Go from burnt out to FIREd up.
Something exciting is happening in the world of physician financial independence blogs. A major disruption that might, in retrospect, be entrepreneurial genius. The White Coat Investor has formed an alliance with Physician on FIRE and purchased a stake (along with his business manager) in the latter’s website. Why does this matter? Why should you care? Why, in a cynical world …
A couple of months ago, I agreed to a phone call with my Personal Capital advisor. I’m a huge fan of their free software, which breaks down asset allocation, investment fees, and expenses. I had a list of questions ready for the advisor, and was excited to get some feedback on my asset allocation. I was very candid about being …
I’m fortunate to work alongside one of my closest friends from residency. While we both live in the same seaside suburb of LA, he lives a spendier lifestyle than I do but often invites me to join him at the latest foodie restaurant, concert or cultural happening. He knows me well enough that when he witnesses my mental gears calculating …
The second letter of the title above is deliberately capitalized to emphasize FI – as in Financial Independence. Since reducing my shift load, I was able to increase my participation not only in non-medical pursuits (pleasure out of proportion activities), but also in medical roles that are interesting (if unremunerative) to me. I got hooked on bioethics during a …
Financially oblivious physician stumbles into serendipitous contact with Financial Independence/Retire Early (FIRE) movement, binge reads related blogs, can’t wait to spread message of hope among the huddled physician masses yearning to be free via his own blog…only to realize a highly talented physician finance geek beat him to the punch. I’m speaking, of course, of Jim Dahle, who blogs as …
Betterment Likes Piña Coladas and Getting Caught in the RainIt was a whirlwind romance. When I first heard of Betterment, I was in the throes of my personal finance conversion experience. The robo-advisor appeared on wings of angels to offer a panacea: they’d worry about optimizing asset allocation for a fraction of my current cost (fees of .35% – .15% …
A few months ago, a friend dropped off a carload of third graders at my daughter’s birthday party and mentioned that he was going from our house to a “daddy date” with his high school freshman daughter to buy her a pair of jeans. Having just scored a nice pair of lightly used brand name jeans, I thought I’d share …
The aptly named SEAK, Inc. (Skills, Education, Achievement, Knowledge) is a continuing education company that sends me annual brochures touting how physicians like me can make money outside of the clinical practice of medicine as we know it. They are the ultimate purveyors of exit strategy, the mantra hidden between the lines of their pamphlet whispering, “Someday you will …
One of my resolutions for 2017 is to bare more personal details, so in this spirit I’ll share my investor policy statement* for your perusal. Asset Allocation: 100 – (% in bonds) to be divided among stocks as follows: Domestic Equity (65%) International Equity (25%) Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) (10%) numbers rounded for simplicity 3-6 months’ expenses in Money …
You have worked like a dog through your undergraduate years, medical school, residency and perhaps fellowship to reach your professional apex as a working physician. Finally you get your first check, and it has more zeroes at the end than any document you’ve seen short of your student debt statement. One friend from your study group who has the same …