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!

 

 

 

ESI Money has conducted hundreds of interviews with millionaires and others. The multimillionaire takes a turn as an interviewee here at Physician on FIRE. Post FI Notes 013: ESI Money Reflects on 5 Years of Early Retirement.

• Related: Christopher Guest Post: ESI Money

 

Dr. B.C. Krygowski has felt a pull back into medicine during this pandemic, and as a palliative care physician, there’s been plenty of demand for her services. An update on her life as an author, mother, wife, and doctor: Christopher Guest Post: B.C. Krygowski.

 

When one spouse passes away, the surviving spouse is dealt the additional insult of a much crappier tax situation. The FI Physician explains the Widow’s Tax: Loss of a Spouse and Increased Taxes.

 

While the not-yet-rich tend to lament “trust fund babies,” the fact is that most millionaires have worked for their wealth, says Steve Adcock. Think Most Millionaires Inherited Their Wealth? Think Again.

 

ESI Money would say the first step in becoming a millionaire is Earning, but there’s another E that comes before that, and that’s Education. J.D. Roth at Get Rich Slowly digs into The Value of a College Degree.

 

How important is the school you attend? It may not matter as much as you might think, says Tony Isola with Humble Dollar. No Name, No Problem.

 

Your profession plays a larger role in your wealth-building potential than the school you attended, and this interviewee, while not a physician, found a lucrative field of work. FIRE Crossroads 013: 50 with 5 Years to fatFIRE.

 

Working for the government has its perks, and the guy behind Government Worker FI is fast approaching FI himself. He ran his plan and numbers by a trusted pro and got some great insights. Here’s what happened when I talked to a CPA about my FIRE plans.

 

2021 has been a challenging year, but you’ve still got a few days to squeeze some good out of it. How many boxes can you check from The White Coat Investor’s End of Year Financial Checklist?

 

The White Coat Investor has a generous offer to close out the year, gifting you a FREE CFE Las Vegas course (10 CME hours and $649 value) with the purchase of the Fire Your Financial Advisor, Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention, or Continuing Financial Education 2021 courses. This is a great use for those CME dollars that have to be used by the end of the year. The offer ends on January 3rd.

 

Remember the Gamestop frenzy? AMC followed, ARK funds were all the rage, and Dogecoin holders became millionaires from a meme. Monevator takes a look at some of 2021’s wilder investment stories. What happened to 2021’s biggest thrill-rides for investors?

 

I didn’t get in on the rise or fall of any of these meme stocks or coins, but then again, I’m more “Accumulator” than “Celebrity.” The Female Money Doctor examines personality types when it comes to managing money. What Are the 8 Money Archetypes?

 

If you feel you’ve got too many obligations and not enough time, you may need to learn to say No more often, according to The Physician Philosopher. How Building a Hell Yes Policy can help you reclaim your time.

 

Is this The End of the Backdoor Roth IRA? The FI Tax Guy looks at that possibility. While Build Back Better appears to be on the back burner, 2021 could still end up being the last year the maneuver is allowed, although the odds of being able to do one in 2022 is looking better by the day.

• Related: Backdoor Roth IRA 2021: A Step by Step Guide with Vanguard
• Related: The Backdoor Roth FAQ

 

If you’ve seen the Expected Returns Over the Next Decade, you know they’re not great. They weren’t great a decade ago, either, and the stock market’s been on a tear ever since. Ben Carlson at A Wealth of Common Sense tries to make sense of the predictions.

 

We’ll wrap this Sunday Best up the way it started — by featuring ESI Money interviews. See how these 5 wealthy interviewees earn, save, and invest.

• Millionaire Interview #281
• Millionaire Interview #282
• Millionaire Interview #283
• Millionaire Interview #284
• Millionaire Interview #285

 

 

New Toys

 

I’ve been limping along with two halfway-decent laptops that each have their issues for far too long. I got myself a new toy this week, a 13.3″ Lenovo Yoga 6 with Windows 11 pre-installed.

Since my last two laptops were also Lenovo machines, sticking with them may not have been the wisest choice, but it feels like a solid machine and has solid specs. I also like the slightly smaller form factor that makes it even easier to use on a plane, in a recliner, or anywhere our travels might take us.

I’m not the only one in the house with new toys. In addition to the Lego sets that are a standard under the tree, we got our kids an Oculus Quest 2 virtual reality system. They’ve loved the very limited exposure they’ve had to VR, and as far as gaming goes, the VR games keep a player much more physically active than playing a game on Kindle.

If you’ve got this or a similar virtual reality setup, let me know your favorite games and best tips. I have a feeling Dad might be taking some turns with the headset on.

If Santa brought you some new toys, I hope you fully enjoy them and the experiences they bring you. I also hope your alma mater wins its bowl game (unless you’re a Mountaineer), your NFL team doesn’t implode due to COVID or incompetence, and that the final days of 2021 are among the best days of the year!

 

 

Building Communities

 

Site sponsor DLP now offers two new funds. First, the DLP Building Communities Fund, which provides equity investments in the development and construction of new rental housing communities. It has the highest targeted net return of all DLP funds at 13%, with annual distributions and annual liquidity.

The second new fund is the DLP Preferred Credit Fund, which invests in real estate loans for larger, higher-quality borrowers, and has the highest targeted preferred return (9%) of the current DLP funds.

For Physician on Fire referrals, the minimum investment for all of the funds is only $200,000, compared to their normal investment minimum of $500,000. Learn more at DLP.

 

Exploring Communities

 

My buddy Jim Dahle, a.k.a. The White Coat Investor, just returned from a family trip to Greece. I was thrilled to hear that it went well for them.

Proof of vaccination is required to visit most indoor spaces, and a negative test is required for entry into the country, but we can certainly live with restrictions like that. They might decrease the odds that one of us picks up the Omicron variant, stranding us in Greece. Or Malta. Or Italy. Our most susceptible family member is now my 12-year old, who is now more than six months removed from his second shot while his age group is not yet eligible for the booster.

No, I didn’t anticipate that we’d be dealing with a massive 4th wave or whatever it is now when we planned out our 1-month European itinerary three months ago, but it was always a known risk.

I can think of worse things than to be stranded in southern Europe in January, as long as no one gets truly sick, although I will be bummed if I’m not able to make it back for the 2022 WCICon, which takes place less than a week after our scheduled return to the states!

 

A WCICon BOGO

 

Happy Holidays! Our friend WCI is gifting you every video from the most recent WCICon in 2020. That’s right, a FREE CFE Las Vegas course (10 CME hours and $649 value) with the purchase of any of the following courses:

• Fire Your Financial Advisor,
• Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention
• Continuing Financial Education 2021

This is a great use for those CME dollars that have to be used by the end of the year. This offer ends on January 3rd.

 

Have an outstanding week and a Happy New Year! I’ll see you here next week in 2022.

-Physician on FIRE