The Sunday Best (9/9/2018)

The Sunday Best
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:

 

Every blogger and her brother are singing the praises of passive index funds. Can the pendulum swing too far in their direction? Ben Carlson of A Wealth of Common Sense asks, Could Index Funds Become Too Popular?

 

Larry Swedroe of Bogleheads and ETF.com fame weighs in on the topic of passive index funds and their popularity, too. Myth Busting Index Investing.

 

A young, retired investor who isn’t sold on solely index fund investing discusses technical analysis, fundamental analysis, and the Lollapalooza Effect. That’s not the music festival, but the term coined by Charlie Munger. From Mr. Tako Escapes, Is Investing Just Pattern Recognition?

 

I focus on money in America because that’s where I am most of the time, but it’s a great big world out there. J. Money at Budgets are Sexy has taken a look at money facts and quirks from all around the globe. You’re guaranteed to learn something new in:

 

If you use my links or those from Travis, the Student Loan Planner, you’ll get a generous cash-back bonus. If you get a credit card via this site, half of my referral profits go to charity. Go through one of the bigger sites, and those things ain’t happening. Why No One Wants to Give You a Student Loan Refinancing Cash Back Bonus.

 

Nobody wants to give you money back (I do!) and nobody wants to consider the fact that retiring early may not be all it’s cracked up to be (Financial Samurai does!) The Negatives Of Early Retirement Life Nobody Likes Talking About.

 

Some people love to talk about the many awesome things you can do when not beholden to a job. Fritz from The Retirement Manifesto shared What I Learned From A 7,000 Mile Train Journey in his first summer since beginning his early retirement.

 

Big ERN also started his Early Retirement Now (earlier this summer, actually) and took an even more epic journey. Epicer? Nah, that doesn’t work. Eight Lessons After Eight Weeks Of Early Retirement.

 

Some people leave their jobs for noble reasons. Like Dr. Uchenna Umeh, who shares her laudable reasons for quitting with KevinMD. Why This Physician Quit Her Job.

 

ESI Money keeps those millionaire interviews coming. Another batch of five for the voyeurs out there who like the nitty gritty details.

 

Mary Ann Needs Your Money!

 

I’ve always been more of Mary Ann guy than a Ginger guy, so this one hits home. A friend of Dawn Wells, the actress who portrayed Mary Ann on Gilligan’s Island, started a gofundme page to help raise $180,000 to help the actress out.

Why does she need help, you ask? She “suffered through the banking crash,” owes the IRS money, has hospital bills from an accident, and is moving to a “fab retirement village” in Glendale.

Umm…

$50 bonus for new registrants!
When I last checked, she was over 90% of the way to her $180,000 goal. Meanwhile, my sister-in-law’s sister, who is battling Stage IV cancer, is a little over halfway to her $5,000 goal.

You can guess which gofundme I chose to support.

Update: A big Thank You to the anonymous and other donors who contributed to Aime’s cause.

 

 

I’m Going to Disney World!

 

How does one celebrate being named a finalist for Blog of the Year at Fincon’s Plutus Awards? By going to Disney World, of course! It helps that the conference and awards ceremony are conveniently being held in Orlando, Florida this year.

This week will be a mad scramble to get everything lined up and planned out not only for our big trip, but also to make sure everything is written and prepared for publication here on the website.

I got some great tips from Disney veterans when I mentioned that I’d be going once before, but if you have one quick tip that you think will help us out — we’re going with our 7 & 10-year old boys — be sure to share that in the comments. Thanks, friends!

Oh, and regarding the award, I’d put money on the Cleveland Browns beating the Detroit Lions by a score of 2 to 1 in Super Bowl LIII than I would on me taking home the hardware, but it’s an honor to be recognized, nonetheless.

 

A Recommended Insurance Agent

 

Kaplan Financial

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Have a splendid week!

-Physician on FIRE

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20 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (9/9/2018)”

  2. I don’t get why you didn’t donate enough to meet the goal given it is small compared to how much money you are donating to charity via your DAF?

    Reply

    • Well, I’m not that big of a Mary Ann fan.

      If you’re referring to the other one, we donated 10% of the goal total, helping to close the gap. Sometimes sharing the cause can be as helpful or more than giving quietly. It’s also a fact that one cannot donate to an individual via gofundme from a donor advised fund, as those gifts are not being given to 501(c)(3) charities. Gofundme gifts cannot be deducted as itemized deductions; they are just that: gifts.

      Best,
      -PoF

      Reply

      • Yes wasn’t referring to Mary Ann 🙂
        Thanks for the reply. I thought about it more and I was coming from a more general philosophical question about whether to stick to the budget/plan for charity donations or to do the budget/plan and assuming you can afford it, in addition donate every time you see a one time legitimate need pop up (disaster relief for the latest wildfire/earthquake/hurricane, fully funding sister in laws sisters chemo gofundme*). (something I struggle with in my smaller $ amounts, not enough for DAF)
        I just did a google search and found stuff so I will see what the rest of the internet says.
        *not having a blog/social media so me publicizing the gofundme would not help it

        Reply
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  9. Congrats on the nomination! Our family loves Disney World. My five year old can navigate most of the park without a map at this point. Make sure you do your Fastpasses. Crucial as most people don’t do them. You can do them 60 days prior to your arrival date beginning at 7AM. Be on there then and be ready. We typically plan no Fastpasses for the first two hours of the day as you can often walk onto rides fairly well then. We then do our preplanned three Fastpasses after that starting around 10AM. You can then pick up one at a time after that depending on availability. Always happy to answer questions if you want to go more in depth. Tom Brickers blog, Disney Tourist, is a great resource.

    Reply

  12. Huge Disney fan. Pick your poison at Disney…Are you spending time or money? I’d advise money. Stay on site so you can take advantage of Early/Late Magic Hours. Plan priority seating for some decent meals. The character buffets are great with your kids ages. Don’t try to do it all. Each person gets to pick 1-2 must sees at each park. Have a plan of attack but be sure you allow for some downtime. Your plan should take advantage of which park has Magic Hours that morning or night. Read the latest Disney with Kids. You must learn how to take advantage of Fast Pass. Good luck!

    Reply

    • Much appreciated, Dr. Mom.

      We are staying on site at one of the value resorts that came with the quick dining package included. We’re not much of sit-down meal people, anyway, although I hear some of the restaurants are outstanding.

      We’ve got our fastpasses, and we may only want to do one park per day most days, but we do have the Hopper Plus option which allows us to hit up multiple parks in one day — could be a good idea when Magic Kingdom closes early for the Halloween party. We could just hop to another park.

      Cheers!
      -PoF

      Reply
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  14. Congratulations on Blog of the Year nomination and becoming a finalist. Given the sheer number of blogs out there that is an amazing achievement.

    You are definitely worthy of bringing home the hardware so I think your odds are better than the Browns.

    Given the reason for going, are you able to write it off as a tax expense anymore? That would be a nice bonus if possible (not sure how the new tax reform laws changed business expenses).

    Reply

  15. Beware what we say here in Florida: “No one does Disney right until EVERYONE cries.” So rest up often and don’t get too sugared up. And relax—you’re on vacation. 🙂 Have fun!

    Reply

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