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
There’s intentional medical tourism, and then there’s an open fracture while on a shore excursion. From Making Sense of Cents, My True Travel Insurance Story – A Broken Leg & Surgery in the Dominican Republic. Ouch!
A lot of us have saved money on travel this year, but our incomes have also been affected. How COVID-19 Has Impacted Doctors’ Personal Finances.
It’s easy to be down this year, but That Frugal Pharmacist keeps her chin up. Thankfulness in 2020. Being Grateful Despite Cancer and Covid-19.
The Physician in Numbers shows her gratitude with generosity. On Giving, 2020.
I did something similar, making more than 12 dozen grants to charities chosen by others, and doubling the monetary impact of last year’s Giving Tuesday efforts. A $10,000 grant and a boatload of smaller ones in the plainly stated I’ll Give $100 Each to Charities Chosen by the First 100 Readers to Comment.
One thing I’ve learned in nearly five years of writing about charitable giving is that few people care to read about it. I get it. You’d rather read about something that more directly impacts you, like when Budgets are Sexy talks about SORR. Sequence Of Returns Risk – Why You Should Care.
Positive cashflow and lower volatility means a lesser sequence of returns risk and a higher likelihood of a successful retirement. Real estate investing can offer both. Passive Income MD details 5 Reasons I Prefer Real Estate Over Stocks.
- To be honest, a 6th reason would be that it’s easier to make money teaching and recommending real estate investing than it is when pushing index funds. It’s true. I can’t imagine a worse segue to the fact that I can save you $300 on the upcoming Zero to Freedom through Cashflowing Real Estate, but there it is. Join the waitlist for some free content and a discount on the pre-sale next week.
The White Coat Investor pushes back on the Infinite Return concept that our buddy Passive Income MD touted not long ago. Debunking the Idea of an Infinite Return.
He also debunks the idea that investing in a taxable brokerage accounts bests retirement account investing in these two posts. Why Early Retirees Should Max Out Retirement Accounts & We Need to Defend Retirement Accounts?
They’re earning $220,000 a year with plans to drop their earned income to 0. It’s painful to do this math, but His and Her Money Guide did it, anyway. The cost of retiring early: a lost career of wages.
Many investors lose years of wages to sketchy financial advisors, including those that call themselves fiduciaries. The FI Physician tells us he’s leaving medicine and that too many physicians are not much better than these untrustworthy advisors. Why “Fiduciary” is a Sales Pitch.
Some late-career physicians are keen on selling out to private equity groups and riding off into the sunset, leaving their junior partners in an unenviable position. Dr. Ben White looks at the ugly trend in Radiology and the Private Equity Bait and Switch.
I know all the words to a handful of songs and exactly one movie. Ben Carlson of A Wealth of Common Sense apparently shares an affinity for the same film. How Personal Finance Helped Launch Dazed and Confused.
Money Isn’t Everything
It’s the only thing. No! I’m not going to channel Vince Lombardi here, although I did once argue that money is everything in a very different context than the topic I’d like to discuss today.
Earlier this week, I learned that serial entrepreneur and near-billionaire Tony Hsieh passed away at 46 — he was a year older and almost a billion dollars wealthier than me.
Initial reports were that he died from injuries sustained in a house fire. That’s tragic.
As more details emerged, notably in Forbes’ Tony Hsieh’s American Tragedy: The Self-Destructive Last Months Of The Zappos Visionary, we learned that he suffered smoke inhalation after locking himself in a storage shed.
It’s easy to jump to conclusions based on that revelation, but it could have very well been an accident. By report, he was, at times, a heavy drinker, and in recent months had taken to drug abuse, partaking in the dissociative anesthetic gas Nitrous Oxide regularly.
Mr. Hsieh and his business partner sold their first company, LinkExchange to Microsoft when he was just 24. He later led Zappos to an astronomical valuation as the CEO and primary investor, selling the company to Amazon for $1.2 Billion in 2009.
He also invested hundreds of millions of dollars in an attempt to revitalize downtown Las Vegas, and he had more recently relocated to Park City, UT, buying up a number of properties and bringing in friends and confidantes.
He was known for prioritizing happiness for his employees and himself. He wrote a best seller titled Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose.
Somewhere, he lost his way. No amount of money will bring happiness if you’ve not covered basic needs including physical and mental health. Sometimes, you cannot buy your way out of physical danger.
My heart goes out to Tony Hsieh’s parents and family and to everyone whose lives he touched. There were many.
Canceled Plans
With the pandemic numbers setting record highs on a daily basis and a vaccine release imminent, we’re not taking many chances.
Some call it living in fear; I call it making responsible choices.
Two weeks ago, my family and I were planning to travel to Minnesota to join my parents for Thanksgiving. Both families have kept our respective “circles” very small. Still, as the hospitalizations and positive tests climbed, it didn’t seem like such a good idea.
I already had plans to buy my wife a new car (more on that in a later post) and to pick up my annual 16-gallon beer allotment in Minnesota. My wife and kids stayed put, and after a week of home isolation and a COVID test (which was negative, as expected), I made the solo trip to see my family. It was good to see them, and we were able to exchange Christmas gifts early.
This week, my family and I had plans to stay with my wife’s cousin downstate. They’ve got a short-term need for my wife’s nanny services, and the last time she volunteered for the job, we didn’t see her for nearly three weeks. This time, we figured we’d all go.
Alas, as you might guess, we canceled our plans to travel down together. Her cousin works in a hospital, and multiple patients are dying from COVID there every single day. The baby, at 5 months or so, isn’t quite ready to take care of himself, so my wife is still making the trip, but if she is exposed, she can either stay where she is or isolate at our cabin, much like I did for two weeks back in March.
I don’t know exactly what the upcoming holidays will look like, but I don’t foresee any consideration of travel or spending anytime indoors with extended family.
My hometown Timberwolves’ star Karl-Anthony Towns has lost his mother and six other family members to COVID-19. I’ve missed many holidays due to my education, training, and career. I’m more than willing to sit out one more under these dangerous circumstances, and I’d love to see everyone in both extended families next year when most or all of us are vaccinated and the disease has hopefully been all but eradicated.
A generous welcome bonus of 60,000 points & Peloton membership credits onthe Chase Sapphire Preferred & premium card perks with the Chase Sapphire Reserve!
Chase Sapphire Preferred
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Chase Sapphire Reserve
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Have a safe week!
-Physician on FIRE
Thank you for the reminder PoF — That I’m in a very fortunate position right now. We haven’t lost anyone in my extended family to covid, and we are relatively unaffected by the economic difficulties related to the pandemic. I’ve been lucky.
Not everyone is in this very fortunate position. Compassion and empathy are important right now, as well as doing what we can not to spread the virus further.
I commend you for holding back on travel, and suspending major holiday celebrations this year. The world needs more like you.
Stay healthy, and great Sunday Best as always.
Check out Generous Giving. They have great videos on their website you can watch. They are an amazing organization that I think you will appreciate. I have been to their conferences and attended a “JOG” (journey of generosity) and they are life changing.
Thanks for the tip, I grady!
Great list of charities Doc. Holidays are tough with COVID but glad your family is staying safe.
That radiologist post was a hard read. Especially since I see it as one of the highly paid professions to be taken over by robots in the next 5 years.
Augmented by AI, sure. Same is true of pathology. But there’s still a role for the diagnostic radiologist, not to mention the many interventional procedures performed by both general and interventional radiologists.
Stay safe out there!
-PoF
It might not be the topic that gets lots of clicks and readers, but you and your family are doing good work giving and supporting needy causes.
And it does encourage others to follow in your footsteps! 🙂
Cheers!
Thank you for the kudos, Chris.
That latter part is why I do it; I hope to inspire a greater amount of giving, multiplying the impact of the gifts we make many times over.
I will say, though, that the traffic and click-through rates on charitable giving posts are abysmal. 4% of my email subscribers clicked on the post where I offered to donate $100 to a charity of their choice. I couldn’t have been any more clear on my intent.
For comparison, about 4x as many subscribers will click through to this post.
Cheers!
-PoF
Your 6th reason in the “5 Reasons” for real estate over stocks is too funny, but obviously very right. The margins in real estate investing are big enough that affiliate and referral bonuses can be substantial. I like to think that there’s enough profit for everyone to share in the goodness, but surely this doesn’t apply to all cases.
And regarding Tony Hsieh, it’s really a tragic story. You’ve probably read this story in Forbes, but the letter from Jewel to him about his drug use near the end was heartbreaking to read.
I call ’em like I see ’em.
I’ve got a 20% allocation to alternatives (mostly real estate investments) and that will likely grow as our net worth beyond what we need to be FI continues to grow. But I do think it’s fair to point out the potential conflicts of interest.
That Forbes story is the one I linked to above. When the early reports of his demise came out, no one wanted to mention that the man had been in a downward spiral, surrounding himself with “yes men” on his payroll for months.
Best,
-PoF
Thank you for the mention, POF, and for making such an effort to promote charitable giving in the personal finance sphere. I hope you and your extended family stay safe over the holidays; hopefully these will be the last holidays that will have to take COVID-19 into account.
I’m confident that things will look much brighter by this time next year, and we will have a newfound appreciation for the freedom to safely gather.
Thank you for also highlighting the giving spirt this holiday season.
Cheers!
-PoF
Thank you again for your generous Giving Tuesday post and contributions. It was heart-warming to read through all of the charities that you made contributions to.
Happy and Healthy Holidays to you and your family!
Thank you, Kristia!
To make it easier for others to see, these are ~150 charities that received $100 or more based on requests from readers and sponsors. Our friend Vagabond MD contributed to an additional 20.
ABUNDANT LIFE MINISTRY
ADORE-A-BULL RESCUE INC
AFRICAN MISSION HEALTHCARE FOUNDATION
AFTER-SCHOOL ALL-STARS
AKRON CHILDRENS HOSPITAL FOUNDATION
ALI FORNEY CENTER
ALS THERAPY DEVELOPMENT FOUNDATION INC
AMERICAN FOUNDATION FOR SUICIDE PREVENTION
AMERICAN JEWISH JOINT DISTRIBUTION COMMITTEE INC
ASSURE WOMENS CENTER
ATLANTA COMMUNITY FOOD BANK INC
AUTISM SPEAKS INC
BALTIMORE ANIMAL RESCUE AND CARE SHELTER INC
BELCHERTOWN DAY SCHOOL INC
BIG BROTHERS BIG SISTERS OF KENTUCKIANA INC
BILLINGS FOOD BANK INC
BLESSING HOUSE
BRADENS HOPE FOR CHILDHOOD CANCER
CADDO-BOSSIER CANCER FOUNDATION LEAGUE INC
CAMERON BOYCE FOUNDATION
CAMP SUNSHINE AT SEBAGO LAKE INC
CANINE ASSISTANTS INC
CAROLINA-HONDURAS HEALTH FOUNDATION
CAT WELFARE ASSOCIATION INCORPORATED
CHADTOUGH FOUNDATION
CHICAGO FOUNDATION FOR WOMEN
CHILDREN S HEALING CENTER
CHILDRENS CANCER ASSOCIATION
CHILDRENS CANCER PARTNERS OF THE CAROLINAS INC
CHILDRENS MIRACLE NETWORK
CLOTHES THAT WORK
COLDWATER OF LEES SUMMIT
COMBINED ARMS
COMFORT AID INTERNATIONAL
COMMUNITIES ACTING TO HEIGHTEN AWARENESS AND LEARNING INC
COMMUNITY VENTURE FOUNDATION
COMPASSION INTERNATIONAL INCORPORATED
CROSSROADS INC
EASTVIEW COMMUNITY FOUNDATION
EDUCATING AFRICAS CHILDREN
EDWARDSVILLE NEIGHBORS IN NEED
FAMILY PROMISE OF BREVARD INC
FEEDING AMERICA
FEEDING AMERICA
FILIPINO YOUTH LEADERSHIP PROGRAM ORGANIZATION
FISH OF SANIBEL-CAPTIVA INC
FORGOTTEN ANGELS FOUNDATION
FOSTERING HOPE INC
FOUNDATION FOR THE NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF HEALTH INC
FRIENDS OF ALPENA COUNTY LIBRARY
FRIENDS OF PULASKI
FRIENDS OF THE BOUNDARY WATERS WILDERNESS
FRIENDS OF THE GREEN CRESCENT
GARY SINISE FOUNDATION
GIDEONS ARMY GRASSROOTS ARMY FOR CHILDREN
GIVEWELL COMMUNITY FOUNDATION INC
GLOBAL VILLAGE MINISTRIES INC
GO PANTRY CORPORATION
GODS STOREHOUSE SOUP KITCHEN
GREATER PITTSBURGH COMMUNITY FOOD BANK
HABITAT FOR HUMANITY INTERNATIONAL INC
HANDS OF ESPERANZA
HARBOR HOUSE DOMESTIC ABUSE PROGRAMS INC
HELPING HANDS SIMIAN AIDES FOR THE DISABLED INC
HILLSIDE HEALTH CARE INTERNATIONAL
HOPE INTERNATIONAL
HOUSE OF BREAD
I CARE SAN ANTONIO INC
IMAI-IMCI ALLIANCE INC
INTERNATIONAL JUSTICE MISSION
KID POWER CARES INC
KISMET PET ADOPTIONS
LITTLE FREE LIBRARY LTD
MAKE-A-WISH FOUNDATION OF THE MID-ATLANTIC INC
MANNA WORLDWIDE INC
MARC LUSTGARTEN PANCREATIC CANCER FOUNDATION
MAYORS ALLIANCE FOR NYCS ANIMALS INC
MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS USA INC
MEDECINS SANS FRONTIERS USA INC
MEDICAL DEBT RESOLUTION INC
MIDDLETOWN PUBLIC LIBRARY
N A A C P LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND INC
NATIONAL GIRLS COLLABORATIVE
NATIONAL WOMENS HISTORY MUSEUM
NATURE CONSERVANCY
NATURES NURSERY CENTER FOR WILDLIFE REHABILITATION AND CONSERVATION
NAVY SEAL FOUNDATION INC
NAVY-MARINE CORPS RELIEF SOCIETY
NEW HOPE MINISTRIES INC
NEW YORK-NEW JERSEY TRAIL CONFERENCE INC
NORTH DAKOTA SPECIAL OLYMPICS INC
NORTH TEXAS FOOD BANK
NORTHERN LIGHTS SLED DOG RESCUE INC
NORTHLAND MIRACLES
NPH-USA
NUJC INC
ONEWORLD COMMUNITY HEALTH CENTERS INC
OPERATION UNDERGROUND RAILROAD INC
OREGON FOOD BANK INC
PALM BEACH COUNTY FOOD BANK INC
PALMER HOME FOR CHILDREN
PARTNERS IN HEALTH A NONPROFIT CORPORATION
PEACEHAVEN FARM INC
PETOSKEY MONTESSORI CHILDRENS HOUSE
PETS & PEOPLE HUMANE SOCIETY INC
PLACE OF FORSYTH COUNTY INC
PRODISEE PANTRY INC
PROJECT ANGEL HUGS
PROJECT HEALING WATERS INC
PROMISE INC
PURDUE RESEARCH FOUNDATION
REPAIRERS OF THE BREACH INTERNATIONAL INC
RESCUE ROVERS
RIDGE AND VALLEY CONSERVANCY INC
ROCKINGHAM HARRISONBURG SOCIETY FOR PREVENTION OF CRUELTY TO ANIMALS
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF CENTRAL AND NORTHERN ARIZONA INC
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES OF EASTERN IOWA AND WESTERN ILLINOIS
RONALD MCDONALD HOUSE CHARITIES UPPER MIDWEST
SAFE HARBOR OF GRAND TRAVERSE INC
SAFEHOUSE MINISTRIES INC
SIENA FRANCIS HOUSE
SMILE TRAIN INC
SOUTHWEST WILDLIFE CONSERVATION CENTER
SPINAL CSF LEAK FOUNDATION
ST JUDE CHILDRENS RESEARCH HOSPITAL INC
STAGES BLOOMINGTON COMPANY
STEPHEN SILLER TUNNEL TO TOWERS FOUNDATION
STRAY RESCUE OF ST LOUIS
TEMPLE UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL INC
THE DANCE ENSEMBLE
THE INN BETWEEN
THE PREEMPTIVE LOVE COALITION
THE ROTARY FOUNDATION OF ROTARY INTERNATIONAL
THE TERRY FARRELL FIREFIGHTERS SCHOLARSHIP FUND INC
THE WILD ANIMAL SANCTUARY A COLORADO NON-PROFIT CO
UNBOUND
UNITED STATES FUND FOR UNICEF
UNITED WAY OF NEW YORK CITY
UTAH FOOD BANK
UTAH SPORTS COMMISSION FOUNDATION
VALUES-IN-ACTION FOUNDATION
WATCH US FARM INC
WELL OUTREACH
WHISPERING WILLOWS SENIOR DOG SANCTUARY INC
WOLF TRAP FOUNDATION FOR THE PERFORMING ARTS
WOMENS FOUNDATION OF ARKANSAS
WOUNDED WARRIOR PROJECT INC
XLH NETWORK INC
YOUNG HEROS FOUNDATION
Cheers!
-PoF
Thanks for being public about setting a great example re Covid. It’s been a rough year, but it’s looking up with vaccines on the horizon, yay!
Thank you, B.C. I was hesitant to admit that I did travel to MN, but I believe in full transparency, and I felt I did it in a relatively responsible way. Once I arrived, I didn’t leave the property for 5 days except to take a daily walk on country roads.
Next year, I fully expect to participate in all kinds of activities that would be deemed irresponsible right now — and probably some that would be a bit reckless at any time. 😉
Cheers!
-PoF