The Sunday Best (6/3/2018)

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:

 

With the release of WCICon18 videos (price goes up $100 at midnight!), I’m a bit less anonymous. Some Random Guy Online, an immigrant physician, shared a fair amount about himself with the cleverly oxymoronic Opaque Transparency: Who is Some Random Guy Online?

 

It’s good to see physicians opening up online. Another one shared a confession recently. From Reflections of a Millennial Doctor, How I’m Plotting My Escape From Medicine.

 

And this doctor made a Faustian pact. From Doc G of DiverseFI, My Deal with the Devil.

 

Here’s an academic anesthesiologist who was passed over for a promotion to assistant program director (or was it assistant to the program director). Either way, The Physician Philosopher learned a lesson. The Power of Saying No: What Barry Sanders Taught Me.

 

Have you worked with a recruiter to land your dream job? Side Hustle Scrubs has news for you. Your Recruiter is Hustling You.

 

 

Nisha Mehta, MD knows a thing or two about “side hustles.” She’s also got strong feelings about words used to describe medical doctors. Why WOULD You Call a Physician a Provider?

 

Here’s a nifty side hustle gig: Invent a medical gadget. Passive Income MD shares step by step instructions on How to Patent a Medical Device.

 

I think Step One is to find the time to develop your bright idea. Tough to do in a two-doctor family. Doctors on Debt describe The Dynamics of Working in a Dual-Doctor Household.

 

The one-doctor marriage comes with its own set of challenges. Kelly Houseman of Kellys Reality shares a guest post on Married to Doctors. Battling Bitterness in a Medical Marriage.

 

One challenge of being single is that most financial advice is written for couples. The White Coat Investor focuses on the individual in Financial Planning for Single People.

 

Cancer Sucks

 

This week’s reminder to enjoy every day you’re granted comes from Oslo, Norway. My high school friend Omar has lived a fascinating life that included playing some college baseball, a stint on Fox’s Temptation Island, and more recently, a real-life role as an entrepreneur, masseur, and father to a 4-year old and 9-month old with his wife in her native Norway.

Life for them has been disrupted by a diagnosis of acute lymphocytic leukemia (ALL), which, when recently discovered, was found in Omar’s liver, pelvis, and legs. He has started chemotherapy with a positive attitude and clearly has a lot of people rooting for him.

I donated some kroner as soon as I saw the gofundme page, and then I had another idea. I’ve got this website with a charitable mission and today happens to be the final day of the promotional price for the White Coat Investor’s inaugural conference videos.

I’ll be donating 10% of the purchase price (and just over half my referral fee) for every course purchased via my website (this link, for example) this weekend. I’ve heard from some docs that their employers will allow them to use “CME” funds for the course, although it’s important to note that the video course does not qualify for actual CME.

It makes sense, though. I’ve used my educational fund to purchase textbooks that don’t award any CME. With the fiscal year ending shortly (at least in our health system), this may be a great way to employ any use-it-or-lose-it money designated for medical education.

In case you didn’t catch my post the other day, here’s who you’ll see in the Teachable course. If you only watch 2 or 3 lectures, you’ll have the opportunity to return the course within 7 days for a full refund.

 

The WCICon18 Speakers and Speeches

 

What a lineup! Dr. Dahle has friends in high places.

 

Dr. Dahle himself gave two talks — the first on the state of financial literacy among physicians and the second on paying for healthcare now and in retirement. He’s an engaging speaker and the topics were highly relevant to the mostly physician audience.

 

Dr. Bill Bernstein talked at length about how we as physicians can be our own worst enemy when it comes to investing. He saved ample time for questions, of which there were many. I particularly enjoyed his response to Hatton1 when he suggested with a low enough withdrawal rate, perhaps she should “keep playing the game” with a high equity allocation.

 

Jonathan Clements, author of How to Think About Money, about a half-dozen other books, and many hundreds of Wall Street Journal columns, gave a lively, humorous stage adaptation of his latest book. I was originally slated to follow him on Saturday evening, which would have been… awesome? Not so much, because his message and mine are quite similar and he’s famous and I’m not.

 

Dr. Nisha Mehta, a radiologist best known for her Physician Side Gigs site, spoke on physician burnout and wellness, and incorporated a discussion of physician suicide into her second talk at the request of conference attendees. These issues are bigger than money, and Dr. Mehta addresses them with a sensible, thoughtful approach.

 

Miss Bonnie MD lectured on a variety of financial topics pertinent to physicians, including pre-nups(to her fiance’s chagrin), saving for college, and balancing work and family life as a female physician.

 

Mike Piper, CPA, the Oblivious Investor and author of a whole slew of books, gave a couple talks on Social Security, tax reduction and best business structures for physicians. I marveled at his depth of knowledge on these subjects.

 

Sarah Catherine Gutierrez, CFP of Aptus Financial gave an excellent talk on very little sleep after some flight delays. Early career financial issues, the order in which to fund various retirement accounts, and how to approach debt while investing were on her agenda. The waterfall of tax-efficient investing slide alone was worth the price of admission for the young physicians in attendance.

 

Lawrence Keller, CFP, of Physician Financial Services spoke on a topic he knows very, very well: insurance. Specifically, he spoke on protecting your physician income and assets by using an appropriate mix of disability, term life, umbrella, and liability insurance. He fielded a number of questions from the audience throughout the talk, and although insurance is not the sexiest topic, it’s one in which he is very knowledgeable, and I’ll bet everyone in attendance learned something new.

 

Last, and certainly least, I gave my talk entitled Financial Independence: Overcoming the Obstacles to Create the Life and Practice You Desire. It wasn’t the performance of a lifetime, but I did manage to get a few laughs, convey the message I intended to share, and did not fall off the stage. Not even once.

 

 

I also moderated the blogger’s panel, which included:

• Passive Income MD
• Miss Bonnie MD
• Dawn Baker MD of Practice Balance
• Rogue Dad MD
• EJ of Dads, Dollars Debts
• Matthew Morgan MD of The First Habit

 

Here’s a preview featuring many of the conference speakers. To see me on stage, you’ll have to enroll in the course.

 

 

 

Have a strong week!

-Physician on FIRE