Go from burnt out to FIREd up.
This summer, we decided each kid is getting $20 a month to spend on whatever they choose. One kid went to a favorite chain restaurant and ordered a sandwich online in advance using an e-coupon. Another went to a meal with a friend, did not order online, was unable to use the coupon (it was only available for online orders) …
This morning, I opened the refrigerator to find a paucity of blueberries. This is all the more surprising because we buy 2-3 enormous boxes of blueberries at Costco every 2-3 weeks. What used to be arrive in a single delicate box presented like a Rolex when I was a kid now comes in economy size buckets. I’ve developed certain morning …
We’ve entered that stage of life: begun to lose parents, seen peers stricken with cancer as the youthful patina of invincibility fades, and started to give up pastimes we thought we’d never stop enjoying. As a result, the typical conversation with a non-medical friend my age tends to follow a template. Dissatisfaction is expressed regarding a new boss, the latest …
H explains why he always bets against his favorite baseball team: If they win, I am happy because my team was victorious. If they lose, I find solace in having won the bet. A dear friend relayed this true story about a shared acquaintance from our high school days. It is an adolescent’s attempt to reconcile the tension between the …
The hazards of normalcy bias were recently put on my radar by my invisible friend and unconventional thinker Dr. S, to whom I am grateful for the continuing mind expansion that has defined our virtual friendship. Having a friend who is unafraid to test and confront your definition of reality only strengthens your long-term resilience and the soundness of your …
A visit home for Father’s Day is the perfect opportunity to pay attention to details and tie up loose ends. We spent several hours completing the In Case Of Emergency binder, something dad had been working on in his spare time for the past year at my urging. Dad’s health is not what it once was. I gifted him this …
My latest journey down the rabbit hole of creating a “good-enough to get ‘er done” retirement portfolio reads like a biblical recounting of who begat whom. I started with William Bernstein’s Ages of the Investor, which inspired me to read one the books he referenced: Michael Zwecher’s Retirement Portfolios: Theory, Construction and Management. Zwecher strongly argues for the use of …
He was about my age, coming in to the ER with a fever. He had lymphoma, and was a week out from chemotherapy with the expected drop in white cells that rendered him immunocompromised as a result. I was a second year resident in emergency medicine at the university hospital where he received care. Despite difficult IV access and discussing …
I recently finished reading Bernstein’s slim book, The Ages Of The Investor, where he thoughtfully explores the accumulation stage, decumulation stage, and (trickiest of all) the stage during which one transitions from the former to the latter. It is in the transitional stage during which sequence of returns risk can appear and undermine what would otherwise appear to be a …
Small wins add up. This is a lesson from several years of playing strategy board games. While flashy, decisive rounds tend to leave a lasting impression and elicit high fives, they usually represent a short-term gain at the expense of a long-term victory. The deliberate incrementalist who responds to round-by-round incentives for small bonus point awards is easy to overlook, …