If you decide to forsake making maximum money to become a FIRE parent or stay-at-home parent, then you had best spend more time with your kids. Otherwise, you might as well go back to the office and grind under fluorescent lights for 10 hours a day to make that sweet coin. One of the greatest| Financial Samurai
To celebrate Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures making the USA TODAY national bestseller list, I want to share how you might feel and what you might do as you hit various levels of wealth (net worth). Perhaps by sharing, I'll motivate you to save and invest more aggressively. We'll start with reaching your first| Financial Samurai
On July 3, the House narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) with a 218–214 vote. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill will add an estimated $3.3 trillion to the budget deficit over the next 10 years. Trump signed the bill the next day on July 4. To help pay for it, OBBBA| Financial Samurai
If you want to grow your wealth faster than the average person, I suggest trying to think in two timelines that move together in unison. The first timeline is analyzing what's going on right now. The second timeline is analyzing what could happen in the future, with a consistent spread. It's like having a dual| Financial Samurai
Dear Readers, Welcome to Financial Samurai! My name is Sam Dogen (doh-gun), the founder and main writer for this site. Financial Samurai is one of the leading personal finance sites in the world with roughly one million organic visitors a month. Everything is written based off firsthand experience because money is too important to be| Financial Samurai
After three years of writing and editing, I’m thrilled to finally share the release of my new book, Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures! If you’ve enjoyed my writing on Financial Samurai over the past 16 years, you’re going to love this book. With over 30 years of experience working in finance, writing about| Financial Samurai
So you want to be an angel investor. If you are a regular person with no edge and no connections, angel investing is not worth the risk. After 23 years of doing some angel investing, I believe you are much better off investing in an angel fund rather than investing in individual angel investments. This| Financial Samurai
Financial independence is the best. Financial DEpendence is the worst. If you truly love your spouse, you would make them financially independent. Don't let them always feel like they have to ask for money or ask for permission to spend money. If you plan to get married, then you better not get divorced. Otherwise, what's| Financial Samurai
The reason why the terms 'starving artist' or 'starving writer' exist is because they are true. It is very difficult to make money in the arts. However, if you want to be a professional writer and not starve, let me provide you with some insights. For background, I've written over 2,500 articles on Financial Samurai| Financial Samurai
The desire to retire early and live a financially independent life has been around since the beginning of organized labor. Let's explore who started the FIRE movement and how it has evolved over time. In 1992, the book, Your Money Or Your Life, was published by Joseph R. Dominguez, Monique Tilford, and Vicki Robin that| Financial Samurai
Everybody should have a net worth target to shoot for by age, work experience, and income. Net worth targets will help you stick to your financial plan and motivate you to do more. With net worth targets, you will likely build way more wealth than if you had zero net worth targets. Too many people| Financial Samurai
If you don't have your health, no amount of money is worth it. As someone who has been writing about early retirement and the FIRE movement since 2009, let me emphasize the health benefits of early retirement in this post. There are many benefits of early retirement. Full control of your time is often the| Financial Samurai
Curious to know the ideal net worth for retirement? As someone fake retired in 2012 at age 34 with $3 million, let me tell you. $10 million sounds like the ideal amount of money to retire with. With $10 million, you can easily generate between $300,000 - $500,000 of low-risk investment income. I was talking| Financial Samurai
Are you confusing your good fortune due to your own skill rather than due to luck? I'm here to argue that above average wealth is mostly due to luck. Therefore, stop deluding yourself into thinking you're so great! As President Obama said in a July 13, 2012 campaign election speech, 'If you've got a business,| Financial Samurai
There's a happiness conundrum that needs solving. Despite living in a rich country with income levels that put us in the top 1% in the world, there are still many unhappy people. This post explores why we are not happier and what we can do to elevate our happiness. At the end of the day,| Financial Samurai
Thinking about joining a startup to get rich? You're not alone. After so many successful IPOs and media stories about employees and founders getting filthy rich, there is a growing desire to join startups. But joining a startup is like counting on a lottery ticket to get rich. The vast majority of startups fail or| Financial Samurai
Needless to say, a $20 million net worth is a substantial amount of money. It firmly places you within the top 1% of net worth, with the current minimum threshold around $13 million. But is $20 million enough for you to live happy and free? Not necessarily. Previously, we discussed how a $10 million net| Financial Samurai
After 12 years of FIRE (financial independence retire early), I went back to work. Unfortunately, I only lasted four months. Here's my story of what went wrong. I purposefully waited months to release this post to ensure I was thinking logically and not emotionally. From the end of November 2023 through March 2024, I re-entered| Financial Samurai
Fat FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early) is being able to live it up in retirement without having to sacrifice your spending. If you are Fat FIRE, you can easily survive without a job because your investment income more than covers your best life's living expenses. You don't need to work part-time or do anything to| Financial Samurai
One of the reasons why I continue to save so much is that I'm a perpetual failure. I've made so many mistakes in my life that I need a financial buffer to constantly bail me out. A landmine-filled upbringing has also embedded in me the necessity to save. If it's not an investment mistake, it's| Financial Samurai
The best way to achieve financial freedom is to make more money. You can only save so much on a capped income. And one of the best ways to make more money is to side hustle! No longer should we just rely on a day job to thrive. I (Sydney, Sam's wife) have put together| Financial Samurai
As someone who helped ignite the modern day FIRE movement back in 2009 when Financial Samurai began, I'm amazed at how popular the movement has come! There are so many different types of FIRE to fit different people's lifestyles. Today, we'll discuss what is Coast FIRE and whether it's the right type of FIRE for| Financial Samurai
With the racism and sexual assault allegations that have befallen the Governor of Virginia, the Attorney General of Virginia, and the Lt. Governor of Virginia, I was reminded of all the racist altercations I experienced growing up in Virginia for public high school and public university in the mid-to-late 90s. They were instrumental for personal| Financial Samurai
F you money. FU money. F*ck you money. It's all the same. F You Money is having enough money to tell others to F Off without fearing financial repercussions. I'm sure some of you have dreamt of telling your annoying micromanager to F Off. But you can't because you still want that raise and promotion.| Financial Samurai
If you're looking to achieve financial freedom before a traditional retirement age (60+), you must build passive income. This post will highlight the best passive income investments in our current economic environment. Passive income is the holy grail of personal finance. If you have enough passive income to cover your desired lifestyle, then you are| Financial Samurai
There's nothing better than being free to do whatever you want. However, unless you're born with a multi-million dollar trust fund, you'll unfortunately have to work for your freedom. This article will discuss how you can retire early and never have to work again. You can follow my savings guide to increase your chances of| Financial Samurai
After taking my family on a nine-day vacation to Honolulu, Hawaii, my plan to relocate there is back in the cards! Since 2014, two years after retiring from my finance job, I've been contemplating moving back to Honolulu to spend more time with my parents. However, actually making the move has been much harder than| Financial Samurai
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| Financial Samurai
Starting at age 45 in 2022, I consciously started focusing on decumulating wealth. I realized that my life was likely half over, and I needed to start spending more to prevent dying with too much money. If I died with too much money, it would mean that I had wasted a lot of time and| Financial Samurai
After publishing my post, 'When To Stop Contributing To A 529 Plan,' I felt a sense of emptiness. For years, I had been trying to find a logical way to decide when to stop saving for my children's college education. When I finally figured out the answer to my financial obligation, I lost some purpose.| Financial Samurai
There's a classic saying, 'Youth is wasted on the young.' It's meant to convey that those who are young lack the perspective to appreciate all the advantages of youth and thus take it for granted. After more than seven years of being a parent, it is clear to me that not having kids is a| Financial Samurai
How to plan, save for, and structure a mini-retirement| Accidentally Retired
On August 7, 2023, I received an email from Amy X. Wang, the assistant editor at the New York Times Magazine, inquiring about the modern-day FIRE movement and its Fat FIRE offshoot. Amy is a self-proclaimed FIRE enthusiast who has worked side hustles to earn extra money and utilized rewards points to save. As one| Financial Samurai
In 2023, my passive income took a significant $150,000 hit, representing a decrease of 39%, following the purchase of a new house we didn't really need. It was funded by proceeds from selling public stocks and bonds. The decision to buy the house with cash was agonizing, as we didn't need a nicer home. It| Financial Samurai
Who stands to gain the most from the settlement reached with the National Association of Realtors regarding commission price collusion? The clear beneficiaries are residential real estate investors and owners. Why? Because they were the ones burdened with paying the so-called 'standard' real estate commission ranging from 5% to 6%. Following the judgment against the| Financial Samurai
I once encountered an actor in Paris who had secured minor roles in significant films, courtesy of his friendship with Leonardo DiCaprio. Despite having the opportunity to continue with these smaller roles due to his connections, his pride led him to pursue larger roles. Regrettably, 10 years later, I haven't seen him in a single| Financial Samurai
Living paycheck-to-paycheck is an unpleasant financial experience. Not only does it mean needing to spend everything you have to make ends meet, it may also create an ongoing feeling of despair. Never feeling like you’ll ever get out of the rat race and retire is demoralizing! You might even have to get into debt to| Financial Samurai
My family and I could have been set for life. Instead, due to my inability to beat back real estate FOMO, I blew up our passive income. And because our passive income is now much lower, we are no longer financially independent. Desire is the cause of all suffering. Due to my desire to own| Financial Samurai
When my kids were born, I made a promise to be a stay-at-home father for the first five years of each of their lives. Mission accomplished with my son in April 2022, and my daughter in December 2024. I'm now wondering how I will fill the void once both kids are in school full time.| Financial Samurai