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

“All Time High” isn’t just the theme song to Octopussy. It’s also what we’ve experienced in the stock market at least 10 times a year for eight straight years, and at least 190 times in three of the last four decades. All-Time Highs Are Both Scary & Normal as you’ll learn at A Wealth of Common Sense.

“Top performing funds were more likely to become the worst-performing funds than vice versa.” That’s the problem with active management in general, and it’s a quote from S&P Global‘s 2019 Mid-Year Persistence Scorecard – Key Highlights.

How do you calculate your net worth when you’re counting on a pension to fund your retirement? Is it worth cashing out for a lump sum? There are conversion factors to consider, and Stop Ironing Shirts considers them. How Much is That Pension Worth?

Most of us won’t be funding much of our retirement with a pension (not counting Social Security, that is), but we all have the option to collect regular checks from tenants of rental properties. Passive Income MD discusses the benefits of owning properties outright in Why You Should Pay For Rental Properties In Cash.

Drs. Kenji & Leti of Semi-Retired MD might not agree with the all-cash plan. They shared How to Fast FIRE Your Way to Generational Wealth – Part I, and yes, they like to use leverage.

The Chase Sapphire Preferred Card

The Chase Sapphire Preferred is my top pick for your first rewards card. Welcome bonus of 80,000 points worth at least $1,000 when used to book travel (after a $4,000 spend in 3 mo) and other great perks you can learn abouthere.

Another excellent way to fund a portion of your retirement — especially in early retirement — is a taxable brokerage account. The Physician Philosopher shows you a Step by Step Guide to Opening a Brokerage Account.

How are you going to spend that money from the pension, rental property, or taxable brokerage account? If happiness is what you’re after, Passive Income MD says to Spend Money On Experiences… And Some Things, Too.

No interest in early retirement? Don’t ignore it. Smart Money MD tells us Why Every Doctor Needs to Think About Early Retirement.

Don’t expect retiring early to be the end of your woes, though, either. Millennial Revolution reminds us that FIRE Doesn’t Fix Everything. You’re still you, after all.

We’ve been south of the border for nearly two months now. On a previous trip (to Costa Rica), we stayed a few days with Michael, Ellen, and family of Uncommon Dream fame. Now in Colombia, they share Three Reasons Why Life Abroad with Kids is Arguably MORE Awesome.

Most of today’s authors are millionaires. So are these five folks, who shared their paths to riches with ESI Money.

• Millionaire Interview #146
• Millionaire Interview #147
• Millionaire Interview #148
• Millionaire Interview #149
• Millionaire Interview #150

Taylor Larimore was kind enough to send me a copy of his Boglehead’s Guide to the Three Fund Portfolio. I read it and enjoyed it, but I haven’t written a proper review of the book. These good folks have:

• The Three Fund Portfolio: A Book Review from Richer Life DVM
• The Simple Magic of Investing in a Three-Fund Portfolio from Wallet Hacks
• Review of Bogleheads Guide to the Three Fund Portfolio from White Coat Investor
• A Review Of The Bogleheads’ Guide To The Three-Fund Portfolio from Wall Street Physician
• Is The Three-Fund Portfolio Right For You? from Can I Retire Yet?

Last, but most certainly not least, we donated $13,000 to 130 different charities as chosen by advertisers, affiliates, and you, the readers. A Gift on Giving Tuesday: $100 to 100 of Your Favorite Charities.

Investing in Student Housing

If I was going to get into real estate in a hands-on way, I’d definitely consider looking near a college campus, preferably a large, public research university with plenty of graduate and professional students. They tend to be more responsible and better-behaved (even if I wasn’t).

I’m actually not about to get into real estate in a hands-on way, but I did just invest in a project just like I described. Even better, it’s an equity deal in a no-income tax state, an ideal setup for investing with post-tax money from a tax perspective.

I’ve invested $25,000 (the minimum for this particular deal, although others can be lower) via Crowdstreet. Pro forma (anticipated) projections are for an internal rate of return of over 20%.

This return is obviously not guaranteed, but Crowdstreet does have an excellent track record, having invested nearly $800 Million. The 19 projects that have come full circle on their platform have given investors an average return (as calculated by the spreadsheet function XIRR or internal rate of return) of 29%. Using the Rule of 72 as a guide, those returns will double your money in under 3 years.

Like most investments of this kind, you must be an accredited investor to invest. That means income of $200,000 as an individual, $300,000 as a couple, or a net worth excluding your primary home of $1,000,000.

To view this and other investment opportunities on the Crowdstreet platform, click here. To learn much, much more about commercial real estate investing via syndicates and platforms, download the free 150-page ebook, Learn to Invest like a Commercial Real Estate Professional.

A Featured Financial Advisor

For those of you who would rather not DIY, I maintain a list of recommended financial advisors. Among the good guys and gals who work frequently with physicians, only the lowest cost, fee-only fiduciary advisors were invited to be on this short list. Among them is Chad Chubb of Wealthkeel.

WealthKeel

WealthKeel Financial Advisors Application

Chad Chubb is a CFP and fiduciary for physicians, dentists, and their families across the United States. He founded WealthKeel LLC to simplify and organize the financial lives of medical professionals by custom-crafting financial plans centered around their goals and values.

WealthKeel crafts simple, actionable financial plans for busy doctors and dentists, like you, who feel overwhelmed by the increasing complexity of the decisions you have to make with your money so you can free up time and energy to focus on your family, your work, and what you love most.Services include financial planning, investment management, and student loan management.

Fees:

One-Time Plan Creation Fee:

• Delegators (Plan Creation + Ongoing Financial Planning and Investment Management): $1,500
• Do-It-Yourselfers (Plan Creation Only): $3,000

Ongoing Flat-Fee Financial Planning & Investment Management:

• Residents & Fellows: $200 per month
• Attendings: $300 to $1,100 per month

Diagram for WealthKeel’s Flat-Fee Structure. No AUM fees.

Passive Income and Other Money Myths

VTSAX vs VFIAX: Which Vanguard Index Fund Is Better?

How Much Money Does a Doctor Need to Retire?

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE