Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “Uncategorized”
Craigslist runs a Missed Connections column where would-be romantics (and unsubtle sex seekers) anonymously confess sightings of potential mates that got away in often mundane settings, a wonderful place to explore vulnerable admissions by folks who regret not having voiced their feelings in the lost moment. One of the finest adaptations I’ve seen of this column is the artist Sophie …
A friend recounted his recent experience interviewing a prospective financial advisor. He’d been favorably impressed. The would-be advisor informed him that he would not only help with investments, but provide tax strategy recommendations as an added value, to show how far he was willing to go above and beyond the less comprehensive services provided by his peers. The suitor’s first …
Mass media is a fickle entity. One minute medicine is approaching peak burnout and physicians are in crisis. The next we’ve never had it so good. The New York Times recently published the provocatively entitled article, “How Medicine Became the Stealth Family-Friendly Profession.” My first thought was that a journalist had decided to go rogue by rebuffing the conventional wisdom, …
At This Point, Does It Make Sense To Purchase A House? We’ve calculated you’ll need an income of at least $280k in order to max out your i401k. To max out the contributions we’ve discussed as an independent contractor you’ll be saving $56k for the i401k (= $19k employee + $37k employer contribution) $6k for your backdoor Roth $6k for …
A reader is an independent contractor in emergency medicine. He is married with young kids, looking to buy a house in the next 1-2 years in a high cost of living (HCOL) area in a high income tax state. He still has student loans under $200k, but they are refinanced at a low rate where the math favors paying the …
We’re baa-aack! This summer’s big trip (vacation is a term my wife and I reserve for travel without children; trip refers to travel with children) was to Spain, and I thought it might be worthwhile to share the tips and tricks that made this one wonderful, as well as the fails that we’ll learn from going forward. We began in …
Yesterday I watched a particularly moving film, The Farewell. [I hate spoilers, so nothing that follows is not already evident in the trailers.] The film follows the Americanized branch of a Chinese family through the eyes of a millennial granddaughter as she returns home for a final visit to the family matriarch who has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. Heavily …
I was in junior high school the first time I accepted a friend’s invitation to join him in the Pacific Ocean. He’d been surfing since grade school, and agreed to lend me a spare bodyboard for our afternoon at the beach. After his mom dropped us off, he wrapped a towel around his waist and shimmied into a full length …
In our second installment, we explored variables within Dr. PBO’s control that might reduce the unpleasant aspects of his job. Assuming he has adjusted those within his control, let’s talk about he might go about becoming (apologies to Seinfeld fans) a master outside his domain. Dr. PBO’s scenario already has one great advantage: he is a business owner, an increasingly …
In our first installment, we determined that Dr. PBO’s journey to Financial Independence (FI) needs to begin with an assessment of his starting point, his destination, and consideration of the vehicles he intends to use to arrive at FI. Variables Largely Within Your Control It can be surprising to realize that despite feeling stuck, many of the variables to improve …