Finance – Page 12 – Physician In Numbers

Forgotten Treasure

Mel at Broke Girl Rich wrote a few weeks ago about how Old Mel had set up New Mel pretty well, by putting money aside for future spending. The special part is that she had forgotten she had set this up until she recently needed the money.

I thought that I had a pretty good grip on all of my financials, and commented that really, I knew where all my money was, except for maybe a few bills stuck here and there.

It turned out the laugh’s on me. In the past month I ended up finding a lot of extra money.

On the whole, it’s nice to have some extra money show up (it’s certainly much better than getting surprise bills!), but a little embarrassing when you thought you had your life more organized.

Where was the money?

Monday Melange, Inspired By BLM

I have been saving a number of blog posts that caught my eye, and I think it might be time to share them. Saving without sharing seems to me to be losing some of their virtue–sort of like saving yummy leftovers in the fridge but never eating them.

The links below were inspired by the events of this summer as regards systemic racism. Most are focused on highlighting financial blogs and podcasts by Black content creators. One meant to straight up educate others on what systemic racism is for those who don’t suffer under it. One offers some inspiration on how FI can help make the world a better place for all.

Future Me, September 2020

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.

My last update was in June of this year, with a number of wins, and several misses versus abandonment of goals (that darned pandemic!).

Here is my 3 month update. I have been giving myself plenty of slack, as between COVID and worrying about the other big C, my brain has been very busy this summer.

Monday Melange: Medicine

I have been saving links to posts by other people for over a year. Some of these posts just struck my fancy at the time, others I find myself thinking about for weeks or months afterwards. I would like to share them with others, rather than hoarding them on my list of saved posts. I hope some of them speak to you as well.

It’s almost September, and another year has started at the medical school. In honor of those eager, earnest students I see (and in memory of the eager, earnest student I once was), here are some articles I have saved about…Medicine. With some segues into health, finance, the business of medicine, and the meaning of life.

How To Retire Earlier

When I worked through my retirement numbers earlier this month, I was pretty excited to see how things worked out as far as retiring before age 65. I thought that 5 years from now, I might not have quite enough money, but should be in a position to start making firmer plans. I.e. retirement would be affordable just a few years after that.

After a few days, though, I realized that I would like the freedom to leave work sooner. Working another 5 years and then recalculating how much more I’d need to save–this started to sound like an interminable process.

Surely, I thought, I can make things go faster.

How Much Finances Can Improve In 5 Years

I wrote this on Mother’s Day, or, in my household, Step-Mother’s Day. My husband was kind enough to give me a card, and we spent a little time reminiscing, especially about the 5 years since our son graduated from college. Talking about his life doesn’t seem appropriate for this blog; but looking back to his graduation, we were amazed at how much more stressful our finances were then, compared with the life we have arranged for ourselves now.

Are We There Yet?

I stayed home from work for nearly a month this summer. It took a while to adjust to the slower pace, to find meaning and accomplishment in my day, but I did. I very much enjoyed waking up without an alarm, spending time with my husband, and getting chores done around the house. On the eve of returning to my regular, full-time work week, I found myself asking: can I retire yet?

One Year Without Mortgage Payments

In some ways I can’t quite believe it has been a year since I paid off the mortgage. Something that was the focus of so much of my attention, scheming, and calculating, is now just history.

On the other hand, the downstream consequences of paying off the mortgage kept showing up months after the actual event.

I thought it might be worthwhile to go over the past year without mortgage payments, and review the different ways my life has changed because of it. I break this down into three different categories: new bills from the loss of the escrow account, increased cash flow without the monthly mortgage payments, and changes in attitude.

In case anyone reading plans to pay off their mortgage soon, I have a few recommendations at the end.

Monday Melange: Travel Points

I love, love, love stories about travel hacking. Not the low stakes stories of: I had to rush home for an emergency and saved a few hundred dollars on a last minute ticket using miles. No, I like the big shebang: look at this crazy thing I did for free (or nearly free).

What Are My Best Uses Of Credit Card Rewards?

At the beginning of the year, I was really thinking about how to get more from my credit cards. I opened up a card or two, worked to get the welcome bonus, and was plotting how best to use credit card bonuses to reduce the cost of our multiple planned trips in the coming year.

I have some large medical bills coming up, the question becomes a little more pressing. If I have to pay out lots on money on my credit card(s), I would like to get the most out of it that I can.