I’ve been a longtime blog reader / podcast listener of the Mad Fientist, one of the more extreme pursuers of Financial Independence I follow (the other I’ve read for years is Jacob Lund Fisker at Early Retirement Extreme, even though he stopped creating new posts many years ago – his posts are that unconventional and mind-blowing). I met the Mad …
Degrees Of Freedom
The mathematical concept of degrees of freedom is familiar enough to recall having studied when I got my MPH, but not relevant enough on a daily basis to remember the definition. It has vaguely to do with the number of values in a statistical calculation that can vary, affecting the distribution curve of any given statistical model. If that is …
Epochs
A month ago I read Die With Zero, a book that has made the rounds and achieved equal popularity with both the FIRE community and the Silicon Valley tech bros. I was intrigued by someone who could attract what are often regarded as fairly disparate communities. A word about the author, Bill Perkins – I first encountered him as an …
Cashing Out The Memory Dividend
It arrived when I was most expecting it but least prepared to handle it: the parental obsolescence of adolescence. It’s inaccurate to say the kids don’t need me, because they do. They simply don’t have time for me outside of those very specific moments when they need only me. I’ve become a hex wrench – critically useful for a very …
The Memory Dividend
Last week I listened to the latest podcast from the Mad Fientist, which was an interview of the author of the book, Die With Zero. The interview subject had the swagger of a Silicon Valley tech bro – typically an immediate turnoff in these sorts of interviews – but there was enough substance in the message that I tried not …
Reaching A Moving Goalpost
Figuring out your Number may lead to insomnia.Back around 2016, I read like crazy. I found and devoured the Mr. Money Mustache blog, and then had the uniquely ridiculous experience of citing the unusually named blog to completely serious friends during highly intellectual conversations. I consumed the Bogleheads book, routinely pored over the Bogleheads wiki, and researched relevant threads from …
Delivering Her First Album: How FIRE Helped An OB/GYN Find Her Voice
The best part of writing a physician finance blog is the delightful assortment of true-to-their-internal compass folks you pick up as friends along the way. I feel fortunate to count Dr. Kristina Dervaitis, a Canadian OB/GYN, among the menagerie of misfit docs who make life more interesting as they redeem our profession in my eyes. I’ve invited her to share …
This Is What Financial Independence Means
As the school year begins with pandemic uncertainty hanging over us all, certain facts help keep me grounded in mundane reality. I have two kids in middle school, both of whom have been seeing an orthodontist for “monitoring.” The eldest child recently had her follow up, at which time it was deemed that her teeth were not going to straighten …
Will Financial Independence Make Me A Lotus Eater?
By serendipity, I had a batch of shifts early in the month that resulted in a solid week off. I awoke on the first morning of that free week with an almost giddy sense of anticipation. It felt like the first day of summer in elementary school. That joy, alas, was not sustained. I found that I did not immediately …
Second Generation FIRE
My dad has been going through some difficulties with his health. Lately, most of our emails back and forth are about his latest test results and what they mean. That’s a weird place to be as a son, but not entirely unexpected when you are the child who became a physician. Whether you feel comfortable in the role or not, …