Below are the top financial products I use or have used to help me achieve financial freedom. Each product provides an actionable solution that is synergistic to the advice I provide in my articles.
There are literally thousands of products to choose from and I’ve passed on 99.9% of them. Let me help you cut through the clutter by highlighting only the top financial products after hundreds of hours of research.
I’ve met with with the senior management from most of these companies given I live in San Francisco and used to travel to conferences several times a year. I believe in looking into the whites of each CEO’s eyes before making any recommendation.
With uncertain economic times, now is more important than ever to save money, reduce expenses, stay on top of your finances and invest wisely. The top financial products can help you build more wealth.
Welcome Video From Sam Dogen About The Top Financial Products
Top Financial Products For 2026 And Beyond
Let’s take a look at the top financial products and investment opportunities to help you achieve financial independence sooner. Please note that all products are affiliate partners of Financial Samurai because I believe, use, or invest in their products.
Best AI Investment Advisor: Mezzi
Every other product on this page helps you see your money more clearly. Mezzi is the first one that lets you interact with it for greater insights.
Mezzi is an AI investment advisor that pulls your entire net worth into one place, learns your goals, and answers specific questions about your actual portfolio. Not a dashboard that reports the score after the game is over, but an always-on analyst you can interrogate at 11pm on a Sunday.
When I asked it to calculate my true stock weightings across 40+ accounts, it found $300,000 of Google exposure I didn’t know I had, buried inside my index funds. I trimmed the position weeks before the stock fell 10%, saving me over $20,000.
Mezzi has been building for three years and is SEC-registered. I liked what it found enough that I invested in the company and became an affiliate.
It’s free to get started, and readers can use code FS30 for 30% off the first year of premium plus.
Here’s my full story of how Mezzi uncovered over $300,000 in hidden stock exposure.
Where I’m Dollar-Cost Averaging The Most This Year
Fundrise, founded in 2012, is my favorite private real estate investing and public venture capital investing platform. Instead of concentrating your risk and money in one property, with Fundrise you invest smaller amounts of money (as little as $10) in a portfolio of properties with potentially higher returns across the entire country. The average historical range is around 8%, although investors made over 20% in 2021.
Real estate is tangible, less volatile, provides utility, and generates income. In an inflationary environment, real estate is my favorite asset class to own. Inflation whittles down the cost of a mortgage and boosts the value of the property.
After selling my rental house in San Francisco for 30X annual gross rent in 2017, I reinvested $500,000 of the $1,800,000 proceeds in real estate crowdfunding. It is great to earn income passively and consistently, no matter the economic environment.
Most of the investments went into properties in the heartland of America to earn 100% passive income. It makes sense to arbitrage the valuation and net rental yield differentials between expensive coastal city real estate and inexpensive heartland real estate.
I’ve invested over $800,000 in Fundrise real estate and venture so far. The older I get, the more I want to invest in passive investments, not physical rental properties with tenant and maintenance issues.
Best Life Insurance Marketplace
Policygenius – In the past, you’d have to call a life insurance carrier one by one, fill out an application form, wait for a while, and not know whether the quote you received is any good or not. Policygenius lets you see multiple real quotes at once so you can make a more informed decision.
If there’s one thing we’ve learned during the pandemic, it’s that tomorrow is not guaranteed. If you have kids and/or debt, please get at least a term life insurance policy. Take care of your surviving loved ones.
During the pandemic, my wife was able to get double the amount of life insurance coverage for 30% less money using Policygenius. Then I was able to get a new 20-year, $750,000 affordable policy thanks to Policygenius. I’m thrilled because I have two young children and my 10-year term policy expired in January 2023.
In fact, being able to get affordable life insurance decreased my anxiety tremendously. I had made a mistake as a 35-year-old and only bought a 10-year term life insurance policy. When I tried to renew in 2021, my life insurance premium was 10X higher to $480/month! Policygenius helped me saved and feel secure about my family’s future.
Here’s my comprehensive Policygenius review. To be able to get free, real insurance rate quotes so you can easily compare is great. After you get your life insurance needs locked down, make sure you write your will, create a death file, and set up a revocable living trust.
Best Free Wealth Management Tool
Empower – Empower has the best free wealth management tool for investors. You can x-ray your portfolio for excessive fees. Get a snapshot of your asset allocation by portfolio. And track your net worth and plan for your retirement.
Think about Empower as a sophisticated version of Mint or an interactive version of Excel. I spent two years consulting for them in their San Francisco and Redwood City offices.
When there is so much uncertainty in the world, you absolutely must stay on top of your finances. Understand where your risk exposure is. Stay on top of your cash flow. Empower’s free tools will help you bring calm to the chaos.
I’ve used Empower’s free tools since 2012 and have seen my net worth skyrocket since. The better you track your finances, the greater you will grow your net worth.
Free financial checkup: If you have over $100,000 in investable assets, you can receive a free financial analysis from an Empower advisor by signing up here. An annual review is always worthwhile as your asset allocation can shift significantly over time, and your financial situation may evolve as well. We all have financial blindspots that are worth recognizing to build more future wealth.
Here’s my comprehensive Empower Personal Capital review.
“Empower Personal Wealth, LLC (“EPW”) compensates Kansei Incorporated for new leads. Kansei Incorporated is not an investment client of Empower Advisory Group, LLC.” The statement is provided to you by Financial Samurai (“Promoter”) who has entered into a written referral agreement with Empower Advisory Group, LLC (“EAG”). Click here to learn more.
Best Retirement Planning Tool
In 2024, I began researching a new retirement planning tool called ProjectionLab. Designed specifically for retirement planning, ProjectionLab offers a powerful suite of free and pro tools for modeling “what if” financial scenarios. Its visuals are among the best I’ve seen.
Given how much can and will happen in your financial life, creating various financial scenarios is crucial to help you stay prepared. Here are two posts where I used ProjectionLab to help: one showcasing how a family with a $500,000 household income course-corrected their overspending, and another demonstrating how a family can set their children up to become millionaires before leaving home.
Best Career And Severance Negotiation Book
How To Engineer Your Layoff – I spent 10 years crafting and updating this 240+ page ebook that teaches employees how to negotiate a severance and be free. Not only can you receive a severance, you may also get healthcare benefits, keep all your deferred compensation based on the regular vesting schedule, and be eligible for unemployment benefits.
Having a nice financial runway to move on to the next career, start a company, retire early, take care of a family, or simply travel the world is priceless. I personally negotiated a severance that paid for five years of living expenses. This allowed me to travel the world and work on Financial Samurai without stress.
If you are going to quit anyway, you might as well try and negotiate a severance. You have no downside to fighting for your rights. The book is now in its 6th edition and fully revised with two new chapters. It has additional case studies, updated resources, and more.
You can buy my book directly here. Use “saveten” to save $10 at checkout.
Best New Personal Finance Book: Millionaire Milestones
After two years of writing and refining, I’m thrilled to announce the upcoming release of my new USA TODAY national bestseller, Millionaire Milestones: Simple Steps To Seven Figures—your ultimate guide to building more wealth than 90% of the population!
With over 30 years of experience working in finance, writing about finance, studying finance, and achieving millionaire status at age 28 in 2005, I’ve poured everything I know into this book. Millionaire Milestones is packed with practical, modern strategies to help you not only become a millionaire in your lifetime but also a multi-millionaire with the freedom to live life on your terms.
If you’re ready to take control of your financial future and unlock a life of wealth and purpose, this book is for you! Pre-order a copy on Amazon today.
Use The Top Financial Products To Improve Your Life
Ever since I started Financial Samurai, my motto has been, “achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later.” By using the top financial products today, you will drastically improve your chances of achieving financial freedom.
The top financial products should help you save more money and make more money. These top products should also give you more confidence in managing your finances. Once you are confident about your finances, you can focus more on what truly matters: your friends, your family, and your purpose.
If you would like to build more wealth, never miss a FS article, and stay on top of the most important financial events of the week, join the 65,000+ people and subscribe to my free weekly newsletter.
About the Author:
Sam worked in investment banking for 13 years at GS and CS. He received his undergraduate degree in Economics from The College of William & Mary and got his MBA from UC Berkeley. In 2012, Sam was able to retire at the age of 34 after negotiating a severance worth over five years of living expenses.
Sam’s passive investment income now produces roughly $380,000 a year to help both he and his wife remain stay at home parents. His main passive income focus is on real estate crowdfunding. It enables him take advantage of cheaper valuations and higher cap rates in the heartland. He spends time playing tennis and taking care of his family.
Financial Samurai started in 2009. It is one of the most trusted personal finance sites on the web with over one million pageviews a month. Financial Samurai likes to highlight the top financial products to help people achieve financial freedom sooner, rather than later.
Full disclosure: All products are affiliate partners of Financial Samurai. With every sign up, Financial Samurai may be paid a referral fee. Everything you read on Financial Samurai is free. Sponsors and ads are what keep the lights on.