Now that my updated list of physician FI bloggers is complete, I will start highlighting my favorite posts from these and other blogs every month. Here is the October 2025 edition. I began the month at Oktoberfest in Munich, and also traveled back home to Chicago. However, I only worked four days in the ER this month, so I had plenty of time to read articles and write. These were a few of my favorites. Hope you enjoy!
Financial Samurai wrote Identity Diversification May Be as Important as Investment Diversification. I found this article both intriguing and disturbing, which probably means it’s an important topic. We have a vacation home in Hawaii, so I am aware of the tension between native Hawaiians and everyone else who calls the island home. I have my own feelings about identity politics, but Sam raises some interesting points about identity diversification.
This topic also hits close to home, as I met my Brazilian wife in Germany, as she was able to get a German passport due to her heritage (and WW2 issues). We could theoretically apply for German passports for my children, who already have US and Brazilian citizenship, but I’m just not sure how I feel about it.
Last month, I included the first four parts of Loonie Doc’s dividend investing series, which concluded in October with the final two installments. All this reading on dividends got me thinking about my own dividend stocks. Another article by Dr. Jim Dahle at the White Coat Investor, “9 Truths About Investment Returns,” reminded me of the difficulties in calculating the IRR of dividend stocks in which you are reinvesting the dividends. I set out to accomplish this arduous task with only one stock, Altria (MO), which, in my typical fashion, turned into two articles. You can read the first installment here.
Crispy Doc reminds us of the power of gratitude in a short, beautifully written piece, “Small Gifts.” Sometimes, it’s the small moments that matter in our long, winding, fragile lives. It’s also a nice reminder to me that a blog post doesn’t need thousands of words to be impactful.
From Money Changes Everything on Substack (I’m not even sure what Substack is) comes “Don’t Wait For the Asteroid: Why You Have to Face the Music About Money NOW,” the closest thing I’ve read to an old school, smack upside the head, not written by someone not in Generation X or older. The author calls it like she sees it and, gulp, blames the reader for their own money problems. Gasp!
Speaking of straight talk, the FI OG and punch-you-in-the-face pioneer, Mr. Money Mustache, was back in October with “How Unlimited Free Stuff from Amazon Almost Ruined My Retirement.” I was initially confused about this article, as the premise seemed to be a wasteful example of excessive consumerism, something that MMM has traditionally railed against. What I realized is that MMM is just a human named Pete, not a FI robot. He has the same flaws and foibles as everyone else.
For example, I got a wild hair this month to purchase a used Ineos Grenadier, a large, low-tech, gas-guzzling SUV. I even took my wife to test drive one. On the way home, she asked me what I was thinking, as she knows I am happy with my gas-sipping commuter car and don’t really need a new SUV. Additionally, she called me out for talking out of both sides – one day I write about saving money, and the next I want a new car. And she’s right – I only want the Grenadier because it’s cool. It makes no sense in my life otherwise. I decided not to buy it, but we are all conflicted with feelings about money, want, greed, etc., and may change our minds from day to day. This FI thing isn’t easy.
Finally, and finally, something somewhat worthwhile comes out of Physician on Fire, with their late October article, Is Passive Income Possible in Healthcare? I’ve been hard on PoF the last couple of years, with good reason. However, I’m not only including this article because I’m interested in the business of medicine, but also because it provides a relatively comprehensive basic overview of the topic. Is this a one-off, or are they turning it around over there?
There you have it: my favorite articles from October 2025. What articles did you enjoy reading this month? Leave your list in the comments and subscribe to the blog so you don’t miss any future releases.