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
Mr. Money Mustache contrasts two lives that would appear to be very different but are, in fact, one and the same. The Real Benefit of Being Rich.
A benefit that both MMM and I have taken advantage of is the ability to give generously. Impactivated recognizes this superpower and suggest ways in which we can better harness that energy for good.
- How the FI community can do more good, more effectively (a)
- How the FI community can do more good, more effectively (b)
Do yourself some good and try not to “donate” millions of dollars to your financial advisor’s bottom line. Stick with a low-fee FA if you use one, and ask yours how they get paid. The average fees out there are astoundingly high. In a guest post at The White Coat Investor, Ryan Kelly reveals 10 Things Form ADV2 Reveals and How it Can Save You Millions.
An expensive financial advisor is just one of many ways to flush money down the drain. What about LTC insurance — could it make sense for you? The Wealthy Doc has a detailed answer to the question. Is Long-Term Care Insurance A Waste of Money?
Do you live in an especially high cost of living area? That’s yet another way to overpay for many things, but in some cases, it may be worth it. The Millionaire Doc would like to show you How to Survive and Thrive in a HCOLA: A Silicon Valley Perspective.
“Comparison is the thief of joy.” -Theodore Roosevelt. The Wall Street Physician understands this. Don’t Compare Your Investment Returns With Others (Especially On The Internet).
Do you max out a 401(k) or 403(b)? Great! Do you have a 457(b) available, too? What should you do with that? The Physician Philosopher helps you think it through. Should I invest in my 457? The What, Why, and When.
Many of these articles are focused on money, but money is just a tool that allows us to live the life we want to live. Coach Carson reminds us of that, asking us to consider The Three Currencies of Life – Measuring More Than Money.
It’s not all about retiring early, either. Joel from FI180 pulls a 180, going back to work after more than a year of early retirement. He details his rationale in FI Without RE.
Anyone who has lost a parent knows the grief can be compounded by a messy and complex financial situation. From a couple who lost all four parents over the course of a few years, Super Greener implores you to Have “The Talk” With Your Parents.
I moved the first post of this last week up to Monday for an exciting announcement: Christopher Guest Post: The Latest Addition to the WCI Network.
Physician burnout / resilience / wellness is a focus lately, and I hosted a guest post discussing ways an individual can address it. 5 Tips For Beating Physician Burnout.
Our Saturday Selection from real estate investor Passive Income MD highlights 7 Great Tax Benefits of Investing in Real Estate.
Last Chance to Make Chautauqua a Reality?
When I announced that I would be a featured speaker at the Ecuadoran Chautauqua alongside Paula Pant of Afford Anything and Steve Adcock of Think Save Retire, I didn’t realize that my participation was conditional.
It has come to my attention that the event needs at least a few more people to commit in the next few days or it isn’t going to happen. These are small gatherings, but with fewer than 10 people, it isn’t going to work.
I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t happen, but not upset about committing to spending a couple of months in Ecuador this fall. I’ve been once before, and I am excited to return with my family for an extended stay. I spent several hours with an Ecuador guidebook on a long drive yesterday (while my wife drove for a spell), and I can’t hardly wait!
For more information and registration, visit Above the Clouds Retreats or my previous post with many reviews of prior Ecuador Chautauqua events. 4/24 (this coming Wednesday) is the deadline to register to ensure it’s a go.
We Won’t Be Homeless!
If everything goes according to plan, we’ll be moving out of our current home and into a new one the second week in June. I’ve driven roughly 50 hours back and forth between the home we live in and the place we’re heading in the last week and a half, and we found a place that I think will be great.
We’re not building on the water as we once planned, but we’re buying a place on the water within a half mile of the land we bought there. The money we’ll get from selling our current home will more than cover the cost of the new place. The same could be said of the proceeds I expect to receive when we sell the land.
Now, we need to learn to implement some serious minimalist ideals as we are about to undergo some serious downsizing. We gave away a bunch of furniture yesterday, and we’ll be donating more. The bigger issue is the amount of “stuff” we have, and parting can be such sad sorrow.
Learn how to better manage your student loan debt, and explore refinancing to a lower rate with cash back offers up to $1,000!
Join the Fight to End MOC
Earlier this week, I spoke to a group of physicians in Evanston, Illinois. The topic was financial independence, and I felt it went very well. I had the talk well-outlined, but not scripted, and I spoke off-the-cuff about all sorts of topics like I’ve done in so many podcast interviews.
Before the talk, I spoke with a number of the local docs, including one Dr. Westby Fisher, a cardiologist and electrophysiologist whose work I’ve admired for years. I was burned by some M.O.C. B.S. and Doctor Wes has been leading the charge in exposing the cronyism, corruption, and inherent conflicts of interest that exist throughout many Boards that are supposed to be on our side as physicians.
The pockets opposing this uprising against onerous obligations are very, very deep. I may not have much skin in the game at this point as a physician about to retire from medicine, but I feel I have a large stake as a future patient.
Money is being raised to support the class action lawsuits against the ABIM, ABR, and ABPN. I’ve donated $100 and I’d love to see more physicians follow suit (pun intended). You can learn more about the specific fundraising effort here and check out the most recent MOC controversy year in review.
Last Day to Get 3 Free Autographed Books!
Dr. Cory S. Fawcett, the author of three Doctors Guide to… books, has made today the final day to get autographed copies of all three books as an added bonus with his new course The Doctors Guide to Thriving in Locum Tenens.
If you’re thinking about working as a locum, you’ll earn enough to pay for the course in roughly the first few hours of your very first shift.
Happy Easter! I Hope the Bunny Treated You and Yours Well.
Have an outstanding week!
-Physician on FIRE
Thank you for including “The Talk” from Super Greener. I recently lost my father and the pain is still a bit raw, but having the advanced directives did ease the decision-making burdens during his short ICU stay. Even with the directives, it’s still difficult since end of life events don’t always fit neatly within the Do Everything vs. Do Not Resuscitate narratives. Good communication between my family and the doctors and staff enable aggressive treatment early on but when his condition deteriorated, we were able to allow him to pass in peace with dignity.
Ahh…the joys and sadness of parting with material possessions! Parting with some things was harder than others: I found the garage to be particularly draining. DH has gotten a bunch of minimalism books from the library of late that have helped us a lot-one was even a graphic novel form! Overall it’s been awesome getting ride of so much-very freeing actually. I wish you all the best on this next stage of your journey!
I do hope that the MOC fiasco gets exposed in the court system and finally comes to an end.
It is purely a money making scheme by the specialty boards that serves no purpose for the doctors required to take them. I got screwed by the ABR because I had to spend quite a bit of money and take time off work to travel and take a cognitive exam that was supposed to last 10 years but instead the ABR changed its mine and after 7 yrs negated those results and made me participate in an online longitudinal assessment (OLA) that makes me take an asinine timed weekly quiz now in order to maintain by board certified status.
The lawsuits have shown that the boards have generated 10s of millions of dollars extra because of these MOC rules. And don’t get me started on practice quality improvement projects (PQI) that are utterly useless.
I am glad that Dr Fisher has initiated this movement and doctors are responding. Hope the whole corrupted system goes down the drain
As an IT worker, I’ve had to take similarly stupid online courses that were mandated by my employer. Unfortunately they lumped all of us programmers into the same box, and I had to spend 5 hours taking an internet security course that I will never need… the work I do on the mainframe is outside of the internet!!!
I actually had to Google some of the terminology used because I’d never heard the terms before, and the context of usage was unhelpful. So I feel your pain… and it sounds like the [email protected] you had to take was even more onerous than mine.