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!

 

 

In healthcare, we’re well aware of the placebo effect. Similar effects take place in the investing world, where credit is given where credit is not due, despite a positive outcome. Jesse with Best Interest discusses these Investing Placebos.

 

He started out winging it, but that was inadequate. From Accidentally Retired, How I Planned my Early Retirement Withdrawal Strategy After I Accidentally Retired Without a Plan.

 

This gentleman took the opposite approach. Post FI Notes 010: A Chemically Engineered Transition to Retirement.

 

Last week, we gave thanks for our many blessings. The Financial Samurai explains how much of his (and perhaps your) success can be chalked up to good fortune. Your Wealth Is Mostly Due To Luck: Be Thankful!

 

If you’re lucky enough to be in a position to cut back on your work hours, take it, says Carpe Diem MD. Working Less is Worth Every Penny!!!! he says, emphatically.

 

As a solo practice owner, working less isn’t an easily-accomplished option for this dentist, but soon, he could cut his hours by 100%. FIRE Crossroads 010: Dentist on the Cusp of FI in His Early 40s.

 

To quote Blink 182, “Works sucks. I know.” That’s been the case for “your girl” Kitty from Bitches Get Riches, at least, so she decided to do something about it. Your Girl Is Officially Retiring at 35 Years Old.

 

Nursing pays really well in California, with this pair of them earning a combined $200,000 per year. Could geographic arbitrage be the ticket to an early exit from their nursing careers? Millennial Revolution breaks down the numbers. Reader Case: ER Nurse Wants to Escape.

 

Is this some sort of temporal arbitrage? Mr. Firestation plays time-travel mind tricks to justify his current spending habits. Cut Those Prices In Half!  

 

The White Coat Investor is giving away a bunch of money, and 4 days remain to get your requests and votes in! Help Us Give $50,000 Away to Charity.

 

We wrapped up our Giving Tuesday grants last week, giving over $24,000 to about 240 charities (a few received multiple $100 grants). Giving Tuesday 2021: You Request. We Give. All requests have been fulfilled; if you made one and would like proof of donation, please contact me. In past years, I spend far more time providing evidence of the gifts than actually making them, so I’ve decided to do so only upon request. A big thank you to the following individuals & couples who made ten or more $100 grants apiece (and chose how they’d like to be acknowledged):

• Vagabond MD
• Artemis
• Jerome Enad, MD
• Physician in Numbers
• Old F.I.R.T – Financial Independence Retire Tardy
• TheDangerZone
• Bob & Amy Haines
• Walz Helmick Charitable Fund
• Matt and Kimberly Schoeck

 

$100 to charity is a nice offer, sure, but how about an offer to give away more money and to give it to you? That’s what InCrowd, a company offering quick paid medical surveys, is offering $150 to TWO new members who register this month via our PoF referral link to Incrowd. You’ll have some competition, but they’ll be selecting from maybe 3 to 4 dozen people, not hundreds. Other offers:

• $20 bonus to ALL new registrants at MD For Lives
• Up to $50 bonus, depending on medical specialty, to new registrants at All Global Circle
• $250 to one new registrant at Curizon this month

 

Have you been inspired to start a Donor Advised Fund of your own? The Physician in Numbers, one of our 9 volunteers above, shows you how (and why) she opened one of her own. Doing Well By Doing Good: Setting Up a Donor Advised Fund at Fidelity.

 

Making a large donation at the end of the year can be a great tax planning strategy, but that’s just one of many considerations listed by The Physician Philosopher An End-of-Year Financial Checklist for High Earners.

 

 

The Cadre Secondary Market

 

Many real estate investing platforms have discussed plans to eventually open an option to buy and sell their investments on a secondary market, providing liquidity to an otherwise rather illiquid investment.

Cadre (rhymes with the Spanish Padre), a site sponsor, has actually pulled it off. You can take advantage of others’ desires to cash out mid-cycle by getting in on deals at a 2.5% to 10% discount to current market value. This quarter’s secondary market window opened 12/1 and will close this week on 12/10.

For more information and to view these deals, see Cadre’s insights:

• How to Evaluate Cadre Secondary Market Opportunities
• Investing in Cadre’s Secondary Market: What Investors Need to Know

 

The Fruit Market

 

While we were bummed not to be able to roam freely around Cozumel on our recent cruise (more on that in my next blog post), we knew we’d be back in the country soon enough.

After an absurd 48-hour delay in Chicago after our delayed flight left early without us (don’t ask), we arrived in sunny Mexico a few days ago. I call it a 48-hour delay, but our original departure date was actually late September!

We wanted our younger son to be fully vaccinated before taking the trip, and while we missed some fun stuff like El Dia de los Muertos that was on our original itinerary, we will get to enjoy a couple weeks of Mexican culture and Spanish language lessons before heading home again for the holidays.

Today, we’ll be joined by another early retired physician and his family for a two-day stay with us. We’re excited to host our friends and catch up, as it’s been several years since we last traveled together. We booked an Airbnb that sleeps 10, so we can easily accommodate another family.

In preparation for our friends’ visit, we visited the local fruteria, as we often do. I’m always amazed by how much we can get in fresh fruits and vegetables at the local fruit markets.

On our first day in town, we came home with a massive bounty for just over 200 pesos, or $10 USD. After a quick soak in the microdyne-treated water, we’re ready to start making fajitas, guacamole, and more!

Given the nature of fruits and vegetables, there is, thankfully, no secondary fruit market. If there were, I’d advise you steer clear — stick with the primary markets when it comes to avocadoes and bananas, and save the secondary market for real estate!

 

 

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE