Career & Employment Archives - Financial Samurai

I Quit My Dream Job Because There’s Sadly No Such Thing

One of the benefits of financial independence is that you can try out different occupations that pay very little or nothing. I’ve always wanted to be a grade school teacher, but I realized after doing some research you can’t just become a middle school teacher here in San Francisco. Even being a substitute teacher requires many months of training, exams, and screening.

When a friend told me of an assistant tennis coach position at his son’s high school in 2017, I jumped at the opportunity. In my mind, after five years of unemployment, this was a dream job because it combined teaching with my favorite sport.

Further, the job gave me an opportunity to understand the private school system in case my son doesn’t win the SF public school lottery, learn what it’s like to interact with teenagers so I can be better prepared in 12 years, develop relationships with new people, exercise, and be a part of the education community.

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How The Rich Get Richer: Strategies For Competing In A Rigged Game

Posted by Financial Samurai 50 Comments

Making money is like playing a competitive sport. You train hard all your life for those moments on the battlefield where you win all the spoils or go home empty-handed. You console yourself after a loss for having tried your best, but eventually, you realize the game is rigged.

For the past 10 years, I’ve played USTA league tennis. It’s a great way to stay in shape, meet new folks, and keep the competitive juices firing. Everyone needs to balance mental activity with physical activity if they want to stay healthy.

For the past four years, minus one year off due to the birth of my son, I’ve played at the 5.0 level. It’s a treacherous level filled with ex-college players and even ex-pros. Few have a beer gut and everyone has at least one weapon, be it a cannon serve or a heavy topspin forehand.

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When Earning $1 Million A Year Isn’t Enough To Retire Early

Posted by Financial Samurai 136 Comments

We know that a $300,000/year household income is pretty middle class if you live in an expensive coastal city like San Francisco or Washington DC.

However, we can all agree that earning $1,000,000 a year or more makes you rich, especially since a top 1% income level starts at roughly $450,000. No household earning $1,000,000 or more should ever struggle unless they leveraged up and their investments imploded.

If you make $1,000,000 a year or more, you’re free to celebrate. Just don’t tell anyone lest you want an ax-wielding robber waiting for you in your living room after an evening of fine dining.

In this post, I’d like to explore the lifestyle of a typical $1 million income-earning household living in New York City. They’ve anonymously shared with me their expenses, and I’ve done my best to tell their story without sharing their exact details.

This post will give you a taste of what it’s like to make $1 million a year. You’ll also get to decide whether making a top 0.1% income is truly worth the price.

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Who Makes A Million Dollars A Year? Exploring The Top 0.1% Income Earners

Posted by Financial Samurai 110 Comments

If you want to get rich, you might as well focus on joining industries that pay very well. But there’s more to just joining a well-paying industry to get you to a million dollar income. You’ve also got to perform at a high level, survive cutthroat competition, and receive lots of luck along the way.

Corporate politics can be brutal on your climb to the top of the pyramid. Oftentimes, it’s those who’ve been able to successfully sell themselves internally who achieve the greatest rewards.

During my career in investment banking, I was too defiant. Despite getting promoted quickly in my 20s, I stalled in my 30s because I didn’t want to relocate to grind cities like New York or Hong Kong. Nor could I pretend to like enough people who could push me forward. In the end, I decided to see what I could do entirely with my own fingers.

We know that an American top 1% income starts at around $450,000 today. We also know that a top 1% income varies by age as well. For those interested in making a top 0.1% income, let’s take a look at some career profiles.

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Quitting Your Job Is Selfish: Engineering Your Layoff Is The Ethical Way To Go

Posted by Financial Samurai 27 Comments

When some people first hear that I engineered my layoff, they get up on their Clydesdales and say something like, “I would never do that. It sounds unethical.”

I’m always surprised by this response in this day and age of zero job security. No longer are pensions common. No longer do employers keep their employees fat and happy for decades. It’s a ruthless world out there thanks to globalization, technology, and cutthroat competition.

One could argue that if you’re not doing everything possible to fight for yourself and your family’s financial security, you’re the one being unethical. That or just ignorant. Quitting your job is selfish compared to negotiating a severance. If you don’t think so, then you lack awareness.

The only way that quitting your job is not selfish is if you were a terrible deadweight employee who was a cancer to your team. In such a scenario, quitting would be a godsend to your colleagues.

Let’s go through in detail why it’s always best to engineer your layoff instead.

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