The Financial Samurai Podcast

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.

Don't you dare slack off. We're almost done with mass lockdowns and now is the time to step things up a notch. There will be consequences if you do not!

Buying real estate during the COVID-19 pandemic is tricky because of lockdowns and lower inventory. But this is a chance for buyers to get a great deal from a doomer bear seller. Highlighted posts: Real Estate Buying Strategies During A Pandemic How To Get Preapproved For A Mortgage

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

A look at the latest enhanced unemployment benefits and ranking the highest and lowest unemployment benefit amounts by state. See this post for charts: Highest And Lowest Unemployment Benefit Amounts By State See this post if you need information on how to file: Coronavirus Unemployment Benefits: How To File

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

Just checking in to share that good things have been happening since the last episode. Paycheck Protection Program is awesome if it goes through. Stimulus Checks are getting dispersed to millions. Unemployment benefits are $600 more a week. The stock market has rebounded a lot. Hang in there folks!

Are you wondering when the stock market will bottom during a bear market? So am I! Here's an easy exercise all of us equity investors can go through to estimate when the stock market will finally find a footing. The exercise will calm your nerves and provide you with rational entry points to invest. Read: How To Predict A Stock Market Bottom for charts and graphs as well.

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

Besides working to pay your taxes, perhaps nothing feels more depressing than going to work only to lose more money in your investments. Here are some thoughts on how to overcome this feeling of futility. Read more on FinancialSamurai.com.

Coronavirus fears have hit stock markets around the world. Here are my thoughts on how to best navigate the investment waters, what we can learn from history, and what I'm personally doing. I truly believe real estate is going to outperform stocks in 2020, like it did in 2018.

Cherish life. Tomorrow is not guaranteed.

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.

At last! The government doesn't something positive for most American's retirement plans! Let's learn about all the things the SECURE Act does to help Americans save more for retirement. Read the post 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.

Getting a lot of good quality sleep is all the rage now. But if you don't sleep well, you'll probably get a lot richer because you have more time to do stuff and that's awesome. But I say you are probably less happier than someone who sleeps well and through the night. Let me share reasons why. Check out the post here.

Here are some smart money moves to make before the new year to reduce your tax liability. Taxes are our largest ongoing liability. It behooves us to stay on top of the tax code every year. Read the post: Smart Year-End Tax Moves To Make

Your 401(k) is part of the three-legged stool for retirement. The other two legs are your after-tax investments and your ability to make side income. You can't count on Social Security or a Pension anymore. If they are there, great. If not, you never counted on them in the first place. Check out this post with all the latest 401(k) charts and graphs.

This is my favorite time of the year because it's a time where we can all look back and be grateful for all that we have. I'm truly grateful to all of you for listening and sharing the Financial Samurai podcast and articles all these years. Your feedback is what keeps running Financial Samurai so much fun! Here's a related post about how I think most of our success is mostly luck.

If 70% of Americans are overweight and median retirement savings balance is way less than $100,000, perhaps spending time cooking at home to save money and be healthy is not the proper way to go. Let's look into all the reasons why ordering food delivery or going out to eat will help boost your health and wealth. Roughly 82% of Americans mainly cook at home. Check out the health charts 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'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.

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

Here are five of the most common financial blindspots people have on their road to financial independence. If you can recognize them, you will better plan for the future and increase your chances of being financially free one day. Post mentions: Common Blindspots On Your Road To Financial Independence How AOC And Other Congressional Members Can Afford To Raise Kids In Washington, DC

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

If you are a business owner who is burning out and wishing to cash out, here is some perspective of someone who did. He sold his baby for $2.8 million and regrets his decision every day. Read the post here.Subscribe to the private Financial Samurai newsletter here. Sign up for the Financial Samurai Feedly RSS reader 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/

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.

You can take advantage of kinks in the system every day to improve your wealth and quality of life. Don't just sit back passively and wait for your investments to make you wealthy. Also take some action. Practice identifying arbitrage opportunities to prosper. See the post here.

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."

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.

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.

As mortgage interest rates tumble, the housing market is becoming more interesting. Inventory is already up in many of the nation's once hottest housing markets, but the average credit score for qualified mortgage borrowers is also at an all-time high. Due to these factors, I don't see a recession as bad as the one we experienced between 2008-2010. Read the post and check out the graphs here.

Don't quit before giving your effort a chance to produce amazing results. If you can do one hard thing for 10 years in a row, I'm sure good things are going to happen. Here are some personal thoughts on how you can get to the 10 year mark and achieve your dreams as well. Let's do this! To read the post, click here.

Getting ahead is very competitive in America. Thanks to living in a capitalist society, we're driven by money, fame, and success. As a result, not everybody can win. Based on my experiences as a high school tennis coach for the past three years, I realized one of the best life hacks for Americans is to take advantage of Canada. If you have children and want to retire early, this episode is for you. Read the episode here.

America is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. The top 1% have gotten really rich, but the middle class have fallen seriously behind. Let's look at the data from the latest Survey of Consumer Finances by the Federal Reserve and see where we're at. To read the post and check out all the great graphs see: The Median Net Worth Of Americans Today To subscribe to my Feedly RSS feed click here.

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.

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.

As a parent, you want the best for your kids. However, there's a risk parents over-protect their kids from harm's way. It is through difficulty and conflict that we learn the most. In this episode, we discuss the benefits of raising our son in Virginia, where he'd be a minority, versus in Hawaii, where he'd be a majority. I, Sam, grew up in Virginia and the conflict help give me a lot of motivation and grit. To read the post, click here.

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.

Retiring early is a dream come true for many. However, there are some not so obvious reasons why people want to leave work early, and they aren't very flattering at all. Secretly, some early retirees are pretty miserable. Let's explore why. To read the post, click here.

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.

The average wedding cost is over $30,000. That's a ridiculous sum of money given the median household income is only about $62,000 before tax. Here are the new wedding spending rules to follow so you don't end up broke and alone. To read the post, click here.

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.

Since publishing my book, How To Engineer Your Layoff, in 2012, I've had a number of people tell me that engineering your layoff is morally or ethically wrong. But I'm here to argue that quitting your job is the morally and ethically wrong thing to do because you leave so many people in the lurch. Creating a win-win scenario and giving your colleagues time to find your replacement is a much better way to go. My book is now in its 3rd edition for 2019 and beyond.

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.

Being able to retire early is great, but there are a number of downsides to content with. After leaving work for good in 2012, I'd like to share some surprising things that I went through. I'm sorry to say that early retirement will not automatically make you much happier. You can read the original post here.

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!

Everybody wants to be a millionaire! Alas, only about 12 million households, or 3% of the U.S. population are millionaires. Here's a deep dive look into your chances of becoming a millionaire by age, race, and education. I firmly believe every Financial Samurai listener will be a millionaire in their lifetimes. See this post for detailed charts and graphs.

As more people look to retire early before 60, more people are looking for shortcuts in order to get to early retirement quicker. What I've noticed is that more people are willing to live in abject poverty or near poverty just to do so. I've crunched the numbers in this episode and post to show you how large of an investment portfolio you need to live poorly. The numbers are based off the official Federal Poverty Limit.