Investments

If you haven’t spoken to a financial professional in over a year, I suggest you speak to one. You will likely get great insights into how you can better invest your hard-earned money. Further, the financial professional might uncover some financial blindspots you had no idea you had. Empower is actually offering free financial professional […]

This guest post is by Vaughn, a long-time Financial Samurai reader who retired at 44 and is now 56. Vaughn’s early retirement was driven by necessity rather than choice due to a congenital bone disease. Fortunately, his high income during his working years secured a solid SSDI benefit, and his mother’s foresight provided future rental

At long last, after four years, the Federal Reserve has finally cut the Fed Funds rate by 50 basis points on September 18, 2024, bringing the target range down to 4.75% – 5%. The Fed then cut by another 0.25% in November 2024. Expectations suggest we’ll see a total reduction of 100 basis points by

In a previous post, I discussed the futility of working when your net worth is declining. During a stock market crash or recession, your Return on Effort (ROE) for working drops significantly. Therefore, the only way to increase your Return On Effort is to work less, not more. At some point in your life, you’ll

One of the investing strategies growing in popularity with the wealthy is Direct Indexing. Before my consulting stint at a fintech startup in 2024, I had never really heard of Direct Indexing. If I did, I likely assumed it simply meant directly investing in index funds, which many of us already do. However, Direct Indexing

Last month, I missed a $25,000 capital call without even realizing it. The Managing Partner of the fund, a friend I’ve known since business school, texted me while he was on vacation. He wrote, “Hi Sam—hope you’re having a good summer. I’m texting from Holland—sorry for the quick note, but just a reminder that the

Starting on July 16, 2024, we had a mini-stock market crash with the S&P 500 declining from 5,667 to 5,186 by August 5, 2024 (-8.5%). The NASDAQ saw a larger drop, falling from a high of 18,647 on July 10, 2024, to 16,200 on August 5, 2024 (-13%). And the bloodletting might not be done

I’m a fan of both stock dividends and rental property income, my two favorite sources of passive / semi-passive income. When younger and less wealthy, rental property income may be preferable. As you age and accumulate wealth, you’ll likely appreciate stock dividend income more for its simplicity. However, stock dividend income’s main drawback is that

We’ve all heard the phrase, “Be greedy when others are fearful, and fearful when others are greedy.” But what about being even greedier when others are greedy?! As I sat peacefully in the hot tub recently, I began to recollect all the ways I wasn’t greedy enough since graduating from college in 1999. If only