities requested by sponsors and I honored 100 additional requests in the comments that were in before noon eastern time. A generous reader chose to honor at least a dozen requests that came after the first 100, a fantastic gesture.

If you’d like me to donate $100 to a charity of your choice in 2020, set your alarm for Tuesday morning and be sure to read the latest post. Complete instructions will be there.

 

Holiday Cash Back

 

As you do your online shopping this year, be sure to get something back. It shouldn’t be difficult to meet the minimum spend requirements over 3 months on these top cash back credit cards, and you could use that money to get yourself something nice (or be just a little bit closer to FI).

 

 

 

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE