Financial Samurai

You guys have really rocked the discussions with multiple 100+ comment posts this year!  You’d think this was a big blog or something.  I can’t begin to thank you enough for your contributions and what I’ve learned from you.  A post recap of 2010 is a good exercise to not only discover what worked best for some guidance in the new year, but to also give new readers a chance to catch up via one easy page.

There are literally 36 posts in the queue for 2011, with some of them just screaming to get out.  Why has the queue gotten so large?  Two things mainly:

1) Using a wine terminology, it’s good to give each post a chance to breathe.  Often times there’s so much discussion that to post a new post the very next day feels off.  This is the main reason why I don’t post everyday.  A topic needs to be sussed out thoroughly before we move on.  I like to respond individually to all comments who require a response.  Also, I love reading all the other great blogs out there every other day.

2) I guess I just like to write a lot.  There is always something ridiculous going on in the world that needs addressing.  If you are a blogger who is afraid of running out of ideas, don’t be.  Just read the newspaper, turn on the TV, or go out and socialize with friends.  Remember, if you can speak forever, you can blog forever!

For 2011, I probably should only have a queue 10 deep because I’ve found multiple times that I forget what I wrote just a month ago, and sometimes the topic gets stale or irrelevant.  Let’s add that to the blogging new year goal!  Happy reviewing.

TOP POSTS FOR 2010 Read more…

There seems to be a camp that believes that New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time.  Are you kidding me?  If you have no resolutions for the next year, you’re going to have a very unfocused way of making progress in whatever you want to do.  There’s another camp that says you should have very few resolutions so that you succeed in achieving your goals.

Well that’s fine if you have a difficult time tying your shoelaces and juggling more than several things at once over 365 days.  Wow, 365 days……. did you know that people have built billion dollar companies and cities in that time period?  You do right?  Well, what’s stopping you from making resolutions?

* You’re afraid to fail. No goals, no failure!  Very simple.  Easy to talk about how New Year’s resolutions are a waste of time instead.

* You’re lazy. You don’t want to put your goals out there because once you do, you know that you’ve got to try and accomplish them.

* You’re embarrassed. Who gives a damn what other people think?  And if you are embarrassed, just write them down in private.  Nobody is going to kidnap your bunny if you fail.

I have a lot of goals for 2011 because I have a lot of things I want to do.  Call me a motivated I guess.  But, each year that goes by is one less year I have to live.  Time gets more and more valuable the older you get.  Some goals are more important than others, such as seeing my parents 4X in 2011.  I’m not going to start crying if I still dress too casually for my own good.  But, I will be disappointed that I didn’t make a strong enough effort to look sharper.

USE “SAM” TO HELP YOU SUCCEED Read more…

Dear Readers,

The list is long, and the funny thing is, I have another 5 goals to achieve which I’ve left off the official list.  There’s just so much I want to do in 2011 that it’s important to write things down so I can revisit them every month to evaluate my progress.  I’ll be bookmarking this post and checking back regularly for sure.

I’m under no illusion that I’ll be able to achieve everything on the list, but I will certainly try.  A lot of the goals and resolutions below are doable if I adjust my lifestyle accordingly.  In fact, practically everything on the list is something I really want to do, hence maybe I will be able to achieve them all!

GOALS AND RESOLUTIONS FOR 2011 Read more…

The following is a guest post by Lisa Cintron on behalf of OnlineAnnuityRates.com.  I’ve looked into annuities before since I love the security and guaranteed nature of the product.  The reason why I didn’t pull the trigger was because I have a job with relatively stable income already.  If I was retired, and found the income return rate attractive, I think I’d totally invest a portion of my assets into annuities.  Cheers, Sam

When planning your estate in order to protect yourself and your loved ones, there are good reasons to include an annuity.  Annuities allow you to guarantee a source of income for yourself, but they can also be used in order to pass funds on to beneficiaries.

1. Guaranteed Income Read more…

I can’t help it.  I just have to wake up by 6:15am every morning because life just feels too darn exciting!  In fact, I woke up this morning at 4:30am, but that was thanks to my thumping pet rabbit.  Do you remember the feeling during Christmas eve as a kid, when you were so excited you couldn’t sleep?  As a result, you’d sneak down and wait in the middle of the night to see if Santa is coming?  You even tried getting a sneak peak by pealing back a corner of the present to see what you’ve got!  That was me growing up, the constant rascal.

Somewhere in the middle of adolescence and adult hood, I lost that excitement.  Perhaps it was the constant pressure of trying to get good grades so I could get a real job and not have to go back to McDonald’s.  I recall dreading my 8am multi-variable Calculus class during college.  Surprise, surprise, I dropped the class and signed up for Golf III (advanced level baby) instead!  That was when I began to rekindle my excitement as a kid again.  I was learning something I just loved, and couldn’t get enough.

FINDING THAT DESIRE Read more…

I’m sad to see 2010 go because it has been one of the most fun years of my life.  I’ve discovered new friends and found a comfortable work / life balance that has eluded me all decade until now.  The one thing that’s so fun about blogging or journal writing is that you get to go through your archives and re-discover what you were thinking some time ago.

I’d like to go through some of the predictions and resolutions I made on December 31, 2009 and see how they turned out.  I’ve gone ahead and pasted the meat of the December 31 post and highlighted the results in gray.

FIVE PREDICTIONS OF 2010 – MIXED RESULTS AND ONE SPOT ON Read more…

You can’t schedule storms.  If I could, I would schedule all my snowboarding trips around them.  There’s nothing better than going up to the mountains after a big dump and floating on fresh powder.  If you’ve ever watched the movie Point Break, you realize the holiness of perfect conditions.  Instead of getting locked up for the rest of his life given all his bank robberies, Bodhi paddles out into 40 foot swells and rides his last wave.  That’s kind of how I feel when mega storms arrive.  I drop everything and make it a point to go out and hit the slopes.

Perhaps part of the reason why I love San Francisco so much is because of the great outdoors.  Where else do you feel happy instead of depressed when it starts raining in the city because you know it means it’s snowing in Lake Tahoe, just a 3-4 hour drive away?  Where else can you ride 3 feet of powder and drive back into the city and play golf in 70 degree weather the next day?  Nowhere, which is why it’s so hard for me and many residents in the Bay Area to leave.  It’s hard to imagine living in freezing cold weather with no mountains close by.  It’s like living on the top of the hill with no view.  What’s the point?

LAST MINUTE TRIP Read more…

Hip hop hooray! With House Democrats agreeing to not hold the middle class hostage anymore, the tax bill passed 277-148!  It was a landslide victory, but still it’s interesting to see that there were 148 dissenters.  What’s more amazing is that Democrats weren’t able to lower the estate tax exemption amount of $5 million per individual, and raise the estate tax level of 35%.  Talk about bad negotiating!

The real fun now begins where we all do rough pro forma calculations of how much more disposable income we’ll have in 2011 and potentially 2012!  First off, I’m glad to see that everybody will pay 2% less on the first $106,800 they earn thanks to a cut in payroll taxes (Social Security and Medicare) from 6.2% to 4.2%.

From $100,000 to $172,000 (28% Federal marginal tax bracket for singles), you really aren’t going to see much of a change in that money earned after, because the government wasn’t going after you guys. But, for all you lucky ducks who make $172,000-$380,000 (33% Federal marginal tax bracket for singles), and $380,000+ (35% Federal marginal tax bracket for singles), you’re in for a big treat!

THE PARTY TIME FORMULA! Read more…