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

The Physician Philosopher and Ether to FI each started their careers as anesthesiologists two years ago. E.T.F. published this recent net worth update, while TPP published what will likely be the final one we’ll see. The Last Net Worth Update: 2 Years Later.

Big ERN, Ph.D. of Early Retirement Now stopped working a year ago, but that hasn’t hurt his net worth one bit. Despite a year filled with international travel, he’s worth more today than he was last year. Happy FIRE-versary! Reflections after one year of early retirement.

Dr. Cory S. Fawcett retired last year, as well, and he and his wife have also been traveling extensively. He recaps the 450 miles they traveled by foot in My Camino de Santiago Journey, a FIRE Adventure.

Frugality is a key part of many early retirement plans. Fortunately, as fatFIRE fans have already figured out, it’s not the only plan. But I Don’t Want to be Frugal, says Clipping Chains.

The Financial Samurai concurs. It’s Hard to Frugal Your Way to Early Retirement.

You can’t procreate your way to early retirement either, says Joe from Retire by 40. Is it Hard to Retire Early with Kids?

Coach Carson has shown us that You Can Retire Early with Real Estate. But does that make real estate a great investment? Stop Ironing Shirts laments the fact that Home Ownership Cost Us $60,000 in a Great Housing Market.

The Actuary on FIRE brought his actuarial skills to The Retirement Manifesto with a graphical chart unlike anything I’ve seen before. 200 Years Of Safe Withdrawal Rates In One Cool Chart.

From one cool chart to a terrific table. The Periodic Table of FIRE from Minafi links out to 118 topics related to financial independence and retiring early with resources from all around the web.

Another compendium of FI resources exists in the 52 lessons from Fiology, each with a number of curated articles on the topic of the week. Creator David Baughier has now released an accompanying Fiology Workbook to aid you in organizing your financial life as you progress towards financial independence.

On Friday, we started unpacking boxes as we begin to move into our post-FIRE home base. I’ve also been checking off boxes to prepare for the transition. Early Retirement Checklist Part One: Money Considerations Prior to FIRE.

My fellow Golden Gopher grad over at Life Outside the Maze is post-FIRE himself, and he’s discovered something more important than the monetary aspects of it all. Searching For Happiness When Financially Independent.

Our Saturday Selection from Passive Income MD explored The 5 Benefits of Financial Freedom.

Eight Days to Freedom

I’ve had financial freedom for awhile, but haven’t been taking full advantage.

It’s going to be a bittersweet workweek, knowing that it could very well be my last. I have known since the moment I started contemplating an early exit from medicine that there would be aspects of the job that I will miss, particularly the grateful patients and my excellent coworkers and colleagues.

I’m not going to lie, though. I look forward to the next chapter in this life.

I’ve Updated the Credit Card Tracking Spreadsheet

Every few months, I update the free credit card tracking spreadsheet to reflect the latest offers and perks on some of the most popular and beneficial reward cards available.

The sheet also has a tab for top business cards and a blank template that you can copy and paste to or enter all of your own information.

E-mail subscribers got a link to the latest version in their inbox this morning. If you’d like a copy, you can grab yours by sharing your email below.

Here’s a miniaturized preview of what that spreadsheet looks like. Some data has been blurred out because I don’t want to have to replace the image every time a card changes their welcome offer, which happens quite often.

A Featured Insurance Agent

Physician Financial Services

Lawrence B. Keller, CFP®, CLU®, ChFC®, RHU®, LUTCF has been in the insurance and financial services industry since 1990. Unlike medicine, which has a standardized path that physicians must take to gain the education, training and experience requirements necessary to obtain board certification, the insurance and financial services industry does not. Working with an agent that is familiar with the underwriting of both disability and life insurance policies for physicians can all but guarantee a smooth underwriting process in which the desired outcome is likely. While he might not be a doctor’s first phone call regarding their insurance needs, he is often their last.

Investing Basics for Professionals With Little Time or Experience

The FIRE-Minded Approach to Life Insurance

My 5 Current and 3 Future Passive Income Streams

Have an outstanding week!

-Physician on FIRE