Miscellaneous personal stories. Usually with some financial or career wisdom or lessons learned the hard way baked in.
Why I Started This Blog
The environment for physicians waxes and wanes over long cycles. Like the seasons in Game of Thrones.
I was getting burnt out. That can feel lonely as a professional, but we must band together. We share advantages and challenges that make our financial independence journey different from most people.
Mindful Like My Dogs for Mental & Financial Wellness
Mindfulness is one of the first things trotted out when an organization wants to tackle burn-out.
That is for good reason. There is some science to suggest mindfulness has many benefits to our mental health. My dogs don’t do science & I don’t do yoga. However, mindfulness can help our mental and financial health. My dogs can give us some unconventional lessons how.
Lessons From The Quest For The One Ring
My wife and I have been happily married for over 20 years. This is one of the biggest decisions that you can make for your financial and personal well-being.
The story of our hunt for an engagement ring contains some lessons for those considering this commitment.
Spending Wisely: Lessons From My Patients
Spending wisely is a pillar of personal finance.
Many equate that simply with being frugal. My patients have taught me that it is much more.
Is Our Motorhome A Money Saver Or Sewer?
We have been using a bus-like motorhome for vacationing in. It cost a lot of money and depreciates quickly.
Many would say that is money down the sewer. Others point to RV travel as an economical way to vacation.
How did we get here and has it been an economical way to travel for us?
My Dirty Little 10000 Square Foot Secret
Buying too much house, or too soon, is a classic doctor mistake.
There are diminishing returns on spending and it goes beyond just the financial aspects.
Learn how I fell for this one. Yeah, that was my house. We have since downsized.
Building Holistic Wealth Through DIY Home Maintenance
One way to build more wealth using the limited time that you have is to find synergy.
I find synergy by spending some of my time and energy to save money, learn skills, and build relationships through DIY projects.
How do I decide what to take on & what are the benefits and pitfalls?
The Best Toys For Kids Are Free
We can buy our kids the most expensive coolest stuff we never had as kids. There is plenty of social and media pressure to do that. Some buy their kids stuff to make up for their time away at work.
We have done all of the above, but that stuff doesn’t see the same usage as free toys.
For Career Fulfillment – Find Symbiosis
I share the first part of my medical career origin story.
We learn all about physiology, disease, and treatment as we move through medical school and residency.
Just as importantly, we need to develop our relationship with work and career. There are lots of people giving advice on how you should work. You must find your own symbiosis. Finding mine has had more to do with my career success than any financial tidbit.
Build A Profitable & Fulfilling Practice
A career in medicine is full of opportunity. Sometimes, doctors may not feel that way because they have a specific practice in mind. Often based on an existing one.
Great companies and medical careers develop and thrive by finding and filling a need. This is part 2 of my origin story and how this principle has lead to a fulfilling and profitable practice.
Don’t Follow The Doctor Script: Play Your Banjo
Physicians and other professionals are steeped in their professional and personal cultures. These pressure us to follow multiple scripts.
Break free from the scripts that will make your professional career suck instead of awesome. Stick it to “The Man” and have a rockin’ career and life. Don’t know who “The Man” is? Look up. That is his thumb holdin’ you down.
Career & Financial Wisdom From Dr. Latestart
Dr. Latestart got into a medicine as a later career.
He learned some great lessons and shares his wisdom and perspective on career, life, and the keys to success as a physician. It is all about pace.
Spending Time On Yourself: Kick Work-Life Imbalance’s Ass
It is very difficult to find time for everything at work and home that demands your attention.
We have many accountabilities and our self-care is usually what gives. Find external accountability for your self-care. Even better, find synergy in doing so.
Highlights of Year 5: My Blog is Back Alive
After a couple of years of neglecting the blog, I have resuscitated it.
Find out a bit about what else I have been up to. The most popular and most under-rated (but awesome) posts.
Where I plan to develop the blog next.
Unpacking My Net Worth
Net worth is a commonly used measure of wealth.
Find out how I calculate and use it.
I have tracked my net worth changes for over 15 years.
Join me as I unpack my net worth journey and share insights from the data.
My Net Worth Dropped. My Financial Goals Were Met.
A glimpse into my financial performance in 2022 and the preceding 15 years of my investing. My portfolio shrank this year, but I still feel pretty pumped up.
See how my processed have evolved.
Learn more about how to set and modify financial goals to build wealth and improve your investing performance.
Loonie Doctor 2023 Highlights
After achieving ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation) following the 2022 resuscitation of The Loonie Doctor, this was my first full year back at blogging.I made clear progress in all domains of my revitalized mission to empower, inspire, connect, and collaborate.
In this post, I’ll put some numbers to it. Highlight the most popular posts & what I think we the most posts series that I did. Plus, I’ll outline my plans for 2024.
Generational Wealth: Deniers, Ditchers, & Adapters
Contrary to popular belief, most wealthy people are not born into wealthy families. Most rich people acquire their wealth over their lifetime. That move up the socioeconomic hierarchy can be a major shift from the culture that we were born into.
Those of us who are accruing what could become generational wealth may encounter new and unanticipated problems. Will you become a denier, ditcher, or adapter?
Adapt To Build Family Wealth That Lasts
Building a family wealth legacy that lasts requires healthy adaption. Both for you, and your family, to steward the financial and holistic wealth that you are building.
An adaptor selects the core values and skills from their financial origins that they want to retain. While also developing and integrating new ones from the culture of their new financial status. They also foster those skills and values in the next generation to transfer along with the financial wealth.
My Wealth Journey Part 1: Building Our Financial Foundation
Wealthy families that thrive across generations have a strong financial foundation. They also hone their skills to meet the new demands of stewarding larger amounts of wealth. The migration into the new complexities of different levels of wealth will be different for every family.
In this series of posts, I will share a bit about our family’s journey. I will start in the early years when we built our financial foundation.
My Wealth Journey Part 2: The Wonder Years
During the next phase of our wealth journey, it was an exciting time. Establishing my career, spending with fewer limitations, and investing on a larger scale. During this first decade of practice, we were like teenagers in the “wonder years”, we felt financially invincible.
Also similar to teenagers, growing into our newfound financial muscle wasn’t always easy. We had to learn new skills for financial adulting, make some mistakes, and find our way. Hopefully, you can learn from this peak into my financial “Wonder Years” too.