“Ego Arbitrage” for Physicians

crispydocUncategorized Leave a Comment

Just as arbitrage deals with using inefficiencies in pricing to extract additional value in a financial transaction, ego arbitrage uses inefficiencies in the status of certain tasks or behaviors to create additional value (or savings) in your career and in your life. This morning I awoke to read a mind-blowing blog post over at Freedom Is Groovy where Mr. Groovy …

My Single Most Important Investment

crispydocUncategorized Leave a Comment

It’s not at Vanguard. I was not an accredited investor at the time of purchase. And it’s beaten the S&P in value added every single year since I went all in. Trouble is, it’s closed to new investors. A recent thread on the WCI forum got me thinking about my single most important investment. It was the summer of 2004, …

Sit Back And Relax. Or Stand Up And Be Tense. Either Way, We’re On Our Journey.

crispydocUncategorized Leave a Comment

This post takes it title from a charismatic flight attendant’s announcement prior to takeoff on a recent flight from California to Texas. It resonated for me. Like many other FI bloggers, I’m a recovering neurotic transitioning to calm. Also like these bloggers, now that I’ve got the big rocks in my financial life straightened out, there’s a lot of free …

Low Expectations, Grit, And Tasting The Future

crispydocUncategorized Leave a Comment

In the FI blogging world, certain names get referenced by folks whose opinions you respect until you reach a tipping point and decide to spend a few hours digging through their website to see what the hype is all about. Ms. Montana at Montana Money Adventures was toasted by so many of the bloggers I admire that I prepared myself …

Should A Giver’s Shortcomings Taint The Gift?

crispydocUncategorized Leave a Comment

I was recently entrusted to read a friend’s memoir about coping with his wife’s major unexpected health crisis one year into their marriage. Spoiler alert – she survived, they remain together, and her recovery continues to make strides three years later. My friend describes, among many other things, the experience of being disappointed by friends he considered intimates who seemed …

Financial Puberty

crispydocUncategorized 2 Comments

In medicine, the Tanner scale of development uses physical characteristics to determine where an individual falls in their development from child to adulthood. Here’s my financial equivalent for newbie physicians (with minor modifications, it can apply to non-medical folks just as easily): Tanner I: Your sibling or parent gifted you a mediocre personal finance book in college, which you started …

My Adventures Through The Looking Glass

crispydocUncategorized 2 Comments

For physicians with specialties than enable them to scale back time commitments, I’ve always suspected that creating a “glide path to retirement” could make a significant difference in day to day quality of life. Time to test that hypothesis! It’s been six weeks at my reduced shift load as an emergency physician, and I thought it would be a worthwhile …

Doctor Goggles: Totally Different Than Beer Goggles

crispydocUncategorized Leave a Comment

Doctor goggling means diagnosing yourself with a new new terminal disease every week or so. It’s morbidity for the morbidly curious. It disproportionately affects those who know just enough to be dangerous.  While it’s considered to be more of a med student malady, for lucky shmoes like me, it can endure far beyond residency. Ordinarily I enjoy being under the …