Lessons from my parents – Physician In Numbers

Six Lessons From My Mother, A Mother’s Day Reflection

Readers of my blog might think that my father was the only parent who taught me anything about finances.

It’s true that he and I spoke often about money and investing.

However, it would be absolutely incorrect to think that I learned nothing about personal finance from my mother. It’s just that many of her lessons were not so explicitly about money.

In honor of my mother’s contribution to my financial knowledge, here are six lessons I have learned from her that are (or can) be related to financial health.

Lessons From My Dad’s Life

I’ve been thinking about my Dad’s life in the past month. Luckily, it did not fall to me to write his obituary, but I have been asked to speak about him. Going through my notes, there are a few non-financial lessons I feel I can take away from his life.

I think he had a good life and a good retirement. I hope some of his lessons may be helpful to you.

Money Lessons From My Dad, Redux

In memory of my Dad, I am republishing this post from 2021. I expect the blog will be quiet for a few weeks.

The Flip Side Of Money And Medicine

I think about money and medicine a lot, and write about them often here. My writing usually focuses on the practice of medicine and saving money.

This post is a little different.

The past week or so has been spent away from home, watching other people practice medicine on my Dad, while I spend money like water.

While I deal with all the challenges this week has presented, I have had the opportunity to reflect on how my pursuit of FI (financial independence) has helped–or not–during this time.

The Million Dollar Dream

After some very long weeks and months this past Fall, Mr. PiN and I were able to get away to my parents’ place on the coast.

As often happens, on my first day here, I started fantasizing about being able to spend weeks (months!) in this great location. It doesn’t seem like a totally crazy idea—after all, my grandparents spent their winters here in their retirement years, and now my parents do as well (health crises and COVID being the exception).

Entrance to a beach, framed by palm trees. — I would definitely walk daily if this were my destination

My “assignment” while here has been rest and recuperation, but my brain kept turning over thoughts of what it might be like to actually live here for months at a time.

While the privilege here is obvious, some of my thoughts may have relevance to other professionals thinking about a vacation home. Especially as regards making memories with the family, and the fallout from that.

Planning For Funerals

An astute reader may have noticed my post a few weeks ago, mentioning the 4-parent problem. Unfortunately, the PiN household now tops out at a 3-parent problem. The family situation being what it is, we had to help plan a funeral.

This got me started thinking: I talk all the time at work about advanced planning–for medical decisions, that is. CPR or no CPR. Keep going back to the hospital or stay more comfortably at home.

Personal finance writers discuss money management for a surviving spouse periodically, usually talking about lists of accounts, passwords, and directions on what to do once they are gone (see: here and here).

I see fewer discussions about the difficult middle: what to do once your loved one is gone, but before everything has been settled.

As we (me, Mr. PiN and his family) dealt with planning questions, I thought it might be useful to go through some of the issues we struggled with. It may not help the families of those who refuse to contemplate their mortality at all; but for people willing to plan, these are the things we wish had been thought about earlier.

Seven Money And Life Lessons From My Dad

In honor of seeing my parents this weekend, I thought I would share (again) some of the best lessons my Dad taught me about money.

Why We Don’t Invest In Real Estate

When I look around the internet, it seems everyone loves real estate. I can hardly peruse a personal finance blog feed without tripping over someone extolling the virtues of investing in rentals.

Why is it, then, that the PiN household isn’t doing the same?

Who Pays Your Bills When You Are Sick?

Sitting with my Dad in the hospital this spring, I was reminded of the importance of sharing your account information with your spouse. My Dad was very ill, then improving, but clearly not in any condition to manage his finances. (For several days he was repeating “2019” under his breath, to be ready for his orientation questions.)

This was a bit of a problem, as he pays most of the household bills out of his accounts. Thankfully, my mom has access to her own accounts and could pay the most pressing bills; and Dad got better soon.

5 Money Lessons from Dad

Things are very busy for me right now. My father is very sick with a mystery-illness (isn’t it always the case that nurses and doctors get the weirdest things?), so I am with my parents for now. I thought this was a good time to reflect on some of the many lessons my dad taught me over the years.