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:
Medical students have a ton of student loan debt (find help here!). Most dental students don’t have it any better. Amber from Deeply in Debt asks Is Dental School Worth the Debt?
I don’t have any “one simple trick” to help you pay off those debts, but Dr. Gadlin found a pretty clever method using reward credit cards to accelerate his loan payoff. In a guest post at Passive Income MD, he reveals The Ultimate Student Loan Hack for High Income Professionals.
Why are people so eager to pay off debt? For some, it’s like a dark cloud overhead that never disappears. This couple earning $350,000 a year contemplates whether or not to eliminate the last of their debt. J. Money @ Budgets are Sexy weighs in. Put Savings Towards Mortgage Balance, or Nah?
Want to know “one simple trick” to ensure you’re never debt-free? Succumb to lifestyle inflation. The Flawed Consumer tracked both income and spending for a number of years and the results were not pretty. Beware! The Lifestyle Creep May Be Stalking You.
Physicians are not immune to The Creep. The White Coat Investor knows this all too well. 10 Reasons Doctors Spend Too Much Money.
I think one reason doctors spend too much money is the search for fulfillment. If you’re not getting it from your career and you’ve got plenty of disposable income, why not try to buy it? Perhaps career fulfillment is one key to financial independence. Dr. Networth ponders scaling back 10 years into his career and asks, Have You Reached Career Fulfillment?
The concept of early retirement was featured prominently in the mainstream media this week. Elizabeth O’Brien‘s cover story for Money magazine hit the newsstands featuring Vicki Robin of YMOYL fame. A Growing Cult of Millennials Is Obsessed With Early Retirement. This 72-Year-Old Is Their Unlikely Inspiration.
Speaking of mainstream media, things can get a little ugly in the comments when a messy combination of misleading headlines, incomplete information, and plain old jealousy form a maelstrom of contempt. Steve of Think Save Retire has seen it time and time again. The Sticky Mix Between Early Retirement and Mainstream Media.
Spring is Here! It’s really here!
Although we could have left for Honduras six days ago when I finished my most recent weekend call, we decided to stick around for awhile. We didn’t want to miss the start of spring.
We almost did.
With highs in the fifties and sixties, this week there’s a half-decent chance the yard will be free of snow by the time we fly to Tegucigalpa via Miami this coming Friday. I finally feel comfortable running and biking outdoors — I’m not one of those year-round types, although I respect the heck out of them.
Another cool thing that happens in the spring is Tax Freedom Day, the time of the year in which you have paid the year’s taxes and can start working for yourself. Usually occurring at some point in April depending on where you live, I’ll be one of the last to celebrate on Friday, April 27th, coincidentally the day we leave for Central America.
Since I will be away for about 16 days, expect me to be less active in responding to comments and participating in the fatFIRE and Physicians on FIRE Facebook groups, particularly May 5 to 13 when we’ll be serving on the mainland at a medical mission.
I hope spring has sprung for you, too. Before you know it, summer will be well underway. Enjoy these days!
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Have an awesome spring week!
-Physician on FIRE
Thanks you the inclusion in the Sunday best, Doc! The 1% is simple like the 4% rule and sometimes as controversial in the real estate space. But it’s a good starting rule of thumb to know you’ve got some basic income discipline for your investment.
Enjoy your time in Central America! Recuerdes todo tu espanol?
Gracias! Pero no mucho. 🙁
I rented out my residency condo for years after I left (and even about 8 months before I arrived and moved in). Paid $120,000, sold it for about $150,000, and never collected more than $900 a month for rent (and had condo dues approaching $200.) I was in clear violation of the 1% rule, and should have cut and run much sooner.
Cheers!
-PoF
Spring is finally getting started here in the Pacific Northwest. It took a long time this year.
Have a great time in Honduras!
I always look forward to the PoF Sunday Roundup! Time to go pop some popcorn. Enjoy the mission!
“ThinkSaveRetire article is ruing the hate a money blogger can get for something like this.”
Can you explain what you mean Harjot?
Thanks for the mention and for your editing skills again! You should consider being a blog editor as another gig. 🙂
DN
Thanks! But I’ve got all the jobs I want.
Cheers!
-PoF
Thanks for the mention for my article on PIMD. It was my first experience writing for the FI blogosphere. I hope people found it entertaining and gives them another reason to eliminate student loan debt.
Insightful post, SG. I learned a few things from reading your article. Congrats on eliminating those pesky loans!
Cheers!
-PoF
A lot of these articles are not about early retirement, or retirement at all. They are about getting some financial freedom to find the work you like to do – usually at the pace you like to do. For example, the financial samurai article is about that. Mr. Money Mustache is doing exactly that. “Retirement” is like a code word to codify freedom the current miserable job you hate. ThinkSaveRetire article is ruing the hate a money blogger can get for something like this.
I like the article by Dr. Networth for talking about fulfillment. Finding meaningful work is another goal, a much life-fulfilling goal, and you have to learn how to do it. This usually takes mentoring, especially at the Physician level work. If I can be bold enough to say – WCI mentored PoF to find a meaningful and fulfilling second career. A really worthwhile endeavor for the mentor and the one being mentored.
Like the CNN article on Vicki Robin says, otherwise people have to walk back from well publicized “retirements”.
Vicki Robin deserves all the praise she is getting. I had read the book by Joe Dominguez and Vicki Robin a while ago. The book is so simple, free from jargon or hyperbole, and ever-relevant- and she still works- she writes and does writing related activities to spread her message.
There have been various articles written about the “retirement police”. People who want to regulate what retirement means. The articles’ authors have pushed back and pointed out that they (as the retired person) get to determine what retired means for themselves. Not the retirement police. There are no parameters for what retirement means. Each retireee gets to decide for themselves.
Please don’t be the retirement police, its not a good look.
So you’re OK with people abdicating their responsibility regarding retirement? Save 25x 4% bla bla bla (BUT forgot to tell you I’m making 85K per year with a side gig)
You can do anything you want just be honest. All of it will provide the reader with data
Great round up! Sam’s article really speaks to me given my age (44). Certainly makes you think!