As we start to travel more frequently, the boyfriend and I make a point to visit a (hopefully used) bookstore at least once per trip. So let’s have a look-see where we’ve been and what we found!
Monday Muse (6/6/16)
The Monday Muse aims to serve as a weekly booster for our financial fitness, setting the tone of a successful week in all areas of our lives. With so many wonderful writers/bloggers sharing their experiences and insights, I frequently feel like yelling out their articles from the top of my lungs, so everyone could hear and benefit from these priceless lessons. This series is inspired by my esteemed mentor PoF’s Sunday Best series.
Each Monday Muse will share 5 articles I’ve read recently and found inspiring, instructional, & actionable: mostly in personal finances, but could also be pertinent to other areas of our lives. After all, our lives are not as compartmentalized as we thought. If various aspects of our lives are truly that segregated from one other, why would financial stress cause physician burn-out?
So here you go, I’m on the top of my DWM mountain, shouting out to you. Enjoy!
This week’s Monday Muse (6/6/16):
Big ERN @ Early Retirement Now makes a case for abandoning the traditional “emergency fund” in Our Emergency Fund is Exactly $0.00, a title which isn’t exactly accurate, but the arguments are sound.
Off you go, to great places, doing great things this week!
-DWM
5 Reasons Side Gigs Make Better Docs
- Increase creativity, capacity to problem solve.
“The young doctor should look about early for an avocation, a pastime, that will take him away from patients, pills, and potions … No one is really happy or safe without one.”
–Sir William Osler
As much as medicine is an all-consuming career, it is neither safe nor effective to let medicine consume us. We must not abandon the activities which remind us of who we are beyond Dr. so and so. Sir William Osler urges us to seek something outside of medicine to restore our humanity and recharge our minds so that we may return to bedside an even more empathetic and effective doc.
- Increase happiness.
Acts of kindness are proven by research studies to be a tremendous source of lasting, profound happiness. Contributing to the society in a role other than that of a doc not only refreshes us, but also provides an additional sources of happiness.
- Increase balance between control and flexibility.
Funny thing is many of us doctors have type A personality in the most anti-type A profession. We have high standards for our work and expect our surrounding and partners to reciprocate our work ethic and extensive considerations. When we don’t get that, we are discouraged and frustrated.
Additionally, our multi-stage, life-long training and certification process, has imposed on us a nomadic life style. Ask a premed, “Where are you going for med school?” “Anywhere that takes me.” Ask a MS4, “Where are you going for residency?” “Anywhere that takes me.” Ask a PGY resident, “Where are you going for fellowship?” “Anywhere that takes me.” Ask a PGY fellow, “Where are you going for a job?” “Anywhere that takes me.”
See a pattern?
Shortly, as much as we’d like to have control, we have less than 50% control over our professional and personal life, especially in our training years. We have no control over where we go, how many hours we work, and most importantly, we have no control over patient compliance, most of the time.
Having side gigs usually means turning a hobby turn into a job, where for once, You are the boss of you and your business.
Taking control once in a while, can be quite energizing.
- Increase efficiency.
“When you get tired of studying, take a break and go (fill in the blank with a house chore).” Wise Money Gourmet, Dr. Wise Money’s mom, used to say this a lot.
Early in my childhood, my mom has taught me that rotating between various tasks/jobs will increase my efficiency, allowing me to accomplish more house chores and perform better on my exams using less time. The more I do, the more time I find to do more.
She brainwashed me well with this self-fulfilling belief: Indeed, the more I do, the more efficiency I get.
This allowed me to be a single mother to a 3 year old, work 2 jobs, and manage top of my class in medical school.
I find myself much more efficient as a radiology resident/mother/tutor/blogger when I do all 4.
Otherwise, I just grow into my free time like people grow into their income (I term this the hedonic treadmill of time.) I accomplish less the more free time I have.
- Increase cash flow.
“Don’t follow money, let it follow you” has always been my mantra.
I started tutoring pro Bono before I turned 10 as my teacher told me after school one day, “You are doing well in class, go ahead and help this and that struggling classmates.”
22 years and about 10,000 hours later, I’m now making $388/hr when I tutor.
I’m was not chasing after money when I first sat down next to my baffled and helpless classmate in our 3rd grade classroom. Money followed me as I follow my instincts on where I think I could serve those around me.
8-year-old Mini Starts Planning Mini-Retirements.
With the ability to retire by 2023, I started talking with Mini’s dad about family longer term vacation/exploration around the world after 2023. We both agreed that traveling around the world and learning from various cultures will enrich Mini’s life beyond conventional schooling. Since Mini’s started school 1 year younger and has always been the youngest in her class, we thought it would be nice give her an one year vacation after high school graduation (when she already know where she’s heading for college but can defer for a year.) Both Mini’s dad & I will take that year off to travel the world with Mini, most likely on a sailboat, not a plane or RV.
The thought of a family sabbatical in year 2024 after Mini gets accepted to college is incredible!
So I presented this high school graduation/college acceptance gift idea to Mini on our way driving home after dropping my dad off at the doctor’s. Mini was thrilled, but quickly proposed an alternate plan. Pensively, Mini said, “I kinda want to spread that fun year out. Remember about the mini-retirements that book [4-Hour Work Week by
Quite a thinker-outside-the-box, Mini has always been. As her mom, I tried to practice good parenting and always give her 2 options… Thing is she always comes with a 3rd that I’m not always prepared for 🙂 However, this time her proposal actually does work better. Mini wants 4 3-month-trip: 1 at elementary graduation (in 2 years), 1 at middle school graduation (in 4 years), 1 at high school graduation (in 8 years), 1 at college graduation (in 12 years), instead of the 1 year-long vacation when she’s 17. This will be her first taste of mini-retirement, and likely firsts for her dad and me.
Mini’s first destination is Hawaii.
Research she has done so far:
- Price of a used sailboat: 12k
- Distance between Tucson and Hawaii: 2,897 miles
- Max speed of sailboat: 30.8 miles/hr
- With the assistance of a calculator & assuming average 15.4 mi/hr: 16 days round trip Tucson to Hawaii
- She plans to stay on Hawaii land for 3 days to explore.
- Mini assigned 2lbs/meal for Dad, 1lb/meal for DWM/MWM/Lola each: 5 lbs of food per meal for the family
- Total # of lbs of food for 19 days trip to Hawaii: 285 lbs of food (including 57 lbs of dog food for Lola)
- Adults need 3L/day, Mini needs 1.5L/day, Lola needs 1L/day
- Water distiller costs: $700
Planning in Mini’s own words:
“My Trip To The Hawaiian Islands
the whole trip is 2,897 miles from Tucson,AZ to The Hawaiian Islands.
the boat can go from 15. 4 mph-30.08 mph.
to go there and come back it could take 8-16 days.
we will be exploring/camping for 16 days so the trip would be 24-32 days.
we will need 537 lbs. of food and 8 liters of water a day all together.
89.5 pounds of it will be lola’s food (3 bags) and one liter of the 8 liters of water is hers.”
Definitely much more research & planning is necessary for our family mini-retirement, we will keep you posted!
But it’s a start! Mini’s spending her first day of summer vacation 2016, dreaming and planning away.
Researching and plugging number into her new best friend, calculator.
Allowing me to blog 🙂
Ways to fund our first family Mini-retirement:
- Mini recently started a new business, in addition to her freelance artwork, and Walkie Dogie (pet care service).
- She loves tie-dye and will start accepting orders after she returns from Shanghai in late July. Here are some of her work.
- DWM will add to travel fund with summer camp (starting 2017) proceeds.
- We will be asking family who showers Mini with gifts to donate to her mini-retirement fund instead.
- We will run a couple fund raising such as Tie-Dye apparel sales, Cook off by Wise Money Gourmet.
- DWM will donate 20% of DWM blog proceeds to this travel fund.
- Got ideas for us to make this dream come true? Share below!
The Sculpture I’m Building with My Life.
My life just started, still looks like a block of marble.
Click on the diagram to get a larger image.
Stared items are my current priorities, need advice on getting more sleep for sure.
Comment below and share about the sculpture you’re building with your life 🙂