Finance – Page 5 – Physician In Numbers

Future Me, October 2022

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours, 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.

Over time, I also been thinking about these projects as preparing for retirement life, though that might be years away. Building a better life now, and getting ready for a life without scheduled work, seem worthy of my attention and efforts now.

My last update was in June 2022, after a 6-month gap; I am hoping that more frequent updates will keep me on track.

So, what progress did I make over the past 3 months?

Still My Brother’s (Money) Keeper

This Spring, I was very excited about the possibility of my brother selling his first house, now a rental. In April, I offered my own opinions of what he should do with his expected windfall.

With the drop in the real estate market, it took longer than expected for the sale to finalize, but the day has finally arrived.

I figured my brother would be on easy street: no more carrying costs or paying for repairs for his old house. Not to mention, he has better cash flow with his youngest finally out of day care.

When he told me he was meeting with a financial advisor, a class mate of his wife’s, to help decide how much of their profits they could use to improve their current home, I didn’t think too much of it.

After years of reading blogs in the personal finance space, I forgot that not everyone swims in this stuff. Then we spoke last weekend, and I shocked at some of the things he told me.

I think there are some personal finance lessons to glean from his situation.

Wednesday Woolgathering

Random thoughts on a Wednesday.

How Much Cash Do I Need To Retire?

Money you will need in the next 5 years should not be in the stock market.

I have heard this advice for years, but never really paid much attention to it as far as my retirement.

After all, I wasn’t going to be retiring in the next 5 years. I was young, not even 30 (or 40, or 50). I had plenty of time to ride out the stock markets ups and downs.

Now, however, I am thinking about retiring. I might want to keep working for more than 5 years, but I might want to stop even sooner than that. It is time for me to start preparing for retirement and the sequence of return risk.

That means reducing how much risk I am taking with my investments, and probably building up my cash position.

Don’t Forget To Add Back What You Love

Talk of inflation is all over the news. Worries about a recession are not far behind.

Blog posts are popping up all over to deal with money crunches, and I am sure we will be seeing more. Some posts will be about earning more, and many will be about cutting back on unnecessary expenses.

For those who aren’t confident they can earn more money, cutting expenses can be a quick win.

Which Is Better: Investing Or Paying Off Debt?

Last year, I was thinking about the different ways people can use their money to improve their net worth.

They can pay off debt. That will definitely improve their net worth calculation by decreasing (or eliminating) the charges against their assets.

They can save money and invest it. In the long run, that invested money should increase their nest egg nicely, thereby increasing their net worth.

However, it wasn’t really clear to me that using the same amounts to either pay off debt or invest would give the same results. After all, paying off debt is great, but if you aren’t investing, you are missing out on that special sauce: compounding interest.

I decided to run through a few scenarios using “typical internists” to see how these choices could play out.

I found out a few things, including that my underlying assumptions didn’t necessarily give the results I was looking for.

(This post was originally published in 2021, but has been changed modestly.)

Future Me, June 2022

My last update was in January 2022; it is clear to me that waiting 6 months between updates means that I don’t do as much to meet my goals. (I was definitely one of those students staying up late to meet my deadlines.)

So, what progress did I make over the past 6 months?

Comparing Shoulder Season and High Season Travel

As you may recall, last summer Mr. PiN and I went to Maine (aka Vacationland) for the first time last year. We had a blast.

Since COVID is still affecting travel this year, we decided to go back, and see if it was just as nice as the first time.

The short answer: yes.

The other answer: it wasn’t quite the same.

The biggest differences related to visiting in the shoulder season, rather than high season.

For our international travels (back before COVID), we loved traveling in shoulder season. We were unconstrained by the school holiday calendar, and could find cheaper flights to destinations that had great weather and fewer crowds.

This year we found that shoulder season in Maine had some of the same advantages, and a few more drawbacks. I thought I would go through some of them.

5 Market Crashes, 9 Lessons On Risk Tolerance.

This is an update of a post I wrote 2 years ago, after the sharp drop (and quick recovery) of March 2020. I thought it was worth revisiting, especially since I haven’t properly learnt lesson #2: don’t look.

I have had the dubious pleasure of investing through a number of market crashes over the years. Each one has taught me something about my risk tolerance, and I hope that the lessons I have learned may be helpful to you. If only to show you what not to do.

I decided not to present each past market drop chronologically, but rather to discuss each drop in terms of my personal risk tolerance, from least to most. Please keep in mind that, of course, your risk tolerance will change depending on your age and life circumstances.

Category: Finance