Financial Samurai

Slicing Through Money's Mysteries

Why Rental Property Is A Powerful Asset Class

Posted by 58 Comments

Nice rental propertyFrom a financial standpoint, rental property is at the top of the list of assets to own.  It can soon become the biggest headache if you don’t screen properly for the right tenants or buy in a location which consistently attracts poor tenants. Good thing you screen like the CIA and only buy in prime locations.

Rental property is the ultimate hedge against inflation as well as the ultimate asset to make money during inflation from a cash flow and real asset appreciation perspective. With the US Dollar going into the crapper, your goal should be to borrow as much USD as your personal balance sheet allows and buy a real asset in an appreciating foreign currency!  If you can’t do that, you just have to do the next best thing and buy American.  The foreigners are coming!

MAKING MONEY EVERY WHICH WAY AND SIDEWAYS WITH RENTALS

Read More…

Don’t Let Life Pass You By With Regrets

Posted by 32 Comments

Once a quarter, I try and learn a new song on my trusty 12 year old Martin acoustic guitar.  I’m already behind.  Some are impossible to play, and others are impossible to sing.  This time around, I stumbled across a song that not only is easy to play, but also possible not to butcher.  The song is called “Elderly Woman Behind The Counter In A Small Town,” by Pearl Jam.

I’ve probably listened to this song a hundred times since it first came out in 1993, but I never really understood the meaning until now.  Isn’t it weird how one can be so oblivious to a great tune, even memorizing the lyrics without ever understanding the message?  Again, we don’t slow down and stop to consider, and as a result we go forward only scratching the surface of so many wonderful things.

“Small town,” is about a middle-aged woman stuck in a dinky, dusty old town.  When she was young, she struggled like hell to get out, but now she’s given up and has accepted her fate.  There’s no escaping anymore.  She’s working at a small store, and in comes a nice looking man in fancy clothes with a nice car parked outside.  He must be from a big town, she thinks to herself.  At first she doesn’t recognize him, but after a while she finally begins to recall that he was her old flame from long ago.  She’s too embarrassed to say “hello” because nothing about her has changed excepted her age, so she let’s him come and leave without saying a word.  On she goes with her business as she wonders where he’s off to.  She thinks about all the things she could have done.  She thinks about the life she could have had with him.

Really listen to the lyrics and think about the description above to soak in the meaning.  It took a couple hours of practicing and re-recording to understand every line.  I never want to look back and regret the things I didn’t do.  I want to go on a great adventure and keep pushing forward.  Don’t you?  It’s easy to get stuck in a rut, doing the same thing over and over again.  You wake up, check your e-mails, cut the grass, make some lunch, watch TV, take a nap.  Before you know it, life has passed you by.  I hope life doesn’t go by too quickly.  Happy Father’s weekend dad!  May you have many more!

Readers, do you feel that life speed is accelerating?  Are there things that you have longed to do, but have never gotten around to it?  What’s stopping you?  Do you ever try and understand some of your favorite songs?

Recording Notes: Two-track recording using Garage Band with simple Macbook built-in microphone.  Home office studio.

Regards,

Sam

Fixing Our Absent-Minded And Forgetful Selves

Posted by 31 Comments

Have you ever had a period of time where all you did was lose and forget everything?  For the past four months, I’ve been wondering whether I’m in the early stages of Alzheimer’s Disease or something of that nature.  It makes me worried.  Wait, what was I saying again?

Just the other day, I brought my tennis bag to work so I could go directly to the club and meet a client.  When I opened the bag in the locker room, there were no shorts, only sweat pants.  Not ideal in this mini-70 degree heat wave we’re having, but doable.  As I rummaged through my bag further, I discovered I had no shoes either!  No wonder why my bag was so light, I thought to myself in retrospect.

Walking out of the locker room and to the front desk, I asked Peter whether they had any demo shoes or left-overs.  Unfortunately there were none, and as I waited for Peter to feign a thorough search, I could see my client stretching on the court waiting for me.  Drat, no time to go home and fetch.  Instead, I ponied up $90 bucks and bought a brand new pair of tennis shoes right there, even though I literally have five pairs at home!

SLOW DOWN, BE MINDFUL

Read More…

Where Are My Credit Card Rights?

Posted by 25 Comments

I’ve had my home rebate credit card for 7 years. It’s my one and only personal credit card I use for everything. Once a year, a rebate of 1% of total spending gets credited toward my mortgage. I was totally happy with the card and then one day, I get a letter from the bank saying they are changing it out of the blue. They didn’t ask me whether it is OK or not, they unilaterally made the decision for me.

I’m not particularly fond of credit cards which give me rewards points so I can go buy things I don’t need. Unfortunately, as a replacement card, that’s exactly what I’m getting!

It really gets my goat that a credit card issuer can just changes things at a whim. You’d think that after all that’s happened in the financial world, there would be more protection for consumers. But, as always, I’m disappointed with how my tax dollars are spent, and nothing really changes, just the people in power.

THEIR LETTER TO ME

Read More…

Osama Bin Laden Is Dead: Good Or Bad?

Posted by 39 Comments

Now that Osama Bin Laden is dead, I hope the tens of thousands of Muslims who died at his hands and the families of the 3,000 people lost in the Twin Towers find closure.  After 10 long years of searching, we finally got the bastard who was hiding just 90 miles away from Islamabad, Pakistan.

It is now a certainty that President Obama will be re-elected to his second term in 2012 after taking credit for the killing.  We will have more big government spending and higher taxes.  That’s not so bad given the economy continues to recover and people are finding jobs again.

The main question you should think about is whether the killing of Osama Bin Laden by US special forces is a good thing, or a bad thing in the long run?  Osama Bin Laden has been the leader of the Al-Qaeda Terrorist Network for over two decades, but how much power has he had over the past 10 years given his need for secrecy.  Undoubtedly hundreds of new Osamas are looking to take a higher leadership role and avenge is death.  Expect retaliation.

Unfortunately, the killing of Osama Bin Laden brings about a new wave of terror.  We’ve closed one chapter, but many more chapters of terror are about to be written.  Let’s be vigilant and aware.  Here’s to peace, one less evil on Earth, and a thank you to our armed forces.

Readers, what are your thoughts on the killing of Osama Bin Laden?  Do you feel safer as an American traveling the world now?  Will there be retaliation and a never ending cycle of hatred and suffering?  How do we know if Obama is really dead?

Regards,

Sam