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!

 

 

 

Are you where you’d thought you be 5 or 10 years ago? What has worked out, what hasn’t, and why or why not? The Financial Panther reflects on expectations versus reality as he and his family prepare to move into a million-dollar home in Minneapolis. Looking Back At My Basic 10-Year Plan (5 Years Later).

 

Do your long-term plans involve moving to a foreign country? Steve Cummings of The Frugal Ex-Pat moved to Taiwan, and he describes how he’s benefitted. What is Geo Arbitrage? How Does it Save Us Money?

• Bonus: You don’t have to leave the country to take advantage of geoarbitrage: Geographic Arbitrage: How Geoarbitrage Makes the Great Plains Great!

 

You might save money by moving to a lower cost of living area, but at what cost? Money Saved Money Earned has learned to strike a balance. YOLO vs. FIRE: The Balance Between Saving and Spending.

 

After many months of mundanity amidst the pandemic, you may have been stuck in a rut. Yet, routine can be a good thing. Life Outside the Maze tries Balancing Routine and Exploration to find a happy and non-mundane medium.

 

In yet another post on finding balance, the Retirement Field Guide explores Optimization vs. Optionality with your investment plan. Would you rather get the highest, most tax-efficient return possible or do you value flexibility and liquidity above all?

 

Retire too soon, and you could run out of money. Retire too late, and you may run out of time. We look for balance when assessing The Unspoken Risks of NOT Retiring Early.

 

Apparently, there’s a risk to not getting up early. Passive Income MD highlights 5 Morning Habits of Successful People.

• Related: Hal Elrod, author of The Miracle Morning, will be speaking this next weekend at the DLP Prosperity Event I’ll be attending in Asheville, NC. Should be an outstanding event, and registration is free!

 

Have you seen the movie Wall Street? Or The Wolf of Wall Street? “Downtown” Josh Brown, The Reformed Broker, was one of those guys wielding a black rotary phone and a list of names. He recalls the life lessons gleaned from the trenches in What I Learned from 10 Years of Cold Calling.

 

Maggie from The National Bank of Mom didn’t work on Wall Street, and neither did her father, but before he passed, he taught her a lot about money, life, and priorities. Six Money (and Life) Lessons I Learned from my Dad.

 

Some people learn the hard way that an all-stock portfolio isn’t right for them once a bear market comes along. The White Coat Investor channels Benjamin Graham, declaring 7 Reasons Not to Have a 100% Stock Portfolio.

 

You could learn a lot from Herb. Who? Herbert Wertheim. Again, who?!? David from Filled With Money tells the story of The Unknown Billionaire You Need to Know About.

 

It takes something special to become a billionaire, but the Accidentally Retired says that millionaire status is available to the masses. Career Choice Doesn’t Matter: Anyone Can Become a Millionaire.

 

How did these 5 folks become millionaires? ESI Money delivers another batch of interviews.

• Millionaire Interview #231
• Millionaire Interview #232
• Millionaire Interview #233
• Millionaire Interview #234
• Millionaire Interview #235

 

 

Happy Independence Day!

 

How are you celebrating your freedom this holiday weekend? The 4th of July is a great time to reflect on all of the freedoms you currently enjoy, even if financial freedom feels like a distant pipe dream. We do enjoy many other freedoms in this great nation!

The 4th of July is also a great time to enjoy quality time soaking up the sun with family, friends, a tasty beverage or three, and some of your kids’ parade candy.

I’m writing this on the 2nd of July so that I can fully partake in all the weekend’s activities like most people who don’t consider themselves retired or at least semi-retired. If you are working this weekend, I hope it goes well, and I hope you get Labor Day off!

Whatever parade candy my boys come home with, they’ve earned. They will have run a 5k on July 3rd, their second-longest run of the week as they train for a 10k, and last weekend, we were a three-person relay team for a local triathlon. I was impressed and proud of their running and biking, while I got the easiest leg, paddling in my kayak.

 

 

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I expect this holiday weekend to include most or all of the following: more kayak time, a pontoon, wading in “the sandies,” fireworks, IPAs, corn-on-the-cob, cornhole, laughter, band-aids, guacamole, sleeping in, furthering my farmer’s tan, and more.

Whatever yours entails, be safe and have fun!

 

10% OFF Every White Coat Investor Course, Including CME

 

If your CME Fund turns over with a new fiscal year as mine did, you may have a pile of CME money waiting to be spent. Now through 7/12, you can save 10% on all of WCI’s CME and course offerings, and they’ll throw in a free t-shirt from the WCI Store!

You can earn up to 35 CME among 3 different courses.

• 2021 Continuing Financial Education Course (17 CME credits)
• Financial Wellness and Burnout Prevention Course (8 CME credits)
• 2020 Continuing Financial Education Course (10 CME credits)

 

Enter code WCIJULY10 when you check out for the discount and free shirt. Other non-CME courses are also available.

 

 

You can browse additional CME Resources from other vendors on our site, some of whom are offering exclusive discounts to Physician on FIRE readers and up to $2,500 in debit cards or gift cards with your purchase. Click to learn more.

 

Groceries Made Easy

 

If you made the mistake of stepping foot in a supermarket this weekend, you know how crazy that can be. While I add groceries to my cart most days, I rarely enter the store anymore.

I haven’t been sold on the delivery services, most of which have additional fees and/or are unavailable where I live, but we have become big fans of the Walmart pickup service over the last 15 months.

There’s no extra cost, someone goes through the store and does your personal shopping to grab exactly what you want. If they don’t have the item, they’ll offer to substitute something else, usually a larger size or more expensive brand name item, but you’ll only pay for the (usually lower-cost) item you originally added to your cart.

You also save money by not making impulse purchases, but most importantly, it saves you plenty of time. It also saves you from being among the People of Walmart.

If you’ve never used the service, I can offer $10 off your first order to try it ($50 minimum purchase). Sign up here.

 

 

Another one that we’ve tried more recently is a produce order from Misfits Market. They offer only organic products (mostly fresh produce, some packaged goods) that aren’t of the perfect size, shape, and color to make it to the grocery store aisle.

Some of these less pristine fruits and veggies would be destined for the compost heap, but they rescue them and offer them at a discount of up to 40%.

Several of our friends are sold on the service, and we got our first box this last week. We were happy with the contents, but not excited about the quantity of packaging. Everything is recyclable and designed to be as environmentally friendly as possible, so that’s something.

My referral link should be good for $10 off your first order, but the email says $30 off, so if you decide to try it out, please let me know in the comments what discount you get!

 

 

A Recommended Insurance Agent

 

Commonwealth Financial Group

Commonwealth Financial Group is honored to serve the medical community. One of the biggest risks medical professionals face is losing their ability to earn their specialty specific income from an injury or illness. We take a disciplined approach to assessing your risks in evaluating the right coverage of Life and Disability insurance.

We are an independent firm and can source Life and Disability insurance (including own-occupation) from any trusted insurance provider. We have access to Disability insurance discounts for most of the large physician employers across the country.

Click here to request a quote or to contact us. You can also call us at (843) 884-4545 ext 35.

Commonwealth Vetting Application

Visit Commonwealth Financial Group

 

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE