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The Monthly Checkout: April 2019

By Jimmy Turner, MD
The Physician Philosopher

Every month, I like to highlight some noteworthy posts that I’ve read.  I pass them along to you so that you can enjoy them, too. This is the monthly checkout April 2019.

The posts will involve topics that are often covered on this blog including personal finance, investing, physician burnout, and paying down debt.  We then end with an update on the happenings on the blog.

If you haven’t subscribed to the blog, you can subscribe here.

Welcome to The Monthly Checkout for April!

Podcast Appearances

The first thing I want to share are a couple of podcasts that were kind enough to have me on their shows.

Physician Contract NegotiationOn Monday, Dr. Daarko released my interview with him on the Docs Outside the Box podcast.  We discuss life, balance, money, and a little bit of my background.  We also discuss a lot of the financial mistakes and experiences I had along the way.

On Thursday (the day before this post), my interview on the White Coat Investor podcast was featured.  In this, I answer tough questions about burnout, the mission and purpose of this blog, and some of the other financial mishaps I’ve had.  Apparently, I love talking about my mistakes.  Hopefully, they make you feel better about yours!

The Value of a Financial Advisor

Many of my readers will know that I am not a big fan of many financial advisory models.  Given my disability insurance debacle and my experiences with multiple financial advisors, I am often guarded when it comes to discussing their merits.

After discussing a recent experience of a family member, Crispy Doc discusses the value of a financial advisor.  If you are going to sit at the table, you need to educate yourself so that it is at least a fair fight.

Financial Advisory Fees Can Be Ridiculous

Speaking of the value of financial advisors, there was a must read article over at the White Coat Investor.

In this post, a financial advisor based in Utah took a look at the other financial advisory firms registered in his state.  In this article, he outlines his methods that allowed him to determine the average fees he found.  He used the ADV brochures required by the firms to collect his information.

I’ll let you read the post to find out how ridiculous the average fees were and 10 things the ADV2 reveals about the investment advisory industry.

Perfections Causes Burnout

I’m not going to lie.  I have fallen to this cause of burnout more times than I can count.  I am the definition of an over-achiever, and am known to strive for perfection.  Not only does it make my clinical studies more challenging to conduct, but it also might lead to worsening burnout according to Harry, an emergency medicine physician.

Harry runs the blog Medicine Revived and he hit took aim at my life directly (and, I bet many other perfectionist physicians reading this) in his post “Is Perfection Leading to Burnout? 4 Reasons Progress is Better

Tax Refunds are Not Good

Recent headlines have abounded.  People are getting less of a tax refund, and this is being touted as a “bad thing” despite the fact that people are paying less taxes overall.

Well, over at Accidental FIRE, not only is a bigger refund a bad thing, but your refund is an opportunity cost!  Check it out as Accidental FIRE goes through the math, and shows you the errant path on which many people walk.

Don’t Let Fear Dictate Your Finances

Speaking of tax refunds, Abigail at I Pick Up Pennies is do a big refund!

Despite the surprise inflow of cash, many other financial situations have caused her undue stress recently. I, too, have felt this same fear recently as my family had to dip into our savings account to pay a tax bill.  As Abigail points out, the fear is not only irrational, but it can hurt our financial decisions.

Check out her post so that you, too, can prevent fear from ruling your finances.

Experiences Over Things

The art of intentional spending and contentment are what lead many people to save more money.  They begin to realize that money spent on things don’t provide happiness.

Take inventory.  I dare you to look around your house and in your garage.  Think about the happiness that all of those things provided you when you first purchased them.  Then, think about how much happiness they provide now?  The answer is that they provide much less happiness now, don’t they?

Peter over at Passive Income MD examines this thought exactly as he outlines why it is more important to spend money on experiences….and some things.

What a month!

I hope that you enjoyed (and checked out!) the posts featured above.

The Physician Philosopher's Guide to Personal Finance

What? You haven’t bought the book? The 5-star review says you are missing out. Now, click the image above and go buy the book!

This month has been crazy.  In fact, in just one weekend, this is what I experienced.  On a Saturday my wife and I got to see my brother-in-law in Vegas (where we may or may not have played some Texas Hold ’em).  We were there for the ASRA conference, but got to have some fun, too.  For the poker players out there, I landed an all-in flush draw on the river, and flopped a straight in a matter of minutes. We made out like bandits.

The next day, our direct flight from Vegas to Charlotte was cancelled.  So, we flew from Vegas to Minneapolis to connect to Charlotte.  We should have said hey to Physician on FIRE while we were there!  By the way, if you missed my Christopher Guest Post interview on Physician on FIRE, you should check it out!

The cancelled flight was no big deal, though, because I got to watch the back 9 of the Masters on the flight.  It landed just as Tiger was putting on the green jacket following a triumphant return to the top.  It just might be the best comeback story in the history of sports.  Though I don’t get my moral compass from Tiger, he does inspire a lot of my love for golf.

Then, on Monday my oldest little philosopher turned 8.  Crazy.  It feels like she was born just yesterday!  She is growing up too fast, but there is nothing I can to stop it.  So, I just try and enjoy as much time with her as I can.

Oh, and on that same day, The Physician Philosopher joined the White Coat Investor network.

Take Home

What a month, huh?

I hope that you guys have had a good month, too.  Check out the posts above and leave some love below.

What did you think of this month’s featured posts?  Did you check them out? If you have other posts you think are worth sharing, email me!  And then leave a comment below.

I use Personal Capital to track the TPP Portfolio and Net Worth!  You should, too.  Check it out: 

Personal Capital

6 Comments

  1. Crispy Doc

    Appreciate the being mentioned among such a notable crowd – thanks my friend!

    Fondly,

    CD

    P.S. 8 is a wonderful age, relish it. They have not yet mastered the eye roll at 8.

    Reply
  2. Abigail @ipickuppennies

    Thanks for including me! And for the other post suggestions. I’ll have to check them out!

    Reply

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