The Sunday Best is a collection of a handful of posts I share with you each week. With so many informative and inspirational writers out there, I have no trouble coming up with a number of worthwhile reads each week.
Every featured post should be of interest to any physician seeking financial independence. Some will be written by your physician colleagues; others will be written by our friends and patients who share common goals and interests.
Presenting, this week’s Sunday Best:
It warms my heart to see the terms Mustachian and Doctor share space in someone else’s post title. Smart Money MD asks How Mustachian Can a Doctor Be?
The couple known to me as Enchumbao have been investing for 10 years, and have 1.5 lessons to share for each of those years along their path to a pending early retirement. Read their 15 Lessons Learned from 10 Years of Investing.
I’ve never considered medicine to be a “calling” for me. It’s a vocational choice I made, and has led to a career, which is essentially a series of jobs. It’s not something I like to admit, but apparently I’m not alone. Resident anesthesiologist Charlie @ Life of a Med Student asks, Is Medicine “Just a Job” Like Anything Else?
Dr. Mo @ Urgent Care Career has has seen some serious shenanigans in his 7 years, as described in Jobs Will Push You Around. In a similar vein, Love Will Turn You Around. Dr. Mo sees his finances do a 180: Change in Lifestyle Means a Change in Retirement Status.
In an oldie but goodie, Coach Carson crafts another argument for stealth wealth in How to Retire Rich with Embarassing Old Cars and Ugly Houses.
In an interesting take on relative frugality, Apathy Ends described The 7 Levels of Frugality – Find Your Sweet Spot. I’m a “thoughtful splurger” despite not being particularly thoughtful.
The Vigilante, who wrote a killer guest post here this week, touched on a topic most physicians and lawyers have in common: student loans. 4 Reasons Student Loan Forgiveness is Best Korea.
Winter is coming! Plan for it. Dr. & Mrs. P.I.E. @ Plan Invest Escape have big plans that involve snow, cold, and relative frugality. Learn more about their upcoming Winter Activities – Minimized Cost, Maximized Fun.
Winter is coming, but you’d hardly know it by the wonderfully mild fall we’ve been having thus far. Part of this weekend’s fun included an all-day swim meet, followed by a get-together with a physician couple that I’ve only seen once since medical school (great fun!), and avoiding the woods so as not to be mistaken for a deer.
I’ve got the hide of a deer stinking up the garage at the moment; my Dad bagged one last weekend and my son figured he could make a decent tee-pee out of it. I would have preferred the venison backstrap, but we got the hide. I was told to dump a bunch of salt on it to help it cure, but I really need to read up on proper curing, or tanning or whatever it is one does with animal skin.
Learn how to better manage your student loan debt, and explore refinancing to a lower rate with cash back offers up to $1,000!
In blog news, I was honored to discover that Taylor Larimore shared Tuesday’s post on Stealth Wealth in the Bogleheads forum. The discussion that followed (and is currently ongoing) has been fascinating. If you don’t have a username yet, consider creating one and offering up your take on the topic of stealth weatlh.
The Bogleheads forum is one of the most civil and tightly moderated forums out there, and is largely frequented by those of a mindset similar to mine, yet not everyone was on board with my message.
Most commenters could appreciate or identify with the concept of stealth wealth, but others called me a joker, delusional, smug, and “off in a fantasy money land.” I took that last one out of context, but as should be expected, not everyone on the internet thinks exactly the way I do.
The White Coat Investor has said that thick skin (but not as thick as that deer’s hide) is a useful trait to have as a blogger. It’s so true. You all are so friendly and supportive here on my site, but once my words venture off the reservation, the waters can get a little chilly.
I did have a good time responding to some of the comments, and most of them were quite agreeable. Stealth wealth is quite prevalent among the Bogleheads, but so are luxury automobiles. It’s best not to tell them what they should drive (not that I did or would– but don’t).
I didn’t mean to pass judgment; I have no qualms with someone who chooses to drive a much nicer car than mine. To each, his own. I think some readers felt a need to defend themselves, as I might when someone says “I don’t need to drink to have a good time.”
That’s basically what I said, replacing “drink” with “spend.” If someone were to approach me at the holiday party (look for me over by the bar) and say something like that to me as I’m holding a hoppy liquid delight, I might find the comment a bit smug, and feel a need to defend myself, too. Sure, I don’t need to drink to enjoy myself, but my personal experience has been that I will most certainly have more fun if I partake in an IPA or two. Different strokes for different folks.
The Bogleheads discussion, along with a Rockstar Finance feature on Monday, made this easily the best week ever for the blog’s exposure. Thank you all for your time and attention. This blog is nothing without readers like you.
Have a great week!
-Physician on FIRE
Thanks for the mention! It’s an honor! I’ll be going over to check out the BogleHeads discussion.
Even with thick skin, the criticism can get under it. Part of the deal. When I played football in front of 80,000 people and had media interviews all the time – I used to let it fuel me to focus and push more. Whatever works:)
Keep up the great work! congrats on your traffic this week. Well-deserved!
Got it, coach.
From now on, whenever I get negative feedback or called names, I will tackle people harder. I can think of a few coworkers who have it coming. 😉
Cheers!
-PoF
Doc, congrats on the record traffic this week. Keep pumping out your awesome content, and the numbers always follow! Congrats, well earned. (PS, I’m mentioning you in my “Achieving A Dream” post that comes out tomorrow, I’m pretending to be a Doc and explain what’s happening to my body…..check it out?!).
Wowsers. Love the comic in the post. I haven’t done active blogging in quite some time, but when I did, my wife would often question why I wasn’t in bed yet. “Just working on another link” or “Almost done with this article” were common replies.
Congrats on the attention from Bogleheads and 5 pages of comments. That is darn impressive.
Keep up the good work.
cd :O)
Many thanks for the mention! Excellent lineup of articles, as always!
Also, congrats on the splash you made with the Stealth Wealth article. That really struck a chord with many folks in the community!
Have a great weekend everybody!
Cheers,
ERN
How many thanks, exactly? You know how I like numbers.
I look forward to your upcoming Christopher Guest post later this week. Should be another fun one!
Best,
-PoF
How many would be called many? I’m a numbers guy, too, but an economist above all, so I have to keep it as vague as possible, so think high single digits to mid-seven figures, just to be sure. 🙂
Yes, definitely! Looking forward to the Christopher Guest Post on Thursday. You got a great lineup of questions!
Cheers,
ERN
Thanks for the mention.!! We recognize skiing can be expensive especially for a family. But with some planning and a bit of research, those costs can come down significantly. Travel hacking is certainly the biggest costs eater.
Some new sites also for us to check out. Thanks much!!
Will take a look at the Bogleheads chatter for sure today.
The Bogleheads thread has four pages of comments now. There’s an amusing side conversation about a particular 3-in-1 jacket.
What I find most interesting is how the bigger spenders feel they’re being judged or attacked from choosing to spend some money. My post wasn’t about what’s right or wrong, good or bad. I just defined what stealth wealth looks like to me, and how it can be beneficial in certain situations.
Personally, I don’t care how you choose to spend your money. I’m glad you were able to hit the slopes for a fair price, but if you went heli-skiing every weekend, it would have no bearing on my life.
Cheers!
-PoF
Another excellent roundup. Sorry to hear that the burnout has filtered down to the med students, but glad that the personal finance knowledge is making it through too. They’ll have options and backup plans and can make truly informed decisions.
Congrats on your blockbuster week for the blog!
Thanks! I don’t know if burnout is becoming more prevalent or better recognized, but it must be dealt with somehow. I’m an advocate of doing what we can as individuals to protect ourselves by focusing on financial independence.
Best,
-PoF
Appreciate the shout out PoF
Glad to hear you are getting some recognition for the content you put out. It’s nice when things go right blogging – some weeks it can feel like a lot goes in for little or no reward.
Looking forward to more conversations in the rockstar forums as well
Yes, as a.. ahem…. quad-featured Rockstar blogger, I’m enjoying the new RSF forum.
Cheers!
-PoF
Congrats on the exposure this week! Try to remember us little guys!
How could I forget you? Your guest post ran the gamut from pillow talk to the flux capacitor!
Best,
-PoF
Congrats on the big-time exposure PoF!
With success comes criticism. It doesn’t matter if you’ve spent years refining your skills…some random dude on the internet is always going to think he knows how to do it better.
Happens to me fairly frequently too.
I’m actually kind of satisfied when the internet criticism happens. Thinking differently is a good thing IMHO.
Differences (after all) are how we achieve outlier results.
Indeed. Differences in opinion open our minds to new ideas.
Cheers!
-PoF