The Financial Samurai Podcast (Sam Dogen: Financial Samurai founder, personal finance blogger)

My wife and I discuss our retirements at 34 and 35, respectively. We also discuss the ideal age we think people should retire if they can. Life is both short and long. We all want to maximize happiness and minimize regrets. 

Read the post: The Ideal Age To Retire To Minimize Regrets

2021 Financial Samurai forecast for stocks, bonds, real estate, the economy, and the 10-year bond yield. These forecasts will dictate how I asset allocate and put real money to work to maintain financial freedom or help you gain financial freedom!

See post: 2021 Financial Samurai Predictions

I speak with Colleen Kong-Savage about becoming a children's book illustrator and author, as well as a freelance graphic designer while living in expensive New York City.

Colleen has a new book out entitled Piano Wants To Play. It is a wonderful book for children and adults of all ages who appreciate music. It is also a touching story about rekindling the joy we had as children.

Colleen has been a long-time illustrator for Financial Samurai, creating all of the custom Samurai-themed graphics, including the logo and the Financial Samurai mask.

As you may know, it can be challenging to make a living as a creative professional. Therefore, I'm proud to support Colleen's endeavors.

If you're looking to support artists, the best way to do so is to purchase their work and hiring them. Please consider purchasing a copy of Piano Wants To Play and visiting Colleen's website at ckongsavage.com.

If you want to learn more about being a children's author and illustrator, you can check out the resources at www.highlightsfoundation.org and www.scbwi.org.

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd appreciate a review and a share!

To Your Financial Freedom,

Sam

Don't make my mortgage refinance mistake that has so far cost me $1,005 in extra interest! Trying to refinance today is a real PITA. It's a bummer because I pride myself on calculating all variables to make the best financial decision. 

To read the post and hear a funny joke, click here.

If you're thinking about buying a primary residence or an investment property, now looks like an enticingly good time. I'll share with you a dozen reasons why buying physical real estate can make sense. Obviously, do your own due diligence as well before putting your money to work.

Here's the post with some great charts and graphs. 

To invest in real estate. take a look at Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform. Fundrise has funds that invest primarily in single-family and multi-family properties in the Sunbelt. 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 60,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. This way, you never miss a thing. 

Episode Overview

After discussing our wins and our regrets during the pandemic, I realized I left out one of our biggest "wins": gut remodeling a home!

Let's discuss the trauma of remodeling a home and who should do it. Because it's not for everybody! 

Related posts:

Why Home Remodeling Always Takes Longer And Costs More Than Expected

Remodel With Permits Or No?

Thinking of retiring early to pursue new interests? In June 2022, I celebrated my 10-year anniversary of early retirement, or as I like to say, fake retirement. Here are my 11 most important takeaways. FIRE is worth it!

To help you achieve financial independence sooner, pick up a hard copy of my new book, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. It's full of actionable advice that also helps you tackle some of life's biggest dilemmas with less regret.

Also sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. Financial Samurai started in 2009 and is one of the largest personal finance sites today with over 1 million organic pageviews a month.

I speak to Eric Rosenberg, a long-time blogging buddy, about his journey from corporate employee to freelance writer, podcaster, and web designer. Eric has three children and lives in expensive Southern California. Yet, he's able to provide for his family on his freelance income alone. 

If you've ever wanted to become a freelancer and make side money or full-time freelancer money, this is your show! You can find out more about Eric at Eric.money. 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends! Every review means a lot. 

You could view the Quiet Quitting Movement as just another weak excuse by the younger generation not to work as hard. Or, you could see it as a huge net positive for society to help alleviate constant stress and anxiety in a post-COVID world. 

The boundary between work and personal life has completely blurred for millions of work-from-home folks in particular. As a result, more people are burning out. 

Quiet Quitting is also wonderful for parents, whom I think suffered the most during the pandemic. Feel free to share your thoughts in my Quiet Quitting post.

Support my work by picking up a hardcopy of my WSJ bestseller, Buy This, Not That. It is your unfair competitive advantage to building more wealth and making better decisions. 

Finally, join 50,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter. I highly the major events of the week and my candid thoughts. 

A college degree is depreciating in value, yet tuition is at all-time highs. For those parents and students looking to attend a private university like Harvard, I'm not sure whether the cost, stress, and all the work to get in is worth it. The reputation of private schools and private school grads are getting sullied due to the college bribery scandal. 

Read the post here. 

Every residential real estate investor and homeowner is richer after the National Association Of Realtors settled its price fixing lawsuit.

I know many real estate agents, realtors, and brokerages are upset with the ruling. However, the decision was decided quickly by a jury of our peers. The money that would have went into the real estate industry's pockets are now going back into the homeowners' and investors' pockets. 

See:

Why Every Residential Real Estate Investor And Homeowner Is Richer

Busting The Real Estate Cartel With Attorney Mike Ketchmark

Recommendations

Check out Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform with over $3.3 billion under management for 500,000+ investors. With mortgage rates coming down and the stock market strong, the demand for real estate is building. 

Fundrise predominantly invests in residential and industrial real estate in the Sunbelt region, where valuations are lower and yields are higher. I believe there is a multi-decade demographic shift towards lower-cost areas of the country thanks to technology. 

Financial Samurai is an investor in Fundrise funds and Fundrise is a long-time sponsor of Financial Samurai. 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

To achieve financial freedom sooner, join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the free Financial Samurai newsletter.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share, rate, and review. Every review means a lot as each episode takes hours to produce. 

My interview with Dr. John Durante from The College Admissions Process Podcast. John is also the Principal of Syosset High School in Long Island, New York. 

Alphabetical List of Episodes with Podcast link to the right of each school:  

https://docs.google.com/document/d/17smCKRwNBUuTRXZxxT4J3FJpfjie7TXeLreLBxrI-ZI/edit

John's email for any follow up questions: collegeadmissionstalk@gmail.com

This week, the Treasury department announced Series I bonds will pay an annualized interest from November 1, 2022 through April 2023 of 6.89%, down from the 9.62% rate offered since May 2022. A 2.73% decline is massive. 

Learn what it means for the economy, stocks, and real estate. 

Key links:

Post to read: It's Easier To Generate More Passive Income In A Bear Market

Purchase a hard copy of my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller, Buy This, Not That. It will be the best personal finance book that you will ever read. 

Join 60,000+ other subscribers and sign up for my free weekly newsletter here. I review all the week's key insights and posts. 

I've been skeptical about college for a while, but now that the pandemic has hit and tens of millions of jobs are lost and perhaps never coming back, I find college to be too risky of an investment to make for the average middle class family. 

Pertinent posts:

https://www.financialsamurai.com/should-i-go-to-public-school-or-private-school/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/recommended-529-plan-amounts-by-age/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/accept-1000000-to-attend-public-school-over-private-school/

After giving homeschooling a lot of though, my wife and I have decided to go the homeschooling route. COVID-19 was just the catalyst to get us over the hump. We tried preschool for a solid 5 months and enjoyed it. However, there were lots of downsides as well.

My wife joins me on this episode. 

Have you ever wondered how some millionaires and multi-millionaires can pay zero federal income taxes? You'll find out how in this post.

Posts referenced: 

https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-feel-less-guilty-about-paying-no-federal-income-taxes/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-pay-little-to-no-taxes-for-the-rest-of-your-life/

We only have about a 20-year window to own the nicest house we can afford. After this 20-year window closes, it will likely be shut forever. If you're looking to buy a nicer home, let's explore when we should spend the most money on where we live.

Posts Mentioned:

Primary Residence As A Percentage Of Net Worth Guide

How A Big Expensive House Can Ruin Your Life

The Best Time To Own The Nicest House You Can Afford

In this episode, I speak with Kathy Fang, star of the Food Network's Chef Dynasty, as well as owner of Fang Restaurant, one of my favorite Chinese restaurants in San Francisco. 

We talk about what it was like making a reality TV show, running a restaurant, expansion potential, and raising a family in San Francisco on chef hours. 

You can find Kathy on Instagram @ChefKathyFang and on her website at KathyFang.com. 

If you enjoyed this episode, I'd appreciate a review, share, and subscribe. Every episode takes hours to produce.

To achieve financial freedom sooner, join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the Financial Samurai newsletter here.

Financial Samurai began in 2009 and is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites with one million pageviews a month. Visit the site here. 

I speak to Sydney, my wife, about the idea of sending our children to Community College instead of directly to a four-year state or private university. The benefits are many, including less stress and more fun!

If you enjoyed this episode, please rate, review, and subscribe!

Posts mentioned:

Community College May Be The Way: How I Plan To Spend $1.5 Million

Median Income Earned By Ivy League Graduates

Keep In Touch With Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. This way you always stay on top of the most important events in the stock market, real estate market, and everything personal finance. 

Racism is systemic in America. We must speak up and fight back against racism. We must share our stories and hold racists accountable for their actions. Do not stay silent during this time of crisis. Let us do our part in helping end the cycle of hate. 

Mentioned posts:

Dear Minorities, Please Use Racism As Motivation To Achieve Financial Independence

The Importance Of Feeling Consistently Uncomfortable For Personal Growth

The yield curve has officially inverted in 3Q2019. The 10-year bond yield is now lower than the 2-year bond yield. Let me explain from different perspectives why an inverted yield curve as an ominous sign and what we should all do to make sure we stay financially safe.

Please read: The Yield Curve: A Prescient Economic Indicator for more charts and analysis. 

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you’re enjoying the time off and doing some reflecting. I’ve returned to San Francisco after eight days of being in Oahu and am ready to relax some more!

Here are some quick thoughts about what to expect in 2025 for the stock market, real estate market, and Financial Samurai. 

Mentioned posts:

2025 Wall Street S&P 500 Forecasts Are All Bullish – Uh Oh!

2025 Housing Price Forecasts: Continued Strong Gains

2025 Goals And Resolutions: Back To Simple Retirement Living

2024 Year In Review: A Year Of Transition And Luck

The Best Of Financial Samurai 2024: Favorite Posts And Popular Reads

30/30/3 Home Buying Rule To Follow

Join 60,000+ other readers achieving financial sooner by subscribing to my free weekly newsletter here. 

I speak to Liz Tran about her new book, The Karma Of Success: Spiritual Strategies To Free Your Inner Genius, as well as her journey from a difficult household, to venture capital, to entrepreneur. 

We discuss some of the various problems startup founders and CEOs face, the attributes they have to make them a success, what success means, and the difficulties of having a career and raising a family in a big city like New York.

You can find Liz Tran and Reset, her executive coaching business here. You can also find her website at Liz-Tran.com and her podcast here. 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye.

Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Inflation hit a 40-year high at 7.5% recently. There also seems to be a lot of panic and misguided fears. Here are 3 reasons why inflation will fade by the end of the year and to not worry. 

Post mentioned: How To Hedge Your Bets After You've Made A Mistake

I figured out how to cure those afflicted with entitlement mentality! Once cured, I'm positive most will be happier and richer over their lifetimes. 

Because for the longest time it boggled my mind how wealthy, privileged people could feel so entitled instead of so grateful.

Posts mentioned:

Entitlement Mentality Is A Sneaky Wealth Destroyer

How To Calculate The Value Of A College Degree

Investor Virtue Signaling In A Capitalist Country Is Fascinating

Support Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Does 1 + 1 = 2 in your marriage? Not according to the government. If you're trying to figure out what combined net worth to shoot for as a couple, here are three frameworks to think about. Don't get mad if you're not there. Get motivated!

To read the post and see the charts, click here. 

In this episode, I speak to Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise about his change in outlook for the real estate market in 2024 and beyond.

He believes October 2023 was the bottom and we're going up from here. 

In this episode we explore several key topics:

1. The reasoning behind Ben's belief that October 2023 marked the bottom, and the less obvious indicators supporting this perspective.
2. The motivation behind selling during this period, just after reaching the presumed bottom.
3. The possibility of using one fund's cash to support a deal in which another fund is investing.
4. Ben's insights on investing in office properties at significant discounts.
5. Drawing parallels between e-commerce and the work-from-home trend, highlighting the potential permanent increase in the value of residential properties.
6. Emphasizing the importance of investing in alignment with macroeconomic tailwinds, not headwinds.
7. Discussing the anticipated percentage upside in institutional real estate prices for 2024.
8. Exploring the methodology for calculating the Net Asset Value (NAV) of specific properties within the fund.
9. Recognizing the non-linear nature of significant changes and the importance of staying invested to benefit from high catalyst moments.
10. Reflecting on Ray Dalio's perspective – "I'd rather be approximately right than precisely wrong" – especially in the context of predicting year-end interest rates.
11. Considering the viewpoint that a recession might be bullish for real estate due to the potential rapid and extensive decline in interest rates.

If you want to dollar-cost-average into a Fundrise fund, you can do so by clicking here. The investment minimum is $10. Financial Samurai is an investor in Fundrise and Fundrise is a long-time sponsor of Financial Samurai. 

I recently spoke with Steve Chen, founder of Boldin (formerly NewRetirement), about common concerns retirees face. Boldin stands out as the most comprehensive DIY financial planning software I’ve encountered. It goes beyond analyzing stocks and bonds, incorporating other investments to optimize your net worth. Boldin also helps address key financial goals like buying a house, saving for college, planning for retirement, and more.

You can start with Boldin’s Basic Planner for free—it’s far more detailed than a typical retirement calculator.

For just $120 a year, you can upgrade to PlannerPlus, unlocking its full potential. It’s a fraction of the cost of hiring a financial advisor, and you can access it anytime without additional fees. Most importantly, PlannerPlus provides peace of mind, actionable insights, and the tools to grow your wealth far beyond the cost of the software.

For more information, see my post on Financial Samurai: Boldin Financial Planner Review: A Game-Changer For Financial Independence

In this epsiode, I interview Steve Chou, founder of the blog My Wife Quit Her Job and author of The Family First Entrepreneur. If you're interested in hearing thoughts about building an e-commerce business, raising a family in an expensive location, and having more freedom, this episode is for you. 

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get all my posts via e-mail as soon as they come out by subscribing here. 

Finally, if you enjoy this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends! Your reviews are what keep me going. 

I talk to Emily Luk, Co-Founder and CEO of Plenty, a wealth platform for today's modern couples about her career path from VC, to joining a big startup, to creating her own startup. I wanted to now why she lifted a cushy job with good pay.

If you're a couple interested in a great tool to manage your finances together, check out Plenty. They've got a great cash flow tool that enables individual, joint, and private money management. Plenty also offers Direct Indexing investment at a low cost. 

I've personally met the team multiple times in their offices in San Francisco as I consulted for them. 

If you've enjoyed this episode, please leave a review. Every episode takes hours to produce and every review means a lot.

Thanks!

Sam

I speak to high school principal, John Durante, about his latest book, Straight From The Admissions Office. We also talk in depth about how high school students can boost their chances of getting into a top college. 

John has interviewed hundreds of college admissions officers on his podcast, The College Admissions Process Podcast, and plans to interview hundreds more!

If you have any questions you’d like John  to cover on future episodes, or any comments you’d like to share, please email him at: collegeadmissionstalk@gmail.com And don’t forget to visit his website at www.collegeadmissionstalk.com

More resources:

Monica Romero Matthews - Facebook Group:

Scholarship Help & College Talk for Parents 

https://how2winscholarships.com

From staying in an abusive relationship, to joining a Twitter mob that bullies others, to not speaking up against corporate and political malfeasance, things stay bad for a long time because people are too dependent on money. Whether money is a need or a want, it ruins a person's ability to stand up for what they know is right.

Related posts:

Once You Have F You Money, It's Hard To Tell Others To F Off!

An Inside Look At Communist China

Weighing The Pros And Cons Of A Divorce

As a public school graduate and parent, the debate between public school versus private school is fascinating. I think for the vast majority of people, going to public school and handing your kid a $1 million check upon graduation is the way to go.

Posts mentioned:

https://www.financialsamurai.com/why-public-schools-will-rank-higher-than-private-schools/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-wide-implications-of-the-college-admissions-bribery-scandal/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/accept-1000000-to-attend-public-school-over-private-school/

The bear market is here again! But there is a silver lining that I want to talk about in this episode. It's for all you hard-working, burned out folks out there!

Post mentioned: 10 Years Of Fake Retirement Later: Important Lessons Learned

Please pre-order a hard copy of my upcoming book, Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. It'll be the best book you'll ever read.

After the real estate industry was found guilty of collusion by a Missouri jury, I spoke to lead trial lawyer, Mike Ketchmark about how the entire process came about. 

If you're into real estate, thinking of selling or buying a home, or are curious about how lawyers get compensated, you're going to love this episode!

Related posts:

Real Estate Collusion Revealed! Misaligned Commission Incentives

Real Estate Alternative

If you're looking to invest in private growth companies, take a look at the Fundrise Innovation Fund. Roughly 35% of its investments are currently in AI-related companies, which is likely the revolutionary technology over the coming decade. 

After a couple of months, I was able to successfully convince my wife to upgrade homes! But now that she's on board, I'm afraid to move forward. 

I'm afraid because it's scarier to buy a home when demand is down. There's a comfort in buying when everybody else wants to buy.

But I think I'm mostly afraid of buying because I had to convince my wife. As a result, if anything unfortunate happens after we move, I will feel guilty and to blame. 

If you are thinking of making a big move where you and your partner are not 100% alilgned, perhaps this episode will spur you to communicate more about your fears and worries. 

Posts mentioned:

5 Ways To Overcome Emotional Attachment To Buy A New Home

30/30/3-5 Rule For Home Buying

Income And Net Worth Requirements To Buy A Home At All Price Points

Recommendations

To invest in real estate more strategically and passively, check out Fundrise. Fundrise manages over $3.3 billion, mostly in residential and industrial real estate in the Sunbelt. The spreading out of America is going to be a multi-decade trend. FS is an investor and affiliate partner of Fundrise. 

Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. This way you always stay on top of the most important events in the stock market, real estate market, and everything personal finance. 

It was good while it lasted. Now it's time to hunker down. 

The housing market is hot, hot, hot! Even though I think with 80% certainly that the housing market will continue to go up every year for the next three years, there's still a 20% chance it could correct.

Let me share what happens if you buy a home at the top of the market. If you decide to buy today, make sure you following my 30/30/3 home buying rule!

Posts:

https://www.financialsamurai.com/what-if-you-buy-a-home-at-the-top-of-the-market-and-a-recession-hits/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/three-home-buying-rules-for-all-to-follow/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/why-the-housing-market-wont-crash/

So you want to save for college in a 529 plan but you're unsure of how much to save. Or, you're wondering whether you should contribute more or less. I address your questions and more in this episode and in this post with a detailed chart. 

Car mileage is the main determinant of how often you'll have to spend fixing issues, even more so than the length of time you own the car. Here's a discussion on my blindspot on why I find Range Rovers to be more reliablity than perception. I've owned a Land Rover for 20 years now and wouldn't own one if they were chronically unreliable. 

We also discuss how my desire for cars have changed as I've aged. 

Relevant posts:

The Best Way To Save On Car Maintenance

The Biggest Benefit Of Driving A Cheap Old Car

8 Cars In 10 Years: I Have A Car Buying Addiction

Keep in Touch With Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Hi Folks! Checking in during the holidays. We've been trying to take things easier and plan for a long winter a head. My wife and I talk about French Laundry, money, kids, and the future. 

I speak with Andre Nader about big tech salaries, getting a job at a FAANG company like Facebook, Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google, FIRE, navigating life in an expensive city with a child, the psychology of retiring early, and what's next after Facebook.

Subscribe to Andre's FAANG FIRE newsletter here. He focuses on financial independence for tech workers. 

Keep in Touch With Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

This episode is sponsored by Danielson Legal, which provides top tier intellectual property legal services for the greatest value proposition available in the market. Their attorneys have formidable experience and expertise from practicing at the highest levels of the profession—from the top law firms in Boston to publicly traded corporate legal departments.

Episode Synopsis

Supposedly by the time our children turn 19, we will have spent 80% - 90% of the time we will ever spend with them. But that statistic is ridiculous if we make the effort.

Let's talk about something absurd, like relocating to where our adult children are once we are retired. 

Posts mentioned:

Having Absurd Dreams Is OK Because Sometimes They Come True

The Pandemic Was An Experience In Hedging Your Life

Keep In Touch With Financial Samurai

Pick up a copy of How To Engineer Your Layoff. It will teach you how to negotiate a severance package so you can spend more time with your children or do what you want. Use the code “saveten” at checkout to save $10.

Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. This way you always stay on top of the most important events in the stock market, real estate market, and everything personal finance. 

Here's my method to always get the lowest mortgage rate possible, no matter the interest rate environment. I've refinanced multiple mortgages multiple times in the past 10 years. During this time, I've probably saved over $100,000 in interest expense.

To read the post, click here. 

No matter how much you plan, you'll never know all the variables. Here are some unanticipated benefits of early retirement that may surprise you. If I knew about just one of them, I probably would have been less worried about early retirement for sure. This podcast will help you make a more informed decision. 

Read the post here.  

Everybody can retire when their investment income is enough to cover their basic living expenses. But when it comes to retiring early (before 60), there are different levels of difficulty. The hardest type of early retirement is retiring early while raising adolescent children. Once you have children, you suddenly realize that retiring early without children is like going for a walk in the park. It seems so easy, you wonder why more people don’t get on board!

In this episode I discuss subjective and objective reasons why retiring early with children is nearly impossible, followed by some potential solutions.

Read more here, https://www.financialsamurai.com/how-to-retire-early-with-kids-a-nearly-impossible-task/ 

On June 29, 2023, in a 6-3 decision written by Chief Justice John Roberts, the court held that the policies violated the equal protection clause of the 14th Amendment. Let's talk about the implications, whether affirmative action is fair, some potentially better affirmative action policies, and what parents can do to help their children succeed.

Posts to read:

An Asian-American's View On Affirmative Action In College Admissions

The Joy Of Low Expectations: When Nobody Believes In You

Connect With Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye. Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Here are all the reasons why I'm an early retirement failure. It was a good 8-year run, but all good things must come to an end!

Read the post here. 

My wife and I debate whether a lottery admissions or an entrance exam is better for students, teachers, parents, and society. 

You can read the post here and vote on which is best too.

In this episode, I catch up with Ben Miller, Co-founder and CEO of Fundrise about artificial intelligence and the latest investments by the  Innovation Fund.

We discuss how company valuations are calculated in the fund, a defense AI investment, and so much more. 

The Innovation Fund is an open-ended venture capital fund with only a $10 minimum. You can see what the fund is investing in before you decide to invest and how much. Unlike traditional closed-end venture capital funds, you can gain liquidity if you want in one quarter.

Check out the Innovation Fund here. Financial Samurai is an investor in Fundrise and Fundrise is a long-time sponsor of Financial Samurai. 

Personally, I'm bullish on artificial intelligence and will be building $500,000 worth of exposure to AI companies and funds that invest in artificial intelligence over the next five years. In 20 years, I don't want my children asking me why I didn't invest in AI near the beginning. 

Related post: Artificial Intelligence: How To Protect Yourself And Benefit Financially 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

To achieve financial independence sooner, Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the free Financial Samurai newsletter.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share, rate, and review. Every review means a lot as each episode takes hours to produce. 

At last! After 10 years, we've finally got our first Fed rate cut. Here's some logical analysis as to why we should all spend a little less, save a little more, and invest more cautiously over the next 12-18 months. If we are indeed at the beginning of a multiple rate cut cycle, history has not been kind to investors.

To read the article and check out the charts, click here.

I speak to Dan Andrews, one of the OGs of the digital nomad movement. He started his site, The Tropical MBA (https://tropicalmba.com) in 2009 and has lived in Asian and Europe while running his business. 

Dan also runs The Tropical MBA podcast where he talks about running 7-figure lifestyle businesses. 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye.

Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

After reaching my goal of publishing 3X a week for 10 years, I've decided to focus a little bit more on entrepreneurship. The formula of 90% fun / 10% business that got me this far isn't going to take me where I want to go.

Once I became a father in 2017, the pressure was on to earn more to take care of my family since my wife doesn't have a full-time job. 

To read the post, click here. This podcast is more like a post-mortem of the post. 

I believe the PPP program is the best economic stimulus program the government has ever created. However, more than one month  into the PPP program, there is some disappointing progress. There is also some hesitation by small business owners who have accepted the PPP to spend the money due to fear of it not being forgiven. Let's discuss!

Post highlighted: The Paycheck Protection Program

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you enjoy this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Support My Work

To build generational wealth, pick up a copy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investment decisions so you can live a better, more fulfilling life. 

To learn how to negotiate a severance and be free, pick up a copy of How To Engineer Your Layoff. Use the code "saveten" to save $10. 

Episode Overview

A reader asked me why I bother with active investing when passive investing has proven to be the winner long term.

Posts mentioned:

Two Levels Of Rich: One Of Which Doesn't Rely On Index Funds

How I'd Invest $1 Million Today For A Better Tomorrow

Active versus Passive Index Investing Performance Comparison

Happy 2024 everyone!

Here are some of our goals and financial predictions for 2024. Overall, we're optimistic about the year.

Related posts:

2024 S&P 500 Forecasts

2024 Housing Price Forecasts

2024 Financial Samurai Goals

Explaining All The Surprise Capital Calls

Investing In 2024

If you'd like to invest in the rebound in real estate in 2024, check out Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform with over $3.3 billion under management for 500,000+ investors. 

To invest in AI and other private growth companies, check out the open-ended Innovation Fund. You can see what the fund invests in before you invest and how much.  

Being the sole income earner can be brutally difficult and stressful. Money strains can jeopardize a marriage and can create a tremendous amount of resentment in the household. Here are some ways to cope to save your relationship and your children. 

To read the article, click here. 

Here's a look at the various 2023 housing price forecasts from some of the top economists, real estate companies, and think tanks. I also offer my 2023 housing price forecasts. 

Click this post to see the relevant charts: 2023 Housing Price Forecasts: More Bears Than Bulls

Resources For Greater Wealth

If you want to invest in real estate more surgically, take a look at Fundrise. I just had an hour-long conversation with Ben Miller, CEO of Fundrise. Its fixed income fund is generating an 8%+ yield. Further, Fundrise is using its existing cash to hunt for distressed deals with 12-14% yields. Our views about 2023 housing prices are very similar.

Pick up a hardcopy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investing decisions using a risk-appropriate framework by age and work experience. Arm yourself with the knowledge you need so your money will work harder for you. Pick up a copy on sale at Amazon today! 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 55,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

I speak to my friend and 4-time NBA champ, Shaun Livingston about his journey from high school basketball prodigy to winning multiple championships with the Golden State Warriors. 

If you're an NBA fan or a professional sports fan, you're going to love this episode.

Please rate, review, and subscribe to the podcast. Every review means a lot!

Related Financial Samurai posts:

Where Are All The Adult Athletes? Sports And Your Career

The Secret To Your Success: 10 Years Of Unwavering Commitment 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. This way you always stay on top of the most important events in the stock market, real estate market, and everything personal finance. 

To invest in real estate. take a look at Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform. Fundrise has funds that invest primarily in single-family and multi-family properties in the Sunbelt. 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 60,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. This way, you never miss a thing. 

Episode Overview

I think a window of opportunity to buy a house has opened in 2023. Let me discuss three reasons why it may be good to buy in 2023, and four risks to watch out for.

Posts mentioned:

Buying A House In 2023: A Window Of Opportunity Emerges

Follow The 30/30/3 Home Buying Rule

Please take a moment to rate and review this podcast! It helps keep us going. 

To Your Financial Freedom,

Sam

When you can borrow money at a negative real interest rate and invest in a guaranteed positive real return, you've got it made! Let's discuss this fascinating scenario for investors.

Posts Mentioned:

I Bond Returns

Negative Real Mortgage Rates

I speak to Peter Atwater, author of The Confidence Map about understanding the role of emotions in decision making. Peter is also an adjunct professor at William & Mary, where we both are alumni. 

By plotting our experiences across four boxes, we can gain powerful insight into our decision-making process:

Stress Center = low control/low certainty
Comfort Zone = high control/high certainty
Launch Pad = high control/low certainty
Passenger Seat= low control/high certainty

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you enjoy this episode, please share, rate, and subscribe. It helps the FS podcast grow!

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 55,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

As one of the pioneers of the modern-day FIRE movement, I’ve witnessed many changes since 2009. In the good old days, the goal was to simply generate enough passive income to cover your living expenses. You could then retire early because you were financially independent.

Post-pandemic, however, I’ve come to realize early retirement / FIRE is now becoming obsolete. We no longer have to invent new definitions of financial independence. We no longer have to retire early either!

Let me explain why.

See post: Why FIRE Is Becoming Obsolete

Resources For Greater Wealth

Check out Personal Capital, the best free tool to help you track your money. With Personal Capital, you can track your investments, see your asset allocation, x-ray your portfolios for excessive fees, and more.

Also check out NewRetirement, software specifically built to help you achieve the best retirement possible. NewRetirement’s retirement features are the most comprehensive on the market today.

Pick up a copy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investment decisions so you can live a better, more fulfilling life. Thanks for all your positive reviews!

- Sam

For the longest time, I've wondered the following about some men:

• Why claim to be retired while having a working spouse?
• Why work so many hours after having a newborn?
• Why leave your family when your children are still young and need fathers the most?

Doing these things didn't make much sense to me until I had an epiphany: every person has a different inherent desire to provide thanks to biology. And given biology is innate, we cannot help the way we are! 

Read: A Provider's Clock For Men Is Similar To A Biological Clock For Women

For those of you with children and/or debt, it's imperative to get an affordable term life insurance policy to protect your loved ones. Take a look at Policygenius, an insurance market place that will offer affordable life insurance quotes in one place with no obligations. 

My wife and I got matching 20-year term policies during the pandemic and felt an enormous sense of relief. 

Thank you for your shares and reviews of this podcast. They help keep me recording! Sign up for my free weekly newsletter to never miss a thing. - Sam

Most of the personal finance community loves to recommend index funds as a way to get rich. However, the truly rich didn't get rich by investing in index funds. They got rich by taking concentrated bets in individual positions and building businesses. Let's discuss! Posts mentioned: https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-two-levels-of-rich/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/what-is-considered-mass-affluent-definition-based-off-income-net-worth-investable-assets/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/who-makes-a-million-dollars-a-year-exploring-the-top-0-1-income-earners/

Ever wonder what the ideal income and net worth is for maximum happiness? Look no further than the income threshold the federal government decided for receiving student loan forgiveness!

Check out the post here and leave a comment with your opinion. Here's a post if you want to learn how to convince people you are middle class when you're actually rich! 

Finally, if you want an unfair competitive advantage in building more wealth and tackling some of life's biggest dilemmas, pick up a hard copy of my WSJ bestseller, Buy This, Not That. The book has the biggest sale on Amazon. 

I speak to Fundrise Co-Founder and CEO, Ben Miller, about his outlook for real estate, where he sees opportunity, and when to be careful regarding an impending recession. We go deep into subjects around inflation, mortgage rates, big picture trends, and investment opportunities on the credit side.

One of the main reasons why I like Fundrise is due to Ben Miller's cautious nature about business and investments. As a steward of capital, I want the steward to look out for landmines everywhere. 

If you'd like to invest in the Income Fund and explore other investment opportunities, you can sign up with Fundrise here. 

If you enjoy this episode, please share, rate, and subscribe. It helps the FS podcast grow!

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

Preschool can range from $800 - $2,500 a month, depending on where you live and the amount of care you need. Despite the cost, I'm here to argue that if your child enjoys preschool, it is worth every single penny and more!

You can read the post for more details here. 

If you haven't ordered yet, you can click here to purchase on Amazon or anywhere you like to buy books. I think it's going to be the best personal finance book out there.

In this episode, let me share with you 5 reasons why I wrote the book. 

www.financialsamurai.com/buythisnotthat

In a bull market, it's easy to get carried away. Just be careful not to think you're an investing genius when it's really the bull market that is helping you make winning investments. 

Work on building your strong mind for more financial security. It's your ultimate secret weapon! 

Posts mentioned: 

https://www.financialsamurai.com/the-ultimate-source-of-financial-security-your-strong-mind/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/perpetual-failure-the-reason-why-i-continue-to-save-so-much/

Are you feeling less and less motivated to work because your investment returns are surpassing your active income? Let's discuss the crossover point where spending any amount of time working no longer makes sense.

I've talked to regular income-earning folks and folks making millions a year. The growing feeling of apathy towards work is the same!

Post: When Investment Returns Are Greater Than Active Income

This episode is sponsored by Danielson Legal, which provides top tier intellectual property legal services for the greatest value proposition available in the market. Their attorneys have formidable experience and expertise from practicing at the highest levels of the profession—from the top law firms in Boston to publicly traded corporate legal departments.

Show notes:

We know the median American household has a net worth of about $193,000 and the average American household has a net worth of $1.06 million. But what about the top 1% of American households? 

If you want to beat out 99% of Americans, this is how large your net worth should be by age, at a minimum! Is the grind worth it since 99% will fail? I’m not sure that it is. Let's discuss.

Related post: Top 1% Net Worth By Age

Keep In Touch With Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. This way you always stay on top of the most important events in the stock market, real estate market, and everything personal finance. 

Although the Fed still plans to aggressively hike the Fed Funds rate as inflation and the economy is slowing down, look at the positive. Short-term treasury bills are yielding 4%!

Even though the yield curve is inverted, portending to a deeper recession, at least we can earn a higher rate on our risk-free money.

If you are a homeowner with a mortgage rate of less than 4%, you can now live for free! HOORAY! 

Actions Items

Pick up a hardcopy of my new Wall Street Journal bestseller, Buy This, Not That. If you want an unfair competitive advantage to building more wealth, this book is it.

Join 50,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter. I recap the week's main events and share my thoughts as a 28-year finance veteran. 

Let's discuss the 2023 Wall Street S&P 500 forecasts. The range is from 3,625 to 4,500, which means there is no consensus as to where the stock market is going. You can see more details about the various 16 forecasts in this post. Please also take a second to fill out the one-question survey on where you think the stock market will go in 2023. 

Other posts mentioned:

How I'd Invest $250,000 In Today's Bear Market

How To Buy Treasury Bonds And Buying Strategies To Consider

Personal Lessons Learned Since The 2008 Global Financial Crisis

Resources For Greater Wealth

Nothing is better than the gift of education. Pick up a hardcopy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investing decisions to build more wealth and live better lives. Pick up a copy on sale at Amazon today! 

CIT Bank is offering a 18-month CD at a market-leading 4.5%. Sign up here and take advantage of higher rates. 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 55,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

The old three-legged stool for retirement consisted of: 1) Pension (Company), 2) Social Security (Government), and 3) Personal Savings (You). The NEW three-legged stool for retirement consists of: 1) You, 2) You, and 3) You. It's time to get serious about your finances!

To read the post for more details click here. 

In this episode, I talk to Simone Stolzoff about his new book, The Good Enough Job. We talk about how to find more meaning and purpose through our jobs and how we can lead more balanced lives.

We also discuss Simone's own background and how he plans to balance being a freelancer with living in an expensive city. Simone is a fellow Portfolio Penguin author. 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you want to leave your day job, learn how to negotiate a severance with my bestselling ebook, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye.

Use the code "saveten" to save $10 at checkout. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

I think money counts for at most 40% of our happiness equation, but we're spending the majority of our time thinking about how to get more money, more power, and more prestige and not on the other 60%. As a result, we are not as happy as we could be. This episode discusses ways to try and increase your happiness.

See the post here: Solving The Happiness Conundrum

Happy New Year!

Here's a recap of 2022 and our goals for 2023. We'd love to hear about how 2022 went for you and what are your plans for 2023!

Posts mentioned:

2023 Financial Samurai Goals

2022 Financial Samurai Year In Review

The Best Posts On Financial Samurai 2022

Recommendations

If you'd like to support my ad-free podcast, pick up a hardcopy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investing decisions to build more wealth and live better lives. BTNT is on sale at Amazon today! 

Check out Personal Capital, the best free tool to help you manage your finances. With Personal Capital, you can track your investments, see your asset allocation, x-ray your portfolios for excessive fees, and more. Staying on top of your investments during volatile times is a must. 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 55,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

As always, thanks for all the positive book reviews and podcast reviews. They help keep me going. 

Investing during a bear market can be a very emotional experience. Learn how to quantify your risk tolerance, have a more risk-appropriate asset allocation, and feel more calm in any market.

Mentioned posts:

How To Have A Risk-Appropriate Asset Allocation

How To Quanity Your Risk Tolerance With FS SEER

How To Enjoy Your Life As The Fed Ruins The World

Sign up for free weekly newsletter here.

Pick up a hard copy of Buy This, Not That if you want an unfair competitive advantage in building more wealth. 

The ideal time to contribute to a Roth IRA is when you're young and poor. In other words, if you're a student and in your 20s earning less than the maximum income limit, you should be contributing.

However, if you're about the 22% federal marginal income tax rate, it's a push.

Tax diversification in retirement is important! 

https://www.financialsamurai.com/disadvantages-of-the-roth-ira-not-all-is-what-it-seems/

https://www.financialsamurai.com/never-contribute-to-roth-ira/

With the S&P 500 up over 25% from its lows, let's look at what the Doomers got wrong so we can potentially make better decisions investment decisions in the future.

Post reference: How To Predict The Stock Market Bottom Like Nostradamus

In this episode, I talk to my wife about what it's nice to own the nicest home we can afford five months after moving in. Although I am no happier, I do feel more satisfied. 

Related post: Climbed To The Top Of The Property Ladder 

Recommendations

1) Check out Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform with over $3.3 billion under management for 500,000+ investors. With mortgage rates coming down and the stock market strong, the demand for real estate is building. 

2) To invest in artificial intelligence and other private growth companies, check out the open-ended Innovation Fund. You can see what the fund invests in before you invest and how much. The investment minimum is only $10. 

Subscribe To Financial Samurai

Join 60,000+ others and subscribe to the free Financial Samurai newsletter.

If you enjoyed this episode, please share, rate, and review. Every review means a lot as each episode takes hours to produce. 

Join 55,000+ subscribers and sign up for my free weekly newsletter. This way, you'll never miss a thing, and learn to build more wealth in a risk-appropriate manner. 

Let's explore the second biggest financial mistake I see people make. It has to do with improper forecasting and entitlement. If you can avoid this financial mistake, you will likely build far more wealth than most people.

Read the post here: The Second Biggest Financial Mistake To Avoid Making

Recommendations

This holiday season, give the gift of financial freedom by picking up a copy of Buy This, Not That. There's nothing better than having the knowledge and the money to do whatever you want.

Track your net worth with Personal Capital, the best free wealth management app today. I've used Personal Capital since 2012. 

Join 55,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter. 

If the pandemic taught us anything, it's that life is not guaranteed. If you have debt and/or dependents, get life insurance. You can receive custom competitive quotes through PolicyGenius. Once my wife locked down affordable 20-year term policies through PolicyGenius, we felt tremendous mental relief.

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you enjoyed this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Support My Work

To build more wealth, pick up a copy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investment decisions so you can live a better, more fulfilling life. 

To learn how to negotiate a severance and be free, pick up a copy of How To Engineer Your Layoff. Use the code "saveten" to save $10. Negotiating a severance was my #1 catalyst to retire early. 

Episode Synopsis

Now that the Public Health Emergency for COVID-19 has been lifted, I wanted to review the entire pandemic period. I'll talk about some wins and some regrets. Essentially, the pandemic was an experience in hedging our lives against regret. What are you proud of doing and not doing since 2020?

Posts mentioned:

The Pandemic Was An Experience In Hedging Your Life

Please take a moment to rate and review this podcast! It helps keep us going. This podcast is ad-free and a labor of love. 

To build generational wealth, pick up a copy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investment decisions so you can live a better, more fulfilling life. 

To invest in real estate. take a look at Fundrise, my favorite private real estate platform. With mortgage rates falling and the S&P 500 rebounding, we're entering a good time to start investing in real estate again. 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 60,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter. This way, you never miss a thing. 

Episode Overview

If you're feeling anxious as a parent, even with a six-figure household income, I hear you. Due to tremendous competition, comparison, and uncertainty, parents are feeling more stressed than ever before. Let's discuss some solutions.

Posts mentioned:

Generational Wealth And The Angst Of The Not Rich Enough Class

Scraping By On $500,000 A Year: Why Some Can't Escape The Rat Race

Why Families Need To Earn $300,000 A Year To Live A Middle Class Lifestyle Today

For employees who plan to move on to a different job, try and negotiate a severance package so you can leave with money in your pocket. To learn how, check out my book, How To Engineer Your Layoff: Make A Small Fortune By Saying Goodbye.

It's newly updated for 2023 and is now in its 6th edition with 50 more pages (250 pages total) of strategies. Use the code "saveten" to save $10. 

Don't forget to join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. 

Finally, if you enjoy this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Episode Synopsis

If you go to a top 0.5% school, you better get paid at least a top 1% income right? Wrong. Let's look at the median income earned by Ivy League graduates three years, 10 years, and 20 years out. We'll also look at what these Ivy League graduates end up doing for work. 

Posts mentioned:

Median Income For Ivy League Graduates: Unimpressive At First

Find Your Ikigai: Your Reason For Being

Regards,

Sam

Buying stocks on margin is a terrible idea. You could lose all your money. What's worse, you could lose a lot of time and the respect of your peers.

Posts mentioned:

Losing All Your Money On Margin Might Not Be The Worst That Can Happen To You

Buying Stocks On Margin Is A Bad Idea

Quantify Your Risk Tolerance Using FS-SEER

Recommendations

If you'd like to support my ad-free podcast, pick up a hardcopy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investing decisions to build more wealth and live better lives. BTNT is on sale at Amazon today! 

Check out Personal Capital, the best free tool to help you manage your finances. With Personal Capital, you can track your investments, see your asset allocation, x-ray your portfolios for excessive fees, and more. Staying on top of your investments during volatile times is a must. 

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 55,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

As always, thanks for all the positive book reviews and podcast reviews. They help keep me going. 

With such a massive 30%+ rebound from the lows in March 2020, the S&P 500 is almost back to 3,000. I discuss why I've de-risked in my taxable investment portfolio. At the same time, I also discuss why you may want to keep holding onto your stocks. 

Here are some bearish charts and some bullish charts for you to review and consider. 

I speak to Ben Miller, Co-Founder and CEO of Fundrise about why his company started a new tech Innovation Fund. We explore why Ben thinks his firm has a competitive advantage, the most promising areas where the fund is investing, and the mechanics of investing in a private venture fund by Fundrise.

For more, read my Fundrise Innovation Fund Review post. 

To invest in the Innovation Fund, with an investment minimum of only $10, CLICK HERE.

Fundrise is a long time sponsor of Financial Samurai. In 2016, I recognized Fundrise's investment thesis of investing in heartland real estate was exactly like mine. So we formed a business partnership that has now lasted for years.  

Every week, there are a lot of funny things that make me scratch my head and wonder WTF. But it is precisely these funny things that make me so positive and bullish for you and me. Here are three examples that make me go "hmmmm."

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 60,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

Stay on top of your finances by signing up with Empower, the best free wealth management app today. Since 2012, I've been using Empowers free tools to manage my net worth an x-ray my portfolio for excess fees.

If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a positive 5-star review!

Episode Synopsis

Despite all the carnage in the banking sector, the Fed hiked rates again on May 3, 2023 to 5% - 5.25%. This is the highest Fed Funds rate since 2007, a year before the global financial crisis devastated millions of lives. 

Let's look on the brightside if we go back into a deep recession.

Posts mentioned:

The Upside Once The Fed Destroys The Middle Class

Personal Lessons Learned Since The 2008 Global Financial Crisis

Support My Books

To build generational wealth, pick up a copy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investment decisions so you can live a better, more fulfilling life. 

To learn how to negotiate a severance and be free, pick up a copy of How To Engineer Your Layoff. Use the code "saveten" to save $10. 

For those who still don't believe you can negotiate a severance package, a guy got a 10-figure severance package despite helping blow up his company. Let's learn how he did it and some good lessons to help the rest of us get that money!

How To Negotiate A Severance is now it its 3rd edition. You can get $10 off with the code: saveten

Join 60,000+ others and sign up for my free weekly newsletter so you never miss a thing. You can also get every post I publish immediately in your inbox by signing up here. 

If you enjoy this podcast, I'd appreciate a great review and a share with your friends!

Support My Work

To build generational wealth, pick up a copy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investment decisions so you can live a better, more fulfilling life. 

To learn how to negotiate a severance and be free, pick up a copy of How To Engineer Your Layoff. Use the code "saveten" to save $10. 

Episode Synopsis

If you're interested in investing in top venture capital, venture debt, and private equity funds let me share with you how. Being an accredited investor is enough since plenty of people have a lot of money. 

Relevant posts:

Why Invest In Private Funds Even Though They Have High Fees

How I'd Invest One Million Dollars Today

Understanding Venture Debt

Wondering whether to pay down your mortgage debt or invest? I go through a logical framework of how to do both, and also highlight the extra benefits of paying off a mortgage: more courage!

Mentioned posts:

No Mortgage More Courage 

FS-DAIR: Invest and Debt Framework

For more nuanced personal finance content, join 55,000+ others and sign up for the free Financial Samurai newsletter and posts via e-mail. Financial Samurai is one of the largest independently-owned personal finance sites that started in 2009. 

****

Click here for the happiness by age chart.

I’ve finally discovered the best reason to retire early. A longer steady-state period of happiness. It has taken me 10 years of fake retirement to come up with this epiphany because I had to experience the process myself.

In the past, I’ve written that early retirement isn’t all sunshine and rainbows. I went through plenty of struggles trying to find meaning and purpose during my first two years post traditional work. Therefore, it wasn't clear that early retirement brought about more happiess.

Resources For Greater Wealth

Pick up a hardcopy of Buy This, Not That, my instant Wall Street Journal bestseller. The book helps you make more optimal investing decisions using a risk-appropriate framework by age and work experience.

Arm yourself with the knowledge you need so your money will work harder for you. Pick up a copy on sale at Amazon today!

Thank you for writing a postivie 5-star review for this podcast and my book. I really appreciate it!

Join 55,000+ subscribers and sign up for my free weekly newsletter. This way, you'll never miss a thing, and learn to build more wealth in a risk-appropriate manner. You can also sign up for getting all my posts via e-mail. 

Unfortunately, the Federal Reserve is determined to crush the economy and send us back into a recession in 2023. A 5.125% terminal Fed Funds rate is way too much. However, we must accept this reality and prepare. At least we know doom is returning in the next 18 months, unlike in 2007. Given we know what's coming, we can prepare!

Relevant post: How To Enjoy Your Life As The Fed Ruins The World

Recommendation

Give the gift of financial freedom by picking up a copy of Buy This, Not That. There's nothing better than having the knowledge and the money to do whatever you want. You can learn about my instant Wall Street Journal besteller here. 

If you don't speak up for yourself, nobody else will. As a result, you must fight for every opportunity you think you deserve. Don't be shy. Don't feel like you don't belong. Because you do.

Mentioned posts:

How To Convince Someone You Are Bad When You're Actually Pretty Good

I Could Have Been A White Man, But I Remained Asian

It's launch week! Pick up a hard copy of Buy This, Not That: How To Spend Your Way To Wealth And Freedom. And if want to listen to audio, it's over 12 hours long!

Without a doubt, being a stay at home parent is harder than any day job out there. For those of you who are considering giving up your day job to spend those precious first years of life with your newborn, you'll find this episode useful in helping you make your decision. If you're a new father, you will especially appreciate this episode. 

Original post here. I love you son very much!

We are currently experiencing a tridemic: flu, RSV, and COVID-19. Many children are sick this winter and it reminds me of the importance of life insurance. Life insurance applications increased to record highs during the pandemic. But more concering is that life insurance payouts increased by 5X more than demand!

To shop around for affordable life insurance, take a look at PolicyGenius. Both my wife and I have used PolicyGenius to save, double our coverage, and renew our policies. I've known the founder for 10 years. 

Posts mentioned:

Your Anxiety Of Death Can Be Quantified By Life Insurance Demand Data

The Best Age To Get Life Insurance Based On Logic And Reasoning

To never miss a thing, joing 55,000+ others and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter. You'll boost your personal finance knowledge and make better decisions.