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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!
The Sunday Best
Given the excellent run stocks have had (save for that blip a year ago), are you chasing performance or sticking with a written investment plan? The wise Senior Resident is doing the latter. Rebalancing 2021.
The first step in creating your own investor policy statement is to decide on a reasonable asset allocation to stocks, bonds, and possibly alternatives. Generational Wealth MD looks at this question. How do you decide what your optimal asset allocation should be?
Your optimal asset allocation should be a bit more conservative around the time of retirement to reduce sequence of returns risk. Ben Carlson at A Wealth of Common Sense shows us how. The Best Way to Manage Sequence of Return Risk.
Investors in stocks were rewarded in 2020, especially if they held on through that aforementioned blip. Ether to FI shares a net worth update and finds a few other silver linings from the year that was 2020. Ether to FI: Thank You 2020 & a Net Worth Update.
Can investment returns be infinite? Passive Income MD claims they are once you’ve recovered your initial investment. Is this just fuzzy math or a legitimate possibility? How to Get an Infinite Return Investing in Real Estate.
Speaking of fuzzy math, Live Off Dividends claims that $300k is Half Way to One Million. He’s actually on to something.
Such a statement assumes we’ll continue to enjoy excellent investment returns. Stephen Nelson of Evergreen Small Business thinks we should temper our expectations. Updating your Financial Game Plan for Low Interest Rates and Equity Returns.
For now, I’m just enjoying this bull market while it lasts. The Banker on Wheels shares an image for the ages (he had to explain 2 of the 5 memes to me) and an excellent post on riding the bull. Set aside more than 8 seconds for How to Ride a Bull in 8 Steps.
They chose to Retire by 45, and now Dylin turns 50. He drops some wisdom in his well-organized 50 Reflections on Life & FIRE Upon Turning 50.
Mike Zaccardi is only 33, but he’s at a crossroads, having achieved financial independence and resigned from his job in the energy sector. On the Humble Dollar, Mike ponders half-a-dozen options for what his life could look like going forward. Which Road should he choose?
Many physicians have chosen not to own whole life insurance, and most who have made that choice regret it. However, as the FI Physician points out, there are select reasons for a small percentage of the population to have a policy. Whole Life Insurance for Physicians: Indications and Contra-Indications.
The White Coat Investor, known for exposing the myths of life insurance and how it’s sold, has launched a complementary podcast to accompany the original WCI Podcast. Milestones to Millionaire: Our New Podcast.
Women face many barriers in their path to success. Physician anesthesiologist Sanjana Vig from The Female Professional has put together a one-day free virtual conference taking place two weeks from today. Breaking Barriers: Helping Professional Women Overcome Hurdles & Achieve Success In Business.
One day remains for enrollment in this winter’s Alpha Coaching Experience from TPP. The same is true of WCI’s offer of $100 off (CODE: WELLNESS100 ) on his CME and non-CME versions of the updated 2021 Fire Your Financial Advisor course. Both offers end tomorrow night!
A Physician Writer’s Summit
If you’re a physician with an idea for a blog, a book, a column, or any other type of writing, the 1st annual Physician Writer’s Summit is right up your alley.
I’ll be participating with a recoreded interview and with a live Happy Hour on Friday, and I look forward to learning from others more successful than me — people like Samuel Shem, author of The House of God. Seriously!
The conference will be held virtually on three days this upcoming week, Thursday February 25th to Saturday, February 27th.
- Day 1, 2/25: Books
- Day 2, 2/26: Blogs
- Day 3, 2/27: Op-Eds
For more on the summit and a preview of the schedule and speakers, please visit the Physician Writer’s Summit.
Brighter Days Ahead
If you’ve lost power, water, your mind, or all the meat in your chest freezer this last week, I feel for you. Up north, our homes and infrastructure are better built for the cold and snow, but there’s not much one can do to prevent damage from a half an inch of ice!
As the polar vortex retreats to Santa’s abode at the North Pole and a heat wave sets in, I hope you’re able to get back to the abnormal life we’ve called normal for the last 11 months or so.
On the pandemic front, brighter days also seem to be closer every day. The Pfizer COVID vaccine can be stored at regular freezer temperatures. The first dose appears to be 85% effective. One Johns Hopkins physician opines that case numbers could be exceptionally low by April.
My wife and I continue to aid the local vaccination efforts and will do so for another week and a half before I depart for Utah and WCICon21 followed by 4 weeks in Florida with the family.
Learn how to better manage your student loan debt, and explore refinancing to a lower rate with cash back offers up to $1,000!
Last week, I was finally able to actually give vaccines after a month of serving in a variety of support capacities thanks to the 2/10 amendment to the Public Emergency and Preparedness (PREP) Act:
“(g) Any physician, advanced practice registered nurse, registered nurse, or practical nurse who has held an active license or certification to prescribe, dispense, or administer vaccines under the law of any State within the last five years, which is inactive, expired or lapsed, who prescribes, dispenses, or administers COVID-19 vaccines that are Covered Countermeasures under section VI of this Declaration in any jurisdiction where the PREP Act applies in association with a COVID-19 vaccination effort by a federal, State, local, Tribal or territorial authority or by an institution in which the COVID-19 vaccine covered countermeasure is administered, so long as the license or certification was active and in good standing prior to the date it went inactive, expired or lapsed and was not revoked by the licensing authority, surrendered while under suspension, discipline or investigation by a licensing authority or surrendered following an arrest, and the individual is not on the List of Excluded Individuals/Entities maintained by the Office of Inspector General, subject to (i) documentation of completion of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention COVID-19 Vaccine Training Modules and (ii) documentation of an observation period by a currently practicing healthcare professional adequately experienced in vaccination who confirms competency of the healthcare provider in preparation and administration of the particular COVID-19 vaccine(s) to be administered.”
If you hold or have held a license that allowed you to give vaccines (physician, APP, nurse, pharmacist, etc…) that was active within the last 5 years, you can administer COVID vaccines in any state.
Even if you’re not eligible to give shots, 80% of the work at these clinics is non-clinical, and there’s probably a role for you. I encourage you to reach out to your local health department or hospital to see what volunteer opportunities may exist.
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Have an outstanding week!
-Physician on FIRE
8 thoughts on “The Sunday Best (2/21/2021)”
That’s great news that the Pfizer vaccine is 85% effective on the first dose! That’s the one my parents got. Unfortunately it looks like most of the appointments for the vaccine here in Washington state all got canceled this week, due to weather blocking arrival of the vaccine.
Bummer! Hopefully we can get a new supply in soon.
Thanks for the Sunday Best as always PoF! I always appreciate you highlighting Ben Carlson’s posts — love his stuff!
The initial data for Moderna actually looked better than the initial data for Pfizer when comparing first doses. Now it looks like both are highly effective. All good news.
The Pfizer vaccine is being manufactured right here in Michigan, but for some reason, we’ve been getting Moderna almost exclusively this year. I gave 96 second doses today — many grateful patients.
Cheers!
-PoF
Hey PoF,
Thank you for the shout out, much appreciated! More importantly, thank you for being on the front lines during this pandemic. It is extremely encouraging to hear that you think there are brighter days nearing. Also, I was unaware of potential volunteer opportunities. That is something I will be looking into, so thank you for that.
Stay safe,
John
Happy to feature your work, John. I think that’s a great way to frame compound interest, and the “fuzzy math” certainly gets people’s attention.
Cheers!
-PoF
Super Explanation of SORR-every investor should be aware of this issue 5yrs Pre Retirement
Congrats
Thank you POF and WCI for calling out the fuzzy math on infinite returns.
I wrote about investing in BTC less than 2 years ago and it has 7x in that time frame. At that point most in the finance community called it “vaporware”.
Or how I select stocks for my Moonshot portfolio which included Tesla. Wonder if there is a term for 7 times infinity 🙂
I invest in real estate (owning rentals and also through syndication). RE has great benefits. However infinite returns is disingenuous marketing which RE doesn’t need.
Nice amendment! Glad to hear they are letting you put needles in arms.
I have been a ‘runner’ – helping with patient flow and registration (double documenting in the EMR and the state system). I also just got my Dad’s MyChart set up in Michigan, I think that’s how Beaumont is randomly selecting those eligible.
Keep up the good work!
Max
That’s awesome, Max. I had several jobs before I was able to wield the needle, and my wife’s had every other volunteer position available.
Thank you for doing your part, and I hope your father gets his shot soon!
-PoF