The Sunday Best (4/15/2018)

The Sunday Best is a collection of articles I’ve curated for your reading pleasure.

Expect most of the writing to be from recent weeks and consistent with the themes presented on this website: investing & taxes, financial independence, early retirement, and physician issues.

 

Presenting, this week’s Sunday Best:

 

You’d have to be a fool to consider Leaving a Prestigious High-Paying Career in Your Early 40’s, right? Yet, that’s precisely the idea I’m toying with, as explained in a guest post at Can I Retire Yet.

 

Families like Teresa & Michael’s are an inspiration to people like us who dream of life after retirement. We share an Uncommon Dream. The difference is they’ve been living theirs. From IT Pros to Retired World Travelers.

 

I’ve got another inspirational family for you. We try to be generous with our dollars, but I’ve been more stingy with my time, which has been in shorter supply. That’s not the case with Ms. Montana and her large family. Learn how she has served her community and people around the world in Think Save Retire‘s interview: Community Spotlight: Jillian Johnsrud.

 

How do these people forego decades of high income or give so freely of themselves? It starts with abandoning the scarcity mindset. J.D. Roth of Get Rich Slowly shares some personal struggles and how he overcomes them. Mastering the Abundance Mindset (and Changing Your Money Blueprint).

 

The Chief Mom Officer tackles a seemingly perplexing question that’s been raised in the financial independence community recently. Poverty Tourism – Is Frugality Really Just For the Rich?

 

If you enjoyed Mr. Firestation‘s first update on life two years post-FIRE, you’ll love part two with updates on the categories of health & sports, family & friends, money & work, and learning & writing. FIRE Second Anniversary — Life Wheel Update (2).

 

Afraid to buy stocks? Waiting for “the dip”? Time will tell, but maybe you’re the dip. My new favorite post on market timing with more graphs than you can shake a dip at. From Retire in Progress, I Will Invest When The Market Drops.

 

 

A cautionary tale from a more seasoned doc to the residents about to graduate with dreams of buying or building their dream home. (I’ve been there). He goes be A Good Life MD and he wants to warn you about Medicine’s Money Pit — The Doctor House.

 

As much of the upper Midwest digs out from a nasty spring snowstorm, it’s fun / not fun to read about families who have migrated south. Leaving their abode in Bolivia for Peru, the Corporate Monkey CPA shares their awesome trip to Cusco (With Kids) — And How to do It Cheap.

 

A couple of my favorite podcasters interviewed each other. How cool is that?

• Dr. Nii Darko of Docs Outside the Box interviews Farnoosh Torabi in How to Get So Money.
• Farnoosh Torabi of So Money interviews the Drs. Darko in Episode 685: Drs. Nii & Renee Darko.

The Home Stretch

 

I’m fairly certain that 2018 will be my last full year as an employed anesthesiologist. The current plan is to stick it out until late summer or early fall of 2019. It’s a good enough plan, and the part-time schedule makes for a good life in the remaining 16 months or so.

Still, I can’t help but feel antsy. I read about the lives of the already FIREd and the digital nomads, and can’t help but wonder what’s stopping me from joining them sooner. #FOMO

This is nothing new. A year and a half ago, I asked the question, What if I Quit a Year Earlier? Revisiting that post was educational. In the interim, our plans have changed significantly, and I shouldn’t be surprised. I caution people against making definitive plans more than a few years out — your best guesstimate at what life will look like later on is probably way off.

What has changed? For one, I work less now, at least at my doctor job. But I also work pretty hard at educating people via this blog, the Physicians on FIRE (for medical doctors) and fatFIRE (for everyone) Facebook groups, among other places.

As I shared in my coming clean post, I now earn some income for my efforts here, and my “retirement” won’t look a lot like a typical retirement. Additionally, my replacement has been hired and won’t be joining us until the summer of 2019.

While I could afford to leave the job sooner, I feel a sense of loyalty to my group and hospital, both of whom have been very accommodating in allowing me to work a reduced schedule at a 0.6 FTE. I would like my departure to go down as a smooth transition. I’ve got “FU money,” but no reason to shout such obscenities.

I’m wrapping up a particularly busy workweek, and I tend to question my near-future plans at the end of every week like this. And then I thank my lucky stars that I have plenty of time to rest and enjoy my freedom before my next busy workweek.

Soon enough, I’ll have complete freedom.

 

 

Have a great week, my friends!

-Physician on FIRE