Fawcett’s Favorites 9-9-19

Every week I run into a few articles that I feel are especially valuable, so each Monday I plan to share some of the best with you, my readers. I hope you find them helpful.

This week’s favorites include seven steps to building wealth with real estate, regrets of paying off a student loan, things financial independence can bring, the costs of an out of country sabbatical, and things this one resident is thankful for.

Happy reading!

I made the bulk of my wealth by investing in real estate and it is responsible for my early retirement from medicine. This week the Debt Free Doctor gives us his ideas about real estate in his article Seven Steps to Building Wealth with Real Estate. I was getting so many questions about real estate and how I could manage 64 rental units as a full time general surgeon that I decided it would be my next book. Slated for release in October is The Doctors Guide to Real Estate Investing for Busy Professionals. Watch for it and you can become wealthy with real estate as well, if that is your goal.

There is no end to those who can’t grasp the benefits of paying off a loan for 3% interest. I think the argument will never end. The Frugal Physician tells us what she regrets about paying off her student loans early. I think you will enjoy her take on the down side. When you are done with that one, you can learn how to become debt free with zero sacrifice.

Financial independence is a carrot at the end of the stick for so many people. Why do we all seek it? There are many things to do with the newfound freedom financial independence can grant. One is to retire early. The White Coat Investor presents 8 things to do with financial independence besides retire early in this republished piece on The Physician on Fire’s site.  I love the freedom FI has brought to me. What will you do with your independence? Here is something I did with mine, a true FIRE adventure.

Sometimes we get a bit beat up on the job and just need a little time off.  Often we need a lot of time off, like a sabbatical. B.C.Krygowski did just that and provided us with a cost analysis of her adventure to another country for some family R&R. Cost analysis of a sabbatical summer in Medellin is a good example of what can be done if you really want to do it. We usually have a lot more freedom to increase our time off than we think we have. I hope you enjoy her story. And if you feel you need an extended vacation for some recovery, this may help you move forward.

Do you remember that great feeling of accomplishment you had with each new patient in residency? There are a lot of things to complain about in residency, it’s a tough life, but Life of a Med Student gave us a great prospective in What a life in medicine means to me: Things this resident is thankful for! It made me remember some great things about residency and I hope it stirs some feeling about why you went into medicine as well.

I hope you enjoy these articles as much as I did. I look forward to updating you again next week with a few more articles I find especially interesting.