October 2018 – Physician In Numbers

Thoughts on “The Italian Job”

In our house, we seldom watch network TV, at least not live. We watch a lot of movies–usually old ones, that we can watch for free, or get from Netflix. We enjoy discussing them later, and I may post some of our thoughts from time to time.

On Good Citizenship, or Don’t be a Pig

One of the issues have with some of the frugality blogs out there–and don’t get me wrong, I love reading them–is the excitement? Pride? Exhortation? to take advantage of free things. It especially bothers me when I know that the author is no longer struggling financially.

I should point out that as I write this, I have just taken advantage of free admission to a museum while staying (for free) at a relative’s home in another city. So I get the appeal of the cheap/free treat.

Fitness log #3

One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.

I most certainly do struggle with fitness and health, like many other Americans with sedentary jobs and a proclivity to eat treats. One of my goals is to make sure that I get my 150 minutes a week of moderate exercise (or 75 minutes of high intensity exercise, which probably won’t happen). I will see for how long I am willing to document my progress Saturday to Friday.

Ten Steps to Future Me

Last week I rambled a bit about finding something to retire to, rather than focusing on retiring from. Also about (re)building a life that I can enjoy now, rather than waiting until . I also mentioned that I am taking a small pay cut, to get a little more time back in my life. The big question is: how will I use that time well?

Our “free” vacation through travel hacking

I love to travel. My husband loves to travel. We both love to save money. We are a great team ;-). In the last few years, finally, we have been able to travel overseas, and have been getting better at money-saving tricks. There are so many posts on the internet about travel hacking, I was curious to see if we could take a nice vacation for free (or super cheap). I don’t profess to be an expert, but I tried to use as many options as possible on our latest vacation, and I wanted to lay the results out in one place. I might compare and contrast with our prior methods. Here goes:

Fitness log #2

One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.

Figuring Out Future Me

There’s lots of talk out in the FIRE blog world about retiring to something, rather than from something. Finding your passion, something you not only don’t mind going to do, but are excited that you get to go work on it.

The Different Speeds of Money

I was listening the other night to a talk about testosterone and investing, and why this isn’t the best combination. Something about risks, returns, and not beating the market. And it struck me–do you really need to Beat the Market. The answer is no. And yes. But no.

Really, the answer is–how fast do you NEED your money to grow.

Fitness log #1

One of the favorite things I have heard from a patient is: you’re a doctor, you don’t have to worry about blood pressure. Implying, of course, that doctor’s don’t struggle with their health.

I Bought a House In Residency, or Do As I Say, Not As I do.

A long time ago, in a galaxy far away, I was a senior medical student looking to buy a house. There were no blogs back then–let alone the doctor financial blogs we have now–detailing why this is a bad idea. Or maybe a silly idea. To be fair, my Dad wasn’t so keen on it, but at that stage of life I wasn’t listening.